Journal Entry (Thursday February 9, 2023)
I’ve been dealing with some disappointment these last few days. I have realized that starting the TransAm on the West to East route in mid-April may not be the best plan. Everything I’ve been reading says don’t start before May 1. Even then, you can run into some late storms in Colorado… but as one person said, if that’s the hand you’re dealt, you won’t be the first person to take on the W-to-E challenge that early…
To get some additional data points, I drove from Redmond to the bike shop in Prineville to chat with the folks there. Prineville is a major stop on the TransAm. The folks there were awesome. I asked them about TransAm visitors and we talked at length. They showed me their guest book, people that have passed through TransAm over the last nine years. The earliest I could find going through Prineville West to East was May 10th… I guess I better wait until the first of May to start my journey from the West coast. This visit turned out to provide some very good empirical data.
That’s it then, I’m going to start on the West coast in Florence Oregon on May 1st. May Day. It will certainly be memorable to say I started on May Day!
That reminds me of 1976. I was cycling the West Coast and I stopped on a Saturday night in Florence Oregon. The Ranger at the State Park was a college intern, my same age. She checked me into the campground and in the course of our conversation, discovering I was Catholic, invited me to Mass at the local Catholic Church the next morning. I accepted. I was a different person back then, maybe not better, but more orthodox for sure. She was a beautiful young woman, so of course I went to Mass. The next morning, with en eye out for her I met her Father. He offered me a job on his fishing boat. (I have trouble to this day understanding that.) Life is strange. I was tempted to accept, but a part of me wanted to finish the journey I had started, so I continued South. I entertained the notion of returning to Florence to meet my Park Ranger again, but life is terribly unpredictable, that was not in the cards…
Much has transpired since then. A lifetime in fact. That said, I could not be happier. The woman that currently shares my life is the perfect expression of whom I want to dedicate myself to. She is my everything. I love her, I am fortunate to have found her.
A note about writing. Writing is not easy. I have been working on this post for two hours. I’m no Hemingway. Please don’t judge me too harshly.