Last night we ordered a bunch of gear:
-Carol found some really cool headlights from a company called Cree. They appear to be extremely bright and were only about $20. We’ll see (i hope!)
-Bell and mirror for Carol
-Saddle for me. There’s no way I’ll have my Brooks even close to broken-in by the time we leave!

In the past few days:
-We went for a ride and Carol’s drive train blew up! Took it back to Mike at The Broadyway Cyclery. Seems the plastic disk behind the cassette broke and jammed the free wheel and the chain jumped, bending a tooth! According to Mike the derailuer is also not functioning and seems bent. He’s had it for 3 days now. I think he had to order parts.
-Carol’s new front panniers arrived, used, ebay. Really nice. Large! We still need front racks.
-We bought a cheap $40 tent to replace our childrens’ tent. Weighs under 5lbs. Maybe we’ll set it up this weekend…
-We bought an IPAD! It’s and IPad 2, Wi-Fi. Now we can update the blog from the trail Spent the extra $100 for their extended warranty. We usually don’t buy warranties, but this one includes two accident replacements for two years.