On September 19, 2016, I flew back from Denver, Colorado to Austin, Texas after a six-state, epic trip north (plus a quick stop across the border in Canada for duty-free souvenirs). Five days earlier, I wrote my only blog from that trip. Mountain Time:  Biking and Hiking the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming. It would make sense for you to go read that first. I can wait. But either way, the lede is this: It was an awesome trip.

Read more: 10 Years Ago Today, I Returned from My Epic Trip North: Reflections

From national parks and other cool monuments, cities and the woods, meeting some cool new people, taking planes, trains, and automobiles (hitchhiking even, plus buses), and renting bikes along the way, I covered a lot of ground in three weeks. There was a Texas acquaintance I stayed with to start the trip Fargo, ND. Glacier National Park and the continental divide in northern MT, plus a natural hot springs in Bozeman. The was incredible Devil’s Tower and Yellowstone in WY. Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse Monument in SD. Even the Minneapolis, MN airport and staying with some other friends in Denver as bookends were interesting and fun.

The down side of reflecting back on it now is that except for one other to the east coast a year later, the day after I was laid off an 11-year job in 2017, I have not been anywhere outside of Texas. I may have ridden my bike the equivalent mileage around the world–twice!–but I was recently reminded by some college friends in our annual Zoom reunion, and some other friends who have the luxury, time and money, that traveling to places is really cool. One guy went to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and pet cheetahs in its capital, Zanzibar! Another routinely flies to Germany and Argentina, and within California. Another stays every summer in a family house in Ireland. Others have a house in the Azores, or jet to Italy and Spain, and many other places. So while I have great memories about my trip, I’m pretty bummed that I’ve not been anywhere else nearly as exciting ever since.

Two quotes come to mind. The Buddha is alleged to have said, “Comparison is the death of joy.” (Easier said than done.) And Mr. William aka Billy Joel sang, “The good ol’ days weren’t always good, and tomorrow’s not as bad as it seems.” (Except sometimes they are.) Travel is a privilege, after all. I was lucky I had saved up the time and money from living in a literal utility room closet under the stairs so that I could take this trip. I do feel grateful. And yet it would be nice to

The other sad thing is I have a huge cache of photos from that trip, plus a bunch of GoPro videos I never learned to edit or adjust for the weird camera lens. When I look back at that dude, he was younger, thinner, and had a job. In other words, he was not if super happy he had a more stable life. He was also clueless about where he would be a decade later. Had I known back then what I know now, would I have done anything different? Probably not. But maybe I would have tried to make more money and go places.

But I sure did ride the hell out of my bike around here. And have begun doing so again out of the gym and on the road a bit after a forced month and more out of the saddle. But as mentioned in my last post, I’m not a prisoner of mileage goals. In fact, I don’t really care about my mileage, and might even skip today’s bike ride due to being tired. I started to swim two to three times a week and alternate that with biking. Eventually I may get back into some kind of decent shape, but it seems unlikely. Age, genes, and setbacks out of my control make it a struggle to do what I did back then. Plus, I was a decade younger. Aging sucks but they say it beats the alternative.

I’ll end by unearthing a bunch of photos. Enjoy this trip down memory lane with me. And if you have the time and money, I hope you get to travel and go on some adventures yourself. Maybe I’ll get to go on some other trips, some day. Let’s hope so. Because we all go on one last journey, to the undiscovered country called death. And speaking of that, while I’m not religious at all, but this tune just popped into my head. The haunting guitar is by the incredible Jeff Beck (who died recently, and is one of my favorite guitar heroes, possibly the best guitarist ever, even better than Texas-grown Stevie Ray Vaughn), and it is sung by the still-going Rod Stewart from 1985. It’s a cover of the Curtis Mayfield-penned original with The Impressions. People Get Ready.

People get ready
There’s a train a-coming
You don’t need no baggage
You just get on board
All you need is faith
To hear the diesels humming
Don’t need no ticket
You just thank the Lord

more photos being uploaded very soon!