The idea is to desperately avoid pulling a trailer. We have read a lot blogs, been on all the forums and the decision is not clear cut and comes down to preference. Some tandemers like the trailer - others found it unwieldy. I can't imagine it would be much fun to pull the trailer behind us up a mountain, and who needs a stove!
...taking the plunge
The day after Christmas we packed up the bags (living in FL does have its advantages!), loaded up the tandem, took a deep breath, crossed our fingers and headed out for our first fully loaded excursion: an 80 mile round trip to Jonathan Dickenson State Park for an overnight. The hardest part was getting the loaded tandem out of the apartment.
Lesson #1: Do NOT try to get the loaded tandem out of the apartment, load it on the street...duh! Regardless of how much research, prep and reading we do, I think there will be many 'duh' moments on this trip.
After a few tentative pedal strokes and a ride through the back streets to avoid the traffic, we were on our way. Two miles into the trip - we felt at ease; 4 miles into it - we were chatting and laughing as we had done without any load; 15 miles - and we stopped for our first break. We checked the packs and all were solid. We were ecstatic when we stopped for a late lunch 4 miles before reaching Jonathan Dickenson State Park. We set up camp, showered!, chatted with our fellow campers, and took in a ranger presentation. Come morning we packed up, stopped for breakfast and headed home.
This was the defining moment - we always thought we could do this, but now we know we can!
Ride on!
