A day of mixed reactions...I get to go home vs I am drawn to continue this journey farther westward as a modern "corps of discovery" with fellow travelers.
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| Blackie and I reminiscing about the tour |
The Gap tour is over. I have traveled the Trans America bicycle route from the Atlantic to the Pacific. I can now say with authority that the Appalachian Mountains are the most difficult portion of the Trans Am route. I have been telling other riders that having crossed the Appalachians they can easily survive anything else the route throws at them...the Missouri Ozarks, Kansas Plains and potential winds, Colorado Rockies, Bitterroots of Montana, Oregon Cascades. There is much that can be said about the challenges and exhilaration of a cross-country bicycle ride, but one of the greatest benefits are the people met along the journey. We influence and shape each other by our encounters and relationships even but for a moment's passing. This is certainly one of the highlights of a long bike ride. Other riders agree. Our many encounters with each other and particularly with the residents within the areas we are traveling strengthens our hope and trust in the goodness of humanity. While there is much that can be pointed to that exhibits a weakness of our society to oppress the weak and the marginal among us, this comes from a false sense of what true power is...a false sense shaded by greed and ego-centricity...a belief of limited resources and of life itself...a "I must win, you must loose" mentality. This attitude just doesn't exist on the road.
Long distance riding seems to require a sense of the now, being in the present, take in the moment in all its fullness. There are many people met along the way, fellow travelers and locals alike. These are some of the people I met along the Trans Am ride from Charlottesville, VA to Farmington, MO that help to shape my memory of this journey.
