Week 1: Joliet/Chicago to Minneapolis

Okay, so it was technically almost two weeks. But we could've done it just one. I swear.

The first few days were mostly spent learning the ropes, how to carry our stuff, pack and unpack, find camping spots, and interact with the people we'd meet. We started with enough food to last two weeks, but then realized that we were cycling past several grocery stores a day. We also were worried about where and how and when to camp each night, but that has turned out to be about the easiest part of the trip: so far (in the Midwest, at least), we've just been able to roll into about any town, meet some folks at the diner or pub or grocer, and then, if nothing else turns up, just set up our tent in the city park or on the outskirts. And once we started tracking up through the bluff and wetlands along the Mississippi, especially, we've had some lovely spots for camping. However, we have yet to deal with any significant precipitation. So far, whenever it's rained, we pull into a coffee shop or call it quits and hang out for the rest of the day in whatever little town we happen to find ourselves.

Oh, and getting into shape, too. That's been a big one. My legs strangely feel a bit muscular, and the wind and sun are gradually having effects on our skin and hair. For the first week or so, before turning north in Iowa, we'd get tan on only one side of our body (the left side, which faced the sun as we biked west). After our big haul last night, I'm starting to think we might be ready for trek westward. I guess the trip up to Minneapolis was a kind of trial run for this next leg of the journey. The same thing as we've been doing, only about 3.5 times as far and with a few mountain ranges thrown in. It's very exciting, but still a little bit terrifying to think about. Nate and I are going to put our heads together and figure out a lot of the the concrete details and practical stuff. We think we'll be able to lighten our load and plan our timeline a little bit better than stage one of the trip, since now we have some idea of how these things will all work out.

Anyways, Day 1 in Minneapolis was really nice. I slept in, did some laundry, then hung out with Joke and Tory for the rest of the day. I drank coffee and ate lots of food while catching up with Joke. Then we met up with Tory and sat on the beach of Lake Calhoun (I think?) for the rest of the evening. Oh, and then Tory and I made eggplant parmigiana and ate some mango sorbet from Trader Joe's. Yeah, lots of food. I guess that's not much different from when we're on the road, which usually involves either cycling while thinking about food and sleep or eating and sleeping while thinking about cycling. If I have any time the over the next couple of days, I'll try to post more details or describe some highlights from the first, introductory part of our expedition. Oh, and pictures from my new digital camera, too!

Until next time...