Camping equipment is all set!

We finally settled for all the main camping equipment we will be using!

Here is what we decided to get:


Suisse Sport Adult Adventurer Mummy Ultra-Compactable Sleeping Bag (Assorted Colors)



ALPS Mountaineering Zephyr 2 Tent Floor Saver


ALPS Mountaineering Zephyr 2 Backpacking Tent


ALPS Mountaineering Lightweight Series Self-Inflating Air Pad (Steel Blue, Regular)

Now we just need to synchronize the delivery with the timeframe we will be at the hotel in Charleston and we'll be fine. We're planning to order everything monday before going to the airport. This will enable the delivery to happen on April 4th, just in time.

Cheers,

Eduardo

Planning continues

It seems the more we plan, the more we have left to do! haha We're now finishing our detailed daily routes, so we need to check each road carefully not to get lost in some desert or wild places.

This will be a long night!

Cheers,
Eduardo & Gilberto

Recharging after training

After a long training session, we need to recharge our energies.

So here's how I did it today (this is for one person):

• 1 litter of fat-free milk;
• 2 table spoons of chocolate powder;
• 2 table spoons of Whey protein powder;
• 2 bananas.

Then mix in the blender. This is how it looks:

Now just drink it all and go rest. =)

Cheers,

Eduardo

Kitchen stuff

Hi everyone,
Today we are looking at kitchen stuff. So we decided to make a list of everything we are planning to carry. Here is what we got.

• 1 pan of 8 inches/20 cm across. The lightest, the better;
• 1 small, lightweight electric pan;
• 2 forks, 2 knifes, 2 spoons;
• 2 plates;
• 1 lighter;
• 1 small sponge;
• 1 small container of soap;
• Small container of olive oil;
• Salt, oregano and pepper;
• 1 small towel;
• A few (4 or 5) hooks and plastic baits for fishing;
• A small wheel of nylon to use when finishing as well.
• 1 multi-functional Swiss army knife, with can opener, knifes, a variety of tools and accessories.

We will slit up the weight of all this, of course. Hopefully it won't be too much, but it it turns to be then we will leave the non-essential behind and move on.

Cheers!
Eduardo

Heath Insurance

A very important point to consider before any adventure is a good health insurance covering the kinds of activities you will be performing in your trip. This is important since, regardless of how much planning we may do, we can never be sure what's around the corner.

Today we have settled for a particular one. We will do a 3 months long Explorer package with http://www.worldnomads.com, a world renowned health insurance for this kind of thing. It has coverage for a variety of sports (more than 100 including, of course, bicycle touring) and a very high coverage for any medical emergencies. Their premium is not too high, which is always a good thing. :)

Here s a list of things they cover for residents of Brazil:
http://www.worldnomads.com/travel-insurance/adventure-sports-benefits.aspx?p=e23ea41e72bd4f6990e6085c6bf0243c&c=BRA

That's it for today! Tomorrow we'll order our bikes.

Cheers!
Eduardo

Plane tickets in hands!

We got our plane tickets!

This means we have a final start date for our trip (was about time! haha).

Here is or itinerary: fly from Porto Alegre to Sao Paulo April 02, 6:00am. At 11:10am, fly from Sao Paulo to Orlando, FL, and arrive at 7:15pm:

Then we rent a car at the airport and go driving to Charleston, SC. This will be a 7 hours trip including a 30 mins stop to rest, use restrooms, etc.

We are planning to drive on our arrival, and get in the hotel in Charleston around 3:00am of April 3rd. In the afternoon of April 3rd, we will get our bicycles and look for the remainder of the equipment we will need.

On April 4th, the plan is to do a test trip. We will ride for 1 hour and a half to a public location and test our bicycles, tents, GPS, etc. Then return to Charleston.

If everything is OK, we will sleep early to be ready to get started for real. On April 5th, early in the morning we will get started and ride west towards our first stop on the way.

Cheers,
Eduardo

Something inspiring I found on the internet, thought it was worth sharing!

Cheers,
Eduardo

Ordering the bicycles

So today we are researching some Surly dealerships that might have the bikes we need in stock. As the date to the trip approaches we are rushing to get them ordered, but it seems not every place accepts orders through the internet. We won't have time to order on arrival because the bicycles we want, the Surly's Long Haul Trucker (LHT), take about 5 days to be delivered once we pay for it.

These are the dealerships we are getting in touch with:


RETRO CITY CYCLES
1806 N. Orange Avenue
Orlando, FL 32804
(407)895-2700

BIKES & MORE
2133 NW 6th St
Gainesville, FL 32609
(352)373-6574

A1A CYCLE WORKS
1059 A1A Beach Blvd.
St. Augustine, FL 32080
(904)471-9009

TWO WHEELER DEALER
4408 Wrightsville Ave
Wilmington, NC 28403
(910)799-6444

BICYCLE SHOPPE
1539 Johnnie Dodds Blvd
Mt Pleasent, SC 29464
(843)722-8168

OUT-SPOKIN'
3223 Devine Street
Columbia, SC 29205
(803)254-9797

CYCLE CENTER
9003 Two Notch Road Ste14-15
Columbia, SC 29223
(803)256-0557

TTR Bikes
101 S. Hudson Street
Greenville, SC 29601

http://www.ttrbikes.com/touring-bikes


Let's hope we can find two LHT bikes in stock on some of these!

Cheers,
Eduardo

New sections in the site!

So we have setup the "Our Mission" and "Equipment" sections of this site. There you will find general information on what we are doing and why, and detailed information on our choice of equipment.

Hope you like it!


Cheers,
Eduardo

Here we go!

Hi everyone!
This is our first post initiating the activities in this blog.

What is this about:
We are two riders who are planning to cross the USA on a bicycle, sleeping on campgrounds and desert places throughout the way. We will start from Charleston, South Carolina and go on a bicycle up to San Francisco, California. It will a 3300+ miles ride.

Who are we:
My name is Eduardo Born and I'm 29 years old. I reside in the USA, but I'm natural of Porto Alegre, Brazil. My partner in this adventure is my uncle, Gilberto Fonseca, 55 years old, also from Porto Alegre, Brazil.

How long will it take:
At the very least 55 days, at most 70, depending on weather conditions, possible injuries and other  unforeseen difficulties.

In the following months we will be updating you with the details of our planning and progress as we go through it. Everything from our choices of equipment, route details, and a daily report of where we are and how we are doing.

Thank you for joining us!!

Eduardo & Gilberto