Rene, We had originally planned 6 riding days, which in hindsight, was overly ambitious. There was supposed to be a 100 plus mile day, a couple of 70's, etc. Add in the weather, and we would never have made any of our planned camping arrangements. I think the pressure of trying to 'make the mileage', and get to planned campsites, would have cut into the enjoyment of the ride. And that's what it's supposed to be about, right? So with the luxury of the support van, we immediately dumped the 'got to get there' attitude, and enjoyed the beautiful Natchez Trace.
Many of our fellow campers were a joy to meet, and talk to, and planned AM departure times quickly vanished with the good conversation, and the extra cup of coffee and ginger snaps! The vast majority of the drivers along the Trace were very courteous too. Always a plus. We learned to set reasonable daily distances to allow time to set up, not be rushed in our personal preparation, and cooking. Regarding cooking, I learned to love the new Trangia stove, and it's ease of use and versatility. I made eggs, heated water for coffee, pasta dinners, and had planned on some breakfast oatmeal with honey until the raccoons got into the food(another lesson learned)! Also, we learned to allow time to sightsee, and enjoy the company along the way. We found out too, about advertised camp sites, like those listed on NPS maps, vs available sites, like KOA"s and parks in nearby towns. Also, that there's little privacy in a campsite if you're there with other people around. A great experience, and I plan on enjoying more trips like this. Rusty click...@gmail.com Pittsburgh, PA On Apr 26, 2013, at 5:43 PM, René Sterental <orthie...@gmail.com> wrote: > I'd be interested to hear more about what you learned, and why was it almost > an ordeal. > > René > > > On Fri, Apr 26, 2013 at 2:12 PM, Rusty Click <click...@gmail.com> wrote: > My friend Ed and I decided to stretch out of our S24O comfort zone, and > planned to ride the Natchez Trace, end to end. We were camping, but had > another friend willing to drive a support van for us, which ultimately turned > our ride from an ordeal, into a positive learning experience. > > We had weather delays, and ambitious mileage goals that caused us to shorten > up to 300 out of 444 possible miles. We learned a great deal about camping, > cooking, packing, and realistic miles per day, when on non rail-trail road > rides. Thank goodness for our support! > > We met many wonderful people, including an Australian couple, and one of > their friends, who were on day 45 of an LA to New Orleans, up the Underground > Railroad route to Niagra Falls, and then down the GAP trail, ride to > Washington Dulles airport. > > My Hillborne rode great, but suffered a fractured rear rim, that wasn't > discovered till I returned home! Glad it didn't fail dramatically during the > ride. > > Here (hopefully) are some pics > > http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcpgh/ > > Cheers, > Rusty > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en-US. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google > Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/bYaXkcHiuF0/unsubscribe?hl=en-US. > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en-US. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en-US. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
