People often ask what the support crew does all day while the biker is out doing his thing. Well, we do a lot of reading, but we also have chores. Brendan and I have evolved into a pattern of sharing duties. Our day goes something like this (and every day is different). Chuck gets up about 6am and fixes coffee and takes Mitzie out. I get up shortly after, take my shower, get dressed and have coffee. Then the focus is on getting Chuck ready for his ride – ie: filling water bottles, deciding how far he’s going to ride and if there will be a place for us to pull off for a lunch break for him or will he need to take a lunch. Then he’s out the door about the time Brendan gets up. Brendan takes his shower, gets dressed and then he and I start to unhook and close up the RV. I often post the website or work on pictures while he showers. He does most of the work outside and I do most of the work inside, although we both help with both areas if we are done with ours. Once we’re ready to roll we pull out of the camp, hook up the car and we’re off. Brendan is doing most of the driving right now. He doesn’t mind and he’s a much better driver than I. I do the navigating and a fair share of back-seat driving, but he puts up with it. (Once he takes off in July for the O’Brien family reunion the driving will fall to me.) If we’re lucky enough to be able to pull off for a lunch break – we do, and we read until Chuck pedals in (usually about an hour or so). We all have lunch, Chuck rests, Brendan and I read, and then we are all off again for the next stop which is where we will spend the evening. Sometimes we have a campground in mind, sometimes we look for a wide spot in which we think we can spend the night. Either way – we pull in, call Chuck with our location; hook up the utilities and put the slides out if it’s a campground – or just bide our time if it’s a parking place. If we’re dry camping (the term for parking without hook-ups) we rarely put slides out until late in the evening and then usually only on the side away from traffic. It’s optimum if we can park where we have trees or grass on one side. In the afternoon we complete other chores such as laundry, shopping, etc. After Chuck pedals in, showers and we all have Happy Hour and dinner, we read and then off to bed to get ready for another day. I cook dinner unless we go out; Brendan and Chuck either do the dishes or help with them. I think Brendan has completed about four books (we bought more a few days ago), I’ve completed three and am on my fourth.
Today would have been my mom’s 95th birthday. We all miss her.