Kora

The Tibetan culture has a word, "Kora", that means to circumambulate around a sacred place. That resonates with me for some reason. It's essentially what we'll be doing for the next 3 weeks. In Tibet the holiest natural place is Mt. Kailash. Performing a kora around this mountain is considered a right of passage and a way to atone for past sins.

I got to thinking about the differences between this bike trip and the cross-country bike trip. Riding coast-to-coast is a classic Western goal-oriented type of activity. We start out at one end and ride in an almost linear fashion to eventually arrive at our goal. The satisfaction for most riders comes in the achievement of the goal. I've always been a little odd anyway, so my goals were a little different. Regardless, if I hadn't made it to Boston under my own power I would have been sorely disappointed.

There is no "goal" with this trip. We ride in a big circle with no awards waiting for us at the finish, not even a t-shirt. It seems to me that the motivations for doing this are much more Buddhist in nature. We're doing this because we love riding. We're doing this because we love exploring the outdoors under our own power. We're doing this to experience a natural environment that is as close to a Holy Place as Western society gets. We're doing this for camaraderie and new friendships and shared experiences. We're doing this to see if we can.

I guess that's enough Deep Thoughts for one night. We'll see how profound this looks after I've spent the first night sleeping outdoors in the sleet. But of course that's just part of the experience. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Cool blog stuff

I'm working on some cool blog tricks. In no particular order:

I'll be adding the Google Earth route file daily with each update. This will work just as it did with the cross-country trip. Just click the link and Google Earth will launch. You'll see the route that day along with some of the pictures I took. Download Google Earth to your computer first. Be sure to save the route when you exit Google Earth. (Google Earth will prompt you for this.) Your computer will then capture the entire route as I go along.

The "Subscribe To" link on the right side of the page will allow you to be notified when I make a new post. If you have a my.yahoo page or any of the other subscription services you'll see when I've updated the blog.

I'm also working on doing a blog update from my cell phone. We'll see how that works when posting from Canada. I don't know if the Verizon "can you hear me now" guy has made it to Salmon Arm, Alberta. I guess I'll find out.

If you know of any other little gadgets please pass them along!

O Canada!

I've been looking for an excuse to create a new blog. The last one, sorebutt.blogspot.com, was dedicated solely to my cross-country bike trip. I don't want to add to it because it's really a self-contained story about that entire trip. So for two years I've thought about creating a new blog but never really got around to it. Now I finally have an excuse.

A week from today I'll be wrapping up day #1 of a 22 day bike expedition across the Canadian Rockies. Here's a Google Map link to the route.

http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=118195925061037061156.000452ec09036d89c3bbb&z=6

This will be a very different experience than the cross-country trip. This is much more of an expedition. We'll be camping about 2/3rds of the time. Grizzly Bears, Moose, Mosquitos the size of bats, altitude, pitching tents, Rocky Mountain weather... Wait, why am I doing this again?

I fly to Calgary next Wednesday. We roll on Friday. Should be fun!

Grampa Juice

Little Jack came up with a new name for my favorite beverage. I'd had a couple of beers the night before. Jack got up the next morning, pointed at the two empty bottles, and said "Grampa Juice". Too funny! And accurate. Grampa likes his juice.

Talkin' with Jack

Our daughter Jenn and grandson Jack came to stay with us for about 10 days. We had a wonderful visit. It's nice having extended time like this. We obviously wish they lived closer. but when they come from Japan it's more than just a visit. We're part of their lives and share the whole experience.

When Jenn and Jack showed up last week I was really impressed with how much Jack was talking. I couldn't understand a word of it, but boy did he like to talk. He's 21 months old so I guess it wasn't supposed to make sense. I heard "Mommy, frazzabalablahblah". Mommy understood all of it. "You want eggs florentine and mashed peas?" Really, how does she figure that out?

After a couple of days I started to catch on. He has loads of words for things, and is starting to actually make some sentences. Here's a sample of his vocabulary.

"coppa" -- helicopter, or anything that flies. Birds, planes, bugs, and of course helicopters are all coppas.
"puppy" -- Dogs of any sort
"heme" -- help me
"truss" -- truck, meaning cars, trucks, bicycles, etc.
"I shy" -- outside. This could mean he wants to go outside, he sees something outside, etc.
"nummy" -- Anything good to eat.

Now being the observant type, I quickly noticed one important omission from his vocabulary -- He hadn't learned "Grandpa". We quickly set to work remedying that problem, and by the second day I heard a steady stream of "Gampa! Where Gampa? Ganpa! Where Gampa" all through the house.

Another thing I had forgotten about children this age: Their boundless energy and short attention spans. Here's a fairly typical conversation.

"Gampa, gampa, GAMPA!"
"Yes Jack?"
"Coppa"
"You see a helicopter?"
"Gampa heme"
"what do you need?
"Gampa truss" (runs over to door, pretends he's going into the backyard)
"Gampa nummy"
"Do you want some..."
"GAMPA!"
"Yes?"
"Coppa"

And the cycle repeats. Over and over and over. Jenn handles it with an amazing Zen-like calmness. Remarkable really. Her patience with him is a real testament to a Mother's love.

Who is Uncle Crampy?

Long-time followers of my zany antics are intimately familiar with my many encounters with Uncle Crampy. He's my least-favorite relation. You know the type: Always showing up at the most inopportune time. Like, say, mile 25 of a marathon. Climbing a 12% grade on a road with no shoulder? That's a perfect time for Uncle Crampy to show up!

He's come a-callin' many times over the course of my athletic adventures. For whatever reason he won't take a hint, always showing up uninvited. One of my primary goals for any athletic adventure is to make sure he doesn't find me. We'll see how that works out over the next few weeks as I ride up and down the Canadian Rockies.