Day 52 & 53, sheltered from the storm

First off, I'd like to thank Sheila & Rusty for letting me spend a couple days with them. Welcoming me like family meant a lot, and without you, I'd be somewhere in Idaho, soaking wet and miserable.

As predicted by the weather apps, it started pouring. Thankfully, I was in their guest room, completely dry, sheltered from the storm.

Sheila has an impressive cupboard packed with tea - I tried a few and my favorite is Salzburg Fruchtetee Magenmild Zitrone Popcorn. Yes, there was popcorn in the tea.

So delicious

Rusty is a survival and preparedness expert, and I was able to pick his brain on a few things. Among my complaints was the size of my cooking setup and how I wasn't motivated to heat smaller things. He suggested a couple alternatives, and I ended up going with a Stanley cup: it fits a coffee cup & my stove inside, and another cup slips just on the outside.

So that is two stove-heatable vessels, and one coffee cup. And it takes up less than a third of the space my existing setup consumed.

For adventures, he recommended a single brand of soap for everything: bathing, washing dishes, cleaning clothes, etc.

Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile Soap

I'm already carrying three different soaps on my bike (listed above), I better consolidate. Rusty's favorite variant was the peppermint, but the bottle he had on hand was a bit too big, so I went with the Hemp Tea-Tree.

I also wanted to wash my sleeping bag, although the manufacturers directions said, don't. We filled a tub with warm water, added some of Dr. Bronner's soap and submerged the bag. The key was lightly agitating the bag to clean it, but not stress the insulating fibers within. We'll see how it goes.

After sleeping in this bag for many nights, covered in sunscreen and sweat, I'm sure it needs a wash.

Let's just say the water wasn't clear...

For dessert, Sheila and Rusty introduced me to Reed's Dairy. I had their specialty, a brown cow, which is scoops of ice cream in a cup filled with their homemade chocolate milk. For starters, their chocolate milk is incredible. And filling it with tasty salted caramel ice cream is a winning combination.

The next morning was just like the one before. I enjoyed more of their wide variety of tea and sat around relaxing while the rain poured outside.

My sleeping bag was still sopping, so I hung it on the hammock outside under a covered porch to dry.

The three of us went out to Big Judd's for lunch / dinner. Their specialty are massive burgers served with massive amounts of fries and 32oz drinks. A cycle tourists heaven.

After eating a ton, we stopped at WinCo so I could stock up on food for the ride. Despite going into the store on a full stomach, I bought too much food.

I can't even imagine what would have happened if I entered that store hungry.

WinCo has an amazing bulk food section, where I stocked up on everything from Tortellini to Cashew nuts. In fact, I replenished my trail mix supply with various nuts, whole dried cherries, banana chips, chocolate rocks and chopped dates.

The highlights were chocolate covered popcorn and chocolate covered cinnamon bears.

Back at the house, I mixed up all the ingredients into four bags of trail mix. I'll be set for a while.

I also grabbed some Starbucks Via for my morning coffee fix.

The sleeping bag needed something a little extra, so we moved it inside under the fan; I'm sure it will be completely dry tomorrow.

All I need to do is pack everything on my bike...

Joe