Mini-Tour, 2009

Jon and I continued the bike touring tradition last week with a tiny
little four-day trip from the Lansing area to the Sleeping Bear Dunes
area, a total of 250 miles. It was the longest trip I could safely
take without making my wife mad at me. (It was probably appropriate to take a shorter trip this summer, anyway, after last summer's fairly long one.)

This one was a good trip. I was a little surprised at how glad I was
to be on the road again. Jon and I have been doing this for a long
time (35 years or so), and it is like putting on a comfortable pair of
shoes to tour with him. Although we are both cantankerous curmudgeons, we have a completely easy rapport with each other on the road.

Perhaps it's because space and time stretch out and slow down that I
find bike tours to be complete escapes from daily life. That puts it a
little strongly; it's not like I need to escape from my daily life.
But a bike tour is a welcome pause in life (or Life, in the large
sense), a chance to reflect and see the world in a different way.
Everything boils down to essentials: How many miles to the next town? How long is the next hill? Where are we going to camp tonight? Is my equipment sound? How hot is it going to be today?

Not very profound questions unless you're riding a bike 65 miles a
day, and then they are the most important questions in the world.
Jon and I talk about many things on these trips, but the bulk of our conversation is about bikes and bike touring. Boring? Probably to our wives and kids, but not to us in the middle of a trip.