A Rest From The Road

Hi Friends. Janice and I are in Baker City, Oregon. Today is a rest day. The only biking we will do will be from our campsite to the supermarket, library, and movie theater. We've been working hard--riding and sampling trees--and now it's time for a rest day.

For the last couple days I've been thinking a lot about something my brother Chris said. Before Janice and I left for the tour, we were talking with Chris about working out and staying in shape. "The road is my gym," said Chris. And I couldn't agree more. But for us, the road is more than a 24-hour gym. It's the course, the way, the path of least resistance through a rugged and sometimes hostile landscape. We stay on the road and we watch the road. We avoid rocks, and glass, and metal, and dead animals that lie in our path. We share the road. We feel the road. And sometimes, I swear, we can even smell the road. When the road is smooth, our tires rejoice and we sail along. When the road is rough, the wheels shake with disapproval and the vitamins rattle inside their containers. The road changes, but the road goes on and on, some might even say forever. For us, the road will be taking us into Idaho and into the Rocky Mountains. We are about to start map 3 of the TransAmerica Route, which will take us from Baker City to Missoula, Montana.

That's all for now. Enjoy the road and be safe.