Trying to get Ready..

Yes, I am trying to get ready to leave for Alaska. I mean, besides working, riding bikes, tying up loose ends, handling predetermined obligations, doing maintenance on the truck, doing research, creating itineraries for both myself and for Angela, studying maps, altering and customizing gear and equipment, experimenting with gear ratios, gathering phone numbers and addresses, creating equipment lists, and last but not least, trying to get fit.

Besides these things, I am trying to get my head around this trip. It is a task easier said than done, and here’s why:  Big trips are no stranger to me; I’ve been on plenty. Here’s another one, no big deal, right?  In the past, generally speaking, I have lived, primarily, in areas where I would consider the landscape, the people, the mentality, and the environment to be somewhat easy on me; meaning that it had always been conducive to promoting health, fitness, and relaxation, all the while allowing me to pursue athletic activities that kept my mind and my body sharp for such adventures and expeditions.  I have been, recently and currently, in the city now for 19 consecutive months. That is far longer than a person like me should ever have to be in the city. I don’t do well in said places. In the past, embarking on trips such as these has been a relatively simple affair, since my mind and body were already tuned for these notions. Here and now, it is far different.  I feel like europe might have felt in 1946, ragged and weak, yet placing one foot in front of the other in an attempt to move forward with it’s goals. Bear in mind this is only an analogy, and I do not place any amount of lightness on what Europe must have endured during the decade following WWII, as I was not there and hopefully will never experience the sort of suffering those people went through. I am merely attempting to demonstrate my own state of mind after planning another “big” trip after living in the city for 19 months straight!  That’s all.

The closer I get to the departure date, the more together I feel, ironically enough. May 6th, that is now the date. I am going to drive to Mt Shasta, and hopefully, meet up with my old time friend, Dennis Belillo, for a stomp up the old peak for a bit of excersise and good times. Then off to Bellingham to see my friend Ben Hainie, and then on the ferry to Skagway on the 17th.

I loaded up the bike yesterday for a fully loaded (the bike, not me) pedal around the area.

It must have weighed in at 150 lbs. That’s with food and water. Too much? Yes, probabely so, but so it is… Only 25 more days.