Preparations

I was asked last night how to prepare for such a journey. The reality is, physically I have been preparing for this for about a year and a half. I discovered my city is not so very large by hopping on my bike and riding upwards of 70+ miles in a day. It isn't hard, just time consuming. I am not a fast rider, just continuous. Plus, I enjoy it! I love to be outside and to see things from a new perspective.
The preparations for touring are similar to my backpacking experience. What do I need? Aside from a toolkit for my transport and some specialized riding clothing, I am taking the contents of my backpack. The difference is that I will have access to stores, restaurants, hotels, people, bike shops. It's not such a big deal when I think of it like that. I am trying to keep my panniers as light as possible, so frequenting shops for food is a must.
The route I am taking is described in detail in a book called "Bicycling the Pacific Coast," by Spring and Kirkindall. It is fairly straight forward rout; keep the Pacific on your right and go!
I am taking Panniers rather than the trailer a friend offered for the simple reason that if I end up on a stretch of road I don't like I can call AAA, a taxi, or hitch a ride past that bit of land. Also, I don't want to have to try to find a place to park my ride. Panniers keep things navigable.
It has been a bit of a dilemma today, trying to figure out where things go in my panniers. I have 2 in front, 2 in back and one on the rack. The one on the rack holds my tent and sleeping pad. One large pannier holds my sleeping bag, candle lantern, journal, wilderness kit, scriptures. The other holds camp clothes (essentially a tech-wear-sweatsuit), around town pants, skirt, and 2 shirts, roos, swim trunks (sport bra doubles at a top--it's all about duplicity and reducing weight), rain gear. One front pannier include first aid kit, kitchen (camp stove, hiker's cook wear, chopsticks, utensils, spatula, wooden spoon, cutting board/plastic plate, soap, sponge) and water, the other has food.