“Most of the old moles I know wish they had listened less to their fears and more to their dreams.” – The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

I met an older woman, Gina, towards the end of the day while I was eating an ice cream and sitting on the sidewalk next to my touring bike at a convenience store. She asked where I was bicycling from and where I was going and when I said that I was bicycling from Oregon’s Pacific coast, across the country, and to my home on the Atlantic east coast in Massachusetts, she had me repeat it a couple of times because she didn’t understand why anyone would or could do such a thing. I told her that I was chasing this dream of seeing America in slow motion from the back of a bicycle and meeting people like her along the way. Gina started crying and telling me about the two trips that she had taken abroad, one of which was to Israel in 1974 with which she still has vivid memories of lemon trees and lush watered fields. She cried because she thought it was too late for her to live out any more of her dreams. My response was and always will be, if you want something bad enough, you’ll find a way. We talked for almost an hour.

Hey, after 4 weeks on the bicycle, made it to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Michigan, so far, has been pretty hilly. The hills aren’t very long but there are a lot of them with the grades sometimes hitting 10 or 11%. Today, the ride consisted of making a beeline toward Escanaba Michigan, which is on the shores of Lake Michigan. Tonight, I’m stealth camping by the side of the road. It’s nice to have this as a back up plan. It feels very bohemian. I went swimming last night in Star Lake with all my clothes on so, with only one day of sweat and grime, I feel pretty fresh!