What a wonderful, wonderful day! After sleeping in, waking up to beautiful sunny weather (the first sunny day in awhile…), and puttering around in the kitchen making hash browns and biscuits for breakfast, Tyler and I set off to pick up more cardboard boxes for packing. On the way home, I had the brilliant idea that we should go on a little road trip to REI to look at all of the gear we were thinking of buying. Tyler agreed and we had a fun hour-and-a-half long ride singing songs, and enjoying the gorgeous fall weather. And then, we arrived, and oooh man did we have a good time. We didn't buy anything (Tyler found a 20% off coupon for an online store) but we picked out exactly what we wanted and wrote it all down so we could order it later.

Here are some highlights from our excursion-- (go check out our gear page if you want more details about each product).

Choosing cooking supplies

I used to be a bit sad that we were going to leave our home and our kitchen because I love to cook, and I would miss planning meals, inventing dishes, etc. It didn't occur to me until today that I could still do what I love to do! Plus, I love cooking challenges—I can't wait to tackle cooking outdoors on our bike tour!

Anyway, we picked out a cooking stove, some collapsible bowls, totally sweet titanium sporks, some spice containers, and a set of pots that includes a frying pan. The pots all fit so nicely into each other, and the carrying case doubles as a little wash basin/sink!

Trying out sleeping pads and sleeping bags

At first I was helping Tyler compare sleeping bags, inflate sleeping pads, etc, but then, when it came time to test them, I sort of just stayed on the floor, too comfortable to move. Basically I laid on the floor of REI for about a half an hour, totally cozy and enveloped in poofy sleeping bags. We found the coolest sleeping pad, ever. It is oh so thick and comfortable, and feels amazing to lay on.

Trying on helmets

When researching bike helmets, I found that the Bell Slant was rated to be the best, according to Consumer Reports. We were finally able to try it on and adjust all the straps for comfortability, and both of us decided that this was the helmet for us! I think I'll get it in green to go with my bike. :-)

After thoroughly enjoying ourselves at REI, we headed home and actually ordered everything from backcountry.com with a 20% coupon Tyler cleverly found on the internet. Even our tent was 20% off, saving us over 100 dollars! We are especially excited about the sleeping bag we finally decided on—a Big Agnes King Solomon double wide sleeping bag! Now we won't have to bother with zipping two bags together, and it will have more leg room so I won't feel like a mummy. Plus, Tyler can keep me warm. :-) Anyway, we can't wait for everything to arrive!! We'll tell you all about it when it gets here.