No News Is Good News
For those keeping tracking track, or with even the vaguest sense of awareness, my time in Philadelphia has not been filled with the same sort of adventures and stories that I was able to write about while cycling 5,700km.
That somewhat falls into the “good news, bad news” category. It’s good news in that nothing terrible has happened and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying a relaxing week in Philadelphia. But, obviously, it’s bad news when you’re trying to come up with interesting blog material. This update would fall into the latter category.
Ed’s Barber Shop
In the interest of avoiding an excessive number of uneventful updates (hmmmm … I could be too late on that), I’m going to take the weekend off – from writing, not from doing stuff. Clearly, I’ve been “not doing stuff” for most of the week – and quite enjoying it! And just to be clear, a couple of blog-free days is not to imply that I’m tired of writing – quite the opposite, as shown by how much I’ve written so far today with no significant content. At the moment I don’t have big, exciting plans for the weekend – sometimes just hanging out with friends is all you need. However, if something comes up, I’ll be sure to post it. If not, I’ll summarize on Monday.
Hey, Mark! Will our Sunday night dinner party make it into the log?! It was fun to gather, even if you had trouble feeling full…
The guy I mentioned to you is Dominic Gill and his book is called “Take a Seat”
From the back cover:
When Dominic Gill set out from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, by bicycle on June 16, 2006, it was to be no ordinary bike ride. His goal was to reach Ushuaia, the southernmost city in South America, nearly 20,000 miles away, and he was starting off with virtually no money in his pocket, barely enough food to last a week, and, worst of all, with thousands of miles between him and his friends and family.
But Dominic had a plan: His bicycle, Achilles, was a tandem and the spare seat was his secret weapon. He would invite strangers to join him on his long journey—strangers he hoped would become friends and help him turn a terrifying prospect into the adventure of a lifetime.
In Take a Seat, Dominic tells the story of his incredible journey. Over twenty-six months, he covered 18,449 miles down the west coast of the Americas, passed through fifteen countries, was looked after by countless strangers, crashed into a Mexican banana truck, was nearly attacked by a mob of Bolivian political demonstrators, cycled past active volcanoes, and didn’t have a single haircut. All sorts of colorful characters took a seat on Achilles—from a meditating, pot-smoking French Canadian named Pierre to Adrienne, a lovely Appalachian girl who rode with him into Panama, and the dark-haired Joselyn from Chile. Eventually, Dominic reached Ushuaia, freezing and exhausted and with another new friend behind him—the 270th person to take that seat. He had achieved his dream.