i'm sorry these posts are so few and far between. internet access is hard to come by; time off the bike is precious for reading, or stretching, or staring off blankly into space, or procuring and consuming peanut butter and jelly. i am also finding my reflections on the bike resistant to the blog format. having just graduated from university, my thoughts on the bike often settle into existential ruts of anxiety and doubt: i often feel that i'm not 'very good' at this trip; it's difficult for me to stay focused on the immediate scenery, the immediate moment, the immediate aches and unexpected encounters with people whose encouragement keeps us going into the next day. not feeling very 'good' at the trip makes me doubt my ability to make fulfilling things happen for myself post-school: without a concrete destination or predetermined route, this trip can seem like a metaphor for my whole future; the anxiety i feel when we haven't yet found a place to camp and the sky darkens is writ large. where am i going to pitch my tent? it's hard for me to find words for the ins and outs of this that don't seem like navel-gazing in the blogosphere.
these are some things we have been smelling over the past few hundred miles:
hay
fresh cut wood
wood burning
tires burning
cinnamon (unexplained, very strong)
the foul smell of high water that will not be accepted into the earth
cowshit (manure)
pigs and their shit
horseshit (golden stones that blaze up in the shoulder and become a little slalom course for us)
truck exhaust
lake michigan
butterscotch (outside a 'baby animal nutrition center.' disturbing.)
mint
banana bread
minty banana bread (at this point in northern illinois, i smelled mint, tom smelled banana bread. we compromised.)
fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies (we actually tried to follow this smell. we would have followed it into the depths of the earth, but we lost the trail.)
the musty interior of our tents
dust from dirt roads
elderflower
the dew burning off
we are leaving minneapolis this morning and heading west for the blue cloud abbey in marvin, SD. from there, up to bismark, ND. from there, glacier national park. we are well.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
i saw an article today about a girl who was doing a bike race and was attacked by a bear. if you smell bears, turn around!
also i hope you are going to montana after the dakotas, in which case i am quite jealous.
you got it sonia; good to hear from you. we will stay away from the bear - the worst we have come across so far is a pack of aggressive raccoons in a weird campground. but being humans, we built a fire and waved about burning branches until they retreated into the undergrowth. humans 1, other fauna, 0.
Post a Comment