Horrible news from New Zealand this morning. Another tragic, terrible mass shooting, people dead, families devastated. As I try to wrap my mind and heart around this senseless violence, I brace for the news cycle and social media storm to come. Long experience tells me that I will soon be seeing irrational statements about human nature (“other people’s nature”) that just aren’t true. I am sure these statements are already circulating, but I’m in no rush to read them. “People (others) are bad.” “Violence is more common than it was in the good old days.” “Civilization is hanging by a thread.” “The world in general is a terribly risky place.” “Humankind is doomed.” Bad things do happen, but these opinions are not grounded in reality.
I’ve thought about risk while preparing for this ride. I’m aware I may be yelled at, crowded off the road, run over, robbed, etc. It’s human nature to look for evidence of risk and to focus on avoiding, reducing or eliminating bad outcomes. We are very good at preparing for danger, so good that we sometimes overlook the massive preponderance of evidence that people are generally cooperative, helpful and good to each other. Day-to-day human goodness doesn’t dominate the media because it just isn’t news. Imagine headlines that read: “Woman Pays her Taxes,” “Liberal Gives Accurate Directions to Out-of-Town Conservative,” “Man Carefully Drives RV to Arizona — No Cyclists Injured,” or “99.99% of All Stores Were Not Robbed Today.” Boring, forgettable, everyday experience. All over the world, billions of us look after each other every single day.
I am heartbroken over the tragedy in New Zealand and I want this kind of violence ended. But this doesn’t change my perception of the world as a good place, nor my expectation that Jax and I will meet a lot of good people on this ride. K9s for Warriors depends on those good people to accomplish their mission: save a dog, save a human. Please help if you can.
Video: Jax seems to bring out the best in people.
Here’s our approximate route to Florida. It’s “approximate” because we’ll be winging it through certain parts of the country. There are established bicycle touring routes in the U.S. which we will follow when we can, but none lead straight from Oregon to Florida. I’m scoping out roads that appear to have available campsites/lodging, water and food, aren’t traffic-heavy, too far out of the way, or unpaved.
Reality will probably correct some of my plans, I’m sure. Right now it’s looking like a 3,520-mile ride, with 95,658′ of climbing.
Jax rides in the trailer like he’s been doing it his whole life! We even rode past three wild turkeys on the road and he didn’t try to jump out.
Months of preparation have flown by and it’s almost time to roll. The Mighty Jax is ready, my trusty bike is ready, I’m ready and we have all the equipment we need to make the self-supported ride from Canby, Oregon to K9s for Warriors’ headquarters in Ponte Vedra, Florida. The current iteration of our route (Version 4.0) measures 3,549 miles, excluding side trips to find food, bike shops or camp sites. We’re going to wait a month or so for at least some of the snow to melt in the mountains and then if all goes well we will hit the road. Until then I’ll keep on studying maps, training, researching camp sites and pet-friendly motels along our route, and reading blogs by the many people who’ve done something like this before us. I’ll listen to any advice I can get.
Some stay in hotels, some use a SAG Wagon (support and gear vehicle) and some just camp wherever they stop along the way. Jax and I plan to mostly camp in our luxurious 3-man tent, but if possible I would like to stop at a motel, hostel or friend’s house once or twice a week to clean up and recharge batteries for cameras, taillights, phone and tablet.
There’s even another Oregonian cycling across the U.S. with his dog, maybe riding as we speak! I’m going to try to read about his journey with his dog, Onyx, while Jax and I are traveling. I donated to his cause, Canine Partners for Life, another worthy dog+human organization. Even though we are going to different places, it’s nice to know there’s another guy and his dog out there on the road somewhere. Maybe I’m not crazy.
Rolling with Jax 