June 12, 2015
Memories and Reflections of the First Half: Things That Stood Out and Some Rants
Summary of the first half of this transcontinental journey; dangerous heat, hills that never ended, humidity, rain, lightning, wind, ridiculously steep climbs in the Appalachians, bad dogs, uncertain lodging and/or camping accommodations, mosquitoes and other biting insects, and... but I don’t want to mislead you, it wasn’t all rosy. There were some hard parts too. It was the most challenging thing I have ever done. And all the time I was dealing with those challenges, I’ve never ever felt so alive! There was one – and only one – day that I thought about giving up. Actually it was just part of 1 day and a night; and once I got through that I NEVER again considered giving up. I’m now hooked on this mode of touring; I know my wife may not want to hear this, but I hope to have many more tours like this before I’m done. Maybe some day when I'm 85 or older I will leave this life while on a bicycle tour; I can't think of a better way to have a "Warrior's Death" than to die while fighting the challenges of an extended bicycle tour. Yeah, this trip really has made that kind of an impression on me.
The best part of the trip so far; the people I met. The scenery was spectacular, but interacting with the folks I met is what made the trip memorable. The kindness of the folks in Virginia was nothing short of extraordinary. They were the nicest, most polite, considerate people I have ever met. And I wouldn’t have guessed that at all prior to the trip, as my opinion of most “easterners” wasn’t so good. Turns out that my opinion was based on dealing with people in the large cities where we all fly for business purposes; once you leave the large cities you meet the real folks. So I had a bias that was unfair to the folks of Virginia, and I’m now proud to report that I was wrong. I mean it when I say that I’m proud to admit I was wrong; one of the things I take pride in is being able to change my opinion based on new facts. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if politicians and religious leaders would change their opinions based on an honest evaluation of facts?
I had expected to be on my own during this trip, and was prepared for that. So an unexpected joy was the camaraderie experienced from cycling with others. Daniel Wolf from Colorado and James Filmer from London were two cyclists that I traveled with off and on during most of the trip, and during the last week of my journey we shared several hotel rooms together. This made the trip much more enjoyable, and the hardships were much easier to endure when you knew that others were also experiencing them. Josh and Dan from Kentucky were two young cyclists whom I traveled with during part of Virginia and Kentucky; we stayed together in the Cookie Lady's house and we ascended the Blue Ridge together; wow, that is a good memory. And there were many others as well, including Andy from San Antonio.
Meeting cyclists from other countries was another unexpected benefit of the tour. I met folks from England, Canada, Holland, Switzerland, Korea, and Japan. Hearing their impressions of America and Americans was quite an eye-opener. I’d say it’s pretty much a universal impression of foreigners that America’s gun culture is just idiotic. It was hard to argue otherwise when the latest mass shooting was on the news in the diner and the fellow from England was just shocked that we continue to allow such things to happen under the guise of our “second amendment rights.” And when you compare the education that the Swiss folks get in public school vs. our own, you realize how backwards we have become. Especially so when special interest groups have succeeded in re-writing our history and social studies textbooks. But I digress, back to the tour now.
Calories I burned per day while cycling; approximately 7,000 – 9,000. You can eat a lot on a cycling trip if you want; you sometimes MUST eat a lot to have the energy to continue. My weight loss during the trip was approximately 20 pounds. I haven’t been able to cycle as much as I should have during this interim period due to work and family commitments, and I have put about half of the weight back on. It’s a mental challenge to transition from eating whenever and wherever there is food available to eating a “normal” 3 meals per day.
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Riding around my home of Tulsa, OK, I had grown accustomed to the "quality" of roads we have. The route I followed from Virginia to Colorado used back roads, county roads, and the like and stayed off the main highways as much as possible, so I hadn't expected to be riding on very good pavement. Wow, was I wrong! Apparently most states have MUCH better roads than we do in Oklahoma. The roads in Virginia were amazing; no potholes or patched sections even in the rural areas. But it was the same story in Kentucky, and the eastern half of Kentucky is quite poor. In fact, VA, KY, IL, MO, KS, and CO all had better roads than Oklahoma. Why? The answer isn't hard to find. Oklahoma's fuel tax is $0.16/gallon, whereas Kansas has a fuel tax of $0.24/gallon. All it takes to have good roads is enough money to do the required maintenance. But as long as we have politicians whose mission in life is to cut taxes (thereby making the wealthy even wealthier), we will have poor roads. Ditto for our education system, and every other aspect of basic government "infrastructure." Am I the only person in Oklahoma who wants good roads? Maybe I'm the only one who realizes we get what we pay for. I think we need to buy some better politicians...
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