Week 3

Red Bud sunset





Hope





Sad



Thank you!

Classy!

3 weeks 2,500 miles and going strong. Land between the lakes was incredible though one would need a lot of time to explore the place thoroughly. Got new rubber and fresh oil in Red bud, Illinois. Rode through the Mark Twain forest and spent an amazingly peaceful night under the milky way. Slept in Joplin then made my way to Hutchinson where i was greeted by my dream lens and a kind host. Eventually got a taste of the big nothing called Kansas. I will never ever ever complain about Florida's straight roads again! Finally Gaia has granted me my weather window so to the nay sayers snowless Colorado here i come......

Wanderer

" To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... "cruising" it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

"I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of "security." And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.

Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life? "
 
Sterling Hayden

Disaster

Disaster









Why buy firewood when there are plenty of dead trees and you have a Bahco.



























My short stay in Tennessee was uneventful say for the first rain of the trip, cold and the first time i broke down and got a hotel. Kentucky at least from my travels can be described by a couple of pics, hay, farms and old farm houses. Dale hollow lake park was pretty amazing but I was obviously too late in the season to fully enjoy it. Even so i got to hike around a bit, check out the lake and score the buffet at the lodge. By far the nicest campground I've stayed in. Mammoth caves which I had been looking forward to was pretty disappointing. Not the cave it self but the whole experience,  felt like I was back in Florida at one of the disney parks.  On the contrary to the cave tour the mammoth campground proved to be pretty nice and i got to unwind and spend some time on my hammock, deer were all around and a few even slept within sight. Must be a nice break for them not to have to run away from gun yielding animals. Land between the lakes is my next stop along with a pit stop near St.louis for some bike maintenance and fresh rubber. More to come......

Week 2 continued...

The one!