Do people get set in their taste as they get older?

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

Your first stay upon arrival to the US should be an air bnb with a kitchen instead of a hotel. In fact, en route you could probably find quite a few that are far more comfortable and less expensive than hotels.

I do use air bnb but booking.com is my go to. I usually try and have an apartment with a kitchen at least every third day

The accommodation I book revolves completely on how safe the area is to leave your bike, so parking dictates pretty much everything!

It also usually means avoiding densely populated areas which in turn moves you away from supermarkets.
Tis a bit of a juggling act between finding accommodation with secure or safe parking and the distance to the nearest bit of civilisation with a decent supermarket!

 

[JAS_OH1]

I do use air bnb but booking.com is my go to. I usually try and have an apartment with a kitchen at least every third day

The accommodation I book revolves completely on how safe the area is to leave your bike, so parking dictates pretty much everything!

It also usually means avoiding densely populated areas which in turn moves you away from supermarkets.
Tis a bit of a juggling act between finding accommodation with secure or safe parking and the distance to the nearest bit of civilisation with a decent supermarket!

Seems like you could perhaps find places with locking attached garages?

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

Seems like you could perhaps find places with locking attached garages?

Thats the ideal but unfortunately it’s not possible to search for that. They all tick the ‘parking available’ box and thats the only filter. So you have to wade through them all looking on google street view or messaging them asking what they mean by ‘parking available’

It’s amazing how many people don’t realise that a garage is a big asset so they don’t even mention it.

The hunting lodge we often stay at just says free parking and then lists a very different price for a room with and without parking. You ruck up and discover you have a marvellous garage attached to your bedroom but they don’t even mention it in their blurb. Thats pretty common.

 

[medtran49]

I have tried freezer packs but there's a couple of things that makes them not worthwhile on a bike.

The heat from direct sunlight on the panniers means they're completely done within 12 hours. Everything in there gets quite warm, much hotter than if they were in a cool box in a car.

There's nowhere to re-freeze them so they are good for one cycle and you're left with the choice of carrying warm ice packs or abandoning them. Makes me feel a bit uncomfortable on the financial and environmental cost.

They also take up quite a lot of precious pannier space.

I do sometimes take frozen drinks as icepacks but either way I only get one meal on the first evening so I prefer to take something pre-made and frozen that defrosts en route.

Ambient (shelf stable) really comes into its own here. It provides good flexibility, if you arrive and there's a nice cantina open then you can leave the stuff you have on the bike and enjoy eating out. If not that's ok you have back up.

It's much closer to back packer or camping food apart from I have the advantage of being able to sous vide in a kettle.

I've just remembered there's a powdered mushroom soup that's really quite good, that might work. Maybe with some mushrooms, creamed coconut and spices I could take it in a thai direction
Perhaps bung some peppers (bell peppers) in there, they dehydrate and rehydrate well. Add a bit of colour and texture?

Did you forget I live in South Florida? The heat and sun are murder here. We are, unfortunately, hitting mid 80s up to 90-91 F right now in early May. The vast majority of delivery trucks are not air conditioned so the temps are well into the 100s to 110s in the interiors.

A lot of places will not ship perishable items during our summer unless you pay for overnight, first delivery service, or same day air, $$$. And, they still use some kind of cold pack.

The gel packs range in size from about 5x7, being about 1.5 inch in depth, up to large sheets. They are bendable as well. And can be refrozen in the freezer in your BNB or motel room with a kitchen.

With all the "weekend warriors,
AKA, middle aged folks who have bought generally very expensive bikes and travel, I would think there would be web sites where you could find specific info about places to stay and avoid, maybe even find some potential friends.

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

Did you forget I live in South Florida? The heat and sun are murder here. We are, unfortunately, hitting mid 80s up to 90-91 F right now in early May. The vast majority of delivery trucks are not air conditioned so the temps are well into the 100s to 110s in the interiors.

A lot of places will not ship perishable items during our summer unless you pay for overnight, first delivery service, or same day air, $$$. And, they still use some kind of cold pack.

The gel packs range in size from about 5x7, being about 1.5 inch in depth, up to large sheets. They are bendable as well. And can be refrozen in the freezer in your BNB or motel room with a kitchen.

Umm ok.
I was just explaining I’ve tried it and in the space I have they don’t last in panniers out in the sun.

With all the "weekend warriors,
AKA, middle aged folks who have bought generally very expensive bikes and travel, I would think there would be web sites where you could find specific info about places to stay and avoid, maybe even find some potential friends.

Just for clarity, my touring bike is 12 years old and cost £2800 (about $3500), I have plenty of motorbiking friends and I never warrior for less than two weeks, a weekends far too short

 

[JAS_OH1]

So 90f is about 32c. Stinking hot. What's interesting is that today here in Ohio the high is 58f/14c.

Medtran lives about an 18-hour drive from me, not including traffic slowdowns and stops.

 

[medtran49]

Umm ok.
I was just explaining I’ve tried it and in the space I have they don’t last in panniers out in the sun.

And I was just explaining that the gel packs do last in very high heat.

Just for clarity, my touring bike is 12 years old and cost £2800 (about $3500), I have plenty of motorbiking friends and I never warrior for less than two weeks, a weekends far too short

Weekend warriors tend toward Harley's and the like all tricked out with goodies and paint jobs. WW's are usually still working, but getting close to retirement and have lots of disposable income. And they don't just travel on weekends. They got the nickname because they join clubs and do local things on the weekends and ride their bikes to do them.

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

And I was just explaining that the gel packs do last in very high heat.


Weekend warriors tend toward Harley's and the like all tricked out with goodies and paint jobs. WW's are usually still working, but getting close to retirement and have lots of disposable income. And they don't just travel on weekends. They got the nickname because they join clubs and do local things on the weekends and ride their bikes to do them.

Yer I understand, you probably wouldn't know it's considered an insult over here.
Implies you're not a good rider and you just cause problems/accidents on the road.

 

[JAS_OH1]

Yer I understand, you probably wouldn't know it's considered an insult over here.
Implies you're not a good rider and you just cause problems/accidents on the road.

We just call them amateurs in the US!

 

[Morning Glory]

But you've kinda always been that way, right?

Well, not really. I was vegetarian for over 10 years. In truth I was on a limited UK old school diet as a kid albeit with lots of veg. Fish didn't feature at all, let alone shellfish. When I first went to France, I was encouraged to eat mussels and oysters but I couldn't face the look of them. I honestly can't remember how or when I overcame this 'phobia' but oysters are now in my top 10 favourite foods!

The mayo, taramasalata, coconut intolerance appeared in my 30's. I like the taste of all of them though.

 

[JAS_OH1]

Well, not really. I was vegetarian for over 10 years. In truth I was on a limited UK old school diet as a kid albeit with lots of veg. Fish didn't feature at all, let alone shellfish. When I first went to France, I was encouraged to eat mussels and oysters but I couldn't face the look of them. I honestly can't remember how or when I overcame this 'phobia' but oysters are now in my top 10 favourite foods!

The mayo, taramasalata, coconut intolerance appeared in my 30's. I like the taste of all of them though.

I think living in Japan (Okinawa, actually) when I was a kid helped my palate, at least when it comes to seafood/sushi. Except that apparently I didn't mind fishhead soup back then but I wouldn't touch it now, LOL. But otherwise I am quite open to seafood dishes.

 

[karadekoolaid]

I suffered a bit of post-war "trauma"in the late 50s and into the 60s and 70s. School dinners . Gristly, overcooked meat, more bones than chicken, plenty of offal (liver, kidneys) and woefully unseasoned fish, cooked until it fell apart, and served with anaemic white parsley sauce.
"Vegetarian" was not in the dictionary in those days and, apart from Sunday Roast Chicken, I was vegetarian. I'd make 4 jam sandwiches at home and take them for my "ëlevensies" - but they were actually lunch, so I could avoid school "dinners".
At University, I declared myself "Vegetarian" to avoid all those problems.
Our Hall cooks used to think that hard-boiled eggs, ( and they were, really hard) shoved under the grill with a tablespoon of marmite on top, constituted a vegetarian meal...

 

[Morning Glory]

I suffered a bit of post-war "trauma"in the late 50s and into the 60s and 70s. School dinners . Gristly, overcooked meat, more bones than chicken, plenty of offal (liver, kidneys) and woefully unseasoned fish, cooked until it fell apart, and served with anaemic white parsley sauce.
"Vegetarian" was not in the dictionary in those days and, apart from Sunday Roast Chicken, I was vegetarian. I'd make 4 jam sandwiches at home and take them for my "ëlevensies" - but they were actually lunch, so I could avoid school "dinners".
At University, I declared myself "Vegetarian" to avoid all those problems.
Our Hall cooks used to think that hard-boiled eggs, ( and they were, really hard) shoved under the grill with a tablespoon of marmite on top, constituted a vegetarian meal...

I became totally vegetarian from the age of 11 or 12 and I had free school dinners (we are similar ages karadekoolaid). Mostly, the meat was replaced with a slab of processed cheese. I didn't mind to much as they gave me extra vegetables.