Personal Gear Review
• I brought way too many days of biking clothing with me -- I had literally six days of clothing before having to do laundry. With less, I would have been forced to stop more often and relax -- plus I would have had to carry a lot less bulk that would have made daily packing/unpacking easier.
• I really wish I had brought a radio or MP3 player along. I miss my music and listening to the news. Don't make my mistake -- bring one with you!!
• My North Face tent is overkill. Big when packed on the trailer. Big when in use also. It felt like the condominium of tents in comparison to everyone else’s. The extra space was nice to have -- but it would be more appropriate for two or three people touring instead. But I have had it for over twelve years and I will continue to use -- it is a great tent.
• A zero degree mummy sleeping bag is gross overkill. But I'm a wimp and do not like the cold. I honestly think my sleeping bag itself is larger packed then some peoples sleeping bags/tent combinations. Oh well...
• Gerber mulitool and knives -- all came in handy. Even the can opener on the multitool was easy to use to open cans to my amazement. (Plus no mortal risk to oneself as per the method that Steve from Georgia was using) I also tended to carry one big Gerber ATS knife in my rear pocket -- just insurance and always accessible if I ran into a problem.
• Plastic Bag(itis) - Everything I brought was encased in a sealable plastic bags that had been compressed -- a poor man's method of vacuum bagging. Overkill again for the dry conditions of my trip -- but it would have been worth all the effort if I had a couple of days of rain. Everything had its own plastic bag -- each jersey, each pair of shorts, each hat, etc -- overkill... but with BOB it is the garbage can approach to packing and I didn't see any other alternative.
• Black Diamond LED light -- my savior around the campsite and it was great to read by at night -- same AAA batteries the whole trip even with all hours of reading I did in the evenings.
• Shaving mirror -- Something my mom gave me at the last minute in a shaving bag/kit. It got used everyday.
