Jono's Travel Blog

05/09/2010 Day 5 Vancouver to Mexico

Distance Travelled: Harlow Dve, Bremeton to just outside Elma, 90km

Money Spent: $5.50 – A fresh donut from a service station and some groceries from Safeway.

I got up relatively early and managed to pack up all my things by 9.15. Today’s journey really wasn’t that exciting, nothing much to really mention and I’m sure I’ll have more days like this. No complaints about the weather either, it was mostly overcast with some sunny periods: perfect cycling conditions.

The terrain was simple and with some very steep but short uphill sections where I had to walk my bike up.

I can assume the roads are dead because its Labor day weekend, sometimes I could be cycling for 20 minutes without seeing another car, which is great as I get to take in the scenery and only hear the sounds of my bike on the road. Speaking of which, my derailer may need some adjusting as first gear rubs up against the spokes, oh, and I have already kind of lost 5^th gear, which is only a problem when I put a lot of strain on it.

I had lunch outside of Safeway in Shelton where I munched down a nectarine and a peach (they were both unbelievably good) with some handfuls of granola.

I passed a few cut blocks where trees had been planted, some only 4-5 years old, it just reminded me of the good times when planting in Canada.

Sometimes when cycling I get caught up in my own mind about recent events, ideas and replaying films and cartoons in my head, which I suppose is my way of passing the time when on the road.

I set up camp down a de-activated road at 4.45 just before Elma under some crazy, moss covered, eerily looking gigantic trees where I cooked up powdered mash potatoes, with broccoli, carrot and the last of my Jerky then covered it in chili sauce. A fantastic meal!

I must make more jerky when I get access to an oven, I can save a lot of money making it myself and it lasts for a quite sometime out of the fridge.

Nice little sign to keep me going... or get me away from what was there.

Rest Stop

Creepy tree I camped under for the night

Just a side note.

To give you an idea of the price of my bike and bicycle associated things for this trip:

$350 – For the Bicycle bought from Keylan in Kelowna

$20 – Front Pannier Rack from Craigslist in Vancouver

$20 – Front bags from Taiga in Vancouver ½ price sale

$10 – Bike pump

$1 – Bumbag used as a handlebar bag bought at a thrift store

$3 – Crutch used to extend the back rack for my bag also from thrift store

$6 – Lubricant (Multi-use) from bike store

$5 – Spare inner tube from bike store

$5 – Simple tools for fixing bike from dollar store

$6 – Cheap small cooking crockery from outdoor store

$0 – Popcan stove, which I built myself and has been working wonders.

$3 – Fuel for the stove from Home Depot

$27 – Helmet from MEC in Van… see I wasn’t going to get this but I’m sure it will keep mum happy J

$50 – For all the groceries including powdered milk, powdered potatoes, noodles, chilli sauce, cookies, quick oats etc

Everything else I had already.

Not bad going for about $500.

And considering I’ve spent about $25 for 5 days, albeit roughing it, this trip through the states is going to be cheap as fuck, if I don’t blow it all when I hit up a big city.