Ok, yesterday the photos weren’t available. Heres another post with some photos from the camping trial.
The bike all loaded up.
The tent in the morning.
My probably unnecessary table and chair. It packs up quite small and a table is very handy.
To camp or not to camp
No, this is not a post about how to express any particular sexual orientation, its about actual camping.
I went on a test ride/camping trip to make sure everything was working for the big trip.
I had all my gear packed, the bike felt like riding with an elephant on the back, still had no room for some of the camera gear I wanted, but set off with the intention of working it all out. The camp site was not the best but was going to have to do. I would need to get used to sleeping with traffic noise at some point. I setup the tent, table, chair and cooked some dinner on the MSA stove. So far so good. at about 5pm it started getting dark and cold and by 6pm, I was inside the tent reading a book and trying to stay warm. The new -12 degree sleeping bag was fantastic and I was warm (unless I wanted to move). Actually warm was not a good word as it could mean too warm, comfortable is better. The new bag is really great. It has elastic on the lower portion so that you can still move around a little but it stays wonderfully snug.
When the tent was setup, I failed to pull the fly out sufficiently on one site and it touched the inside part of the tent. Oh well, thats what the trip was for, to work these things out. In the morning, the grass everywhere was white with frost. The tent where it was setup incorrectly was wet. That part of the tent touched me and therefore, I too, was wet.
Normally, on this planned trip halfway round Australia, This shouldn’t be a problem. Firstly, where its cold, It won’t be wet (Alice etc). Secondly, where its wet it won’t be cold (Cairns) and Thirdly, where its wet and cold, I won’t be camping anyway (most of Vic)
Packing up a tent in the cold and wet sucks. It requires unpacking and drying later and your hands get very cold.
The upshot of all of this is that I don’t think I will be camping on this trip. This will save me some room in packing, and allow more flexability in the times I spend riding (I can leave earlier and arrive later). It will however involve spending more money on accommodation. I guess this is something I’ll have to just deal with.
Motorcycle training
Due to the imminent departure for this motorcycle trip, I decided to do the Stay Upright Advanced course to refresh my road skills. As I expected, it was a great course to re-learn what I should already know and it was also a lot of fun pushing the bike harder than I would normally. Doing emergency stops on the race track was very reassuring if I ever need that sort of stopping power.
Heres a shot taken on that day.
Solar Panels
Recently I had some solar panels installed. I’m not really sure why other than the feel good factor. We have green power anyway, so we are not really saving carbon, the solar panels have had their carbon credits sold to someone else (before I got them) so someone else is claiming the carbon back anyway and they have an estimated payback period of about 18 years (even after the $8000 government rebate which I got in before the new means test.)
Anyway, its fun to look at the meter and measure how much we are generating. Any spare is just being passed back to the grid and can actually make the meters spin backwards.
I’m “Overweight”
After about 15 years of being obese or morbidly obese, I’m finally just overweight. So far since surgery, I’ve lost 40kg and have gone through many sets of clothes.
Also, I always assumed that seeing your life partner in a group of people was always easy. This was some inate ability than when someone was so important to you that you had them imprinted on your head in such a way that you could always recognise them.
Well, as it turns out, I was wrong. Often now I’ll be looking for Libby in a shop or similar and will often look right past her. As it turns out, I think I was always able to see her just because of her size. Now however, after losing heaps of weight, I have to look more carefully for her. It still seems strange when I see photos of us together that we are not huge. I can also now not only put my arms around her and touch on the other side, I can touch my elbows on the other side. We have lost about 80kg between us and I think the key words are ‘between us’.
Life is good.