Well, we're done training. I feel okay about riding. I'm more stressed about "stuff." This ride is different from the AIDS Ride in many ways. One is that I have to bring my own tent and we have to provide our own food. I had thought about just bringing some peanut butter and jelly to save money. Then I remembered that I have a job now and can buy food. I'd still like it to be inexpensive but I think i can avoid the pbj thing. We get 3 items each and they are not to weigh over 35 lbs. lol Right! I'm sure everyone abides by that! I know I overpacked for the AIDS Ride so I have learned a bit of a lesson. A problem here is that I actually do need street clothes each day after we ride. There, apparently, is a lot more free time than I'm used to. I hate comparing everything to the AIDS Ride, but that's what I know. There we rode, put up the tent, showered, ate, and went to bed. It was simple. Lorrie's friend Daryl has done TRAM for 17 years, every year that it has been put on. He's the one that suggested Lorrie do the ride in the first place... for several years now. Lorrie and her friend Jeanie finally agreed that they would do it this year. Daryl has some other friends that he consistently rides with. So it seemed an okay group. Anyway, back to packing. I get a little crazy when I'm packing for any kind of trip. And I hate overpacking! I know. That sounds funny since I always do it. But I've been monitoring lately what I wear and don't wear. Oh yeah, another problem. Who the hell knows what the weather is going to be like in Northern Minnesota!? Ya know!? I think I did pretty well though. I had my cycling bag with helmet, shoes, cycling clothes, and basically everything else. My street clothes went into a much smaller bag. Then I had both our sleeping bags crunched into my messenger bag. Lorrie brought a camp chair, a bag of clothes, and the tent. Not bad. We'll learn. (= Off we go to Alexandria and the Douglas County Fairgrounds, which is where we will leave my SUV for the week. It's about a 3 hour drive and we seem to be doing fine. Then Lorrie realizes she has forgotten the directions. Ha! As we get closer, I told her we just needed to follow any bulk of cars with bikes on them. That actually worked! We ended up in a caravan of about 5 cars all with bikes on them and we made it without difficulty to the fairgrounds! lol We parked then wrapped our frames in some bubble wrap to keep them from getting knocked around in the truck. We took our bikes to the trucks and then back to the car for our stuff. We were able to carry it all in one trip to the bus line, which I thought was a very good thing. No multiple trips from the equipment trucks! People were pretty cordial and such in line. But then the bus showed up and it was a mad rush to get on! lol We didn't have our stuff *on* so we missed the bus we should have been on. WOW! That was crazy! So we just held on to our stuff so we wouldn't miss the next one. Another comparison to the AIDS Ride... that would not have happened. We all would have been arguing about who would go first! lol About this time I was dying of thirst! How is it possible that *I* did not think to bring water. I take water everywhere! I didn't even bring a nalgene bottle with me since I figured I could use my cycling bottle. Wow! That sucked! It was very hot! I'll live. So the bus comes and I made sure we were the first ones on. Ha! Don't f*ck with me! lol We get into our seat, get settled, and realize we are also starving! NO FOOD! lol No food, no water. Where was my head? I also was feeling a little nauseaus. Something about the air conditioning or something. But when we started moving, it felt a lot like car/motion sickness. Ugh! I just closed my eyes for a bit and that passed. To take our minds off food and water, we played tic tac toe, hang man, and other car games. Neither of us had any idea how long this drive was going to be. That's a strange feeling! I was going someplace I had never been, without knowing where it is, I'm on a busload of strangers, I have no food, I have no water... and I was having a good time! lol The drive took a couple hours, which surprised me. I thought it would be shorter. But I guess if I were logical, I would realize that it was going to take us 5 days to ride our bikes back there so it should be more than 30 miles. I just wasn't thinking.... because I was staaaarrrrving to death! (= We had no idea where Daryl and Jeanie were. They didn't seem to have signals on their phones. I figured they'd gotten on an earlier bus and hoped they would save us a spot to camp. We finally pulled into Walker and the park where we would camp. It was really pretty... on a lake and such. Lorrie got ahold of Daryl so he was looking for us and led us to our spot. The spot was on an angle! lol It was hot, I was hungry, and that made me a little crabby. We finally got some cold water. Phew! I almost perished there! I was being a little short with Lorrie while I was putting up the tent and she was catching up with friends. I should have just let her do that and get the tent done. But I was crabby, remember!? She handled it well and we figured the tent out just fine. Got all our stuff in and realized how friggin' small my tent actually is! lol The air mattress basically takes up the entire floor! I still haven't gotten therm-a-rests so we brought her big mattress for her big tent. lol Jeanie and Daryl put their bikes in their tents! LOL That done, we sat for a few minutes and regrouped. I met Heidi, Tim's wife. He's the guy who rode from Mankato to do the Sakatah with us recently. I also met Brian and Jan. Brian is from Fargo but he is dating Jan who lives in Mankato. And I met Bill who lives in Mankato. They, along with Daryl, Jeanie, Lorrie, and me would make up our Motley Crew for the week. (= Finally we agreed it was time to eat! A few of them have been to Walker several times so they had some ideas about where to go. One place was along the water. So we walked... and walked... and walked. Finally Heidi went into a store and asked only to find out the place had closed a few years back. lol So we found the same Mexican restaurant everyone else in town seemed to be finding. We sat at the bar. The bartender seemed a little out of sorts. She did a little of that huffing and puffing people do when they want you to know they are pissed but they can't express it outwardly. Who knows what was going on. They had to have expected this crowd with 1200 people coming into town, right? Anyway, Lorrie and I shared some fajitas, which were awesome! They really were but I think my hunger made them 10x better too! lol We stayed there a little longer than we might have otherwise but it was cool in there and it was still in the 90s outside. Lorrie, Daryl and Jeanie shared a pitcher of margueritas and maybe a bottle of wine. They were all feeling pretty good! lol We finally headed back to the park, slowly, doing some window shopping. Once back I got the tires pumped, lubed the chains, filled the water bottles, and got my clothes ready. Lorrie got the air mattress ready and got her stuff together. Then we hung out with everyone by the locked bathrooms. lol The mosquitos are loving me this year so I couldn't stay out too long. I have no idea what time it was when we went to bed but I was tired. I was also feeling nervous about the ride, not knowing if I had trained enough. There were things happening with Boba too that I was disappointed about. But I need to get over that for now.
Lesson learned today
-Arrive at the start point early for an earlier bus and better tent site
-Bring lunch and water, or something to drink, on the bus
-Bigger tent
-Possibly no sleeping bags if it's going to be this damn hot
-Nalgene bottle
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