Reflections from my bike tour of
February 15, 1999
I am feeling lighter, both
literally and spiritually. The spokes kept breaking due to the excess baggage I
was toting on this trip. That in-and-of itself made for an excellent metaphor
for the excess mental baggage that I have been dragging around with me through
most of this trip. I got a new, lighter tent, and got rid of all but my most
essential gear, and it has been smooth riding since. Similarly it occurred to
me that I could only enjoy this trip if I made enjoying this trip for myself
the real point-not impressing or trying to compete with others. Hence, that
means letting go of a lot of ego-driven mental baggage. Even the loss of my
MasterCard turned out to be a blessing in disguise. My VISA card draws on the
cash I have in checking account, the MC on cash I am expected to have in the
future. Naturally, MC has a higher limit, and I was relying on it for most of
my purchases. Losing it meant that I had to live within a real budget, which
means that my trip now has greater focus.
Not that I still don't have
SOME blunders. Yesterday I left the coastal town of
The ride down
Along the way I have met
quite a number of colorful locals, and there is much that I look forward to
integrated what I have heard, seen, and experienced in my writing.
Feb. 18 1999
Yesterday was a terrific
day, both meteorologically and geographically, whereby I covered a distance of
84 miles on moderately flat roads, leaving from the moderately tropical
Hokitiku to glaciers in a place named after Austrian Emperor Franz Josef, the
one who gave Mozart such a hard time. In between I had only one moderately high
climb of 200 meters (called
Click
here for part three of my journal.
To e-mail with comments or questions: gratitude101@hotmail.com