I, Leah Peterson, have refused to camp my entire life. A lover of safety, cleanliness, hot showers and fresh coffee, I never saw the allure. Why should I pitch a tent and sleep in the ditch if I could sleep in a hotel bed?
Several of my bike world friends told me I was missing out. But I wasn’t missing out, because I was content in my hotels and unaware of the joys and sorrows of bike camping.
But, we have this son. This child is not a child, he stands at 6’2” tall and is heading into his sophomore year of college. He has his head in his books with no time for anything else, but oh, he has the wanderlust. I read that 90% of the time you’ll ever spend with your kid is spent by age 18. That was a year ago…I have less than 10% of my allotted time left with one of the most beloved, treasured people in my world. I could sob just typing it.
E discovered the term “bikepacking” at the Philly Bike Expo. And when he heard it he said, “Wait, say that again…” His eyes lit up and he was determined to try. Julian (from this list) sent him some bikepacking essentials he had, and that was the catalyst for getting E to hit the trails. I immediately decided that since it involved my son and biking, two of my great loves, I was going. All my friends said, Leah, you don’t camp. Leah, you’ve lost your mind.
I know, I said.
Then I went to the internet and to Pam Murray and I started to plan. And you guys, every brain cell in my head was being used and I decided I must be stupid because I could not figure out how to make the logistics all work. Choose a route. How do you get to the start? How do you get back again? How to use Amtrak? Why does their train station and schedule NEVER WORK for my purposes?! What do you mean there is no camping along most of the Hudson Valley Trail? Too much mileage between these two towns, not enough between those. I have scrapped 2 entire routes we planned because we just couldn’t get the logistics to work. I do not think it is supposed to be this hard, so I must be doing it wrong. (I’m going for a ride with The Lone Wolf tomorrow who will surely scoff and confirm that I am doing it wrong. But also, maybe he will give me some pointers.)
Finally, we settled on a route that takes us along Lake Erie. With Chat GPT’s help, I have a decent plan and two campsites picked out so far. One is first come, first serve, so say a prayer for us. Say 2 prayers, because my husband is going to get roped into dropping us off and picking us up at the start and finish, and he has no idea.
He also has no idea that I just spent $$$ on a tent, footprint, sleeping pad and sleeping quilt (ha! Have you ever heard of such a thing? What happened to sleeping bags?!). Like, really a lot. Big money. I got sucked down the gear rabbit hole and suddenly nothing but these ultralightweight things will do. It is shameful. I confessed to E who sent me this text:
MOM SPENDING 700 ON A TENT IS NOT RIGHT THAT DOESNT MEAN YOU LOVE ME TENTS DONT COST THAT MUCH YOU DONT NEED IT TO BE COMFORTABLE😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭
So, that is what is happening over here. Be gentle in your rebukes. I am stressed out about this whole experiment on several levels!
But this kid. What would I not do for him? I thought I’d draw the line at sleeping in ditches, but no, not even that is off-limits. I’ll do anything, it seems, to stay involved and relevant. Luckily, my second son is quite comfortable in hotels, and will not make me work this hard to be in his orbit.
Leah
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