Restless in Rest: Dancing to the Finish

Another kind of hospitality

I read somewhere, once, that some people go through their entire day without touching a single other person. No hugs, handshakes, not even a jostled shoulder. The idea has stuck with me as deeply sad, even though I am occasionally one of those people. We all are. Today, however, was not one of those days. Today I went blues dancing.

When I haven't been dancing in a while I forget how much I enjoy it. Contra, swing, ballroom, contact-interpretive improv... they're exciting and interesting, complex and personal. Think back to your early romances, the feeling of flirting. Excitement, tension, synchronicity, nervousness. Finding someone who thinks or moves like you do. Partner dancing is flirting with every person you dance with, a set of strangers and friends deciding to raise the intimacy of their mutual interactions for a time so they can collaborate with the music and each other in new ways. It was my first time blues dancing, and I loved it. In blues dancing you lead or are led, you strive to move together, motions complimenting motions, steps falling so close they are nearly simultaneous (at least, that's what we tried for).

On a bike trip it is simple to be alone, even as you move through cities and towns. It's easy to keep interactions at a superficial level, since you will only know someone for a hour, a day. And yet even as strangers to Eugene, dancing let us immediately connect with people. It's fun to watch, even more fun to join, and the most fun to dance patterns together. I would never have gone but our friend in Eugene invited us along, and it was a great time to say "yes." It's always hard to get out the door, but once we were their I remembered how much I love to move with other people. In the end, for me, it boils down this- dancing makes me want to dance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A section about plans, because suddenly I'm not just biking right to left.

Eugene, Oregon.

A mere seventy miles from the coast, we have taken several days off to rendezvous with Alexander's partner to travel the final distance. I am restless in this rest. We will head out on Saturday, and by Sunday I will have successfully traveled, the slow way, from one coast to the other.

It is amazing that this chapter is already drawing to a close, but there may be an epilogue. If all goes as planned I will meet up with Chelsea (her blog, and our first interaction, can be found here) in Eugene and travel with her to Astoria, OR, the official end of the TransAmerican Cycling Trail. I am notoriously lazy about planning, but so far jobs and adventures keep sliding into place at the last moment. I didn't know what I would do after my and Alexander's end in Florence until I was two days from the completion of my trip- it's nice to see the lucky trend continue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After

Before

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm writing this at Kyle Brown's house, in Eugene, OR. I am 5186 miles in, 70 miles to go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Highlights-

Mackenzie Pass was our route over the Cascades, at 5335 ft and the last time we would be over even 1000 ft. Even without that glory, it stands as one of the most rugged, beautiful, and inspiring points of this trip. Top three. Lava fields and jagged, snowy peaks and an incredible "observatory" on the top.
I really wanted ice cream when we stopped in Riggins for the night, but the smallest container was 1.75qts (the most Alexander and I have ever managed is 1.5qts, and we were hungry that time). Even so, I really wanted ice cream. In a moment of to-hell-with-it, I asked the cashier if we could buy the ice cream, eat half of it, and then keep the rest in the store's freezer for the night and eat the rest tomorrow, since we were just passing through and camping. Without blinking an eye he said of course, let him get a box so we could write our names on it. I did blink in surprise, and this nice cashier happily went about this task as if it happened every day. Never hurts to ask.
Not a highlight necessarily, but we saw a lot of controlled burns, and sometimes we rode by forest that was still smoking, stumps right off the road that were still on fire.