June 09th, 2021

The Two Day Slog
Well, another two day slog is in the books. And, we really have left the shadows of Portlandia in the helmet mounted rear view mirror. (Yes, I am aware that I have entered old man bike age with that mirror) Gone are the food trucks, the hipsters, and city dwellers escaping for the weekend. They have been replaced by cattle trucks and camouflage decked locals who told us "you have people living next door to.you? It's been eye opening for the girls to say the least.

But this is in part what this trip is about. I biked across the US in 1992 and that trip truly changed my view of the country, for the better. I had just graduated from college from UC Santa Cruz, where the college rule book literally said "clothing optional. I felt at that time that I could not be more different from the country I was about to see. I wrongly assumed that my interactions with the locals would mostly not come naturally at best, and contentious at worst, but I was proved wrong, completely.

This is the America I want my daughters to see. And this, I think is in part what they are seeing. Every day we'll have multiple interactions with the locals and while they definitely note the differences, they can take away their humanity and kindness. Anna put is best when she said that most people don't start out friendly, but they end up being kind later on. But then again, that saying " you reap what you sow" could end up being true. Today a woman told us that their town sees a lot of cyclists, but that most are "snooty, not nice a like you girls.

Maybe they'll take away that no matter what your ideology, kindness will mostly win out in the end, mostly