What I Love: Snacks

I spend a large part of my day thinking about what I am going to eat next, what food I am going to buy, when I am going to eat it, how I am going to eat it and how much of it I am going to eat. I am not always hungry, but I am often hungry. I can eat a disgusting amount of food. Remember when Michael Phelps posted his 10,000 calorie per day diet? He said, "eat, sleep and swim; that's all I do." Now we know that maybe his pot smoking contributed to his munchie inclination, but still, 10,000 calories is a lot to eat in one day. I am not quite there, but I am trying to give him a run for his money. I would estimate that I burn between 3,500-5,000 calories per day, depending on terrain and mileage, and I am doing my best to put that many back in! 

Obviously, I cannot carry around Phelps' three fried egg sandwiches, half a kilo of pasta or large pizza, so I do rely a lot on snacks, and many of them are sugary. Funny enough, I am actually not a big sugar eater in real life. However, I am embracing the now and doing what feels good. Before you get all worried (hi Mom!), my favorite town meal is a huge bagged salad with a extra veggies and some protein if I can find it! However, here are some of my favorite on-the-bike snacks. 

Dried fruit: I would prefer non-dried fruit, but it is not really the season right now, plus I can only fit so much. I have bought an apple or orange or banana from time to time but I try to eat it fast so I don't have to carry it. What will last longer is something like Trader Joes dried coconut or mangos or WinCo dried apples (I love their bulk bins!)

Meat and cheese: For some reason I often crave protein, but I obviously do not have a fridge. My trick is to buy precooked bratwurst and a block of cheddar on an evening when I have a fridge and then try to eat them the next day. If need be, the cheese will last for a few days, although if it is warm, it does tend to get a bit slimy. However, the brats need to be eaten fairly quickly. I have been known to have two for breakfast and two for lunch to use them up! 

TJs Boba Mochi: I looked at this and thought that it was a bit strange, but then I thought I would give it a shot, since they are individually wrapped. They are good! So nice to have one of these for "dessert" after a meat and cheese snack! 

Fudge dipped coconut granola bar: As I mentioned, I eat a lot. In an effort to not spend $2 per bar and then eat 6 of them in one day, I tried to find a cheaper granola bar. These don't have the best ingredients for sure, but they are only $2.50 for a box of 10 and they taste pretty good! 

Chocolate covered gummy bears: I also like plain ol' gummy bears, but the chocolate covered ones are my favorite. However, these do melt, so as it gets hotter, I have to have the naked ones... 

Cottage cheese and tortilla chips: This is like my all time favorite snack, but I usually have to buy it on a town day, eat the cottage cheese with chips and then I can carry the remaining chips as a snack. There is nothing better than some salty corn goodness when I have just climbed up a big sweaty hill! Also, I don't care if they are tiny or smashed, they still do the trick! 

Yogurt and peanut butter: I only carried this once when my eyes were way bigger than my stomach and I had a lot of fridge food that I did not eat on the night I was in town. So I wrapped the yogurt in a plastic bag and planned to eat it for second breakfast (or elevensies). Then I sat down on the side of the road, put a couple of scoops of PB in it, stirred and ate while I watched the cars go by. It was great. This is one of my favorite snacks from home when I trying to pretend that I am eating ice cream, but I am also trying to be healthier. 

Speaking of Peanut Butter: This is such a versatile thing; you can just eat it right from the spoon, or on a cracker, or tortilla, or apple, or banana, or you can put it in yogurt or cottage cheese. I could go on, but I do not want to sound like Bubba. Peanut butter etouffee anyone? 

What is your favorite hiking/biking/road trip snack!? What is your favorite way to eat peanut butter? 

Six Things to Do in Portland, Oregon

I first came to Portland about 15 years ago, and for the last ten years, I have been to Portland on average about once a year. It has been so fun to explore the city and the more times I come, the better the visits get, as they are very low key and I can spend my time doing what I love doing best, walking around and looking at stuff! Besides just doing that, here are six things that I would suggest to someone who was going to visit Portland. 

(1) Drink beer / go to breweries! I had to lead with this one, because if you are a beer drinker, you will love this town. There are so many options and I could name about a million of them but some of my favorites so far (and I am still testing this out) are Hopworks, Breakside, and Upright (I went to this one when it was basically just a cave in a basement). 

(2) Explore the neighborhoods: I had to say this, as this is one of my favorite things to do. There are so many little neighborhoods, each with their own flare or charm. Portland is set up in quadrants, and I like to check out a bit of each, but I have predominately stayed in the NE when I have come. Some fun ones are Alberta, which is known for its art scene, Hawthorne, which has tons of good food and shops and Laurelhurst, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Portland and one of the first planned neighborhoods ever. You can find more specific info about the 95 neighborhoods here. 

Rose City Park neighborhood during Halloween

(3) Forest Park: This park is right in the middle of the city. It is beautiful and it is easy to do loops of any distance and you don't even feel like you are near a city, even though when you are done, it is close enough to go and get a multitude of different foods (and beers!) within a few miles. 

Forest Park in winter

(4) Columbia Gorge: Although technically not in Portland, it is worth a trip out to see this. Whether you drive it or hike it or camp it, there is so much to do in the gorge. It is so green and lush and if you are feeling frisky, you can get up high for a wonderful view. Not only that, but you can fish, drink beer, eat great food and see tons of waterfalls, rivers and creeks. I suggest the Eagle Creek trail, where I once saw salmon spawning, and then lunch in Hood River at either Bette's Place or Mugen Noodle, and then an after lunch beer at pFriem Brewery. 

(5) Powell's: Books, books, books! This is the best bookstore and if you like books, you have to go here. If you don't like books, well, maybe go and get a coffee while your friends look at books. It is three floors of every book you can possibly imagine, plus they even have used books. Pro tip: go to the flagship store on Burnside!! 

Powell's

(6) Eating! There is so much good food! I personally love a good breakfast place, and for that I would suggest Screen Door, Tin Shed or Pine State Biscuits. For lunch/dinner, I like Otto's Pizzeria (best GF crust I have had so far), Matt's BBQ...and so many more! 

Matt's BBQ

The above list is just a taste of all of the fun things there are to do! I still have a lot more exploring to do and I am sure I will find many more things that I love to do in Portland before long.

Have you ever been to Portland? If so, what is your favorite thing to do there? If not, what is your favorite city/place to wander around? 

A Day in The Life

Happy tax day!? Did you do your taxes yet? I had to pay and I set mine up to pay on the 14th, as I am not paying any earlier than I absolutely have to! I hope that you got money back, or did not have to pay too much! 

I know I said I was not going to just talk about the bike trip. but Nicole's post about normal every day life the other day inspired me (plus Engie asked me for the nitty gritty about every hour of my day). I love hearing about other people's different days, so I thought I would do one for my current "routine." Each day is different, but on this day (April 7, 2024), I had wild camped near Lava Bed National Monument. I am going to do this day as a 24 hour period instead of the standard "awake" hours; you will see why in a minute. 

9:30 pm: After falling asleep while reading around 6:00 pm (oops), I wake up, thinking it is morning. Realizing it is not, I puff a few puffs of air into my sleeping pad (it seems to have a very small leak) and I go back to sleep. 

11:00 pm: Wake up, roll over. 

1:00 am: Wake up, roll over. Sometimes sleeping while camping is not fun.

3:00 am: Wake up, realize it's pretty cold out, put sleeping bag over head, roll over.

4:30 am: Wake up, hear snow hitting the tent, roll over.

5:00 am: Alarm goes off, hear snow hitting the tent still, decide to not get up yet, put on a podcast.

6:45 am: After listening to several podcasts, it is still snowing. Thermometer shows that it is 31 degrees inside the tent, so I can only assume it is in the mid 20s outside. After a period of hemming and hawing, I decide to get up and face the music.

Frozen tent

7:00 am: Mobilization tasks include (in this order generally): put on contact lenses, socks (in sleeping bag so they get warm), beanie, long sleeve shirt, hydration pack, buff (on neck), wired earphones (use to save battery, better if they are under jacket) and rain jacket. Take off sleeping shorts, put on hated diaper pants (bike shorts), and long pants. Deflate sleeping pillow (this is a new luxury for me), and sleeping pad and put in bag. Put sleep liner (adds about 10-15 degrees of warmth) in bag. Stuff sleeping bag in bag, filling all cracks. Lastly, put electronics, sleeping shorts and Kindle in the bag. 

7:15 am: Put on shoes. Exit tent. There is snow on the ground and on Bob. It is very cloudy and I am hoping that it does not snow all day. Pee in bushes, which involves removing two layers of pants, peeing, pulling up two layers of pants and tucking in two shirts. Brush teeth. Put on gloves, tighten wrist Velcro on jacket. The less wind getting in, the better. Eat a granola bar and skip coffee due to cold/snow and lack of extra water. Deconstruct and pack up tent. Strap bag with sleeping items on back rack. 

7:45 am: Start Garmin Inreach (this is a satellite tracker and SOS messenger), start Garmin Edge (this is a bike computer that tells me which way to go), start Coros watch (this logs my miles, elevation, heart beat etc.) Plug headphones into phone, start audiobook. Drink water. Leave camp, start pedaling. 

7:45 am - 8:30 am: Pedal, take photos, beat my hands on my handlebars and feet on the pedals because they are cold due to snow and 28 degree temps (according to the bike computer, this may not account for the cold, cold wind though). On this day I go through Lava Bed National Monument, who most of you have probably never heard of, as it is kind of in the middle of nowhere. It is full of lava and caves and is probably pretty cool to explore, but I do not do it this time, as it is very cold and I need to get a permit from the (closed) visitor center to be able to go into the caves. However, check out Skull Cave; isn't it cool? It may be worth coming back someday! 

Lava

8:30 am - 10:30 am: Pedal, take photos. Am kind of glad when there is a small (read: small!) hill as it gives me a chance to warm up a little. I go through the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, where I am sure there are normally a lot of birds, but today there is not much. It snows most of the time, but at least it is not rain! I am craving a coffee, and the road has been a bit straight and I need a break, but there is nothing! I have literally seen no services for the last ~ 80 miles. 

Still cold!

10:30 am: Finally, I get to the Oregon border and there is a liquor store/bar/market on the corner and I fling down the bike and go in! It reminds me of home; there is nobody inside but the bartender points me to the coffee machine and lets me sit in front of the fire. As I sit there, I hear the cook or someone in the back talking about his night last night and it is entertaining to say the least. I look at the map, book a room in Klamath Falls, and warm my toes. A few locals come in and sit at the bar and they start asking me where I am going, and upon learning that my next stop is KF, the proceed to give me advice on which route to take that is the most scenic (and flat, I hope!) I end up taking their advice, because why not!? 

My new favorite bar

11:00 am: I pay for my coffee and drag myself outside, where the sun has come out! It is probably still in the high 30s, but having the sun at my back is priceless. I can hear three guys in trucks admire my bike set up as I leave. I follow the route that the bar guy told me to take, and he was right! It is pretty and there are not many cars, and the ones that do come give me lots of space. 

Lower Klamath Lake Road

2:00 pm: I arrive at KF and after having a bit of a harrowing ride along the main drag in town (no bike lane, fast cars), I get to my motel and check in. They do not have a room on the first floor, or an elevator, so I drag Bob up the stairs. He probably weighs about 75 pounds without me on him. I get into my room and complete my normal room review. Does the room have: a coffee machine, a refrigerator, a microwave? In this case it has the last two, which means I can buy cold things from the grocery store! 

2:15 pm: Before leaving to get food, I do the following: remove bike shorts and wash, hang to dry (they are thick and need time), put on sleeping shorts, remove wet tent from bike and hang to dry, start charging my power bank, get my Chico bag. I walk to the grocery store and buy too much food. This is very common. I always have eyes bigger than both my stomach, and my bike bag capacity. I will figure out a way to make it work though. I do buy a salad and some frozen peas, which I will have to eat right away. The rest, even the cheese and brats, can be stored on the bike the first day, as the temps are supposed to be pretty cold the first day (25 - 45 degrees). My weakness is tortilla chips, AND they take up too much room, but I buy them anyway. I also buy ice cream, which I will eat for dinner later. :) However, to my credit, it all fits in the Chico bag! Not only that, but this food, along with a few other bars and things that I already have, need to last me for the next four days, until my next grocery store.

Grocery haul!

3:30 pm: I am back in the room. I remove all of my clothing and wash it in the sink, and hang it up in front of the heater, which I have put on full blast. Even without clothing on, I am sweating, but needs must! I need my clothes to be dry by tomorrow. I eat the salad and some peas, and repackage some of the food (rice, coffee) so that I don't have any boxes. 

Dinner #1

4:30 pm: Done eating. I swap my charging item. I only carry one square, so need to do one thing at a time unless there are USB ports in the motel. Luckily, this one has two of them, so I can charge three things at once! Yay. However, I have eleven items that need to be charged! Isn't that ridiculous? What ever happened to going out in the wild with a map and a compass and a hunk of jerky? Actually, several of these items will last a few days, or can be charged with the power bank, but I always fill them up when I do have power just in case. 

4:30 pm - 6:30 pm: I shower and put on the game show network. Who knew there were so many games that are just like Family Feud? Also, when did all of the hosts become so annoying? Also, clearly older people are watching this channel, as there are a lot of commercials for medications, some of which may give you pain or swelling in your perineum! Really? All you need for that is to ride a bike for several days in a row. I go through my route plan again for the next week, while eating ice cream. I note down where the water sources are, how far it is between towns, possible reroutes I may need or want to do. I check the weather for the next few days. It is supposed to get warmer, with highs in the 60s in a few days, but it is supposed to rain after that. I hope that the second part is wrong. 

6:30 pm - 8:30 pm: I do some administrative things (write a blog post, pay my property tax, make sure everything is running smoothly with the house etc.) since I have WiFi and probably will be camping in the wild for the next several days. I also download some new books from the library, and make sure they are usable offline, and back up my photos that I recently took. However, the WiFi is NOT fast, and it ends up taking over 12 hours to upload my recent photos to the cloud. Annoying, but at least I can get some things done. I have some nachos (tortilla chips with melted cheese - I love having a microwave!) for dessert. 

8:30 pm: Brush teeth, take out contacts, pee (in a toilet! Yay!). Get in bed to wind down. Send a few text updates to people since I may not be in service for a while. 

9:00 pm: Put on a podcast and fall asleep. 

Is your normal morning or evening routine the same every day? What is the most random national park or preserve that you have been to and loved? 

Episode One: Plan G

You know how there is plan A and then plan B etc.? The last few weeks have been a lesson in always having a backup and/or being willing to go with the flow. I feel like I am currently on plan F or G of my trip already. The original plan had been to start from Grass Valley, CA and head over the Sierra toward Klamath Falls, OR, where I would meet up with some friends for about a week near Bend, OR before heading back to Klamath Falls to start north again. 

Things were looking pretty good for a while; the snow was melting and Punxsutawney Phil had said that spring was coming early, which I was a big fan of. However, about a week before I had planned on starting, there was a big snow storm in the Sierra and things started looking bleak for me. I told my Dad that his ski season was going to need to be cut short, but in the end, he got lucky. This was not a horrible thing; it just meant that my plan to try to stay on dirt paths for the bulk of my trip just went out the window, and instead of going over the hills, I would need to take the road around through the valley. However, this did not mean I did not need to go through the mountains still; I would just do it in a lower place instead. 

Country road, take me home...(table mountain in the distance)

In the next couple of days, I got to Red Bluff via backroads, and then cut east to head up and over the mountains. Well, this day it started raining, then snowing and then I actually hit snow at about 4,200 feet, which is a bit lower than expected. So I tried to plod through it for a while, but ultimately it was very hard and it was uphill and my feet were getting cold, so I decided to head back down the hill to regroup. I was going to try to hitchhike to the town of Burney, but nobody would pick me (a very wet person) and Bob (a very wet bike) up. Luckily, I found a feed store that was on the side of the highway and I went in and begged Sonny, the owner (we became good friends), if I could use his heater to warm up and asked him if he knew anyone with a truck who would be willing to give me a ride. 

After reviewing the weather in Burney and surrounds, I determined that the upcoming snow would make this journey a bit unpleasant and possibly dangerous, so in the end, I decided to go back to Redding, which is along highway 5 and wait for my friends there instead of in Klamath Falls. Luckily Sonny's friend was headed to town and he gave me a ride right to my motel! Thank goodness for friendly folks. After a week in Oregon, I was back in Redding, but ironically, though it had been nice for the last five days, it was set to snow again in the mountains! I decided to take a bus to Burney and start from there rather than trying to go up the snowy slopes of the highway. 

Yup, those are my tracks (and a bunny)

The pass I wanted to avoid

This turned out to be a wise decision. The highway (299) to Burney was uphill, windy and had very little shoulder and there were a couple of snowy passes. In the end, I skipped about 7 miles, but I am okay with that. I started off in Burney and headed east and then north again. However, lest you think it was easy, it was uphill, snowing part of the time, and in the 20s in the mornings! But I made it to Klamath Falls safely in the end. The weather is still supposed to be a bit hit and miss, but this week's lows are supposed to be in the 30s and highs in the 50s/60s so that is much better than 20s! I have spent a lot of time looking at weather, routes, and webcams lately, but hopefully things will become more (and stay more) spring-like after this. 

View of Mt. Lassen from highway 299

A few stats --> Dead animals seen on side of the road: snakes, squirrels, cat, deer, vole, birds, lots of unidentified bones. I have also seen lots of cans (but not as many as in Washington), cigarette packets, and beer bottles. Good things I've seen: many farms/ranches/live animals including goats, donkeys, ponies, horses, sheep, ducks, geese, hawks, unidentified birds, dogs & cats, many sunrises, many empty roads, fun small towns.

Now the fun part, the Q&A! If you haven't gone and asked any questions yet, you can do it here. Don't be shy! It can even be anonymous if you want it to! I thought I would answer a few in each post, except for some of Engie's questions, for which the answers will likely be an entire post! This time, I will answer a few logistic questions that I have recently been asked. 

Where do you sleep? (Michelle and various other friends) - I am doing a mix of wild camping, established camping, motels and staying with friends. Most of this will not be planned in advance, as I will not really know how fast or how far I will go each day, but my expectation is that I will likely try to have a warm bed and a shower about once a week. If it rains or snows on me a lot, this number may increase. [edited to add: given the snowy conditions, I have so far stayed in a motel 4 nights and wild camped 2 nights, but I am hoping to do a lot more camping over the next week.]

Wild camping in Modoc County, temps around 40

What do you eat? (Michelle and various other friends) - I carry enough food to get me to the next town, which will likely mostly be only a day or two's worth of food. However, there will be sections where I will need to carry several days worth of food or several liters worth of water. What I carry will be similar to backpacking food, like rice, beans and oatmeal, but I will also be able to carry some heavier things or fresher items like peanut butter, bagged salad and fruit/veggies. I will also stop in towns and eat real food from time to time! My favorite grocery store foods in town are ice cream, cheese and meat, but I will also be splurging on an omelet or a hamburger sometimes. I also do carry a stove and so I can have hot food like instant rice, oatmeal and coffee. 

Typical snack food

Coffee maker (aka the stove)

Where do you use the bathroom? (My friend K's 10 year old daughter L) - This really depends on where I am. The first few days I was in small towns or rural roads. If there is no traffic and/or I can hide, I usually just pee in the bushes. If I am in a town, I may use a park restroom or a gas station restroom, but I don't really like leaving my bike out too long. If I am camping, I will go in the bushes. If I am in a motel, I will use a toilet! 

Will I carry a weapon? (My aunt and my friend G) - Not this time. I am going to leave my Glock at home, but will likely get bear spray when I am closer to or am in Canada. 

Progress report: 352 mi / 563 km | 7 days | 42 hours (6 per day) | gummy bears eaten: 76

How was your week last week? Did you get any snow? Is it cold where you are? What do you do to warm up when you are cold? 

Slow Travel: Week One

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend and maybe even are out doing something fun with the kiddos this week! I am feeling much more motivated and organized than I did last week! A quick update before I jump in, just to let people know how everything is going; it is going well. I have started the grand depart for the Bikepacking USA and Canada Adventure and am currently spending some time with some friends in Oregon. But I don't want to just talk about all of my bicycling woes all the time (although I did used to do that a lot with running!) so I will probably put out a bike centric post every few weeks or once a month. 

Currently here

Also, I am rounding up questions for future posts, and I need your help. If you don't mind, can you please go here and ask a few? I will sing your praises in all future posts if you do!

Now onto the beef. My first week of retirement was spent at my parents' house. So basically, I am living with my parents again. Yup. In a van, down by the river. The fun thing is that my brother also showed up to help my Dad with a job and so it was actually the whole family there at the same time. We all lived under one roof for several days and did not even kill each other even though maybe we wanted to sometimes. 

So long sucka!

Seriously though, it was so "real life." You know how sometimes when you are with family or friends for a special occasion, or only one or two days, you feel the need to behave, aka hang out and entertain and do the things you may not want to do? Well this was just regular days, with each of us flitting in and out on our own timelines, while still spending time to eat breakfast and dinner together most days. It's those low pressure visits that are really more my style. I love being able to read my book even though other people are in the room and not feel rude, like I am using up precious time. My Mom would nap, and I would read, or go for a walk, or go and play with my bike, or pick my nose. It was great. 

Spring has sprung!

I also accomplished a few things. Thanks to all of you, I got out of my reading rut! I did not mention these books on my last post as I was not finished with them yet, but I can also add A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking (4.5 stars), Then She Was Gone (4 stars), The Cover Story (3.5 stars) and Die With Zero (3 stars) to my March reads and none of them sucked! In case you think 3 stars means I did not like it, that is not true; it means I thought it was good but not great, which is what I would say a 4 is. 

I also now have some great songs for my Pick Me Up playlist! Thanks to all of you for contributing! There were some great adds, such as System of a Down from my friend E, who likes bands with names like Dead Fetus, so this was actually a very tame suggestion from him (I also added some White Zombie, Deftones and Korn, which all remind me of a certain time in my life, although I do not listen them as often any more.) I know many of you (including my parents) are cringing right now, but never fear, I also added Maneater, both the Hall and Oates (thanks Nicole!) and the Nelly Furtado versions, and of course a little bit of Pitbull. It was so fun hearing all of the different suggestions and so many of them were so different. I have stopped in my tracks several times over the last few days to check my phone to see what the song was. 

Case in point, the song Rasputin by Boney M. was suggested to me by my brother. I was on a run and I wanted to run on my tiptoes when the song came on and so I stopped running to see who it was. Turns out, this band is from the 70s and when I just now went to YouTube to get the link, I saw the video, and they are so groovy! You cannot help but want to dance. Also, if you listen to the lyrics, it talks about how the Russian Rasputin was feared by all but apparently was a great womanizer! It made me giggle. 

He ruled the Russian land and never mind the Czar

But the kazachok he danced really wunderbar

In all affairs of state he was the man to please

But he was real great when he had a girl to squeeze

Other than collecting books and songs, I knocked a bunch of things off of my list. Due to working in the finance industry, we were required to keep any investment accounts with our company, so the first thing I did was open new accounts and have my accounts transferred over. I also rolled over my 401k, redid all the paperwork (transfer on death designations, beneficiaries, etc.) and had to reinvest some of the accounts due to items not transferring over. I had to change my address on a buttload of things, even though most of my stuff is paper, and this of course caused issues with opening the new accounts because not only am I now not working, but what IS my mailing address? It turned out to be easier to just put my old address on the application and then call them to tell them that I need to change my mailing address. However, I had already forwarded my mail by then so I really did not want anything going to my old address!

 I also opened a new credit card that I will use to pay the contractor who is working on the house so I can get some points out of the deal (yay!), even though the points value will be a slight fraction of what I will be spending (boo!). I also sold my car, which was fairly easy, except the dudes showed up about three and a half hours later than the 6:00 pm appointment, which as you know, is way past my bedtime. Luckily the family stayed up with me and played Quirkle with me to try to keep me awake. I even finished my taxes and did lots of fiddling with Bob (wow, that sounds kind of kinky, but it's just #bobthebluebike)! 🚲

Bob is raring to go.

The one thing I left for last was health insurance! I know waiting until the last minute is not a luxury that everyone can afford, but I am still dragging my feet. Most companies will honor your health insurance until the end of the month that you resigned. In our case, we actually get 20 days, which works out better as long as you quit after the 10th, which I did. So I basically have until April 4th to decide. My conundrum is this. Most USA insurance will not cover other countries, so you would need to get travel insurance for the period you would be out of the country. Most international (or nomad) insurance only covers the USA in case of extreme emergency or for a very short period, like 30 days. There are other options, but I am still looking into them. The bottom line is that any of these options are cheaper than Cobra, but the coverage is hit and miss. For example, for Cigna Global, they will only cover inpatient hospital visits, unless you tack on an extra $150 per month for outpatient. Anyway, I will probably leave it right until the last minute. Anybody have any input here? 

I am also still working on getting the house ready for sale, and could probably write an entire post about that, so I will save it for later! 

Have you ever played Quirkle? Anybody have any good postal service/mail snafu/moving stories? If you are married, and you changed your name, in how many different places did you have to update things? (I feel this would be way harder than just updating an address, but YOU TELL ME!) 

Looking Back: Books

As I mentioned last week, I have been struggling a little bit to concentrate on books lately. However, I am happy to report two things. First of all, per Engie's recommendation, I started reading A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. I am about two thirds of the way through it and so far, it is just what I needed! It is light and fun and easy and there are gingerbread men who come to life. I will report back when I am done, but I think the reading funk has been banished! 

Secondly, just because I have not had a lot of luck in March does not mean that the last quarter was all bad. Here are several books that I read during the first quarter of this year that I did enjoy! 

The Secret Book of Flora Lee by Patti Callahan Henry: In 1939 Hazel and her younger sister Flora are sent out of London to the country to live to escape the bombs. One day, while playing near the river, Flora vanishes and Hazel blames herself for her sister's death. Years later, Hazel is working at a publisher when she reads a manuscript of a story that only her and her sister would know. This makes her believe that maybe her sister is still alive after all. I enjoyed the story itself and the author's writing style, and was even surprised from time to time as the story progressed. 

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell: Unassuming Josie bumps into famous podcaster Alix in the bathroom of a local restaurant at their separate birthday celebrations. After that Alix runs into Josie several more times and eventually even agrees to interview Josie for her podcast. Of course Josie ends up being different than expected, and there are many twists and turns along the way before we find out what is really going on. This is another typical Jewell novel, but I mean that in a good way. Some of hers have been a little less exciting than others, but this one did not disappoint. 

The Paris Daughter by Kristin Harmel: This is the story of two friends during WWII. When Elise becomes a target of the Nazis, she entrusts her daughter with her friend Juliette to care for until it is safe to send for her. When the war is finally over, she returns home to find Juliette's house reduced to rubble, Juliette nowhere to be found and no knowledge of what transpired during her daughter's final moments. She searches for years to find Juliette in order to get answers about her daughter so that she can have some closure in her life at last. 

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King: This is not your typical King horror novel; it is a thriller about murder and an ex-detective named Hodges who tries to solve the mystery of the killer and of course there are some twists and turns along the way. I was pleasantly surprised, as I was not sure what to expect after years of not reading a King novel (but I did read most or all of them back in the 90s!). 

Evil Eye by Etaf Rum: The tale of the expectations placed on Palestinian-American women, this is the story of Yara. She married the right guy, moved to the suburbs, had children and is doing everything right, as her culture expects. However, after her husband forbids her to go as a chaperone to a school trip, she begins to wonder if she really is happy, and if she is not, how she can be happier but not rock the boat with  her family. This seems impossible and is an interesting look into the struggles that some woman face even still.

The People We Keep by Allison Larkin: April leaves home early after a fight with her Dad and goes off to make her own way in the world. She moves from city to city trying to find her place in the world, and meets a lot of interesting people along the way. This is more of a character driven novel, which I am not always a big fan of, but I did find some of her trials and tribulations interesting and felt engaged with her throughout the story. 

Kill Show by Daniel Sweren-Becker: This one got accolades from many of you, and I jumped on the bandwagon a little late, but I am glad that I jumped, as it did not disappoint! It is a story of a girl who goes missing and her family's struggles to find her. To do this, they agree to make a reality show about her disappearance in real time. The best part was that it was done in an interview style format, which really kept me engaged the entire time. It has an essence of Gone Girl, in that it keeps you guessing and tickles you a bit at the end. 

What was your favorite book over the last three months? Have you read any of the above and/or did you enjoy them? What is your favorite genre? 

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

Last Friday was my last day of work. I was going to write a witty recount of my time there and talk about my feelings about leaving, but I don't think I quite have it in me yet. My brain is on half mast; I have DNFed three audiobooks this month and have not read any eBooks. All I can do is listen to podcasts and sometimes not even that, so I have reverted back to listening to music in the car. 

This month so far, I am batting 250 on books, and my one hit was only a single. I read Lisa Jewell's Watching You and it was just okay. I don't know if that is my mindset or if the book is not that good, so take my review with a grain of salt. I then DNFed Everywhere an Oink Oink (annoying Hollywood producer) and I Didn't Know I Needed This (annoying Twitter influencer) and started Murder in The Family twice and just could not get into it, so I realized that it's not you, it's me, and decided to just give it a rest. I think I may be ready to give it a shot again, but I need something light and funny and fun. Does anyone have a suggestion of a quick and easy read? No Emily Henry please. 

Speaking of music, I found an old SanDisk music player among my things and it still works! It cost maybe $15 and it holds about 3G of music, and it was about half full. It was so fun to turn it on and see what I was listening to when I last used it, which was probably at least ten years ago! I also added more songs on it so I will have something that doesn't drain my phone battery that I can listen to when I am on the road. The playlist includes a variety of songs like Shaggy's It Wasn't Me, So What by Pink, Jesus Walks by Kanye, Believe Me Natalie by the Killers and Sex Is On Fire by Kings of Leon. I also have a playlist on my phone as a backup that I have dubbed Pick Me Up, and will be used when I am feeling discouraged or tired and need to be pumped up. 

Testing out the SanDisk

It still works!

Speaking of that, if you are interested, I would love to get one song recommendation to add to the pick me up playlist from each of you. FYI, I listen to all genres, and would be just as happy with Pantera or Snoop Dogg as I would with Taylor Swift or James Taylor. So lay it on me folks! If you are one of my shy lurkers (you know who you are Berreaux!) you can text me or email me your suggestion. 

As I said, I have also been listening to more podcasts. If you love hearing a short story made long, I have one about this too. I used to use Stitcher as my podcast player. It was great, I had all of the settings down and everything was copesetic. Maybe six or ten months ago, they closed up shop and told everyone to migrate their playlists, and suggested Google Podcasts. I am an Android user and a fan of the Google suite, so I did what they said and have been very happy with the transition so far. However, about a month ago, Google Podcasts announced that they would no longer be around and that we would need to migrate our playlist again. Sigh. I don't mind learning new things but that is kind of annoying. So I moved everything to YouTube Music, which is where I listen to and get my music from. However, I don't love this platform for various reasons. So I am going to try out Podcast Guru, unless one of you has a suggestion for a great podcast app? Like I said, I am an Android user and I don't want to pay for the app. Any suggestions? And if so, why do you like the one you are using? 

Speaking of podcasts, one of my go tos lately has been All the Hacks and I just listened to a great one about FOMO and FOBO. I had never heard of FOBO but it is the Fear of Better Options, meaning that you do not make a decision right away because you think something better may come along after you do. It really hit home with me, as I don't really have too much FOMO, but I definitely have a case of FOBO from time to time. It is not unusual for me to turn on Netflix and spend half an hour trying to decide what to watch before finally giving up and turning the TV off. It is not unusual for me to put an alert on a flight price rather than buying one right away, in the hopes that the price will go down later or that the flight will be at a better time. I try not to be, but often am guilty of analysis paralysis. 

In the podcast, they talk about being an optimizer or a maximizer, both who want to get the best that they can out of the choices they make and it is fascinating to see how much I can relate to much of this. The opposite is a satisficer, who will pick something that is "good enough" just to satisfy. Supposedly, maximizers will take longer to make the decision, but it will often be a better decision due to the research put in, versus satisficers, who will choose quickly, but be happier in the long run. I take a long time to make decisions and often have to ask many questions to be sure I know exactly what I am getting myself into before I make the plunge. I know this is annoying to many of my satisficer friends, but to loop this back to work for the grand finale, has served me well in my industry over the last ten years! 

What fun book should I be reading now? What is your one pick me up song? What podcast app would you suggest I use? Are you a maximizer or a satisficer? 

A Million Tiny Things

I know that I am not the first person to ever sell a house or make a big change, and I even know that some of you have very recently done this (Nicole, Suzanne) without nary a peep about any of the annoying things that one must do in order to make this happen. Ladies, I applaud you. It is something that is not high on my bucket list, but it is One Of Those Things that must be done in order to get to the next step of your life, hopefully a Good one, or even a Better one than you were at before. 

Of course this makes me think about all of those things that we do to get to something beyond them. Even something as simple as hiking is sometimes not that fun, but you know that the beauty that you will behold will make the trudge worth it. It is almost a kind of type two fun, where the activity itself is often not that fun in the moment, but when you look back you talk about how fun it was. Will I look back and wax poetic about selling stuff on FB Marketplace in six months or a year? Currently I do not think so, but you never know! 

Gratuitous hiking photo: Healy Pass in the snow - Banff, AB

I feel like I have a million tiny things to do. In case I did not mention this in my last post, I am selling my house, but not only that, I am paring down my belongings to a few boxes, mostly of mementos, camping gear and a few reference and childhood books (I just could not help myself!!) This means that much of my last several months of life has consisted of working on my unsuccessful side hustle, sorting through stuff, throwing stuff away and giving stuff away. I do not want to bore anyone too much, but I could tell a whopper of a story about how hard it is to get rid of a simple couch (it is hard). 

Oh, you do want to know why? Well, after having no luck selling it, I tried to donate it to Habitat For Humanity, who by the way is very picky about their items. They do not take any patterned upholstery, sleeper sofas or anything that has oak. They also will not accept anything that has ANY stains or nicks, no matter how tiny. They will not take anything made of particle board or that is painted. So, in a nutshell, they basically do not want used furniture unless it has been wrapped in plastic and never used. However, after speaking to a woman on the phone, submitting an application and submitting photos, the couch was accepted. I was more proud of this day then when I was accepted for college. The truck arrived, the driver disembarked and after looking at the couch, he turned his nose up in denial at it, as if it had just let out a silent but deadly fart, because it had a tiny water mark on one arm. Not only that, but when he was moving out the items that he did accept, he must have also scraped something dirty on it, causing it to have a black smudge on it after he left. I had submitted a request for about 20 things and they only took about 10 of them, and they were not the large items that I really wanted to get rid of. 

A few days later, I phoned option number two, Out of the Closet, to see if I could schedule a pickup and was told that I had to specifically call back on the next Tuesday to schedule a pickup for their next pickup day, which was March 15th. When I called back on Tuesday promptly at nine, I was told that I was going to have to call back on March 18th to schedule a pickup for their next day, which was March 28th. This simply would not do. 

A few days later, I had my brother come with his truck so that we could take the couch, and several large items to Salvation Army, whose website said that they accepted furniture. We pull up to the donation center and we get denied, as they state that they do not accept any furniture. At this point, we already have the car loaded with half of the items, including the couch, and my armpits are starting to smell bad from the fear that this is going to be a lot more difficult that anticipated. 

Broski, the truck & the accursed couch.

I decide to try Out of the Closet, which is down the street from the Salvation Army, so I call them and speak to a nice lady named Brenda who says that yes they do accept furniture, but not if it has any stains or nicks. I tell her that I am going to come with a truck and she says she will come out to look at the stuff when we get there. I get there, go in and get her and she comes out and looks at everything and says that yes, they will take everything. I wanted to kiss her! We unloaded everything and then told her that I had a second load, and even showed her photos and she said she would take all of the second load too. We went home, loaded up the rest, came back, unloaded it and got the heck out of dodge as fast as possible. I kept waiting for Brenda to start chasing me from the back screaming, "wait, this couch has a tiny stain, take it back!" and me yelling, "sorry Brenda, possession is 9/10ths of the law! It's yours now! Have a nice day!" 

Anyway, this story is just one of many similar ones and although it has not necessarily been stressful per se, there are some things that have not been my favorite. For example, I do not really like having strangers in my space. In the last six months, I have probably had no less than 100 people come onto my property, whether it is to buy something, fix something, look at something, load something up or take something. On the other hand, I sold a ladder, a bike rack and a BBQ, all things I was worried that I would have to take to the dump. And thirdly, I talked to all of the people who bought these things, and I was even friendly, which simultaneously makes me feel a little bit like I need a social break and a little bit amazed that I can do things that I hate, and am even okay at faking them fairly well. 

I am not done yet. I still have so many things to do. This week, I have my Global Entry appointment, I have to put my car up for sale and I need to get my bike tuned up. I will have at least two more trips to the donation center, one more night with the girls, and much packing and cleaning to do. I hope to be fully done by this weekend, and will spend Saturday hopefully out on the trails, basking in the (fingers crossed) sunshine and the beauty that is the Pacific coast, before heading out. 

In one week, my house will be empty, I will be the proud owner of nearly no possessions, and I will be free to go where the wind takes me. Did I get everything done that I wanted to get done, the way that I wanted to do it? Nope. But I have accomplished a million tiny things, one tiny thing at a time, and that is good enough for me.  

Have you ever sold your house and/or all/most of your possessions, or moved from one place to another? If so I would love to hear your thoughts about the process! How did you feel? What was the hardest part? What do you hope you never have to do again? 

P.S. I was telling my friend K this story, and she said she just hired people to come and take everything. They recycle or donate 80% of the items and it cost her about $200 to have them come the next day. This is not a sponsored post, but maybe if you want to avoid the hassle of DIY, hire someone like this company in your area! PPS but she won't have the "fun" stories that I have, will she?! 

Round The World (RTW) Episode Five

Over the years, I have stopped working to take various longer adventures around the world. The first was in 1999, when, after taking a semester of French, I signed up for a work abroad summer program and went to Bordeaux to work in a French supermarket. I overpacked, bungled around with the language and learned very quickly how to summon help and to be relieved to hear "j'arrive." 

Tour de France, 1999 (Lance Armstrong won that year)

In 2004, I quit my job and went to live in London. After being there for a couple of months, and doing some local traveling in Europe, I stayed in Paris for a month before moving to Istanbul. This was my first version of a round the world trip. During this trip, I did a lot of things wrong (not fully understanding the entry restrictions, running out of money WAY faster than expected, etc.) but I learned a lot and had a great time despite my trip only lasting about six months in the end. 

London 2004

Since then, I have taken a sabbatical and/or quit my job to travel the world three more times. In 2006, I spent about four months traveling in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, including the Philippines and Borneo. In fact, as I mentioned in this post, my first ever blog post was in April 2006 from Vietnam (how quaint it was)! That means that in just two more years I will be celebrating my 20 year blog-iversary, woof! In 2008, I spent almost a year in South America and in 2010, I did a year long round the world trip (Europe, Africa, India, Nepal, South Korea, China, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand). 

Singapore 2006

Guatamala 2006

Australia 2006

Chili 2008

Brazil 2008

Peru 2008

South Africa 2010

Nepal 2010

Every time I have decided to do this, it has been a nervous combination of excitement and fear. Quitting your job and going off into the great unknown is scary, but also traveling to countries you have never been to is fun! However, there is always that element of the unknown and sometimes it feels a bit intimidating to be doing this every day or week or month as you move from place to place. We get so used to our daily routines, and so comfortable with them, even if we are also sometimes stuck in a rut and want change! 

Istanbul 2004

So this post is to tell you that I am ready for episode five of the RTW travel adventure. Since my last big trip in 2011, I have pretty much only gone somewhere every one or two years and I want more! So, at long last, basically 25 years since my first big adventure, I have decided once again to step out of the rut and jump back into excitement and fear...This includes quitting my job, selling my house, selling/donating/tossing all of my things, packing up my meager belongings into a backpack and/or onto a bike and hitting the road. 

This space will still be manned, and I will probably also be resurrecting my Instagram page if you want to follow along there too (the link is in my Who Am I page). 

Currently, I plan to start by doing some biking around the northern/Midwest states of the US and southern(ish) part of Canada. I know this is a bit broad, but if you are in one of these areas, and I can pedal to your house or town, I would love to meet for a coffee or a meal! Let me know if that sounds like something you would want to do (you can comment below or my email is on my Who Am I page). After that, I will likely be doing some slow travel (staying in places for ~ a month at a time) and will start in Asia (I think?) at first and then...to infinity and beyond? The world is, once again, my oyster. 

Have you ever done any extended traveling? If so, how do you keep from getting burned out? Have you ever stayed in one place for a month or more?