The bike is en route! 

Yesterday I spent a few hours running in circles trying to mail my bike to Bellingham.  Here is what i learned:  

First and foremost,  make everything fit in the bike box dimensions.  I had a large bump on my box from my rack.  This bump prohibited me from shipping with FedEx, added nearly $100 at UPS and made my package too large to express at the Post Office.  After running around I ran home and took the rack apart and fit it in the box.  This made things much easier!

Next:

At the post office bike boxes are still oversized and cannot be shipped express.  

At UPS, stuff costs a lot!

FedEx Shipped with a guaranteed arrival date for $62.

The first picture is my frankenbox and then the subsequently resized box.  

The two lessons I learned are to make sure your stuff fits inside the "130inch" bike box and one week is barely enough time to have your bike shipped.  

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Here is my plan for the bike:

I had the bike shipped to Fanatik Bikes in Bellingham, WA.  I called the owner and confirmed that this was OK and he knows to hold on to the bike for me.  I will arrive in Bellingham around 1pm, catch a cab to Fanatik, put my bike back together, then ride NORTH… I gotta tag the border.  Though I will have all the tools to put my bike together, if anything is wrong or missing or broken, I figure a bike shop is as good a place to be as any.  

A preemptive thank you to Russell at Fanatik! 

As for the rest of my gear, the plan is to pack everything near road ready, meaning in the a panniers and other bags.  I will then put all of that inside of a cardboard box and tie string or make a handle to carry it.  This way, when I get to WA I can collect my bag, hop in the cab, set up the bike and recycle the cardboard box I traveled with. 

Now I fly to New Mexico!  Yay branding!!!!!!!!

next post: GEAR