Traveling Tea: Rani's Great Divide Extravaganza Part I

We are excited to announce that Good Medicine Tea is sponsoring Rani Merz for her 2019 adventure on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route!

Though it is a biking route, Rani is taking a less conventional mode of transportation: an Icelandic horse, pulling a miniature covered wagon (yes, a bit like the Oregon Trail). Rani’s husband, Bob, will be following along with a truck and horse-trailer, for support.

We believe that sharing tea can build community (this has been our experience). We love the idea of Rani and Bob sharing tea— with fellow GDMBR travelers, with curious folks in trail towns, with anyone and everyone they meet on their journey!

On the trail, Rani will carry our tea bags (she especially loves Ginger Love and Chai Divine), and iced tea pouches (coming soon to the website), to cold-brew in camp.

Rani, Chirpa & Mount Adams on a 2-week shakedown trip, summer 2018.

You can follow along on Rani’s Trail Blog, “Hitched Hiking”, here’s an excerpt from her introduction:

My name is Rani Merz and I'm old enough to know better - but - I'm going anyway!
I am going to begin a meandering journey on Adventure Cycling's Great Divide Mountain Bike Route at Antelope Wells, New Mexico in the spring of 2019. I have dreamt about a journey on this route since my dad was an Adventure Cycling Member- waayyy back - and I first read of it's proposal. I've watched it become a reality - and nearly gotten too old to go.

My traveling companion is an Icelandic mare named Chirpa. She will be hitched to a small wagon, which will hold her supplies and mine - food, water, shelter etc. My husband Bobert will help with support of any type needed. I cannot backpack anymore but by golly I can still hike, so I'll be riding some and walking some.

Rani is preparing for the trip with almost daily training drives.

Full disclosure: Rani Merz is my (Alexa’s) Mom, so it was pretty easy for her to get a GMT sponsorship deal. She also happens to be a crazy strong, adventure woman, who already has some escapades under her belt. A few highlights:

She was in the guinness book of world records (at the age of 14!), for the longest continuous time spent on a horse— 8 days, 7 nights.

She rode her horse from White Salmon, WA to Madeline, CA in 1978.

She hiked 1,800 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail in 2008.

She hiked the Wainwright Coast to Coast Trail in 2010.

Rani’s start date is May 1st, and we’ll periodically post updates on her progress (and pictures of Good Medicine Tea being shared, of course!).