Back from Camping

You may have noticed that I was absent for a few days. Then again, maybe you didn't. But nevertheless, I was out camping and testing my equipment in preparation for the epic bike journey.

My backpacking stove is in good shape. After visiting the store, I decided against planning meals from scratch given the relatively short trip and substitutes. Instead, I'll just get some complete meals that you can just boil in water. Zatarain's Beans and Rice is one example.

I also cooked up pancakes and scrambled eggs. This is something else that I think will work well on the trip. I have a neat little egg carrier for eggs too.

So beans and rice and pancakes it is. For the whole trip. And of course I'll throw in some peanut butter sandwiches, trail mix and fruit of some sort. That should do it.

On another note, switching topics, lets talk about carrying all this crap. I have a set of rear panniers for my bike. Realizing that not everyone going on the trip has a pair just lying around, I have been scouting eBay for good deals.

I found what I thought was a good deal and bid. After I bid I discovered that it was a single pannier. That's why it was so cheap. This is odd because panniers are almost always sold in pairs because you need to balance the load to the left and right so the bike handles better.

Oh well, I thought, I'm stuck with a single pannier. I'll just keep my eye out for another single and have a mixed pair. Lo and behold, shortly after my auction ended, the guy who sold me the single pannier put the other one, the matching one, up for auction!

How stupid is this!? The guy seems to know about outdoor equipment because that's most of what he sells. So why wouldn't he sell them as a pair? My guess is he intentionally is trying to trick people into bidding on a single. Nowhere in the auction did it say "This is a single pannier, not a pair." Maybe he thinks he'll get more money by tricking people into buying two singles instead of one pair.

It's like selling a glove. "A" glove. Not the pair. Sorry, you have to buy the other one separately.