Imagine feeding a few hundred hungry cyclists every day for nine weeks. Then imagine preparing that food in a mobile kitchen after sleeping on the ground in a tent every night.
That was the task accomplished by several women who traveled across the country with the 2008 Sea to Sea tour.
LaVonne Koedam of Zeeland, Mich., was in charge of the crew. She said the operation went smoothly as everyone quickly settled in to preferred tasks such as cooking, preparing food, or organizing and cleaning up.
Grocery shopping was a mammoth undertaking as every day the cyclists went through 20 gallons (75 liters) of milk, 11 gallons (41 liters) of juice, 30 loaves of bread, 7 pounds (3 kg.) of peanut butter, 360 energy and granola bars, and much more.
Dinners could include up to 100 pounds (45 kg.) of meat, 90 pounds (41 kg.) of potatoes, and 10 gallons (38 liters) of applesauce.
The weekly grocery bill averaged $7,000 (U.S.).
Koedam laughed when she explained that even though her crew was mostly Canadian, they stuck with imperial measurements because she doesn’t know metric.
About the Author
Gayla Postma retired as news editor for The Banner in 2020.
