As of today we have been on the road for 16 days, and we’ve had to adopt the phrase “it could be worse” more than once.
For instance, in the last four days we have lost Indy’s dog food twice. Yes, you read that right, in just four days we have had to replace entire bags of dog food not once, but TWICE. At this point we suspect that there is an angry little group of gnomes following us and snatching dog food when our backs are turned. This seems to be the only rational explanation, since in both cases his food was within about 10 feet of us, and in one case we didn’t even lose it overnight! (It’s possible that the first loss may have been due to a critter sneaking into the garage where the trailer was sitting overnight.)
So, the solution: Indy is loving his human food meals since we are a good 40 miles from the nearest dog-food-selling store. And hey, it could be worse, we could have lost our human food and only be left with dog food!
We’ve also had a case of excessively worn trailer tires that had to be replaced (after just 150 miles!), unexplainably faulty tire pumps, and a dog who wants to run alongside the bikes all day….but is not physically capable of such a feat…so he barks….a lot.
These challenges have taught us very, very quickly that open-ended travel is hard, travel by bicycle is hard, and open-ended bicycle travel with your dog is HARD. Much harder than we ever anticipated before we left on this adventure.
The good news is that this type of travel is also really fun, highly rewarding, and insanely beautiful. In fact, right this moment I am sitting in the middle of a redwood grove off of the Avenue of the Giants in Northern California. It’s is about 70 degrees, there’s a slight breeze, and I can eat as many chocolate bars as I want without even giving it a second thought. Now THAT is the life! 🙂
We’ve found solutions (sometimes really creative ones) to all the challenges we’ve faced, and every time we overcome a difficult situation we feel like we’re getting better at this whole travel thing. We’re still working on Indy’s barking while we ride, but he’s completely silent as soon as the bikes stop rolling, making him a huge hit in the campgrounds as everyone loves to pet a mellow, quiet dog!
So, as we have said so many times over the last couple weeks “it could be worse!” Not everything is perfect or just as we’d like it on this trip, but nothing was ever perfect or just as we’d like it in our stationary lives either.
What are some challenges you’ve faced while traveling? Tell us about it in the comments!
Love your blog! The barking dog sounds like quite the trial. I did drive from Chico to Eugene with 4 chickens and two cats in my car. The chickens were quiet, but the cats meowed for hours. I finally just started meowing with them. I don’t suppose that barking while bicycling is a good solution……Be safe during this big storm.