Today was a wild thing. I thought yesterday was wild, with picking things up and dropping things off and trying to find other things, and I can’t tell you what a massive case of the screamin’ heebies it gives me to try and pack for an escapade like this. It’s not so hard, packing for 8 days away. I do it all the time, and I’m pretty good at it, but if you throw in cycling and camping, all of a sudden you need a bunch of things you don’t usually when you travel. (For example, I don’t usually pack everything for a week away into individual large ziplocks by day. For the Rally? Two words. “Rain” and “earwig”.)  This morning I got everything I needed for the week into one big hockey bag. My tent, my tarp, my sleeping bag, my clothes, my team stuff, my knitting (some of it) my flashlight… everything. I stuffed it all into the boot and I drove over to pick up Pato, and after I picked him up we came back here so I could get my camping chair. That’s not so bad, missing one thing, but it threw the whole system into question and I’ve been worried about what else I don’t have all day.  We scooted over and got Ken, and kept on going until we got to the wild and weird place that’s Packing Day.

On packing day, you get two Rubbermaid bins, and all your stuff goes into it, and then you put it on a truck and that’s it. (Well, that’s not quite it if you’re a Team Lead or a Steering Committee member, and Ken is one of those things and Cameron and I are two of those things, so we were committed to stay until the end.) Once your stuff is on the truck, you don’t see it again until the end of the first day of riding – so… you’ve packed your shoes, you’ve packed your purse (because you’ll need it in Montreal) and you spend the rest of the day in your second favourite shoes and you’re wearing clothes you don’t like because you packed everything else, and your wallet is gone, but you have a debit card… It’s a crazy scene.

I took some stuff over to Erin after that, and then dropped the car off to Amanda (still young enough to want it every time we’re out of town) and now I’m home, and I’m tired, and I’m headed for bed because tomorrow has a 5am wake up call, and…

And I know I said I’d do Karmic Balancing gifts, but poppets, I am so tired, and I don’t think I can start the rally this tired, so I’m going to bed, and I promise I’ll do them all when I get home. (There’s a lot. Like.. more than 50.)  In the morning I’m going to get up, and I’m going to fulfill my part of the bargain. Despite the heat, and my incredible middle-agedness, I am going to ride my bike to Montreal.

I’m nervous. I have a terrible cramp. I’m sure I’ve forgotten something, but let me tell you this. I haven’t forgotten I love you all. Riding my bike makes no difference at all to this charity. I could ride it forever and it wouldn’t matter at all. It’s your donations that make the change, it’s you that has an impact on the world. I’m just…. a knitter on a bike, and you are amazing.

I’ll do my part tomorrow. Thank you for yours.

(PS. If you’re looking to follow us as we travel, I might not be able to blog, but  instagram is a great bet.  I am @yarnharlot. Cameron is @thesilverboy, Ken remains @five12plus, Pato’s at @_patovr.  If you like what you see, you can make our phones ding by clicking on our profiles.)