September 9, 2023
The Most Redundant & Unnecessary Conclusion EVER
I don't know what got into me when I thought it would be a smart bloggeristic experiment to write the long, loony, braggy, James Joyce-y sentence you saw on the last page. I almost removed it yesterday for a couple of reasons: 1) It was embarrassingly weird and self-indulgent. 2) It fell far short of some of the sentences written by the actual James Joyce (and William Faulkner too, I've been told) in his novel Ulysses. As I recall, one of them was something like ten pages long.
I didn't remove it though. If James Joyce can leave long, incomprehensible sentences in his book for all the world (including the U.S. Supreme Court justices deciding on a landmark book banning case) to read, I figured I could leave my sentence in my journal for all of Cycleblaze to read. Plus, I got mostly positive reviews in the comments section.
Anyway, the long sentence was my way of saying "thank you" for reading my journal, despite its many flaws, despite my failure to get as far into Minnesota's least popular sector as I had intended, despite not living up to the promise of a true "winging-it" ethic, despite the early turn around, despite the excuses, and despite frequently dwelling on the loss of Diggity, which I said I wouldn't do.
Overall, though, the tour was a big success in my judgement. It was a needed respite. It cleared my head. It was fun. It proved to the world that the title of this journal is true. That is, the part of Minnesota southwest of the Twin Cities is definitely not THAT bad. It might not be popular among bike tourists, but it sure isn't ugly or boring. Far from it!
Gear Review
The bike, the panniers, the tent, the sleeping bag, the closed cell foam pad, the cooking gear, my phone camera, and the paper maps worked great.
I was only disappointed in the performance of two or three things. My two long-sleeved shirts and my rain gear just sat there doing nothing for the entire trip. They were just dead weight. And my sunglasses pissed me off by jumping off my handlebar bag and getting crushed under my rear tire, resulting in me having to ride a couple days with only narrow slits in my eyelids from which to see the road and the scenery.
Health Review
Aside from a couple of glitches, my health and body held up very well. No crashes, no sunburn, no illnesses, no blood, and no incidents with the hot camp stove--all things that have happened to me while on past tours.
If not for the cramps I got on the first day, and for the persistent sore shoulder, one could say I was a paradigm of excellent health.
Luckily, I was able to diagnose and treat both issues. I drank more water to cure the cramps, and I shortened the daily time spent over the handlebars to alleviate the shoulder pain. (My self-diagnosis for the shoulder is arthritis setting in. A few years ago, I diagnosed that for my thumbs too. I self-diagnose my aches and pains and other maladies on a regular basis, and I'm right at least 30% of the time.)
Album Review
An old favorite album of mine is Billy's Live Bait by a band named Gear Daddies. They were a group of regular dudes from the southwest Minnesota city of Austin, which is the home of Hormel and that company's most famous product, Spam.
Much of the album is about the bad relationships and the boredom that results from living one's whole life in such a lonesome and uncool place. At least, that's MY interpretation. I grew up in Iowa, and I sometimes felt the same when I was young and was filled with angst. No place bores me now. I like the whole world when riding my bike.
Check out Billy's Live Bait someday if you're interested in a Minnesota alt-country classic.
A Review of the Best & Worst
- Best Food: Ramen noodle soup with chicken at Flandrau State Park
- Worst Food: An off-brand, and probably expired, package of beef jerky eaten while cycling the first two days.
- Best Accommodation: My tent
- Worst Town: Klossner
- Best German Kitsch: New Ulm
- Worst Mosquito Bite: Sakatah Lake State Park
- Best Animals: A herd of goats chomping on invasive species.
- Worst pothole: Located on Highway 50 about two miles west of New Trier. Estimated dimensions--two-feet long, one-foot wide, six-inches deep. I was lucky to have missed it.
- Best Surprise: The discovery of Chimney Rock less than ten-miles from my home.
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Remember when I wrote that I'd be going back to Chimney Rock Natural & Scenic Area sometime in the near future? Well, I did it, and I convinced The Feeshko to accompany me. She ended up being more impressed with it than I was, which made me feel pretty good. I have no doubt Diggity would have loved exploring the area too.
| Heart | 5 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 6 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 6 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 9 | Comment | 1 | Link |
1 year ago
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That's it, folks. Thank you, again, for reading. Thank you for the comments. Thank you for all the hearts, which I most certainly did not deserve.
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 14 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 6 |
1 year ago