The goal for today was to get to Spokane and at just over 65 miles it shouldn't take too long if it were anything like yesterday. I snacked in Davenport and 10 miles later saw a man walking east along Hwy 2 with a bright best that read "Seniors Walking America" across the back. I stopped and asked him what his story was.
Bruce Maynard, seniorswalkingacrossamerica.blogspot.com, lives in northwest WA and has, in the last 3 years, walked down the west coast, across the south to Key West, and back up to Oklahoma! Oh yeah, he's also 78 years old. He uses a motor home as his base and walks 10 or 15 miles, then walks back to the motor home and drives 20 miles to do 10 the next day. His goal, pending a number of things that didn't include his age, is to walk through Europe, into Afghanistan to pick up the Silk Road, and continue through China. That way he'll have walked the globe! He was so full of energy and we talked on the side of the highway for a good 20 minutes. We both agreed it was good that the trips we're doing are for ourselves. It's admirable to do a big event or trip for a cause but it will get in the way of it truly being YOUR adventure. Sometimes a major adventure isn't what's needed so a cause is great, but not this time for me. Bruce's story is exactly the example I needed and will now use on the elderly people I chat with that say only in their dreams could they do such a big trip at their age.
The rest of the ride was uneventful and the wind was at a bit of a diagonal, but when I got to Riverside Park just outside of downtown I looked at my speedometer to see an average of 18 mph, which is a trip high for any significant distance! I set up camp, changed clothes, and rode into town. I first tried Northern Lights Brewery, which had a good tomato pesto chicken sandwich but out of all the 10 beers in the sampler I wasn't really impressed by any. Next I cruised over to Steam Plant Brewing, which is located in a renovated historic steam plant. The building was interesting and I had some nachos and a pint of their Double Stack Stout since it was happy hour all day on Sundays. Wow was the stout delicious. Thick, chocolaty, and what tasted like some vanilla bean flavor as well. It was on the sweeter side so when I ordered a small dessert I had another stout, it was just that good! After the equivalent of 4.5 beers and two dinners I was pretty stuffed and slowly rode back to camp.
Although a somewhat mellow day I had a lot of time to think during the ride since the novelty of endless wheat fields had wore out after yesterday. With both Jekyll and Hyde as well as City Slickers fresh in my mind, I had a lot of time to find commonalities between the two. It seems necessary to exercise and entertain the "demons" that everyone has, the Hydes, on a regular enough basis to keep the monster from taking over. Billy Crystal's character had, like Jekyll, also not done enough for himself and his desire for excitement since he had fallen in a rut and needed an extreme adventure to pull himself out. I've always tried to keep things in moderation, including moderation itself. Too much of anything is bad for you, or at least overwhelming, so take it easy. But sometimes drastic or extreme things must be done as well, like my trip. I'm having an unsustainable amount of fun! It's been great and I encourage everyone to have an adventure for themselves, but I also can't go on doing this forever, it wouldn't balance with the rest of my life. I'll dedicate myself to work but not to a breaking point, yet on the other end I'll love some things passionately and with all my heart, such is the devil of moderation. Not sure if any of this last paragraph makes sense to anyone else, just wanted to get it down for myself, and see if I could wax philosophical about City Slickers.
Bruce Maynard, seniorswalkingacrossamerica.blogspot.com, lives in northwest WA and has, in the last 3 years, walked down the west coast, across the south to Key West, and back up to Oklahoma! Oh yeah, he's also 78 years old. He uses a motor home as his base and walks 10 or 15 miles, then walks back to the motor home and drives 20 miles to do 10 the next day. His goal, pending a number of things that didn't include his age, is to walk through Europe, into Afghanistan to pick up the Silk Road, and continue through China. That way he'll have walked the globe! He was so full of energy and we talked on the side of the highway for a good 20 minutes. We both agreed it was good that the trips we're doing are for ourselves. It's admirable to do a big event or trip for a cause but it will get in the way of it truly being YOUR adventure. Sometimes a major adventure isn't what's needed so a cause is great, but not this time for me. Bruce's story is exactly the example I needed and will now use on the elderly people I chat with that say only in their dreams could they do such a big trip at their age.
The rest of the ride was uneventful and the wind was at a bit of a diagonal, but when I got to Riverside Park just outside of downtown I looked at my speedometer to see an average of 18 mph, which is a trip high for any significant distance! I set up camp, changed clothes, and rode into town. I first tried Northern Lights Brewery, which had a good tomato pesto chicken sandwich but out of all the 10 beers in the sampler I wasn't really impressed by any. Next I cruised over to Steam Plant Brewing, which is located in a renovated historic steam plant. The building was interesting and I had some nachos and a pint of their Double Stack Stout since it was happy hour all day on Sundays. Wow was the stout delicious. Thick, chocolaty, and what tasted like some vanilla bean flavor as well. It was on the sweeter side so when I ordered a small dessert I had another stout, it was just that good! After the equivalent of 4.5 beers and two dinners I was pretty stuffed and slowly rode back to camp.
Although a somewhat mellow day I had a lot of time to think during the ride since the novelty of endless wheat fields had wore out after yesterday. With both Jekyll and Hyde as well as City Slickers fresh in my mind, I had a lot of time to find commonalities between the two. It seems necessary to exercise and entertain the "demons" that everyone has, the Hydes, on a regular enough basis to keep the monster from taking over. Billy Crystal's character had, like Jekyll, also not done enough for himself and his desire for excitement since he had fallen in a rut and needed an extreme adventure to pull himself out. I've always tried to keep things in moderation, including moderation itself. Too much of anything is bad for you, or at least overwhelming, so take it easy. But sometimes drastic or extreme things must be done as well, like my trip. I'm having an unsustainable amount of fun! It's been great and I encourage everyone to have an adventure for themselves, but I also can't go on doing this forever, it wouldn't balance with the rest of my life. I'll dedicate myself to work but not to a breaking point, yet on the other end I'll love some things passionately and with all my heart, such is the devil of moderation. Not sure if any of this last paragraph makes sense to anyone else, just wanted to get it down for myself, and see if I could wax philosophical about City Slickers.
Dude, it makes total sense.
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