Wednesday, June 12, 1996
Day 32
Story City, Iowa to Vinton, Iowa
Today's Miles: 87
Cumulative Miles for the Tour: 2148
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Terrain: Slightly Rolling, Newly Planted Corn Farmland
Find of the Day: Iowa
I'm going to use today's journal to do a little catching up. We have several questions that are asked consistently as we go along. I'll handle a couple of those and then if you have more questions, e-mail me and I'll get back to you.
First things firsts. We've had several requests for pictures of Ken's newly shaven head. Here you go...
Ken's new "doo"
Some people e-mail me if they don't see a new journal each day. When we are on the backroads, sometimes it is difficult to get a telephone line that makes a good connection to my server in San Francisco. We can go for days at a time before I can find a good line. Thanks for the notes of concern when nothing shows up, but we're all doing fine...just looking for a good connection.
"Doesn't your butt hurt?" In a word, yes. Each morning as the ride starts, it takes a few minutes for the butt muscles to go numb where the pelvic bones meet the seat. After that, it's pretty good unless I get off the bike for a while and then I've got to go through the process again."Doesn't it get boring after a while?" That's an easy one to answer. No, there's way to much to see and do to get bored.Traveling by bike is much different than traveling by car. It's simple to get off the bike for a few minutes to look around in the small towns or to pull off the road for a couple seconds to check out the scenery. Pedaling without stopping for an hour gives me a chance to clear out some of the ideas I've been working on, uninterrupted by other people.I think I'm starting to drive Dave Blair nuts. When I see him with the van at the side of the road, I've usually got some concept to throw out at him before he even has a chance to warm his brain up. I remember last week talking to him at a crossroads between four corn fields in the middle of "nowhere" Iowa because I had just figured out how Einstein's theory of relativity relates to long distance bike riding. (If you're interested, e-mail me.)"You guys must be in GREAT shape." No, not really. We've discussed this one at length around the camp. We have come to the conclusion that if you have the desire, time is more important than strength. Get in the saddle and pedal. That's what it takes...time and desire."How did you get the time to take a trip like this?" Most of the people on this tour are in a transition of some kind, between jobs or schools. They thought it was important to do this trip before they got on with the next phase of their life. A couple riders just came on for a few weeks, which seems more feasible for most people."Are you insane?" This question comes up more and more often as we get farther across the continent. I guess in a way we are, but as I said in a previous journal, we're a GOOD kind of insane. You have to have a screw loose somewhere to sit on a bicycle seat, six to eight hours a day for 50 days. Oh, well...
Bike America Tours
dblair@wtp.net
1-800-738-7271