bikingtomaine
i have been searching for the 'perfect' idea on how to start this thing and just end up getting nothing started.……
"But our trip was different. It was a classic affirmation of everything right and true and decent in the national character. It was a gross, physical salute to the fantastic possibilities of life in this country—but only for those with true grit. And we were chock full of that."-HsT, FLLV
bare with me while i get more comfortable and ideas flowing to the inter webs. two-ish years ago when i started to play around with the idea of moving from portland to the bay area, i would have never guessed that i would be willing to express myself in this way. moving away from a rock solid community that i had built to a 'foreign country' was culture shock for me. the goal of this trip is maine to be one of the first people in the u.s. to see the sunrise! how i get there has yet been fully mapped out. that is what i am excited about!
here is where i want to start…… COMMUNITY!!!! can we still find it? i know that it is still there, it's just harder to find the roots and allow it to grow stronger. i believe that as a society, we must be adapting to our ever changing environment and still i want to fight certain aspects of this change. i don't want to digitize communication. there are becoming less and less reasons for humans to interact with one another and i would like to see that trend in the other way. one idea. in portland I had a good friend that enjoyed running and i liked to cycle. it worked out well because we both got to do something different and it was really enjoyable to be outdoors more often. by adding more exercise, i had to be more mindful of my nutrition. this has been the hardest part of getting more serious about cycling for me. i didn't have any consistent eating habits and times. i love thai food and got an amazing cookbook and wok and experimented with meals that i could cook in batches and have ready so there was no excuse not to eat. another obstacle was adjusting my mind to realistic portions. so after all that, i started to brainstorm about a 'food sustainability' idea around a cross country bike trip that i have wanted to do forever. second and third idea. i have traveled a bit in se asia and love that most food that is available is from a fresh outdoor market. it isn't a fad that happens once a week that we choose to call a "farmers market." i want to meet local family farmers, community farmers, that have a tie to their community and aren't there to exploit and then ditch when the numbers don't crunch out.
after playing with many different ideas of morphing all these interest together, a professor pointed out that i had enough going on and maybe just focus on me personally and the availability of fresh foods, costs, consistency, etc. in the places that i pass through and to still tie in the community part as well. that is where i am at. i have been researching different ways to post things from the road and trying different things out and have settled on this for the most part. i will have a bike computer that will map my route as i go and i will be posting the days map and stats, interesting updates, pics, comments, thoughts, jokes, music; not really sure yet. expect something on a regular basis though. i had a blast doing this down HWY 1 to Los Angeles. i was amazed at what caught my attention as i would peddle for about 6 hrs a day. for the most part i had my phone on mute and no tech. distractions. i followed a hydraulic leak from farm equipment for at least 30 min. through watsonville. took note of different road pavement surfaces to ask my friend about that works in the industry. a bunch of conversations on the side of the road with strangers, a couple of them for hrs. it was amazing! my idea with this website is to hopefully create its own community as well. to come check in on the map, read, comment about the area i'm in with suggestions of what not to miss, etc.
i absolutely appreciate the support so many people have sent my way! Please also check out the Photography tab.
