Travel and culture
It’s been three years since I last went home. Three long years in which my own blissful little life — romance, marriage, friendships, a loving family-in-law, testing the limits of “working from home,” outdoor adventures in the paradisiacal Pacific Northwest — has shone in ugly contrast with a plague-ridden civilization that feels like it’s shutting down, turning in on itself.
A few crucial ways to physically prepare your body for a long distance bicycle trip.
The Guest: A Backroads Journey by Bicycle is available in paperback and on your Kindle!
“We’re from Minnnn-eh-sOOOHta,” a woman explains. “It’s our third time. We love it here.” She looks like an experienced visitor: her sunhat and lurid, shoulder-covering mumu speak of one-too-many sunburns splashing across the pale expanses of her skin. She takes half a step towards her acquaintance, a younger Black man in a billowy white t-shirt.… Continue reading It Ends A The Water’s Edge
Early in the spring, H and I spent some time on the coast in northern Oregon. We did this every so often during our time in Seattle, and especially during the pandemic. We’d sneak our names onto the schedule and avail ourselves of the famous beach cabin. We’d drive down in the night, bringing work… Continue reading Take A Moment On The Oregon Coast
Mike Duncan’s voice has a peculiar power over my wife. “Hello,” he’ll say, as a few perilous bars of classical music swell in the background, “and welcome to Revolutions.” “Hi Mike,” she’ll reply, already drowsy. Within minutes, she’ll be asleep. This isn’t to say that Duncan’s subject material is boring. His podcast offers blow-by-blow reports… Continue reading 10 Life Lessons from 10 Revolutions
Friday Afternoon A sliver of a river slides beneath the rails and then we’re in Queens, floating over a great plain of brick row houses and tessellating backyards, little boxes of space framed by high fences. I love the train for its glimpses at unseen places: rooftops covered in broken glass, a hidden tag from… Continue reading Portals: Cycling From NYC to Boston
...And it knows it.
It took us eight days to cross the United States from end to end, speeding over prairies in our lozenge-shaped craft, floating inches above the tarmac of Interstate 90 on four rubber-bound air cushions. Washington was a rolling brown farmland they call the Palouse. Idaho was a brief, gorgeous jaunt across the panhandle: sapphire lakes… Continue reading Eight Days Across America
Here's how to physically prepare your body for a long distance bicycle tour.