Chesterfield, VA Day 90, August 22
Miles – 0
Miles From Start/To Finish – 4,165/0
Ave Riding Speed – 0 mph
Hours Start to Finish – 0
Weather – Mostly Cloudy and 90
So far, you have Invested over $20,000 in the LBCA!! Thank you!!!
There were no alarms going off this morning. Kim was up a little earlier than me. I didn’t get up until 9am and got my 8 hours of beauty sleep after my late-night blog post. After going up to the kitchen for coffee I found Kim and Scott having a nice conversation at the counter seating area. Scott asked what we wanted for breakfast and he suggested his famous omelets that he usually makes on the weekends. That sounded great to Kim and I and it was a great breakfast sitting at the kitchen counter.
Kim and I went through our saddlebags (panniers) in the morning and wiped them down. There were a few items we tossed in the garbage like torn and worn-out riding gear, and some things we’re leaving with Scott, like bear spray and dog (pepper) spray.
Kim did a load of laundry and went for a long walk, while Scott and I broke down our bicycles, wrapped them and boxed them up in used bicycles boxes Scott found at a local bike shop. Since this was our first time doing this, I watched a YouTube video on how to box up a bike. The process, with tools, packing materials and bicycle parts strewn across the garage, took us 3.5 hours.
The process of breaking a bike down and packaging it goes something like this:
Remove the front rack from the front fork
Remove the front tire from the front fork
Remove the seat and post
Remove the pedals
Remove the handlebar faceplate and drop the handlebars
Put foam pipe insulation around frame areas and secure with zip ties
Thread the front tire through the left pedal shaft and secure tire to frame
Drop the handlebar to the right side of the side of the frame and secure with zip ties
Secure cushion (cardboard) to the bottom of the front fork
Secure seat and post to the frame crossbar with the seat sticking out above the front fender
Place front rack on the bottom rear of the box
Place the bike in the box
Seal the box
Breaking down Kim’s bike went pretty smooth after we did my bike as the trial run.
I setup the shipping of our bikes through Bike Flights. It almost twice as expensive to ship them via UPS from Richmond, VA to Chaska versus Chaska to Astoria, OR. The bike shipping piece should be our final expenditure for the adventure and should arrive at Michael’s Cycles in Chaska in about a week.
Scott made us chicken and vegetable fajitas for dinner tonight. They were very good. You can tell that Scott enjoys cooking. We’re really enjoying the eating.
Our weekend schedule for September is already booked with birthdays, wedding receptions, family reunions and more. We are excited to see everyone. Our son is returning to live in Minnesota shortly after we get home and wants to make a trip to the Big M Ranch and I’m excited to get there myself. We like to say that the Ranch, our highly coveted, “family” cabin in the woods “up-north”, is more than a place, it’s a state of mind. It has a wood stove for heat, electricity, no running water and an outdoor biffy, surrounded by forested acreage and mother nature. There are always projects to do, and if there aren’t, we make some up. Everyone of all sizes get involved. It’s awesome!
Scott was so awesome to have picked us up 4 suitcases from the local Goodwill store for all of our gear that will travel with us when we fly home. Tomorrow we’ll be packing our gear and delivering our bikes to the local UPS store.
With our rest days, today and tomorrow, we’re still in the Motch Across America adventure mode as we get organized in preparation of dropping back into our former celestial galaxy, Minnesota, on Tuesday and touch base and look forward to seeing all our supporters of our adventure, especially our grandkids.
Scott said popcorn was on the late night snack menu this evening, so that’s next on my agenda!
The pic is from yesterday’s arrival at the beach for the ceremonial salty water dip of our front tires to conclude the bicycling part of our coast-to-coast adventure.
