August 15, 2015 Seattle Sixteen days out of the bubble.
Last night, I stood staring at big map of the country (see below) on the floor. LaVonne asked me draw my route on it. I just stood there and stared not quite able to process the whole thing. Two or so weeks later and I still see it in my head as individual days. During the ride, I had to stay in the day and even break each day into bite size segments. When I finished a day’s ride, along with zeroing in on mass quantities of food, I’d check out/maintain the bike, my panniers, refill water (3.5 L) and all the personal maintenance stuff…
I had to be ready to do my routine the next morning. Fire up the stove to boil water for oatmeal and coffee. Stretch. Sunscreen. Recheck the route and pack it all up. Keeping a routine helps minimize the need to psych up for the next day. You just have to stay in the moment of the routine and develop consistency.
Getting out of my daily routines and establishing new ones, regardless of their temporary nature, gave me an another view at my life. I heartily recommend it. Change up something simple - you don’t have to embark on a three month journey across the country - only a nutcase would do that.
Lastly, my fifteen minutes… when I reached the Alki trail I was greeted by a few friends on bikes cheering me on - and I’m not sure I’ve been cheered since scoring a home run in a kickball game back in sixth grade… and when I got home, my family greeted me with a champagne shower. LaVonne even arranged for a reporter from the West Seattle Blog to cover my return which almost immediately posted an hour after he left.
But the funniest thing happened the next night. The next night, “L” and I went out for a Friday date night dinner in Ballard, about seven miles away over the ship canal. After dinner, walking down the crowded streets chock full of other restaurant seekers, a couple approached us and asked if I was the guy in the article that just road across the country… funny… it was a quick fifteen minutes… but more than enough.
More to share soon.
PS - We’ve raised $4,986 so far - enough to purchase 33 bicycles… thank you.
