2009-04-19 Wow. I posted a link to my blog on a sub-comment of reddit.com today. Feedback was immediate. I will devote this update to answering questions. Twitter? I do have an account that I set up to follow others. And a BlackBerry. And twitter is "down or being upgraded" at the moment. Follow me @d16n, and if the numbers are good I'll give it a go. Food? I have read blogs where every meal was dissected in excruciating detail. Boring. But since you asked: Most hotels have breakfast included. If I can buy meals along the way, I will. Fast food, greasy spoons, buffets, diners, gas station chow; I will eat just about anything. Except the crayfish at the chinese buffet I was at today. Okay, I would have eaten some, but I was stuffing my face with broccoli. I love broccoli. If the hotel has a microwave, I will try to eat somewhat-healthy frozen foods. On the bike, I pack food, but nothing requiring cooking. This is a very simple menu: peanut butter/bread, cereal bars, granola, usually something salty like pringles. I am not picky and can eat the same thing for days. I also try to remember my multivitamin, just in case nutritionists ever come to a consensus. What does it weigh? I put my bike on an industrial scale a month back and it weighed 80 pounds fully loaded. Since that time I have dropped off a number of unused accessories (what did that wrench even fit?), so it is now lighter, but I'm not sure how much. Overprepared? Underprepared? I have sent home or thrown out a pile of stuff: tools, clothes, fenders. Mostly I can buy things as needed along the way. Light-weight, packable clothes have been a challenge to find, though. I've done this before, so I didn't hit many surprises. Water? I read that you should drink 24 ounces of water for ever hour of exercise. This has proven accurate. And I will often down a big bottle of Gatorade at gas stations. I have bottle space for 64 ounces. If I make it out west, there will be stretches where I will need to carry 4 gallons. I never buy water. It's fun comparing the tastes. For instance, Tallahassee water was awesome, while most of Georgia tasted like rotten eggs. And my immune system is now better than yours--I hope. Rain? Snow? I'm wimpy. I get a hotel. Route planning? GPS? As I spend a good portion of each week in a hotel working, I have plenty of resources available for planning my next leg. Google maps is great. Many states have PDFs showing highway traffic. I was using paper maps, but now I just use the Favorites feature on my BlackBerry Google map to star all the roads I will take. BlackBerry GPS FTW! Freak feet? The Vibram FiveFinger shoes have proven themselves very durable. I've walked long distances on sidewalks and gravel with no damage to the shoe or myself (which I believe reinforces the concept). Really, the only two problems are people staring and the amount of time it takes to put them on. I actually started this trip with more traditional shoes, but they were too bulky and heavy, so I sent them home. Camping? Now that the days are getting longer, I will stop an hour or more before sunset. This is because I'm lazy. I always bushwhack in some forest where I hope nobody will notice me. Tree plantations are the best. If space is limited or I really need to hide, I will just sleep on the ground with my bike on its side. Other than the reflectors on my bike, I have no bright colors showing at night. Laundry? The beautiful thing about traveling is, unless you take pictures of yourself everyday, nobody will ever know that you've been wearing the same two shirts for a month. At first, I used laundry machines at hotels, but as I've cut down on my wardrobe to the minimum necessities I have found that the bathroom sink works just fine, and is cheaper. One last note: Being on the road is liberating and exciting and a good experience. However, when living on the road everything is more expensive, harder more complicated, costs more and is more expensive.

Tire Dog is tired