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Pet Care Supply ::
Travels with Lucy : 3600 miles, 19 flat tires, 7 puppies, and 4 near-death experiences
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List Price: $6.49
Your Save: $ 6.49 ( 100% )
Sales Rank: #409320 (lower is better)
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Lemon Press
Written By: Chris Buerki
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Format: Kindle eBook
Manufacturer: Lemon Press
Release Date: 2010-05-01
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Travels with Lucy : 3600 miles, 19 flat tires, 7 puppies, and 4 near-death experiences Description
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I left on September 8th. It was Tuesday. Frankly, I was scared and I felt a bit silly pushing my eighty plus pounds of gear down the mile and a half long dirt road I live on. I hoped that the neighbors would not see me. I did not feel like telling the local redneck boys in the pick-up that I was going to attempt to ride a red Schwinn mountain bike across the country, while towing a red plastic Kiddy Kart I bought used for fifty dollars. Accompanying me was a small border collie named Lucy who rode in the cart. Lucy belonged to my roommates’ kids and I had not had much of a chance to train her, but I could tell she was smart. We had done a few training rides together and she would be good company.
Why would anyone do such a thing? I was asked that question a hundred times and I still get asked the same question often. Why? Why not? Why do we do anything? Why do you stay in an unhappy marriage or work at your crummy job?
There is something magical about adventure travel; to not know where you are going to end up that night or who you are going to meet. Wanderlust. As Jimmy Buffet said, “some days were laughter and others were tears.” I had sold my real estate and mortgage company in Colorado and my house in Florida was paid for. I had no car payment, no alimony, no girlfriend, no mortgage, no job and no one to say goodbye to. What did Janis Joplin say? Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. I still do not know why I did it, but it was one of the happiest times in my life and at the time of this writing I would leave again tomorrow morning if I could. I met so many people on the way who said they would give anything to do what I was doing. If only they could leave their job or their wife or their car payment or whatever it was. The single best line was when an older fat black lady came up to me and said, “ You’re just like Jesus, wandering in the wilderness”.
I do not know why I did it. I had taken another bicycle tour across Wyoming. It was a trip of just over one thousand miles and it was one of the best times in my life; perhaps I was trying to recreate that. I had never seen California and I always wanted to do that. When I left I really did not think I could make it all the way across the country. I really had no idea how far I would go or how long it would take, which was one of the joys of the trip.
I would pull into some small town and stay a night or a week depending on who I met and whether I could find a good camping spot. A lot of times leaving was even more fun than arriving. After a day in some crummy red neck town I was so glad just to be out of there and on to the next town that is was worth the trip just for that. I met so many people that were stuck in some horrible little town in some awful job and that would give anything to do what I was doing.
Not that it was all easy. At times it was unbelievably lonely. Sometimes it was scary as hell. There were a few mornings when I woke up and just cried because of all the breakdowns and flat tires. I fought incredible wind storms in west Texas and brutal mountains in California. One day the wind blew so hard I only made three and a half miles and gave up. I was hit by a truck in Mississippi and was lucky to live. I was bitten by at least ten thousand insects in the Deep South. My dog Lucky Lucy had four near death experiences and seven puppies. I had nineteen flat tires in Texas alone. I met people that I would have never met any other way; some of the nicest and some of the nastiest. It was great! If I never do anything else again in my life I will always have this trip. I can roll up and down the halls in the rest home in my wheelchair and brag about how I rode a bicycle across America. So read on gentle reader. It is a good story.
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