Just a thought on foregoing photography and journaling and letting your mind preserve its own vivid memories.  I thought that myself for many years when I was a younger man.  I avoided using a camera, thinking that photos would displace a richer, more authentic memory with a frozen image.  looking back now though I see that for myself it was a mistake, because in fact decades later I don’t remember much beyond vague impressions.  Maybe your aging memory will prove better than mine?  

I'm amazed at the endurance of most Cycle Blaze members. It seems as if everyone but me has plenty of energy to wander the town after a full day of cycling. Me? My favorite after ride routine is a shower and a snack, then I like to lounge around writing the journal.  That is my decompression activity. I prefer to write the journal ASAP after the riding day. Even if we are busy in the evening and I wait until the next morning, it seems as if my memory dims in that amount of time.

I'm not much of a photographer. I use my phone for photographs. I do make a pointed effort to put the camera down and see what's in front of me. One of my favorite memories, where looking with my eyes was a conscious effort was watching a BIG bull moose walk right past us at Maroon Bells in Colorado.

Been there done that and I too will always apologize that I missed clicking that button to minor edit.

And we love the networking and reconnecting with fellow travelers, and you are forgiven for correcting the name.

Been there done that and I too will always apologize that I missed clicking that button to minor edit.

And we love the networking and reconnecting with fellow travelers, and you are forgiven for correcting the name.

Thanks for that comment Scott. I often excitedly take photos when I’m on a trip with the thought - “wait till everyone sees this!” I take a photo, look to see if it’s good enough, maybe take a few more to get it right and then get on my way. I think, well, I pocketed that memory, on to the next. I suppose doing all that might fill the volatile short term memory a little more than it should. Since long term memories come from short term memory much of it can be lost fooling framing a scene.  

So what I’ll do now is spend some time in the moment before or after taking the photo. If the scene is good enough to stop and record, it’s probably good enough to lose a few minutes of bike time to absorb. 

Like you, I prefer to get the day's story captured as a journal entry as soon as I can, while the memories and thinking are fresh.  (I find that I spend a lot of time during the day's ride thinking about what the story of the day might be, and mentally trying  out phrases and expressions that may be of interest tot he reader.)

I'm also a pretty early-to-bed guy, so there's generally limited time after dinner for writing or photo insertion.  Once the journal's complete for the day, it's often my cue that the day itself is about done.

The price I pay for this, of course, is that I give up the rich explorations that Team Anderson and others experience.  Along with that comes the inescapable loss of potential journal content, describing (and photographing) my surroundings-du-jour, because I've chosen to limit myself to things I happened to have passed by during the day's ride.

On the other hand, most days seem to generate more than ample on-the-road photos.

Side note: if you let Ride With GPS (and probably other routing software) have its way you'll end up bypassing towns along a day's route.  You often have to deliberately route yourself into and through towns if you want to see them.  That's not a big deal, really, but it can influence the shape of what you encounter and experience.