My Simple Truths



From sea...

...to shining sea.

We've come to the end of this adventure.
I'd like to thank you for having hung in
and read these.
You have been a lifeline to me.
During the tough bits during the day,
I've thought about you, thinking of words
and events I would say that night.
If beauty or wonder came into my path
during the ride, I'd think about
how nice it would be to share it with you.
To you I complained and celebrated -
thank you for your ear.
This blog will continue even though
this journey has ended.
If you stick with me, I hope to have more adventures with you -
perhaps not as grand, but maybe interesting.

These are my simple truths, that have developed and consolidated as we pedaled...

Cows belong in fields and pastures.
Calves belong with their mothers.
We all need less "stuff" than we think we do.
Attitude is truly everything.
My tan lines will never be even again.
Support locally.
Most people are good.
The rest is as important as the work.
Sunday is a day of rest.
Trains are amazing.
This country is vast and varied.
There's a lot we can do for this country.
Home is where my family and friends are, even if we're miles apart.
We all need each other.
We are all stronger than we think we are.
And love...love and tandems, tandem love...
It takes one pedal stroke at a time to create one mighty ride together.


Pacific man

And finally - I am blessed.

Atlantic man

Ride across country?  Check!

You Gotta Have Friends

Today was unique.
It was our last long ride.
It was over 90 miles.
It had climbs (wait, unique?)
It was the beginning of the end.
Or maybe the end of a beginning.

Our friends from home Bob and Ginger arrived this morning so Bob could ride with us today. (He's a rock star.)
The ride with Bob, the conversations of happenings back home, were a great beginning reentry for us. When we get home, we get to be with all the people we have missed. We need those people...we have missed them.

The amazing thing is, we now have all the people we have shared this life with, whether we've met them just once, or shared days and days of meals, misery, mirth and miles.

At tonight's dinner we began the thank you's. We still have one last ride together. We will do it together. We need these people. We will miss them.

The Importance of Being Earnest

There have been articles upon articles regarding the correlation between riding a tandem and being in a relationship. On this trip we've met many riders who are intrigued with the tandem, but would not consider it as an option; too much to ask in a marriage.  Today, we might consider their hesitation as sound.

To ride a tandem, the key component is communication. Clearly we began this journey with a solid set of comunication skills in place. However, to be honest, each day offers another opportunity to work on those skills.

Are you buying this?

The truth is, we're always working on it.

We left New York as we continued our walk/bike across America. In Troy, they were tearing apart the ancient sections of roads in town. As we passed by old buildings that displayed faded, painted walls which told of selling crackers for 5 cents, or textiles warehouses which were ghosts of fabrics past, we had to dismount and walk ourselves and the bike. There's a lot that happens prior the dismount.

The communication begins way before the walking, with me reading the cue sheet, passing along the information I had written from the previous night, and sharing whats going on behind us.
In the meantime, Jeff is assessing the conditions ahead of us, and determining if what I'm suggesting is even possible. Simultaneously, traffic is presenting it's own moment by moment challenge.

We got through that bit, just to enter a dark, bumpy tunnel, where we had to do the same thing.  Cars and trucks are whizzing by, decisions have to be "splitly" executed, and don't forget to look and appreciate the scenery.

Tension can be high.

There have been bits and pieces of the ride when silence was the better option.
This is fun?

But the brilliant part is, after some time, the conversation starts again, and the bridge of communication has another link in it.
We have to be clear and honest in these exchanges, because the next day we have to get back in the saddle and problem solve all day together...again.
We've been building this bridge for a very long time.
It is the most important, and sometimes the hardest work is -
to be earnest in tandem.

Bennington Monument...ask Jeff for a fun fact when you see him

Tracy said, "Look up"' so I did.  Big...huge...

signs of the rebuilding after last year's devastating floods all over ...

Green mountain state indeed.

No - I didn't jump ship...just thought about it...

See?  Still married...happy...and a little tuckered out after a 7 mile climb...

Plans

All of the riders have begun to shift into our real worlds. I have started my To Do list, Jeff has officially started cleaning out emails, and everyone has started making plans.
Our friend, Tony - from the UK, has given us some good strategies for our "rehabilitation". These are his words of wisdom:

It is not normal to sleep in the same room as your bike. For the first week try every other night to break the habit.

Most people do not rub white cream into their backside every morning before breakfast, no matter how pleasurable it has become to you, you need to stop. Find other pleasures in life.

When you get up in the night to pee you do not have to squeeze your tyres before and after you go.

You should continue to sit down at 5.45 each evening to preview the next day however you should have a beer, glass of wine or cocktail with you. This is a good habit.

If you get nostalgic for some of those hotel breakfasts then overcook some scrambled eggs put them in the fridge for a few days and then eat them at room temperature. You are cured!

You should email family and friends before you return and send them an example route sheet so that they can prepare some for you, so that you can get to their houses and the local store easily.

You do not need an energy bar and some energy gu just to get to the end of the street.

Watch out for my forthcoming book "One thousand ways to use a ziplock bag".

Finally, a recent study issued from the Panhandle University of Oklahoma reports that there are long term mental affects from the use of Gatorade. The report says anyone who has taken significant amounts of Gatorade on a daily basis for more than thirty days is highly likely to do crazy things for the rest of their lives. You have been warned!

I will miss him terribly...

The Mohawk River...so much history I now want to read...so little time

Beginning to feel like home...

The one bit of blue sky we saw today...

Tony tucking into "lunch"...

(CR alums...there are more that I'm sure you can think of.  We are compiling a list.  You are welcome to add to it - just send 'em along.)

Is Just a Number

Tut, tut, it looks like rain...

0 78 85 101 115 59 43 48 0 92 88 68 76 66 0 72 108 96 72 39 83 86 63 62 0 106 85 86 76 74 87 0 78 48 83 104 97 93 89 0 78 94 68 78 71 76 91 18
48 54 55 56 58 59 60 62 64 65 69 70...
360
5:00 5:45 8:00 8:30
6-10
45
These are just numbers. It doesn't really matter what they represent.
What matters is they are just that - numbers.
They do not define our limitations.
They do not define our expectations.
They do not define our abilities.
They do not define our success.
They do not define our failures.
They are just numbers.

People have asked whether our emotions are happy, sad, or mixed with the end of this journey straight ahead.

Ask us again in a couple of months.
We have a few numbers ahead of us, and we have our eye on the prize.

...and it did...

Cute, right?

Really, cute...

Detours

From year to year, Navigator Tracy does her best
to adapt the route to changing times, conditions, and venues.
It is not uncommon to come across a detour, or two, or five.

Sometimes we have some warning, other times, we just come upon them.

In the beginning of this trip, I saw detours as potential pitfalls or annoyances.
As time has gone on, I see them with different eyes.

Today's detour was a street that was completely torn up, with an access on a sidewalk.
The path was ancient flagstone that threatened to push us over, pull us in, or puncture a tire.
The bumps truly put our teeth on edge.
This was not fun.
However, it also provided us with a way to see magnificent homes that
would have otherwise been hidden behind and beneath mature growth of trees and hedges.
Mansions that have seen better days, or are beginning to have a second chance.
If we had stayed on the main road, we would have missed them entirely.

We've had other detours that were just that -
changes of paths that were safer, surer, or drier.
Other detours, as today's, provide opportunities to look at things differently.

How do you address your detours?


The Erie Canal - part one

Misconceptions

real or unreal?

If in a conversation, the topic of New York comes up, I will always respond, "I've never been there." This is my attempt to remind Jeff that I would like to spend a weekend in "New York".

I have had family members and friends who have gone to school in New York.

And of course, I own the entire Sex in the City series, so clearly I KNOW New York.

No I don't.

New York is green grass and pastures.
New York is horses, dairy cows, and even pigs.
New York is grain, corn and grapes.
New York is hills, some rolling...some daunting.

(Today's highlight hill:
J- Okay, ready?
R - Yep.
Then the bottom falls out - literally...we go screaming straight down making the bottom at record speed, just to go straight up.  This was way better than Space Mountain - sorry Disney.)

New York is towns with Farmers Markets, and Saturday church barbeques.
New York is people walking dogs on leashes, breeding dogs, and providing doggy daycare.
New York is evergreen trees.
New York is brick houses, stone houses, farmhouses.
New York is hammocks.
New York is antique shops.
New York is expanses.
And today, New York was 3,000 miles.

I had a misconception of New York, I apologize.  I need to get to know her better.

hills

dells

pines

will cycle for chocolate milk

looks like home

yep...pretty dang happy

You're Getting Warmer...

morning has broken in PA

When we were kids, my sisters played a game called "Hot and Cold" with me.  While I realize this could have been a way to have me be entertained for hours, while going farther and farther away from them, has crossed my mind, I will hold in my simple heart their honest intentions.

You know the game.

Something is "hidden" or "chosen" and the hunt begins.  As I would get farther away from the object, they would give the cue - "colder".  If you were far afield, you were "freezing".  As you got closer to the target you got "warmer...warmer...warmer..." until you were HOT - and hit paydirt.
This is what our ride was today.  We entered New York, our eleventh state, and biked along Lake Erie, (yes Tom), and through wooded areas.  The last cactus we saw was in Ohio, Pennsylvania was the beginning of a vegetation turning point, and New York -- well New York felt like the walkway to "home".

As kids we had learned that Erie was a lake in trouble, pollution threatened to destroy it. 
Today is a different story - the shades of blue were brilliant,
against the cold-front clouds and crystal sky.
Concord grape vineyards were plenty, wheat and cornfields (much fewer) were having their last gasps, and there was nary a soybean field to be seen.

Rollings hills are pulling us northward, with each slope bringing us closer. 
We leave shortly for Route Rap, where we'll hear about our ninety-four mile ride for tomorrow.  We've been cautioned to remain vigilant, and focused...
keep our eye on the prize...
family, friends, beds,  choice of underwear and shoes...
But it is getting hard...we're getting warmer.

Hello NY

Tops

and Bottoms

look at the bottom...water mosaic

end of the day email check

Breaking Away

The film Breaking Away was a '70's coming of age movie that addressed the art of reevaluating one's life. I did not need reevaluation, but truthfully, I needed a break. Most sane people would have chosen a vacation.
(Insert wise crack here.)

Here's the thing...we only got six rest days on this journey.

The first was the best one - we got to attend our son's graduation.

Today was our second best "rest" day - it was filled with good food, cold beer, some history, a boat ride, a beach, hand holding, talking and sharing with friends.

Turns out...sometimes just one day can feel like a vacation of a lifetime.