Picture from bike-dreams with “Yes, finally… As you can see, we are Wi-Fi-less for the next three days… We are cycling at 4800 meters on the divide of the Andes. On the right, it floats to the Pacific; on the left it floats to the Amazon and Atlantic.
Seeing this picture I was jealous as the group is going through some mountains now and I love the mountains. They will descend down to the lower altitudes of Cusco (at 3400 meters or 11,200feet) in a couple of weeks where I meet them. But I’m not so sure about the altitude, 4800 meters is 15,700 feet where the group is cruising along at right now with high mountains in the background. I think the Andes are big and very much looking forward to seeing them. Still concerns me about joining the group when they have been riding every day. But it is what it is and I think I’ll do okay and am very much looking forward to it. I received some I think, good advice, from friend Buzz Scher, who has done Paris-Brest-Paris randonee among other numerous bike trips and enjoys those long rides. He said J. R., Get over yourself and just ride, but do not overdo it the first days. There is a sag wagon available, take it.”

Reading about the height of the Andes, it has made me aware how sometimes you don’t realize there are different things out there until you see them. The Andes are never big news, unless there’s an earthquake. In the mountaineering world you certainly hear of them but everyone thinks Colorado’s mountains are high and that’s what people see and talk about. That’s okay and that’s as it should be because it is local. It is available to you and you think that’s normal. Local things can always be fascinating and often we forget that. I sometimes forget people go a long ways to see Alaska and what I consider everyday occurrences. My dad used to say when I left for some place “be careful out there, they do things different there, not better not worse, just different”!

It has made think of people who say this Andes trip is a pretty amazing trip and it is. But, I think everyone has amazing trips whether they be spectacular or mundane. I had a friend once comment she was very jealous of Jeanne and I because we did all these great “adventures”. I thought about that and thought, wait a minute, she has an incredible adventure that Jeanne and I do not get to do, raising kids. That’s quite an adventure in itself. I have often said “everyone has a good and interesting story, just that not every one can tell that story”. It may be common but it is your story. You may not have immediately chosen that story, but it is your story.

We all get to do it, adventures or just participate in life in whatever way. It seems to me,it’s how we look at things. Sometimes just going to work, day in and day out has its rewards, sometimes it’s just boring. It’s how we look at it and how we decide what to do. Not everyone wants to do a trip like I am doing, not everyone wants to do racing. Everyone has different answers, wants, desires, enjoyment. It is what makes people fascinating.

Maybe it is time to get going, I am thinking too much.

“the old explorers’ adage, ‘You only ever find what you are looking for.”
Excerpt From: Hiram Bingham & Hugh Thomson. “Lost City of the Incas.”