What kind of bike does your daughter have? A lot of kid's bikes are awfully heavy. I know the 24" walmart thing that my niece has it almost 30 lbs. If she doesnt have a light bike, maybe think about getting her something lighter... A lot of the old steel rigid fork trek mountain bikes pop up on craigslist for under $200 and if she's about 5 foot or so, she could ride a 14 inch one.

As for gear... maybe credit card camping would be a bit easier...


What kind of tent do you have? You could strap the poles to her bike if it has a rack, and then carry the rest on your bike. Unfortunately, really lightweight tents are really expensive. Good gear is. I use hammocks when I want to go light and I'm pretty certain it's not going to rain and I know there's gonna be trees around :
http://www.amazon.com/Byer-Maine-A10...7722443&sr=8-1

That one's pretty comfortable, small & lightweight, has mosquito netting... but you'll get wet if it rains on you. You could pack some tarps to go over them if it starts to rain, or you could just have a get a hotel for nights it's gonna rain rule 'cause tarps add bulk.

Luckily it will probably be warm so you can probably get away with minimal in terms of a sleeping bag - maybe just some fleece sleeping bags would work.

Headlamps with batteries, maybe some solar chargeable flashlights that can charge on the bike during the day (costco sells a 2 pack which are light & work well. )

Food... restaurants may make that a lot easier, otherwise... camp stove & fuel... If you don't have a good lightweight campstove, that again gets expensive... but you can look up pepsi can stoves and how to make them, that could be a good project for you & your daughter... they're small & light.

As for conditioning.. if shes an active kid, she probably doesn't need much. How many miles are you planning on riding a day? 20? 50? I guess I'd start off taking her for short rides a couple times a week... 10 miles? and then gradually build up the mileage to make sure that at least twice before the trip starts she's done about the mileage you guys intend to do in one day.

I'll ask my friend what his parents did when they were young... They lived in Belgium, and his parents used to have all 5 of his siblings tour with them, riding to the Netherlands, etc. Definitely all of that is flat, but I think the younger kids were like 8 or so when they were doing all of that.