RAQs (Rarely Asked Questions)
WINNIPEG? WHY WINNIPEG? Allow me to provide a host of reasons:
- Winnipeg is the closest large city to my home that I have never visited.
- Winnipeg isn't exactly my destination. It's more of an ideal midway point for a five-week roundabout-gadabout tour that begins and ends in my driveway. This will be my first multi-week ride in which I will not be using any form of non-bicycle transportation to get to my starting point or to get home from my ending point.
- Winnipeg is on the wide open prairie, but I will also get to experience plenty of hills and lakes and forests and farmland along the way.
- Winnipeg is fun to say. Not quite as fun as some other place names, such as Papua New Guinea, but still pretty fun.
- Winnipeg is Canada's 7th largest city. It is also by far the largest city in Manitoba. Ergo, I will get to mingle with the largest Manitoban-speaking population in the entire world.
- Winnipeg has silvery streets and buildings made of solid gold.
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WHERE IS YOUR PAGE DEDICATED TO GEAR? I'm not much of a gearhead. My bike is very basic. I don't carry much stuff. And I know so little about bicycle-specific gear, components and electronics that I don't even like talking or writing about it. That said, if you are still curious about what I will be loading onto my bike every day, check out Page 3 of my MN to MA journal. To save you the trouble (and regret) of reading that page, I'll summarize it: I am somewhat of a minimalist, I mostly employ a backpacker's sense of needs vs. luxuries, and there are some cycling essentials that I have not yet been convinced are essential . . . but I keep an open mind.
WILL I SEE SOME IMPROVED PHOTOGRAPHY IN YOUR JOURNAL THIS YEAR? Probably not. Photography is surprisingly hard work--at least GOOD photography is. I'm not likely to ever to put forth the effort needed to frame "the perfect picture," but I will at least try to take MORE pictures.
HAS BICYCLE TOURING TAUGHT YOU ABOUT SELF-DISCOVERY? ABOUT THE PURPOSE OF YOUR EXISTENCE? ABOUT THE MEANING OF LIFE? No.
THEN WHAT GOOD IS IT? It's FUN!
CAN YOU IMAGINE ANYTHING ON YOUR UPCOMING TOUR THAT COULD POSSIBLY CAUSE YOU TO BREAK YOUR "NO COMPLAINTS" PLEDGE? I don't think any cycle tourist ever goes onto public highways without worrying about getting hit by a car. If that were to happen, I'm certain I would have something negative to say about that--unless it was MY fault. I also would complain if a Martian spaceship abducted me while cycling on a desolate Canadian backroad.
HOW WILL I KNOW IF YOU COMPLAIN IF YOU DON'T WRITE ABOUT IT IN YOUR JOURNAL? You won't.
IS "MANITOBAN" REALLY A LANGUAGE AS YOU SEEM TO SUGGEST? No, I have to admit, that was just a joke. However, Manitobans tend to have that distinctive Canadian accent. Even Americans along the Canadian border are not immune to it. Even I have been accused of speaking with a Canadian accent despite having been raised in Iowa. Accents are really cool things and everybody in the world has one . . . to somebody . . . somewhere.
DO YOU STILL CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE "AMERICA'S MOST NAIVE BIKE TOURIST?" I have learned a lot since those early tours, yet I still feel like the proverbial fish out of water. I have no desire to become an "expert" bike tourist. I don't want to know TOO much about my route beforehand. I don't try to find the easiest, most comfortable way to travel. I want to discover things on my own. I want to be prepared but not over-prepared. I want to learn from my own mistakes, not from others'. Nevertheless, I suspect I'm not quite so naive anymore because I'm convinced that you experience a unique sense of cluelessness on your first bike tour that can never be repeated--much as you do with your first kiss.
WHY DOES THE "POEM" ON THE FIRST PAGE OF YOUR JOURNAL SOUND LIKE IT WAS WRITTEN BY A THIRD-RATE HACK WHO WRITES CHILDREN'S BIRTHDAY GREETINGS IN THE BASEMENT OF THE HALLMARK CARD COMPANY? I'll take that as a compliment. I love the campy genius of Hallmark's simplistic rhymes in the same way as I loved the old 1960's Batman series. I don't think my poem was good enough to be uttered in the same breath as Hallmark. Emily Dickinson, T.S. Eliot, Shakespeare, Weird Al Yankovic, yes, but not Hallmark's poets.
WERE YOU AWARE THAT THE POEMS FOUND IN HALLMARK CARDS ARE INTENDED TO BE SERIOUS EXPRESSIONS OF HOLIDAY GREETINGS/CONGRATULATIONS/SYMPATHY/FRIENDSHIP--NOT CAMPY HUMOR? Say WHAT?
IF YOU COULD BE ANY TREE ON EARTH, WHICH ONE WOULD YOU BE? Thank you for that Barbara Walters-like question. I would have to say, a saguaro.
IS THE SAGUARO EVEN A TREE? Well, it's tall and green like a tree.
DOES YOUR CARTOON CHARACTER FROM THE PREVIOUS PAGE HAVE A NAME? AND WILL WE BE SEEING HIM AGAIN? I have been struggling with that for a while now. I have always thought it kind of strange to name inanimate objects, yet I did name my bike (The Reckless Mr. Bing Bong) a couple of years ago. I think I also named my tent. So why not give a name to that skinny guy with a big helmet and a bigger smile?
In a way, he is my alter-ego. I think I'll go with G-2 for a name. And since I took the trouble of cutting him out of a piece of cardboard, I decided I will bring him along for the ride.
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