Check out my 36.3 mi Ride on Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/364386229
***** Day two ride for creation... Kafka Twilight Zone. This was nearly insane. At 6 in the mornin the very kind senior young police officer at the major Maryland Transportation Authority station informed me that I had been misinformed, we do not transport bicycles of any size over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. By his answer it was clear he had never heard of such a thing. I was not despondent. It takes a pretty severe body blow for me even to notice. But I noticed. It surely was a sobering thought that the other side of the Chesapeake was 20 minutes away by car and I needed to instead go 4 days north and south around the bay. as I reported earlier Google Maps absolutely says that there is no alternative to going all the way around the bay for a bike rider. I wish I could report that I was at that point clever, hopeful, resourceful or some other positive characteristic. I was none of those. I simply realized that I was facing an additional 4 days to get to Ocean City Maryland unless I found a way. I totally assumed that the officer was correct. I simply calculated that it was worth sitting down with the Internet before getting on with my inevitable additional 4 days. . Well, there is a way, So well hidden, so invisible, that fewer than three dozen people find it in any year according to the owner.. Kent Island transport. I called them. He was very vague and rushed. 15 minutes later as I was sitting on the curb this fella presents himself, I'm Steve, your bike is bigger than I thought. I'll be back. Half an hour later he was back with a large pickup truck. He and I hoisted el Fusion into the back of the truck and also the trailer and 20 minutes later I was across the bridge. So bizarre. Twilight Zone. For your enjoyment, please, think about this.
Maryland laws apparently prevent bicycles from traveling on state roads because they cannot keep up with traffic. In parts of the state they very carefully maintain bike lanes. But on the route from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge they assume that few if any people will know of this transport company so they provide neither bike lanes nor many routes for bicycles. When I lied to Google and said I was already on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake it gave me a bike route. 15 minutes into the ride I lost the GPS signal. Whether it is because T Mobile did not have a tower in the area or because my tablet lost the signal I don't know. But for 3 hours I sat in the equivalent of a large Wawa and could not figure out how to get from where I was toward Ocean City Maryland on a bike legal route and route 50 is a major highway that I was right by and it is terrifying for a cyclist. I finally thought to restart my tablet, did so, and I had the GPS back. You have heard stories about people being trapped in an airport for decades because they lost their passport. This is what it felt like for me. It was extremely bizarre. None of the people in the store during those three hours that I asked believed there was a legal way I could get from where I was toward Ocean City, and this includes a very nice sheriff who came in. he suggested that I watch for a state police person to come into the store as he said they do, and when after 3 hours I had not seen one I was about to try and get one on the phone but had the last minute thought of restarting my tablet. Well, GPS was back, google gave me a bike route, & I was on my way.
Last night I pedaled until I couldn't pedal anymore. That was about 10 o'clock in the middle of the endless beautiful Maryland farm land between the Chesapeake and the Atlantic. I was on a highly traveled route as everyone from Washington was going to the shore. But by 10 o'clock things were slowing a little bit. I was looking for a place where I could sit and sleep, or even lay down on my question next to health fusion, and saw nothing. So bizer. twilight zone. New paragraph
Finally I saw some flashing lights announcing construction ahead but immediately past the lights there was no construction so that was my spot. I SAT up and slept for an hour. My legs screaming in discomfort awakened me, I put my sleep mat down away from the road but exactly next to El fusion and slept quite peacefully, except for legs in pain, until 5:30 when my alarm awakened me and I was on my way.
There has been very little, virtually no, sunshine on the trip up through this day two. No Fusion from the sky to me recharge. I traveled only about 36 miles that whole day.
Something occurred to me that really amazed me. What occurred to me is that the work of saving humanity, at which I will fail, but but which I will attempt with my last breath, has nothing to do with the speed we are told is necessary for high achievement in this sickest of all cultures of ours. Here I am, several advanced degrees, decades of experience and practice of moving much faster than anyone else intellectually, emotionally, physically... Here I am averaging 10 miles per hour, traffic racing past me at highway speed inches from me, realizing, that neither I, nor anyone, could be much more effective than I am. The point I realized is that changing the spirit of humanity, which is the only way we can save creation, has nothing to do with physical speed and may be inversely proportional. the work of changing the spirit must be done with great speed, immediacy, urgency, passion... Now... But that the fastest route to that may be the equivalent of the original Wright brothers plane, moving at a glacial pace through Maryland and Delaware farm country.
el Fusion and I without direct effort are eliciting deep, passionate, meaningful, relevant encounters with people that are drawn to the spectacle in a very deep way. These are extremely productive days for me. They are extremely affirming of the path that Creator has me on. and, of course, possibly thousands of people driving slow or fast past el fusion and they are also having substantial encounters with another way of being that is sustainable and not destructive of the planet. I am amazed and delighted with the productivity of this campaign.
A fellow about my age, he said he lives on a boat on Kent Island, approached me in that large Wawa parking lot as I was working on the elf while batteries charged inside. I answered his questions about the elf, explained, as I I always do, that although the elf is a wonderful vehicle I need it as much as I need a bullet in the head. I explained that for me I would much rather be sitting in the Library of Congress reading, but that is not what is needed of me. I further explained as I usually do on this trip that everything I have to spend is tied up in the elf, no money left for food, no money left for lodging, that I expect to fail but I refuse not to try with my last breath. moments later we were inside and he was ordering me a sandwich, a cookie, and one of those health food drinks. He was clearly taken with what I was doing, inspired, and wanted to contribute. I gladly accepted. I usually am having 1 2 or 3 such encounters per day.
