Trans-Continental Mambo writes on 2013-10-25:
Greetings from Nashville, Tennessee – or thereabout! Writing on October 25, 2013, we are fours days into the Trans-Continental Mambo tour. We would have written sooner but have held back for a bit for several reasons. For one, and while we are not on a journey of travel quickly and see nothing, we have been desperately trying to clear a cold front.
Brrrr in Columbus, Ohio.
The temperature has been pretty steady between 10-12 degrees Celsius (50-53 F), generally windy, often raining, and even snowing (specifically sleet). Some would call riding in these conditions “sadistic”. It is not really as bad as it seems. This is said with some caveats.
We are wearing heavy wool socks, Gore-Tex lined riding boots, merino wool long underwear, electrically heated jackets, our Kevlar mesh jackets and pants, and waterproof-breathable rain gears. In addition, we have handlebar grip heaters, and Jenn even moved to electrically heated glove liners today to augment her gloves. We will post a little bit about our gear in the near future.
“Stay puff”.
This morning we were hoping to see some nicer weather. It is clear out, but what is also clear is that there is a thick layer of frost on our bikes which we weren’t really expecting. We just traveled 630km (390 miles) south from Columbus, Ohio to find more frost than yesterday. That’s OK. The weather is expected to warm up, and our decision to head due south should probably pay off as we are heading towards Arkansas and then Texas.
Pizza and delicious IPA.
In general, our moods have been variable but we are quite content once we call it a day. For the most part, this is now just a “commute” for us as we look forward to warmer weather. The Suzuki DR650s we are riding aren’t particularly well protected from the wind – which should pay off in hot weather – but the combination of cold rain, cold temperatures, occasional bad winds, and heavy truck traffic is challenging. As Adam reminds Jenn – “Its a good thing you ‘trained’ in Kansas”.