Logistical Nightmare - the riding is the easy part!

Well - I've spent most of the morning ironing out some logistical plan changes all required because I was stupid!

Remember I had mailed most of my camping gear from the Mineral Wells Post Office on Saturday, 1/2 to the Muleshoe Post Office; I also had the hotel clerk send another smaller package forward from Breckenridge on Monday, 1/4..... so I call the Muleshoe Post Office this morning to make sure they had the boxes.... and the guy (Richard) says "Well I got good news and I got bad news".

That's never a good thing when someone says that!

Richard says "The good news is that a big box came in Tuesday.... the bad news is that it didn't have a name on the General Delivery section so I sent it back."

I said "Back where?"

Richard says "Back to the return address."

You could've knocked me over with a feather - the return address is my home address - so long story short my sleeping bag, mat, tarp and other stuff is on its way back to Lake Jackson Tx parcel post which means there's no way to know where it is or to track it.

I've only myself to blame - it's my fault..... but you would think that the guys at the Post Office - first the one I gave it to in Mineral Wells would have noticed I didn't put my name in the General Delivery section before he mailed it.

..... and then you would've thought that the guy at the Muleshoe Post Office would have at least called information on my name and home address and called my house to see what the deal was with the package.... but no, he didn't take the 5 minutes it would have taken to do that.... but he didn't waste any time sending the package back (I guess they have limited space at the Muleshoe Post what with so many packages going through this metroplex of 2500 people).

Am I pissed? No.... I made a mistake.... now I have to move on..... it was my fault... so I'll deal with it and here's how.

I looked at the option of just having my wife send the same stuff from Lake Jackson forward to the Fort Sumner Post Office but it was going to cost about $70 and then they would only guarantee it into the Fort Sumner PO by 3 pm on Monday, 1/11 - Hell, I'll nearly be in Santa Fe by then.... so that wouldn't work.... I mean it would work but I would have to lay over in motels for at least a couple of extra days which would cost me more money.

So I got on the Internet (via my VZW Gateway Netbook) and did a quick search for sporting goods stores in Clovis NM which I'll be riding to tomorrow.

Lo and behold there's a Big 5 Sporting Goods there and they have a Coleman Crescent 15 deg mummy bag ($40), Thermarest mat ($60) and a small Coleman tent ($40) so for $140 I can re-outfit myself (and add a tent vs a tarp which I will need for the colder weather and snow) and it will be cheaper than mailing the stuff from LJ and having to slow up for it to catch up with me.

Lessons learned:

• Put your name in the General Delivery section on the package.
• Call ahead every day to see if the Post Office has received it so if it's not labeled properly you can deal with it then and the Post Office won't send it back to the return address.
• When you're in a pinch, it pays to sit down, take some time, go through your options and figure out the best course of action - at first blush I wouldn't have thought about just buying new stuff on the route but that definitely turned out to be the best solution.

It's ironic.... everybody I've talked to on this trip is concerned by a variety of things - the cold weather, the dangers of riding a bike, how much stuff I'm carrying, etc.

Riding a bike and camping out in 25 deg weather is the easy part - I mean it's physical, it's in your control, it's hard work, but it's a defined task.

Plotting the path forward, researching and booking the motels, mailing supplies and equipment forward, writing this blog.....that's the hard part.

Riding's 80 miles into a 20 mph headwind and a 30 mph crosswind in 25 deg temps is easy compared to the logistics part..... you know why..... because it's in my control!

Anytime, you turn something over to someone else, you're relying on someone else to execute.... and if they don't, you're left holding the bag or more appropriately in this case, I'm left not holding the bag.... the sleeping bag that is!

.....Story of my life.... and the beat goes on.