Between Springfield and Bloomington-Normal, I found myself on the
Route 66 Bike Trail again. The trail has many signs and seems to be on
fairly low-traffic roads.
I have little idea why, but shortly after I started riding, I
realized that I was grumpy. Some medium-sized worries suddenly
seemed the center of my attention and seemed the biggest thing in my
world. And everything else just seemed rotten.
I wasn't riding; I was seething on a bike. I cursed my map -- a perfectly find map. Drivers were making me crazy -- they were as surprisingly courteous as ever. I called down damnation on the Logan County highway department for the lousy condition of the road.
I tried to shake the mood. Tried to get interested in taking pictures and tried to think about other things. It really didn't help.
Finally, I just called it an early day. The point of this is
not simply to get from Denver to Maine. If I'm not enjoying the
ride, I'm missing the point.
Fortunately, that's the first day I've had like that.
This is not a particularly profound thought, but it's a particularly
obvious one on a trip like this: having the right attitude is more
important than the physical or logistical challenges. Needing to
rest, taking a long time to get up the hills, finding places to sleep
or eat -- those things either sort themselves out, or with the right
attitude, can be laughed at. It's when one is down that those
challenges seem insurmountable.
