May 7, 2015
Lessons Learned From Comparative Government Class
Muscatine, Iowa
It was another great day of riding (is there a truly BAD day?) but I can't point out anything at all that made it extraordinary. Sure, there was the three mile stretch of sand dunes which seemed so out of place in west central Illinois. There was the largest herd of sheep I've ever seen--sheep of all colors, sizes, and shapes. There were more quaint little towns. There were some nice views of the river. There was the lady at the convenience store in Keithsburg who called me "hon." There was the tasty little pack of Hostess Powdered Sugar Donuts she sold me. But those are the kinds of things that occur every day on a bike tour.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Arriving into the city of Muscatine was the beginning of a deja vu experience for me. I found a laundromat in the downtown area and threw a load into one of those machines that magically turns dirty clothes into clean ones. I seemed to recognize so many things here as I walked the streets while waiting for my laundry. Then it came to me: I HAVE been here before--it was the end point of one of my RAGBRAI trips.
Interestingly, a guy who saw my bike parked outside the laundromat approached me and asked, "Are you getting ready for RAGBRAI?" He was a cyclist and had done the ride across Iowa twelve times. I told him I had ridden RAGBRAI six times but I don't ride it anymore (for now anyway) but I sure loved that tour. It's fun. It's challenging. It's a food event. It's a party . . . all rolled into one week long bike ride. And the best thing is that it got me interested in longer tours like what I'm doing right now.
I'm sorry for going off on another tangent, but there is an important reason for doing so. Thirty-something years ago I had a Political Science professor who insisted on two things when he'd assign a research paper or book review: synthesis and cogency. The synthesis part involved incorporating personal experiences and ideas from books we had read into our essays. The cogency part required that those experiences and ideas had to well-reasoned and convincing.
This professor was big and scary-looking and he shaved his head way before it became COOL to have a shaved head. Frequently he had a bleeding sore somewhere on his noggin from his daily morning shave. Even more scary than his appearance was the demeaning way he critiqued his students' papers with red ink. {"Not particularly thoughtful!" "You cite Nietsche, but are you sure that is what he really meant?"} It was SO scary that, even to this day, I am afraid to submit anything that does not have a sufficient degree of synthesis. So there you go, Professor Berry, wherever you are, I just synthesized you right into my Journal-Picayune. I just regret that I haven't quite grasped the "cogency" part.
Today's ride: 38 miles (61 km)
Total: 1,222 miles (1,967 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 4 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |