2010-06-12
June 11 Day 11 120 Km
The Birds
At about 5 AM every morning birds start going at it, non-stop, saying wake up Josh. Your missing this day. Wake up. And every morning at about 5:01 AM I shake the sleep from myself and open my eyes. A little sore, a little tired, and moderately excited to ride bike again. So, after I pack up my things (a 30 minute chore), I hit the road. Off to exploring the world.
Points +1
June 10 Day 9 125 Km
The Point System
In all of the travels that I have done, I have always allowed for a backdoor out, an excuse for me not to go through with it. In some ways this allows me the freedom to only do things that I truly am excited about. But at other times it offered me an opportunity to get out of some experiences that I am sure would have been amazing, the peace corps for example. On this trip I have a fairly elaborate exit strategy. Each day is given one of three different point values. +1 for a good day, 0 for a neutral day, and -1 for a bad day. The running total of the points determines my “happiness factor”. Points are awarded or subtracted according to following 3 criteria; the landscape, the people that I interact with, and my physical and mental condition. When I reach -10, I am going to seriously consider cutting my losses and going home. Yes I know how dorky an elaborate points system is to determine how much fun I am having, but give me a break I am a physicist. Today was a neutral day, 0 points, although I didn’t really want to be biking this morning.
I am staying Mexico Missouri tonight. Ironically Mexico is a lot closer than I originally thought.
2010-06-10
Week 2
June 9 Day 8 150 Km
The People that we meet
Today I met Al and Darb, two recent graduates from Brown University. They too are on a bike journey down the Mississippi to New Orleans. I rode with them for almost all day. Some days I wake up and have no idea of the people I will meet. As in life we really have no idea of where any of this is all going. But we are all traveling there at the speed of time. The bike trip just makes it a little more visible because you go from strangers to friends in two seconds and handshake.
Staying in Hannibal MO the previous home of Mark Twain. Maybe just as in Twains time it’s not filled with the classiest of people.
June 8 Day 7? 110Km
OIL SPILL
So the farther that I go on this trip the more excited I get about going down to Louisiana and help clean up the damn oil. And although it is not a journey around the world it is definitely something that I would be excited about doing. It may offer me to pursue a career in the EPA or FEMA, government agencies that I believe do great work. I also believe that large agencies such as this need intelligent science minded people that can handle difficult confusing data.
I would also like to remind all of us that the oil spill caused by BP is partially all of our faults. BP was drilling the oil for all of us. Anyone that drives a car, eats a hamburger, and does practically anything else was going to be using BP’s oil. Therefore I think that instead of pointing fingers as to whose fault it was, we should all accept partial responsibility, fix the oil spill problem and make efforts to try get ourselves off the damn shit. I believe that we should all ride more bikes. Sorry for the rant but when it runs through my head for 6 hours straight I get a little worked up. \
PS, It rained this morning
PPS, I got wet.
The People that we meet
Today I met Al and Darb, two recent graduates from Brown University. They too are on a bike journey down the Mississippi to New Orleans. I rode with them for almost all day. Some days I wake up and have no idea of the people I will meet. As in life we really have no idea of where any of this is all going. But we are all traveling there at the speed of time. The bike trip just makes it a little more visible because you go from strangers to friends in two seconds and handshake.
Staying in Hannibal MO the previous home of Mark Twain. Maybe just as in Twains time it’s not filled with the classiest of people.
June 8 Day 7? 110Km
OIL SPILL
So the farther that I go on this trip the more excited I get about going down to Louisiana and help clean up the damn oil. And although it is not a journey around the world it is definitely something that I would be excited about doing. It may offer me to pursue a career in the EPA or FEMA, government agencies that I believe do great work. I also believe that large agencies such as this need intelligent science minded people that can handle difficult confusing data.
I would also like to remind all of us that the oil spill caused by BP is partially all of our faults. BP was drilling the oil for all of us. Anyone that drives a car, eats a hamburger, and does practically anything else was going to be using BP’s oil. Therefore I think that instead of pointing fingers as to whose fault it was, we should all accept partial responsibility, fix the oil spill problem and make efforts to try get ourselves off the damn shit. I believe that we should all ride more bikes. Sorry for the rant but when it runs through my head for 6 hours straight I get a little worked up. \
PS, It rained this morning
PPS, I got wet.
2010-06-08
Words
June 6 Day 7 116 Km
Waking to bike, biking to sleep
Wake up early 5 AM, so it is cooler, and there isn’t as much wind. Bike as hard and as long as possible. By 3 PM I am pretty tired, hungry and hot. Looking for a place to rest for the night. Gather food, set up camp, get water, find a campsite, fix bike, and sleep. It really isn’t a very exciting life. Maybe it is Iowa, maybe it is my painful knees, or maybe it is me following a faded dream, but something doesn’t seem quite right with this trip. Day 1 no fun.
June 5 Day 5 116 Km
Who we interact with
This trip is more than sightseeing. It is about getting to know the people that live in the places that I am visiting. It is about slowing down and interacting with people for fun. Not because I have to but because I love talking to people about their lives. And they are all too eager to share. Today I talked to a hippy couple about the magic crystals that bring Rain at the rainbow festival each year, an older lady about how totem poles should be allowed in her town, and a man whose wife is dieing of cancer. He was crying as I left. I don’t know if I was an angel or the devil with the words that I shared with him. What I got from him as I biked away was that life is short and cancer will kill us all someday.
Camping in a five dollar campground. Did my laundry in the shower with me, and shaved my face. Clean (kind of)
Tomorrow -> more Iowa
Waking to bike, biking to sleep
Wake up early 5 AM, so it is cooler, and there isn’t as much wind. Bike as hard and as long as possible. By 3 PM I am pretty tired, hungry and hot. Looking for a place to rest for the night. Gather food, set up camp, get water, find a campsite, fix bike, and sleep. It really isn’t a very exciting life. Maybe it is Iowa, maybe it is my painful knees, or maybe it is me following a faded dream, but something doesn’t seem quite right with this trip. Day 1 no fun.
June 5 Day 5 116 Km
Who we interact with
This trip is more than sightseeing. It is about getting to know the people that live in the places that I am visiting. It is about slowing down and interacting with people for fun. Not because I have to but because I love talking to people about their lives. And they are all too eager to share. Today I talked to a hippy couple about the magic crystals that bring Rain at the rainbow festival each year, an older lady about how totem poles should be allowed in her town, and a man whose wife is dieing of cancer. He was crying as I left. I don’t know if I was an angel or the devil with the words that I shared with him. What I got from him as I biked away was that life is short and cancer will kill us all someday.
Camping in a five dollar campground. Did my laundry in the shower with me, and shaved my face. Clean (kind of)
Tomorrow -> more Iowa
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