"Got anything vegetarian?
Nope, we don't do that around here.
Ok, bye!"
Hi, and welcome back to my bike blog.
Weakness on Vacation
Somtimes I forget that, at the end of the day, I'm on vacation. I'm here to enjoy myself, and
that I am in a pampered mindset that one can only get to by having everything taken care of. I've
been in these situations before, oftentimes between big things like undergrad and grad school, or
before the start of undergrad. The brain starts to think about the abstract as opposed to the
concrete of daily routine. Without the constant pressure of work, I sometimes feel lost in my own
thoughts.
This stressed me today, and I really had to remind myself that I'm on vacation, and that I've specifically
allotted time and money for this so that I can be free, and do what I want. Today I wanted to bike
slowly, sit in restaurants, and work on Mathcamp classes. I did just that. Though this desire was
not just a mood. I was physically weak today, and I struggled to bike on flat terrain.
At times like these, I usually blame slope. When I can't blame slope, I blame wind. When the wind is too low,
I blame the road quality. But today, even I knew that none of these accusations will stick, and I really
didn't know why I was so weak. Later on, when I got to my hotel (I really didn't have the
camping mood tonight), I was stuck on the toilet for an hour with a stomach ache. Maybe I'm sick. Maybe
I got sun-stroke. Maybe I've got some bug. Maybe I shouldn't've drank a giant chocolate milkshake
for lunch. I'm just glad to have short days for this portion of the trip.
Comfort
I put on some random playlist of 70's Israeli music, got on the bed, and started writing the blog. I
immediately thought about the vacation, and about the pursuit of comfort. It's something
I've learned to appreciate in the past few years - that there are things that I like that make
me happy. I like sitting on couches and working. I don't like white walls. I like having time.
Last year, I realized that I can live in comfort by just saying "no" to some things. I don't
always have to do anything anyone suggests, and I don't need to take on 300 hours of TAing
just because I can (though in retrospect, I'm pretty glad I did, as that's what's funding this trip).
Comfort is not just spending money on nice things. Comfort means sending postcards
to people. Comfort means making myself a cup of tea and enjoying a puzzle in the evening. It's
the maturity to know that a short walk around the block will make me feel better than another
half and hour of YouTube videos.
I distincly recall a moment from the winter of 2017, when I had a meeting with a professor I was TAing for,
and we were walking towards his office across the street. It was cold, and there was
probably a reason for the rush, but he started running. On a whim, I told him that I can't
keep up, because I had made a new year's resolution to stop running. I don't know where that
came from, but it's become a kind of rule for my life. I don't run places. If I'm running late,
I'll walk, and think about how to deal with the tardiness during the walk. But you know, once
I've made it a rule that I don't run, it becomes something to plan around, and I'm not late, because
I know that I need to be early to accomodate this new idea.
I think that there's something comforting about premaking rules to follow. It makes
inconsequential decisions much easier, and lets you live life without regret. Not eating
meat, for example, makes ordering at restaurants much easier! There's two options - either
there's something vegetarian, or you leave.
The Image Gallery
Everyone knows what this is by now. It might have been responsible for some
flats yesterday too...
The small Oregon town, Haines, which was very pretty, but had a closed
post office, and no postcards for sale at the gift shop.
It was a very clear afternoon today, and I got to see the far-off mountains very clearly.
We're halfway there!
These mountains looked so cool! Very up and down.
Two days ago I was worried about construction on the highway. I encountered
none of it yesterday, and decided to risk it today. Instead of a super-narrow
highway with clustered angry drivers, I got a lane to myself for a bit. The road did
narrow later, but I always had a good shoulder to ride on. This isn't so bad!
The Map
Today I biked for 70km over the course of four and a half hours. My total uphill was a measly 170m.
