TRAVELLING THROUGH LIFE AT HUMAN SPEED

Day 43 – San Diego
I spent the morning making arrangements for shipping two bikes home and equipping myself with duffel bags large enough to contain the camping gear and clothes we used on our trip. Sophie and I go in different directions from here. She goes south to Mexico City tomorrow with her boyfriend Joe, who arrived in San Diego last night. I fly home to Vancouver on Saturday, emburdened with our bike stuff. It all leaves me feeling a bit melancholic, this abrupt change from our structured routine over the past six weeks – grinding away the miles to get here. Living day by day, out in all weather and travelling at the speed of a fast run. I’ve been calling it living life at human speed, because you surrender the ability to do anything faster than can be done on a bike. It’s interesting to live that way – at least for a time. Nothing goes by without your having the time to take it in, process, ponder and reflect on it. Not least because there’s nothing else really to occupy your mind as you grind down the road – apart, that is, from where and when you’ll eat next and where you’ll wind up for the night.

My bike computer shows 3045 kms as our total distance covered since we left Vancouver. That corresponds almost exactly to the distance in miles shown by this signpost at the Santa Fe Metro Station in downtown San Diego. However, we actually rode to the border 30 miles south of that sign, and also pedalled a lot of “sideways” miles for things like groceries. Hmm… I love the correspondence between the sign and my odometer, so i’ll just ignore the likelihood that my bike computer isn’t entirely accurate.

Now that our journey is done, I suspect this will be the last of my blog posts. But before signing off I need to acknowledge what many people suggested about this enterprise from the beginning – that it would be a great “bonding experience” for me and my daughter.  Spending six weeks with Sophie on the road meant experiencing a lot of good times and fun stuff, but also some “tricky” times, when the wrong word or tone of voice could raise the temperature between us signficantly. But we also know each other well enough to dial things down again when we need to.

A trip like this is not easy – we had to deal with all kinds of weather, dodgy roads, bad drivers and cruel climbs, but we did it together and it was all made much easier and greatly more satisfying by being a shared experience.

I especially want to credit Sophie for signing on for this trip. When she agreed to it many months ago, I know she didn’t really understand what would be involved. I think the furthest she had ever cycled prior to our departure was 25 km, and probably not more than twice. During this trip, and especially on the hills, I would very often get well ahead of her without realizing it. I would stop to wait and, if it was a particularly long hill or a tough day those waits could be five minutes or more. At such times my mind would start churning on all of the anxiety-inducing possibilities of what might have gone wrong. And every time I finally saw her cresting that hill or rounding that corner I felt not just relief, but a warm admiration for her spirit and resolve. She’s not a quitter and she’s not a complainer. I’m very thankful that she agreed to do this trip with me, and I’m proud of her for what she’s done.