One Week. Me.

It's been a week now since I started this crazy adventure. I've traveled over 300 miles and experienced quite a lot, and there's a long way yet to go.

I biked north from Thedford to Valentine today (Friday, for whenever this is posted) through hills that I probably couldn't have handled nearly as well my first day out. I'm improving, and the soreness in my legs keeps lessening. I reached down to touch my calf today and it felt like someone surgically replaced the muscle with rock. And that's after just one week.

It was pretty territory, and I passed through the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge,  which is mostly a marshy sanctuary for all kinds of birds. I saw and heard many, but being flighty creatures by nature, I was unable to get any pictures of any. Especially since I was also either standing on my pedals to go up a hill or holding on tight going down almost the whole time. But it was worth it.

Being a generally action oriented person, I tend only to think about telling people what I'm doing and not about who I am. I realize I ought to fix that somewhat. Even though I'm sure 99 percent of the people reading this must know me, that still doesn't mean I don't have room to tell them who I am. ...It probably says a lot that I'm tempted to describe myself as a bipedal, placental mammal with good stereoscopic vision, poor smell and limited range of hearing from the primate family (or something along those lines. And then to get more specific to my uniqueness amongst my species would say I'm Caucasian, myopic, possess the photic sneeze reflex, have a supernumerary third molar, state my blood type, etc...

But avoiding that temptation (...okay, somewhat), I would say I'm...well I'm someone who wants experiences for the sake of having them, to know and be and have done all I can go be more interesting and have something to talk about. I've spent too much of my time wallowing in complacency, taking the easy road out, not really living, out of my self doubt and endless insecurities. I'm finally trying something real to get over that.

It's hard doing this, and basically everyone understands that, biking 60 miles in a day with a trailer up and down hills in the heat, camping night after night, generally abandoning the luxuries of TV, cold and hot food, and all that. But what most people don't get is that it's not so much harder for me than all the things they take for granted as easy, social interaction, understanding and embracing cultural phenomena, and just doing the day in, day out of life. People think you're lazy if you don't want to do what they do, foolish if you don't value what they value, inept if you can't do what they can. I'm none of those things. I'm just me.

I'm not sure yet if I'm simply running from the society I struggle with, or preparing myself doing something I find easier, before I try to be the kind of person doing the kinds of things that you're supposed to. I guess I'll find out.