Straight roads

Originally Posted September 11, 2004 by Chad

SIOUX CITY, IOWA. When we rode down out of the Black Hills into Rapid City last week a chapter of our journey came to an end. That was the last of the mountains we will see for over a thousand miles. I know that the rest of South Dakota is not really flat, and Iowa has its Loess Hills, but there will be no more mountain passes to test our mettle on the way up and our nerves on the way down. Up till now, our route has been dictated by rivers and mountains. We’ve followed the Skagit, Methow, Pend Orielle, Columbia, Clark’s Fork, Yellowstone, Snake, Salt, and Bear rivers. We’ve ridden in the drainage basins of the Columbia, Saskatchewan, Colorado and Mississippi rivers, draining water to the four corners of our continent. We’ve also ridden in the Great Basin, which drains to nowhere. The passes separating these basins were milestones because they are boundaries of climate, geography and lifestyle. They were a challenge to climb that was always rewarded with an exhilarating descent on the other side.

Now we have come to the part of the country where the roads do not follow the rivers. They run straight instead. East and West, North and South. In the west man has adapted to suit the land, but here the land has been adapted to suit man. In the west settlements were islands in a sea of wilderness, here it is the natural areas that are the islands in a ocean of cultivated fields.

We hoped to make our way across these plains quickly and with as little effort as possible by riding the prevailing west winds. However the prevailing winds have not prevailed thus far. We have learned that here the wind assumes the role of the mountains in slowing our progress. It has been blowing hard from the south all week. My shoulders ache every night from fighting against it day in and day out. We are hoping and praying for a change.

Yesterday we pedaled our three thousandth mile just outside of Niobrara, Nebraska. I bought Mags a cake as a reward. Today we continue east from Sioux CIty over the Loess Hills and into America's corn land, I mean heartland.

Original Comments: Straight roads

Dear Chad,

One thing I've appreciated about our entries has been the vocabulary and related geographical, geological, and sociological details that you've troubled yourself to insert. To me it implies your grasp and interest in the big picture of the land the those who inhabit it including the "wild" inhabitants. This entry was particularly fascinating on this point. Probably bikers have a feel like no other group that has crossed the land because you've gone slow enough to notice the small variations but fast enough that you recognize patterns. While I've understood a prime reason for this trip was to free yourselves from the rigors of formal schooling the trip seems in many ways to be continuation of your scholarship but in some ways much deeper.

I feel for your struggle against the wind. Just recently I was riding my bike back to Big Pole from down town Heber and was dealing with a strong wind in my face and side. It really was hampering my progress. Out of the blue here comes Melanie in her car and I take a ride. Had she not come I was contemplating getting off the bike and walking. Makes me think of the task faced by the early handcart pioneers that faced into the prevailing winds you were hoping for as they waded through sand and brush and snow pulling rickety carts loaded with several hundred pounds of food and shelter.

We do also pray for the wind at your backs and all other good things.
 
Love, Carl

Posted by Carl Harris at September 13, 2004 05:43 AM