Life on the Road 2

Just more odds and ends about what life is like living in a car and biking too much.

Repairs…

Stuff breaks/wears out and accidents happen. Here’s my attempts at solving issues without using the cheat code of “go pay the first person you see tons of money to make the problem go away”.

Was inflating my tires one morning and noticed this chip in my carbon wheel... Explains the noise and why my brake pads were getting shredded... This is an emergency as riding on this could kill you.

Was in Corner Brook, NL. Just one bike shop that luckily had this one leftover front wheel. Ugly and heavy, but it'll do until I get back and I MAY not die. Got lucky!

Carpet I velcroed to the back of the seats to protect them was getting wobbly and dirty.... Time to replace.

4$ at dollar store. Nice and fresh. Much cheaper than replacing your car seats!

The rooftop bag was now falling apart faster and faster. Many holes on both sides and the back...

The wind makes it wobble nonstop on the highway so it's like someone constantly pulling it apart. Wonder it lasted that long.

My disgusting patch/sewing job. It holds it.

My goal now in Nova Scotia is to get all my gifts handed out in Montreal then to ditch this.

Checking every day and patching it lol. Just one more week and to the trash it goes.

After offloading all my gifts and beers in Montreal, finally just dumped it. Fits easily into a trash can! That's the real upside of a soft rooftop cargo box.

Had been looking to replace my shoes for a bit too. This is what constantly clipping/unclipping/walking around will do to shoes.

Rubber bit on the back just fell out, exposing the screws haha.

Finally found a replacement in New Brunswick. 200$ on marketplace instead of 550$+ a a store. What a winner.

Montreal repair. That chainring was done. Look at the difference in the teeth on mine (left) and a new one.

Getting comfortable

A bit over halfway done now and really starting to get comfortable. Almost TOO EASY to live in a car. The world has become my house now.

My Tim Hortons powers are at peak levels. Racking in those points and using those special offers.

I've saved like 50$ doing this so far. Just rolling in money really. Tried every donut.

I just bring the power station at Tim Hortons now. Recharges it fairly fast. No more need of hotels/ boondockers for anything.

Happenin' Wal-Mart parking lot. Some people really take advantage of it, setting up their campers for seemingly days/weeks. They have BBQs there lol.

Tim Hortons baby diaper changing thing are great to put all your shower stuff. I avoid touching the bathroom floor with anything....

What an Anytime Fitness bathroom looks like. Nicer than the apartments I've lived in and always clean.

While there's lots of other things to do on the road, you at least escape some chores like cleaning bathrooms and doing dishes.

Summer is actually here…

After a pretty cold start of this trip in BC, summer finally slapped me in the face in Ontario and ramped it up coming back west in Nova Scotia.

The inevitable first bit of sunburn as my winter skin starts to experience sunlight again. Sunscreen never fully prevents this.

Time to try the bug nets. Really want the windows open when sleeping in the heat.

Works pretty well! Doesn't look very inconspicuous though. A bit off to set it up at Wal-Mart but still, nobody gives a crap.

MVP USB fan here. Should have gotten a larger one, or maybe a second one. Really helps you fall asleep in that period where your body warms the car faster then the night air cools it.

Way back west means sun right in your face if you drive later afternoon/evenings. Can get real dicey in cities but otherwise tolerable...

Part of the first batch of gifts I brought from east to west, mostly to Ottawa/Montreal! Tried to get beers from every province.

More! That Salty Scott beer from BC is def in my top 10 beers of all time, will have to stock up on the way back.

Fancy wines for my dad from Okanagan and Niagara. Made sure to ask them for wines they don’t export elsewhere.

Literally all over the country stores are hiring. Every single town. Makes me angrier to see all the bums standing around doing jack shit or harassing patrons/employees/pedestrians. They aren’t all mentally ill to the point of being invalid, they’re surviving entirely on their own out there on the streets. Most people can’t do that, they’d likely go to family or use the magic trick of “go into debt”. But these hobos manage it and waste their entire day sitting around smoking/drinking or loitering in front of a Tim Hortons talking to other hobos or trying to bum change.

Meanwhile every damn store needs min wage employees. If you can live on the streets you can operate a cash register or put donuts in a bag. Stop underestimating the hobos.

Last shoutout to the Garmin Edge 520’s buggy software and bizarre UI. It started doing a thing where loading certain maps/rides would just brick it hard until I removed the file from it.
It also constantly says “Off Course” if you’re going the opposite direction the loop was created, or if you took any little detour at any point. It’ll just say “off course” for the rest of the day and then pop another “off course” message on top of the map itself if you deviate again.

Here it is, lagging to all hell while trying to show me the course. Some maps just brick it, some just load so slow it takes literally 30-60 seconds for Garmin to register a button press.

Garmin thinking there’s some kind of path or shortcut through this dense forest. Sometimes I’m impressed at what it counts as a bike path but this was next level. This was near a highway so Strava’s mapping software does anything and everything it can to divert you away from the “super evil and dangerous highway”. It’ll make you bike through a minefield instead of a nice wide perfectly paved highway.

That’s pretty much it for how it is to drive n’ bike coast to coast!
Check out part 1 if you haven’t yet: https://www.thepoxbox.com/posts/life-on-the-road-1

You really just settle into a groove at some point and learn that there’s a pretty fast solution to almost any possible problem, beyond even just the “pay someone lots of money” that everyone defaults to.

Remember: The worst thing that can happen is you die, but you’ll die some day anyway.