{"id":1841,"date":"2011-07-22T21:22:20","date_gmt":"2011-07-23T00:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/?p=1841"},"modified":"2016-05-29T11:09:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-29T15:09:00","slug":"a-fresh-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/2011\/07\/a-fresh-start\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fresh Start"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finally we\u2019d managed to stuff, squeeze and squash all our bulky, Alaska-proof, cold-weather gear into four panniers and a dry sack each.\u00a0 Our bikes were heavier than ever.\u00a0 40+ kilos of gear weighing down each bicycle, we reckoned.<\/p>\n

One last snapshot with mom and dad on the front lawn and we headed off into the great unknown.<\/p>\n

Two months off the bikes had taken their toll.\u00a0\u00a0 Luckily, it\u2019s downhill from my parent\u2019s place to the Adventure Cycling headquarters where we were meeting up with photographer Greg Siple for an official bicycle tourist portrait.<\/p>\n

With our shiny Ortlieb bags, un-weathered cycling gear and Eric\u2019s brand-new Koga we exuded the air of two novices on tour.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Near St. Ignatius on our first day back on the bikes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And, indeed, I felt like a novice. I was nervous and jittery, talking a mile a minute.\u00a0 Nudging myself out of the comforts of home\u2014a sure place to sleep each night, a well-stocked fridge and a ready support network\u2014was proving to be more of a hurdle than I\u2019d imagined.<\/p>\n

Even if you\u2019ve been adventuring for half a decade, it\u2019s easy to get lulled into the trappings of comfort and predictability.<\/p>\n

But, we\u2019d needed a rest.\u00a0 And although I\u2019d rather not have been forced into a break by the theft of a bike, I\u2019d relished the time off.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a time for everything, and now was the time for novel situations and unfamiliar, untested territory.<\/p>\n

We wobbled a bit on the way out of town, fiddled around with our new rear-view mirrors, and even took a wrong turn and ended up at the municipal garbage dump. After a short-lived squabble, we turned off onto Montana\u2019s Highway 93 and set our sights on Alaska.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A great place to ride under the big Montana sky.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I hunkered down, plugged into a podcast and tried to ward off the gut-wrenching fear of failure.\u00a0 Because no matter how many miles these thick thighs and ample calves have taken me around the planet, there\u2019s still that little voice that cries out, \u201cImpossible!\u00a0 You\u2019ll never make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the active brain\u2019s duty to quell those self-defeating thoughts, or at least drown them out with the reassuring voices of NPR.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m certain my legs and lungs have never pumped so hard.\u00a0 Western Montana\u2019s beautiful country, but there\u2019s a climb or two.<\/p>\n

Around 5 PM, we rolled into the evening\u2019s destination, a place called Ronan on the Flathead Indian Reservation some 100 kilometers and two massive hills away from Missoula.\u00a0 A sense of triumph overwhelmed me.\u00a0 We were truly back on the road.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Okay, it’s not Ronan, but Eureka (few hundred kilometers further north) pretty much sums up the best of small town America.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
I’ll miss my home state.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just one more obstacle for the day: find a safe place to sleep.<\/p>\n

As we scouted out the City Park, earnestly sizing up the risks of being bothered by rowdy teenagers or being asked to leave by an unaccommodating sheriff, a car pulled up.<\/p>\n

\u201cCamping\u2019s better over at my place.\u00a0 Just two blocks away,\u201d shouted out a friendly voice.<\/p>\n

And so it was that we met the Hall family.\u00a0 Larry, Mary and a whole lot of other relatives.\u00a0 They took us in, fed us pizza, shared all the secrets of a sweetgrass smudging ceremony<\/a> and even gave Eric a go at playing native and trying on a genuine buffalo robe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Larry, Mary and all the rest of the Hall family made our stay in Ronan a perfect start to the Alaska leg of our bike tour.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But, most of all they gave us confidence.\u00a0 Confidence that there are kind people everywhere.\u00a0 Confidence that a bump in the road doesn\u2019t spell disaster.\u00a0 \u00a0Confidence that maybe, just maybe–with the help of humanity– we\u2019ll make it to Alaska, perhaps even all the around the planet one day.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The long road north continues. Canada here we come!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n