Skip to main content

Those Damn Ducks!

 I've been feeling pretty ready the last week or so. I've gotten good mileage and elevation in, the weather has been cooperating, and all my weatherproofing material arrived before the rain. My biggest cause of anxiety is the idea that my tent will leak and I'll get wet in the night. It keeps me up regularly.

To avoid this, I carefully sealed all the seams on the fly and gave it a coating of Kiwi waterproofing spray. It needed to cure for 24-48 hours, and the rain we really needed was going to interrupt that time span by just a few hours so I moved the whole tent into the barn to finish curing.  Greg moved it to get the mower out and put it back. No reason for concern, I thought.

I went out after supper to move it back outside. It looked funny, more like a teepee than a tent. I moved it out to it's footprint anyway, figuring it just had to be moved back into shape. It wasn't long before I realized that no amount of moving  would make THIS disaster go back into a tent form- one of the poles, previously damaged by wind, was now deadlined. Two weeks before my departure.

NOW WHAT??? I wondered. My ducks, previously marching in reasonable rows, were now wandering aimlessly around again. I was left with a quandry at 9:00 at night- not my most reasonable hour. New tent? Replacement poles? Repair the poles? I went down several internet rabbit holes, impulse ordered some Amazon items, and finally decided on a plan. Which I changed as soon as I woke up after a mere 5 hours of snoozing.

Here's the latest plan. Greg (a real life MacGuyver) is trying to fix the pole. I can call Johnson Outdoors tomorrow and see if they can get me a pole in the next two weeks. If so, I'll set the tent up and spray it with the hose to assess it's worthiness. Failing that, I can run down to LL Bean and buy a new one. Even at 250.00 it works out to 4.00 a day. Money well spent, I think.

I need to be done overthinking things!


Comments

  1. kateSeptember 14, 2022 at 5:11 PM

    don't forget to pack the butt butter!!!!!!!! I really am quite impressed, how many miles a day are you looking at? I remember training with Ron for his 500 mile Aides Ride, 50 was it for me. Now with these knees, my next purchase is a peddal assist

    ReplyDelete
  2. LydiaSeptember 21, 2022 at 6:34 AM

    We average 60 a day- but there are several 80+ days as we go along. I am keeping the butter industry alive!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 1, 2022 at 1:40 PM

    You are so amazingly resourceful and determined. Debbie

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 53- Perry FL

 We had a very windy night which made for a great sleeping. I set an alarm for 1:00 AM so I could see the Artemis unmanned moon rocket launch, but when I got up I found it had been pushed back and well, 70 miles, so I chose sleep over history. It was gray when we got up, and gray as we headed out. And chilly! I wished I’d opted for leggings over my shorts but was happy to have gloves. Small victories.The temp said it was almost 60 – my body threw the BS flag. I was cold all day. Not much to say about this ride. We had a 20 mile bike path that took us off route 98 for a while. We met another Bike traveler named Tony who had been on the road since June 26.  He started in Connecticut and rode to Indianapolis, then back towards Pittsburgh where he rode the trails to DC. He then went to Key West and is now on his way to New Orleans. We asked questions about his gear (there wasn’t much!) and traded a few stories and wished each other well. We got off the trail and crossed the St Mar...
3 comments
Read more

Day 58- St.Augustine FL

 To our utter surprise we woke up to dry skies with the sun peeking through the clouds. No rain in the forecast — what a gift! We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and set off around 9 o’clock. Family and friends had been given an arrival time between 1130 and 12 so the pace was leisurely.  We rode mainly bike paths. No spectacular scenery, just quiet miles with lots of introspection. As we neared Saint Augustine I started to feel the excitement grow. I was ready for the ride to be done, to see Greg and Gemma and the rest that would be there to join me. It wasn’t quite time to stop paying attention, however, because our route took us right through downtown Saint Augustine’s narrow streets and traffic was both heavy and unforgiving. It wasn’t till I turned into the state park that I got a little emotional. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s the realization that this adventure is truly over. I rode in and spotted Greg’s truck right away - and next saw Sarah and Walt and Gemma...
5 comments
Read more

Day 46- Gautier MS

It was a perfect day for an 80 mile ride. We got up really early, planning to get on the road quickly since it was going to be dark by five and we had so far to go. This was no mean feet for me as sleep was hard to come by last night. My bladder woke me at one and four, at which time I was treated to Matt singing the song of his people. And I didn’t need my alarm because the water dripping from the condensation On my tent onto my face was hard to sleep through. Kelly and Adam were on the road by 615. We followed far behind, rolling out an hour later. The roads were awesome right from the beginning. Great pavement and low traffic throughout. Mississippi offered up some treats and some oddities. The first was as we headed into McHenry. On a one and a half mile stretch of road, I counted eight old fire hydrants. And hardly any houses. This roused my curiosity. I passed a man walking a dog and asked him about it. He looked exactly like I expected a rural Mississippian to look, except the d...
1 comment
Read more