My diving/motorcycle friend Dave Allen wants to do his first group ride to Big Bend in March with Lone Star BMW riders, so I’m going to go along.
Should be a fun ride. Staying one night in Alpine, one in Terlingua, one in Fort Davis before returning home. I’m hoping to talk some folks into running across the border to Peguis Canyon since I missed out on doing that the last trip.
We’ll be riding through another big historical event. Vermont is celebrating the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain coming to Lake Champlain Valley. You can check out the history and activities at http://www.champlain400.com/
I’ve already been warned that traffic will be heavy through this area. This should make it even more interesting.
Jean-Francois mentioned a couple weeks ago that he had dehydrated food in the past to take on camping trips. He knows I am into healthy eating.
I’ve seen the dried food at REI and other places and have no interest in paying that much for a meal while camping. The idea of preparing tasty, healthy food to take along appeals to me a lot.
I checked out some books and ended up getting Backpack Gourmet by Linda Frederick Yaffe. I have also found great ideas on http://www.backpackingchef.com/index.html.
I bought an economical little dehydrator — Nesco FD-75PR 700 watt. I was pleasantly surprised when the box arrived because I didn’t know it came with 2 plastic trays for liquid items and 2 plastic mesh screens for small things. After using it I feel the ideal situation would be to have 5 each of the liners for liquid and the mesh screens since the dehydrator comes with 5 trays. So far I’ve been improvising by cutting parchment paper to fit the other 3 trays and it’s been working well. The FD-75PR model has fan to circulate the air which I read prior to buying is critical to the drying process. I put it in another room with the door closed since it does produce a lot of heat while drying. I have been very pleased with it’s performance so far.
I started out simple by drying vegetables. I have done broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, and multi-color peppers so far. It is amazing how small everything gets when all the moisture is pulled out. Lesson: use the mesh screens. Small pieces fall through the trays when the items are dry.
I tried the pumpkin pie bark on backpackingchef.com and love it so much I had to get it bagged up and put away or I was going to eat it all. It’s just pumpkin, pumpkin pie spices, and maple syrup (the real stuff). I think I spread it a little too thick because it took a long time to dry and I’m not certain it’s dry enough to not go bad on the trip. It’s just one of those things I’ll have to find out as we go.
Prepared a recipe from Backpack Gourmet this morning — Thai Noodles. I hope it’s as good rehydrated as it is right out of the pot. I used a food processor to mince the shallots, garlic, mushrooms, and peanuts to make sure they are small enough to dry properly.
I’m excited about being able to take meals and dishes that I know are healthy and have only good ingredients in them. We’ll report during and after the trip how my food works out on the road.
I have two yellow labs named Nikita and Ellie and I’m caught between loving being a dog owner and loving to travel.
I tried a kennel where they were very well cared for but it was stressful to both dogs in different ways. Ellie the younger one wouldn’t have anything to do with me for a week after I got back because she was mad at me about the kennel. At least I assume that’s why she was mad at me since she’s normally a very loving dog.
About a year and a half ago the children next door started “dog sitting” for me. They come over 3-5 times a day to let the dogs out and feed them. There are 3 kids who do an incredible job and it’s facilitated by their parents who fill in sometimes when everyone else is busy.
The longest they have done it so far is for almost 4 weeks. This time I’ll be gone 6-8 weeks. I worry about taking advantage of them and running them into the ground with a 4 week trip. Sticking them with the entire responsibility for 6-8 weeks is too much.
To my amazement I’ve found a couple more kids in the neighborhood who want to help. Actually they found me. They stopped by handing out professional looking business cards because they wanted to do yard work, odd jobs, dog sitting to make money. How cool is that? I’ve spoken to one of the boy’s mother and she will coordinate with the parents next door to make sure it goes smoothly.
I can’t believe how lucky I am. I now feel I can leave and the house and dogs will be well cared for.
It’s not done yet, but I want to post pictures and a big thank you on our sponsor page since these people are huge contributors to making the trip possible for me. Watch for it at http://www.motorcycle-journeys.com/sponsors/sponsors.html.
Jean-Francois emailed today (he’s still in the Caribbean) that he had spoken to relatives in Gaspe ( he was born there) and they are celebrating the 475th anniversary of Jacques Cartier landing there claiming the land for France and King Francis I in 1534. They are having many activities this summer including tallships sailing into the harbor. This has been added to our itinerary.
Visit http://www.475gaspe.com/ang/index.html for more information about the celebration (in English).