Life Lessons From a Convict

Three years ago, I walked 160 miles with a convict. As we took our first steps, he shared his first words: "It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured." We walked our miles in 43 hours over a span of five weeks. During this time, I learned numerous life lessons from the convict. The convict is Gregory David Roberts.

The convict, Gregory David Roberts.
(Image from: www.goodreads.com)

Gregory is the author of Shantaram, a novel that tells the story of a man named Lin. Lin, like Gregory, was a heroin addict and bank robber. Lin, like Gregory, escaped from an Australian prison. Lin, like Gregory, fled to the streets of Mumbai and lived life as a fugitive in the Indian underworld. At a lengthy 944-pages, I opted to listen to the audiobook so I could enjoy the novel while on foot. As I walked miles-and-miles of country roads listening to Lin narrate his story through my earbuds, I came to know and admire Gregory.

Being a Nomad During a Pandemic

As a bibliophile, I've read thousands of books and full well know that books cannot be judged by their covers. Many things, in fact, cannot be judged by their external appearances. That adorable doggie tied up outside the grocery store may have a wicked bark once you reach your hand within biting range. That well-dressed man seated in the driver's seat of that flashy sportscar may be drowning in debt. And that healthy-looking person who seems to be "overly cautious" in this new coronavirus era may not actually be so healthy after all.

This was the topic of an article posted today on CNN.com:

Click the image to read the article.

Ok, so I wasn't really in the article, but I felt as though I could have been. Though I may appear to be a healthy person (a vegetarian! who bikes thousands of miles a year!), like those featured in the article, I am also immunocompromised.

A Photo Journal: Flying High to Lopez Island

I like meeting new people — especially when those people broaden my horizons.

Meet my new friend, Larry. Larry literally flew me to new horizons.

Meet Larry.

Larry has an array of interests. One of those interests is piloting his Cessna 150. Larry likes to fly to places and then explore those places via land.

Suppose you were Larry. Suppose you wanted to fly your plane somewhere — let's say the San Juan Islands — to explore the isles. What might be a good way to explore once you've touched down?

Yes, you got it — a bicycle!

A Photo Journal: Around Dharamsala

Below are my favorite photos from my time in and around Dharamsala.

McLeod Ganj, a suburb of Dharamsala, is in the Himachal Pradesh state of India.
At 6800 ft, the hill city is surrounded by a dense coniferous forest of Deodar cedars.

An Unexpected Take-Away from My Yoga Course

My 200-hour yoga teacher training with Siddi Yoga is complete!

I finished!

I knew I wanted to do an intensive yoga teacher training -- taking a month-long course rather than spreading the training over multiple months of weekend and evening classes. And I knew I wanted to do the training in India, near the Himalayas, where trees and mountain views are abundant. When I saw that Siddhi Yoga offered a course near Dharamsala, home of the Dalai Lama and the exiled Tibetan government, and when I saw that Siddi Yoga had a fantastic reputation, the decision of where to do my training had been made!

Riding the Rectangle: A Photo Journal

Of all the trips I led this summer, my favorite was the informal overnighter that I organized with friends along The Rectangle.

You may recall me mentioning The Rectangle Ride before. In my Bloated Fish & Butt Raisins post from 2013, I wrote about the perfect autumnal ride around The Rectangle. In my Backpacking in Hell's Canyon post from 2015, I mentioned my mid-winter ride around The Rectangle, in which I first saw the aftermath of the Oso landslide. Needless to say, The Rectangle Ride is my favorite close-to-home overnight bike trip.

In mid-September of this year, I rode The Rectangle for the sixth time. I thoroughly enjoyed sharing the ride with six friends. This is a photo journal of our trip.

The Gang (from l to r):
Brad, me, Yonina, David, Faisal, Eric, and El Mecánico.

My Friend Joey

Meet my friend, Joey. She's one of those people that I am really glad to know. After you learn about Joey, you'll be glad you know her, too.

My friend, Joey. (Photo: Joey's Facebook page.)

For most of you, you will have met Joey through this blog post. But for me, I met Joey three summers ago when I was riding my bike eastbound across the country.

Ingredients for a Tenday

Recently, I've been noticing myself thinking: "Today is a tenday."

"What is a tenday?," you ask.

Well, for starters, I should clarify that the term is my own device. I never intended to create the word; I just started using it.

Now, imagine a scale that ranges from 1 to 10. At the far left of the scale is the 1, which represents "not-so-hot." At the far right of the scale is the 10, which represents "flippin' fantastic." Given that scale, a "tenday" is used to describe a day that is a 10.

"Today is a tenday."
Coming across the words of Mary Oliver, chalked on the front steps of a home.

For the record, I experience sevendays. And fivedays. And occasionally, though rare, onedays as well. After all, it's very much part of the human experience to have ups and downs in life.

Fuck-You Money vs. Fuck-You Time

A few days ago, I got together with a good friend of mine, Justin. We met at Caffe Ladro in Fremont, bright'n'early at 7am. We talked virtually non-stop for two and a half hours, pausing briefly only to breathe and to sip our drinks.

As we hadn't seen each other in two months, we had lots to share -- new favorite podcasts, interesting developments in the world of technology, and profound insights about early retirement. Justin also filled me in on his recent bike trip to Cuba, and I apprised Justin of my recent bike guiding experiences.

I had really been looking forward to guiding bicycle trips for a local company this summer. However, after guiding the first two trips, I realized that the company wasn't a good fit for me. The company had some business practices that I wasn't comfortable with. And so being the principled person that I am, I decided I would no longer work for the company.

"It must be nice to have fuck-you money," Justin said, with a covetous smile.

I tilted my head and raised my eyebrows: "Fuck-you money?"

A Roadtrip Through California and Oregon

As you may recall, I became homeless starting in early June (see I'm Officially Homeless). My calendar had been booked back-to-back with busyness: a three-day guide training tour on the San Juan Islands for Bicycle Adventures, a tour around the Olympic Peninsula with Craig, and the Adventure Cycling tour along the Columbia River Gorge. I now had two and a half weeks to fill before my first guiding gig started with Bicycle Adventures.

There are many parts of Oregon that I have yet to explore by bicycle. As such, I had brought my bike to Oregon with me, fully anticipating that I would tour around the state during the two and a half weeks. However, by the time the Columbia River Gorge trip had ended, the Pacific Northwest had been overcome by an unusually wicked outbreak of record heat. Portland's forecast, for example, was seeing multiple days of 100+ temperatures. Yuck! Touring didn't exactly seem so appealing anymore.

A Few More Thoughts About Craig

The reporting on the test ride around the Olympic Peninsula with Craig is now complete. I hope you enjoyed reading Craig's guest posts about the trip.

"So," you ask, "what did ya' think about this Craig guy as a compatible riding companion?"

Before I answer, you should know, if you don't already, that I am one helluva picky person. I'm picky when it comes to food. I'm picky when it comes to how I spend my time. And I'm particularly picky when it comes to relationships. Although some have suggested that life might be a little easier if I were to be a little less picky, I'm unwilling to compromise. I'm a firm believer that my unwavering steadfastness is vital at holding me true to my principles and enabling me to live the life I want to live.

Days 11-13: Manchester State Park to Seattle

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Written by guest blogger, Craig Skiles. (Posts 12-14 of 14)
Originally posted here, here, and here.
Commentary [in green] provided by yours truly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 11: Manchester State Park to Seattle
Wednesday June 17, 2015, 32 miles (51 km) - Total so far: 582 miles (937 km)

Another beautiful morning in a beautiful city. Just a dream-like ride along the water.

[Sarah: And with that, we are back in Seattle!]

Sarah is an amazing woman. When she has made up her mind to do something, there is no stopping her. I mentioned that I might like to ship my bike home instead of checking it as luggage. She immediately started calling bike shops and found a shop just a few blocks from our Warmshowers host that would pack and ship my bike for $45 plus the Fedex shipping of $70. Deal!

I'm Officially Homeless

Someone once said that the days are long, and the years are short. I'm reminded of this today.

I've had so many wonderful, long days over the last few months since I returned from my visit overseas. I crossed two items off my bucket list -- including getting a tattoo (see Sailors, Whores, & Ink) and taking a sailing course. I've spent lazy afternoons enjoying Seattle's unseasonably mild weather. I've spent hours relearning the Spanish language that I haven't spoken since the last millennium. I've started to plan a big bike trip for this upcoming fall and winter. Oh, and I finally met my financial target for early retirement (even though I left my job two and a half years ago, only 75% of the way to my target).

Suffice it to say, it's been a great few months of back-to-back long days. But it's already June 4th, and I am officially homeless!

Let me back up a bit...to October of last year...

Look Up

A friend of mine posted a video on Facebook today. The message of the video, which is written, directed, and spoken in true Dr. Seuss-style by Gary Turk, is that social media is anything but social.

I may be a hypocrite for sharing this video, as I sure do like relaxing with my iPad, writing my blog, and keeping up with my friends on Facebook. But I even moreso like the simple pleasures of living a good old fashioned life -- one filled with real social interactions and real off-line activities.

This is precisely the reason why I don't own a Smartphone; I don't want to be constantly barraged with technology. When I'm lost, I prefer asking for directions rather than relying on a GPS. And when I'm wanting a way to relax, rather than browsing through the latest Facebook posts, I prefer reading a book, or people watching, or going for a walk, or doing some yoga, or a million other more productive things.

Please take five minutes to watch this video. It has a very important lesson for all of us.

A Pleasant Surprise, When Least Expected

I had been single for about a year. Knowing that I'd be away most of the summer on bike trips, dating wasn't high on my priority list. For one, it's difficult to find a potential suitor who is near my age and who has the desire and the means to be able to break free from the work world and explore all that life has to offer. For two, I wasn't terribly interested in entering a relationship that would distract me from my upcoming bike trips.

With the encouragement of my friend, Cedar, I reenabled my online dating profile a month or so before I left for the Sierrra-Cascades ride. She had convinced me that if I didn't put myself out there, I'd never find anyone.

There were quite a few email exchanges with various potential suitors as well as a few first "dates" (oh, how I hate that word). Alas, none of the gentlemen excited me. I came to the conclusion that I was neither mentally nor emotionally interested in dating.

Nine days before I left for my summer of biking, I logged into the online dating website to disable my profile. In the upper left-hand corner of the webpage was this photo:

The photo that caught my eye.

This was a fresh face -- one I had not yet seen. I thought to myself: "Self, you might as well enjoy some calorie-free eye candy before you voluntarily remove yourself from the online dating world." And so, to appease my taste for sweets, I clicked through to the guy's other photos:

Meet Alex

As I mentioned in my last post, I have a riding partner for the Sierra-Cascades route. Signore e signori, meet Alex!

My blog readers who have been following along since the genesis of my blog may recall that Alex is not a new character in my life. Refer to the Stomping On My Old Grounds post to get the low-down on Alex. Make sure you read the entire post, because Alex is mentioned numerous times.

The main update in Alex's life since the aforementioned post is that Alex is no longer working. He left his job at the end of last year. Like me, he's also doing the semi-retirement thing. His transition to awesomeness enables Alex the flexibility to join along on a two-month bike trip.

Bloated Fish & Butt Raisins

It was a perfect, autumnal weekend for a rectangular ride with spectacular company.

The company, enjoying the autumnal spectacularness.
From left to right: Whitney, Phil, Me, Rich, Jason, and Claudia.

The ride, in all of its rectangular glory.

"The Rectangle Ride" is a 110-mile route that starts in Arlington, WA, heads east to Darrington, north to Rockport, west to Sedro-Wooley, and then loops back south to Arlington.

This is the fourth time I've done this route, and only now has it earned the name "The Rectangle Ride." It's safe to say that this is my favorite local overnight route, and so I was super-duper happy to share the route with five friends.

Kale Tail

Oh my! I've sprouted a tail! And so has my friend, Jason!

Our Kale Tails.

Indeed-ily-do! These tails do resemble kale stems! You are such a smarty pants!

Truth be told, our tails sprouted just after we destemmed some kale, in preparation for baking some kale chips.

Bob Is Famous!

Meet Bob.

Bob & his Surly Long Haul Trucker.
(From Bob's Facebook photos.)

I met Bob earlier this year. We both signed up for a bike maintenance class at Wright Brothers Cycle Works. When we rolled our bikes into the first class in January and noticed that we both had Surly Long Haul Truckers, Bob and I instantly bonded!

Bike Touring, Tiny Houses, & Slug Sex

There is nothing better than a mini-adventure that combines my two loves: bike touring and tiny houses.

For those of you who may not already know, I am in love with tiny houses. "Tiny houses" are small, mobile homes that are built to look like houses (as opposed to RVs). They are built on trailers, thus enabling the homes to be easily moved from one location to another.

I have been obsessed with tiny houses for a couple of years now. I came very close to building a tiny home last fall when I first left my job. Alas, I've decided to hold off for now, until I become a little less feral.

I first mentioned tiny houses to my friend, Claudia, a few weeks ago. She quickly fell in love with them, too. Because it can be difficult to fully appreciate tiny homes without actually having been in one, I suggested that Claudia and I go on a bike adventure to visit my friend, Candice, who owns a tiny house in Snohomish County.

Me & Claudia.