Packing Up - Grampies Go Hawaiian Winter 2014 - CycleBlaze

November 3, 2014

Packing Up

It is still about two weeks until we actually start cycling on this tour, but tomorrow is the day we will actually leave. How can it take two weeks to get from Vancouver Island to Hawaii Island? It's easy if you are a Grampie.

The first step is to go to Seattle, to check in with Avi and Violet. That is fairly reasonable, because Seattle is sort of on the way to Hawaii. Actually, flights to Hawaii are cheaper out of Seattle than from Victoria or Vancouver. But here is where we get a little lost. Yes, we will go to SeaTac airport, but rather than sanely take Hawaiian Air, we will jump on an Air Canada flight to Montreal. Montreal? Yes, Amelia, Evelyn, and Joseph, of course!

We will just stay more or less for the weekend. It's Evelyn's birthday, you know! (also Joshua's!).

After the weekend, we will return to Seattle, and see if anything is new with Avi and Violet. After all, almost seven days will have passed since we saw them last! Only after this final research will we wander back to SeaTac, looking for that Hawaiian Air flight.

Despite the wandering route, it is still true that tomorrow is the day. So that meant we needed to finally decide on what gear is coming, remember how to get the bikes into their suitcases, find our maps, and so forth. This stage of a tour can be fun, because it builds anticipation, but it also involves dragging out spreadsheets and snippets of paper, compiled in the past to document which bits go into which bags. The past, though, is history, and there are always new ideas about how to carry and arrange the gear, which bits to add, and which to jettison.

Dodie is really good at this. She will suddenly look up from some innocent activity, like knitting, and rapidly say things like: "There is spare space in your left front bag, so if we shift the sleeping bag to there from my right rear, I can fill the spot with clothes from my left front. This is not to say that fresh food purchases would now go to my left front, only that instead of going to your left front, they would go to the yellow Orlieb rack top on the back of your bike, assuming that we have made room there by moving the tent to your left rear." My standard reply to this would be "Whaa?"

Of course, where everything goes while we are riding is not the same as where is goes when we are trying to load duffel bags for the air flight. There is a spreadsheet for that!

There is always a certain amount of chaos involved in a pack up, but it's sort of a good sign, and indication that things are happening. Now, though, everything that is going is safely stashed in the van, and everything that is staying is safely stashed in the back room. All counters are clear, our minds are clear, and all is calm. That is, until tomorrow!

A healthy sign that we are getting somewhere?
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Bonus Feature: DaBrim

The DaBrim is a large nylon visor that attaches to your helmet and provides shade in front and rain protection down the back. It is sold by Adventure Cycling, by select bike shops, and from dabrim.com. There are models of this style of "hat" not only for cycling but also for paddling, riding, skiing, and so forth. It seemed like a good idea, particularly for sunny and rainy Hawaii, and we still think it will work out. We ordered two, in visible yellow, by mail.

What surprised us when the visors arrived was the size. I am not sure what we were expecting, but these were approximately like medium pizzas. (In fact, they measure 20" by 17", making them a little bigger than some "mediums"). This size is probably what gives them their utility. There is a lot of protection to be had under there. The only thing, we were kind of at a loss as to how to pack them, and how to effectively deal with them on and around the bikes. You can't roll or fold the things, so you are living with a pizza on your head or strapped somewhere 24/7. We still loved the idea, but still could not see it working in real life. Did it mean the DaBrims were headed to the van, ready to go, or the back room, to join other things that looked good to us at first?

It turned out DaBrim has an answer for this, something developed not for cranky cycle tourists but for fast riders concerned about the wind resistance. This is their model called the "Sporty", a trimmed down version of the "Classic". But is the Sporty small enough? Is it too small? This is a problem with buying clothing-like things by mail.

We located a bike shop that sells DaBrim, in Sequim, Washington. This is sort of on our way to Seattle. But a phone call revealed that while they had two "Sportys" they were in the colour "pastel". The website revealed this to be a swirly blend of pinks, yellows, and blues that even Dodie immediately identified as "too girly". No, we clearly needed the Grampies standard: "Fluorescent yellow"!

DaBrim had an answer for this. They are sending us out two fluorescent yellow Sportys to Seattle. They will arrive by week's end, with free shipping. Then we can select one model, the other, or none, and return what we don't keep.

The man at DaBrim was friendly, intelligent, and efficient. It's a small company, and clearly service is a strong point. The actual product also seems very well made. We still hope one model or the other works out, and of course we will report the result here in the blog.

Medium pizzas? Dodie thinks they are more like Large, or even Extra Large.
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