Kyle Pounds - Calender

September

Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10My legs were beat at the end of yesterday and this morning. so I rode easily all day long, and in a different way using different muscles. I think I recovered my thighs because I didn't burn them up by going too fast even though I went 109 miles. 9 more than the most I have done so far in this trip. I took a lot of pictures today. I was fascinated by the stone shingled houses and huge, rolling green pastures, rock walls lining the roads, and the steepness of the roads. I had a dream last night but I can't remember it. The English here sort of have Scottish accents. I crossed the boarder yesterday and got a taste of Scotland with the devolution debate on TV and the radio. The accents and the way they all shake their heads at me instead of nod is the most peculiar thing about the Scots. A nice woman who owns a bed and breakfast let me sleep on a mattress in her garage, take a shower, and cleaned my cloths. I rode into a town and was kind of tired so I hung out in a library for a couple hours in the afternoon. Then I rode some more until I found a nice field to sleep.	11	12All the coffees I had sunk in and I was up reading under my waterproof blanket until nine thirty. I got up at 8:00 which is late for me. I rode about 80 miles to Hull England and got here a half hour before boarding the ferry to Holland. It seems like none of the passengers here speak English. It will be interesting to be communicating with people who don't speak English. I am glad to be leaving such an expensive country and going to cheaper places. The food here is more expensive than in America.	13I forgot about the time change and was the last person out of the ferry as I slept through the docking. I indulged myself on the ferry by drinking a bottle of wine and watching a movie. Even though I haven't ridden very hard the last couple days my legs are beat and I feel kind of sick. If I am queasy at the end of tomorrow I will take the next day off completely. I bought a stick of hash in Rotterdam today. They smoke it with tobacco here in joints. The guy who sold it to me said it is too hard on your lungs without it. I think it is the other way around. It is very awkward when half the people here don't know English. They speak a dialect of German that has a lot less "sh" and "ch". It is definitely it's own language though. I had a hard time figuring out how the road systems are like here. The bikers and scooters literally have their own roads that get you to your destination along entirely different paths than the cars which use freeways to get from town to town. It seemed that this country is like one giant city with all the cars and buildings connected without any apparent greenbelts between the metropolitan centers. It is really cool that cyclists have their own roads. A lot of young people have scooters on the bike paths. This country is definitely different than England. I thought England used their space frugally with a lot of their space being used for farms and such; but these people spare almost no space at all. Almost all of the grass that separates the condos and houses from the highways and roads is used as pasture for goats, and there are horse pastures and farms smack dab in the middle of the city. I love it! I had a hard time finding my way around at first because the signs for places are different for the bikes than the cars and I was looking at the road signs instead of the bike path signs and not realizing that there are lots of paths going different places. I have learned now and am sure I will like this system more as time passes. It sure is taking me a long time though. I was getting lost right after being reoriented by someone. I must have asked 15 people for directions today over a distance of only about 20 miles. It seems like most of the young people here know English and most of the old ones don't. I am looking forward to getting a French phrase book and communicating with people in France in their language. My plan is to ride to Luxembourg through Belgium, and then go to Paris. I feel like I should go there because I have heard so much about it. If I am still in the Netherlands where the bike paths are good when the full or near full moon is here, I want to ride all through the night. I have never ridden all through the night by myself before. Passers by don't seem to smile as much here as in England, but I can tell they are just as content and kind. Some people I ask directions from tell me in their language which I don't understand a lick of, but I understand their gestures and the names of places and roads and ideas of distances they tell me. I definitely over did the candy and weed today and the drinking last night. People are really loud at this bar I am at. The group that is my age isn't, but the 40-50 year old group are yelling really loud; which is strange. Two people brought dogs in here, which is two more than I have ever seen in a bar before. The neighborhoods near the canals are about 5-10 feet lower than the water level of the canals. The bike paths are on top of the banks which is cool because you can see over all the houses to the cathedrals that mark the center of the towns. The people are so much louder in this place than I have ever seen. It is definitely like I am in another country. A man just came to me and asked me a few questions and talked to me in his broken English for a couple minutes, and then returned to his bar seat and bought me a coffee. I asked him if they speak German and he said they speak Holland. My plan is to ride to the southernmost point in Holland because I like these bike paths, and then go into Belgium and buy a map and get there currency and stay long enough to get a taste of it before I go to Luxembourg. Stuff is about the same price here as in America. I lost my map of Europe today. I don't know what happened to it. That is the first thing I have lost on this trip. I don't want to have to buy another one. I will just rely on the maps of individual countries. I need to stretch more. My muscles are sore and as tight as can be. I think I could use more sleep but for the first time in my life I am having trouble staying asleep in the morning, which is exactly what I prayed so long for, so I am not complaining. I have always had a problem sleeping in even when I'm not tired. It is the only time of day that I can really relax. So far I have been easily finding places to sleep and not worrying about people seeing me in the morning. I am near trees now that I plan on sleeping in. Luckily there haven't been any torrential rain storms yet. My bag gets wet every night from perspiration from the blanket and bevy sack, and down bags don't like to be wet. But I have had chances to dry it out on the boat and that ladies house. When it gets too wet I will take time out at a laundry mat and dry it off.
14 I got up late today and patched my thermarest, got stoned and stretched. After I rode and had lunch a guy helped me phone home. I rode down some more on these paths which are so hard to negotiate, but it is so cool that we bikers have roads all to ourselves. I woke up sore and weak but feel fine now at the end of the day. It is cool that this country has a bike system but the paths take so many twists and turns and I don't have a compass so I don't always know where I am going. It is hard to cover a lot of ground in one day with these paths going every which way... oh yeah and I'm stoned off my ass all the time. Off to Belgium tomorrow. It seems like most of the people (from riding these paths) are old men. All the people ride around on three speed cruisers or scooters, who also get to ride on the bike paths. People love to give directions to me here, today I asked an old man on a bike where the way to Maastricht is, and he had me follow him a quarter mile up to a bridge and then showed me the way to the path that runs right next to the canal all the way to Maastricht. I got bored and got off it but got lost again. I still made it to Maastricht at five though. Today I bought five rolls of film, three blank tapes for recording, and maps of Luxembourg, Belgium, and France. I will need one of Germany also if I am going there, which I plan on. I learned a lesson on Map buying today. I went into a book store and asked the woman to get me a map of Belgium and France, and she gave me maps of parts of the countries. The part of France was so small that it is useless to me, and I paid seven bucks for it. The woman should have known better also, but she was in a rush closing up. I will just buy another map in a gas station in France. I need to buy a French-English dictionary also. I have been told that French people don't like to speak English. Tomorrow will be the last day that I will be stoned because it is illegal in all places but Holland. I am glad I had this time to ride stoned in another country, but I much rather doing it long term sober because I have my goals more in order. When I ride sober I don't take as much time out to eat munchies, and don't bust my body with sweets and smoke, and I can think clearer. The hash here is very good and 12 bucks got me a lot, probably the equivalent to an eight ounce of kind nuggits, but which costs 40 dollars in the states. Holland is cool! About half the people here speak English. There are a lot of motor scooters around and interestingly they are primarily ridden by young people and the old people have bicycles which they ride very slowly taking their time. This is a loud country. They speak fast and seem to interrupt each other a lot on the radio, in cars, and at the restaurant, and bars tend to play their music loudly. There are many different nationalities of people here. Over the last two days I have experienced for the first time what it is like to take too many pictures. I bought film today and before I knew it had taken 10 pictures. I want to know how they made the canals. The water is like 20 ft. higher than the land, all the way down to Maastricht and the boarder with Belgium. I want to go to a country where the exchange rate is better. I have a feeling it is basically the same all over Europe. I have 200 more pages left on Esoteric Heeling; then I will read the new testament, which is like another 600 pages. While I was reading the book I just came to another decision, and that is to spend my evenings in rural places because that will reduce the chances of my stuff being stolen off my bike while I'm inside, and I will be close to a place where I can sleep. I am in the dead center of the town of Maastricht in Southern Holland. The first time I have spent time at night in the middle of the city. I will have to ride a long way before I hit terrain suited for camping. I have had perfect luck so far finding places to stay. It is harder at night because you can't see what might be near. I feel good now; and even though I will be up at least until midnight, I want to get up at like 6:30 tomorrow. I think pushing by body to the brink of exhaustion after I have completely recovered is a good idea, because I will know where my limits are (how much sleep I need as apposed to how much I can ride and read and write. I feel fortunate there is nothing that could distract me but that is just for now. I want to start another dream journal, but I haven't been remembering my dreams well lately because of all the weed I have been smoking. Being in the world alone where they don't speak my language, I can find myself in the context of the world and not my bubble because I am kept at enough of a distance from others that they won't affect me by the way they see it. Marijuana is an interesting drug. I want to write about it some more in the future when I am not smoking it. It is interesting that a drug that opens you up to an expanded consciousness also makes you content in your own little world, and then makes you self conscious. Why does it make you self conscious? Only when you unconsciously expect people to be critical of you; but when you don't thought it doesn't. I am at a point now that I don't compare counties to America, just countries to each other.	15	16I had a very interesting day today. I got up at six thirty because I slept in a house being built and didn't want the workers to find me there the next day. It looked on the map and from my eyes that there would be no patch of trees for me any where. I rode until nine when the banks opened and exchanged money. I had about four dollars in change that I couldn't exchange, so I need to remember from now on to spend all of my change before I leave each country. Belgium uses Franks and there are 5776 franks to 320 guilders and about $160 to the 320 Guilders as far as I know. I spent a shit load of money today also. I bought tire liners to prevent flats.	17	18	19 I slept next to the road last night at the bottom of a hill. The road was next to a tunnel that I would have stayed dry in if it had been raining. I drifted in and out of sleep all night long because my body was fully rested. I only rode about 25 miles that day. I am not keeping track of how many miles I am doing because my computer keeps resetting itself. I want to document as much as I can, so I will check the odometer at the beginning and end of each day. I had a big dinner at a portable roadside cafe last night, and when I left the woman gave me three small loafs of bread. I did pretty well financially with food today, but I spent 25 bucks sending back my Thermarest sleeping pad, a book, change, tape, sandals, and film. I could totally feel the weight difference when I left. I will only get food at supermarkets from now on. People in France kiss each other a lot. Yesterday I saw women greet each other by kissing on the cheeks; then I saw a man and his son kiss on the lips. Just now I saw a woman come in and kiss every man in the place on both cheeks twice. That's cool. I bought some pastries hoping the woman would let me use her toilet but she said it was private. Then in this bar-restaurant place I bought a beer and the man said he didn't’t have a toilet. I haven’t washed my face in two days. Tonight I will use the water in my bottles and my washcloth to wash my face at my camp sight. There are a lot of homely looking people in this country, maybe there is in-breading, which wouldn't surprise me. They seem like they are in their own little world. They aren’t interested in me at all, and sometimes even seem annoyed. Some women make these ugly faces at me when I have trouble speaking French. They open their eyes wide and lift up their upper lip and sort of stick their tongues out. A man came in here a few minutes ago and shook everybodies hand including mine; and a man did that when he was leaving a bar in Holland. I feel a stuffy energy here and when I make eye contact with people they give me a blank stare instead of smile like they do in America, England and Holland. When I look at them they seem like they are run-down tired, bored and frustrated. They have a weird hair and clothing style here that I can’t pin on any decade; maybe the seventies most closely. I heard Paris is unique, will find out tomorrow. I have a feeling I won’t see a complete version of France unless I go to Paris. I wonder if this guy will kick me out if I don’t buy another beer like they did at the first cafe I went to in France. The longer I am here the more I like Holland. Dutch or whatever their language is called rhymes and some of the phrases are the same as English except they roll out in a more rhythm in a funny laughable way. Disco, upbeat, poetic music is all they play. They are loud and interrupt each other a lot. They have cool canals throughout the country, and have bike paths everywhere. The Dutch are very friendly. There seem to be a lot of ethnic groups there. There are a lot of ethnic groups in France also, which is surprising. I don’t like the language as much now that I am here. I can’t understand any of it and they speak fast and it is totally different than English. The cars give me room and yield here though. Overall the people are nice here just like anywhere else except for the fact that I can feel them critically judging me much more than the other countries I've been to, even before they know I am American. Maybe they can tell I'm American just by looking at me though. The price of things is roughly the same here. When I rolled in here I was alertly awake, but this beer is putting me to sleep and I don’t want to get a coffee because they will probably charge me like three dollars for it. Another peculiar thing about France is when you get a beer and coffee, they don’t come and pick the bottle up for hours. I can feel people looking at me more here than anywhere else. I have a feeling French people don’t travel much, but that could be me. I am barely staying awake right now. I wonder if I could get a coffee or call it a day. I love sleeping and usually don’t sleep while I am lying in bed reading because my mind can't slow down enough to allow me to fall asleep; it seems to want me to go to sleep while I am up writing or reading. I had a dream last night that I went to an obscure place in a foreign land by driving north up a dirt road and having an erotic massage by a fat woman with her Vietnamese friend in the room who had a child and immigrated to this country (I assume the USA) for the wellfare of her child. This fat woman wasn't’t white but wasn't’t Asian or black or Native American either. I went in the room after I had a beer in the bar next to it in the same building. I enjoyed it but it was kind of disgusting.	20
21 Last night I slept in a field inside a big highway intersection where the field meets a sparse grove of trees. You could totally see me from the road, but the cars are driving so fast no one would look over in my direction. The next day, yesterday, I rode into Paris. When I got 25 km away I had a feeling it was illegal for bikes to be on the highway, so I got off only to discover that no roads but the highway went into Paris. I asked some girls and then later a group of kids and they all said I should use the metro, but said it was legal at to ride my bike on the highway so I got back on. About 15 minutes later a cop pulled me over and said something, So I said I was American and he said “oh, American”, and told me to get off the highway at the next road. I started riding and then noticed he was following me. I worried he might give me a ticket, but when I got off he waved at me and took off on the highway. I tried to find a road in the direction of Paris and asked a guy where Paris was and realized it was futile to try to ride, so I paid 3 bucks for a ticket on the metro for the “Champs Ulysses”. When I got to the center I went to the top of the Champs Ulysses and took some pictures. I had to pay ten bucks to weight in line for a couple of hours to go to the top of the Eiffel tower and take some pictures. Then I had dinner at a McDonalds that seats like 500 people and paid six bucks to take the metro about a half hour to the southernmost station, which was way out of the city. I only had to ride for about 10 minutes before I found a forested area to camp. It was on the side of a hill that looked like it just went up, so I camped about 20 feet from the road, too close because people could see me if they looked. That night I took my socks off because they were feeling itchy and I thought to myself, “am I going to be cold tonight?" because of this my feet could feel the wetness of the bottom of the bag and sure enough I was drifting in and out of consciousness all night because I was so cold. The next day I went to buy some shoe laces so I could tighten up the top of my sleeping bag. I kind of wish I kept my Therma rest because I could feel the roughness and coldness of the earth. I heard a dog barking harrowingly last night in the distance and thought it might be because of me, so I opened up my knife and thought to myself "maybe I don’t want to go to Africa after all". Now I am thinking it isn’t a good idea, but I want to go to the rock of Gibraltar and ride down the coast of Portugal. I could go to Rome via Morocco and Tunisia and take a ferry to Sicily, or ride through Andorra and France. I had market food this morning and then stopped in a restaurant which was the first thing I saw open for like 5 villages. I asked the garcon if I could have some water and he said I would have to buy something just like it was all over France. I can piss people off here just by asking for water. I was really thirsty so I asked for a sandwich and he said, "What kind?'' and I said turkey and he said "you are in France'' So I said ''well balony'', and he said "do you want a drink?" and I said no, and he said ''you usually get a drink”, so I said orange juice. When I got the bill it said 15, so I thought three bucks not bad an paid and went to my bike and unlocked it and he said you misread the receipt, it is 48, so I said sorry and paid it and rode off, and then I thought to myself "I paid nine bucks for a sandwich and a drink". I got ripped off. That was when I finally decided I didn't like France. Next time I will just buy a drink and then ask for water. They would have to be ridiculous to refuse that deal. Actually from now on if I am just thirsty and I can find a public toilet which there are very few of in this county, I will fill my water in their sinks. The waiter said mostly the water is good, but not always. I will take my chances. But from now on in order to avoid these French people from closing off their bathrooms and water and giving me weird looks and snapping at me I will try to only eat at Mcdonalds and pretend I'm in good ol America for a few minutes each day. I am now in a McDonalds in Tours. I rode 145 miles so far today, the farthest by 35 miles on this trip. I definitely feel a little feverish from it. I am on the north side of this big town and will have to probably ride all the way through it and out the south side. A considerable distance if I am to find a super bomber camp sight, which I want to because I will probably want to sleep in tomorrow. I will be at the Spanish boarder by the end of day after tomorrow. I will have to ride through the Pyrenees, which are going to be big. I don’t like this country because they are always trying to get money out of me, and stuff is more expensive here than in America. I think its kind of pathetic that they can't speak English here when most of the songs on the radio are in English. I can tell how they are in a little self righteous cocoon, feeling left out is probably why they don't like Americans and have all these archaic cultural selfish mores. The cars yield to me more here and give me more room than in American though. I rode on the rural D roads today for the first time and loved it. I can really get into a rhythm when there are no cars to constantly distract me. I am looking forward to my time on them tomorrow. If I liked the people in this country more I would take my time and ride on the rural roads the whole way. The old rural people here are seriously homely looking and don’t smile at me at all. I think one of them yelled at me to slow down today. This morning I saw about a hundred bikers, all older, and only one female, riding sporadically within a 20 mile area. I also saw about 5 carriages of what I thought might be Amish people and took a picture of one. I also took pictures of Napoleons get away castle in Douron (I think that is what it is called) where all the Amish people are. The castle, the Moab, was huge and it looked like it suffered a battle. The younger people in the McDonalds are real nice about getting me water and don’t make me feel like a spectacle, so I like to go here, my American Oasis, as much as possible. I had a dream last night that I was I think in France hanging out near a restaurant in a rural area with green grass and Vanessa Meyers was on a bridge and we were crossing and she said “I think I will jump off this", and jumped off and fell about 30 or 40 feet to the grassy bottom. While she was falling, which was a long time, I thought "oh no", she is going to be hurt", but after her hard impact landing she got up unhurt and came back to us. We were all, "Wow, you are amazing, that was at least 35 feet", and she said "oh no big deal" and went into the restaurant with the other girls we were with who I don’t know. That is all I remember. I woke up in the morning to two men talking across the street on the other side of the fern-strewn fence that I couldn't’t see through, but cars were driving by and could totally see me if they looked over, so I go up and left even though I wanted to sleep in. I looked up and saw that there were terraces just up the way that I could have slept on no problem, so I will scout more from now on. Another lesson I learned today from that water episode from the snooty waiter was to ask how much something costs before I buy it so they don't rip me off. I could have had another Big Mac meal and a half for sure. I am not cold and will get a good nights sleep tonight. I have such an opposite feeling about McDonalds as I did a couple years ago when I thought it was just another multinational corporation. But it is so convenient and ensures that you don’t get ripped off and is priced well and the food is actually not bad at all, and they are always easy to be in. Now I think efficient multinational corporations like this are good, they just have to use their power for good instead or raping the earth. I dished for that sandwich and orange juice, oh well, a lesson I needed to learn. I will sleep inside the survival blanket tonight in the rain suit.	22 I got up pretty early this morning. I don’t have that all too familiar feeling like I need to sleep in. I bought breakfast at a local supermarket at 8:30 and had a big breakfast and stretched and started riding at about 11:00. I tried to get on the intracity road but got lost and had to find my way back to it; finally getting going at about noon. I was extremely tired today; on the verge of a fever, so I stopped riding at about 3:45, after 75 miles. I am in the northern end of another big city now so I will have to ride for a while to find a place to sleep. I am in a McDonalds now. I looked in my calendar to find I was supposed to call my mom yesterday, so I went to a phone and couldn't’t figure it out, so I will either wait until I am in Spain or buy a phone card. I will probably make it to Spain in a couple days. I will try to call later tonight, maybe the phone lines are tied up. I just figured my finances. If I spend 20 bucks a day from here to the end of the month I will have spent about a thousand bucks, with 224 for extra expenses that I didn't’t foresee. I was just reading the bible and it is good. Europe is definitely more expensive than America. England and France are about equal, with Holland slightly less and Luxembourg more and Belgium little less than Holland as far as I can tell. For example, a McDonalds meal in France (France is more expensive than England) with a sunday, burger, fries and a drink is about $7.50, which is a lot. I have been eating at restaurants too much; my habit of having big breakfasts in supermarkets will help a lot. Spain and other countries will be less expensive.	23I rode 109 miles today. I slept in until about 8:30 this morning because I was beat yesterday. I felt fine today and have a feeling I will be fresh for tomorrow. I breezed into this town at 5:17 and saw a sign that said McDonalds and figured I might as well make it 3 days in a row. There was a deviation today so I got some good time on D roads. I am in Saints tonight. I saw signs that said ''camping'' and I checked it out, but it closed eight days ago for the winter. It was nice and warm last night in my nice campsite inside a ditch near the highway shielded from sight. I had some nice dreams last night but I cannot remember them. I had some nice thoughts while riding today. The Bible is good to ponder. I am circling the good parts and reading it so slowly (only 30 pages yesterday) that I might be working on it for a long time, like months, which is weird to think about considering the copy I have is so small. When I stop and ask directions people are nice, but they don’t know a lick of English which is weird because most of their music is American. They seem very nationalistic in a positive sense, but stuck in the old European train of thought in another sense which I can't even begin to explain. I can feel the workers looking at me here in McDonalds. I wonder if they will kick me out, probably not. I detect a very strong feeling in the air that these people know they are in their own world that is closed off to the cultural leader of the world, America. This county seams less important to me while I am here than it did when I was studying French back home when it seemed very romantic, stylistic and beautiful. Now it is just another weird country. I can feel that when I eat processed food I don’t feel good, like when I eat potato chips with preservatives or these sugar biscuit crackers. Candy, soda and McDonalds food doesn't make me feel bad though. I rode 109 miles today but by looking at the map I didn't go very far, but I don’t care. I need to balance the reading and writing with the riding, and make sure I don't keep physically burning myself out which I have been doing a lot of so far in this trip. If I run out of stuff to read and write I will ride all day long every day. Plus, I will probably be strong enough to do that in a month or so. I am not immersing myself in the culture much, just riding, reading, writing and keeping to myself. I don’t want to stay in this country any longer than I have to. The bible is such a good book it is hard to believe that people can twist its truth. These principles are so simple and straight forwardly put; like to be more polite to people than they are to you no matter what. Being here reading and writing I get a feeling from people that instead of being like "look at that smart guy" it is like "look at that weird guy". It probably has something to do with this bright green spandex ski suit I have on. These people don’t make as much eye contact with me. I find that kind of strange. On second thought I do feel a little tiredness in me. I am just now getting into the French music and will record the songs I like. I want to record a direction asking or conversation with someone, I haven’t done that yet. I have been so blessed with weather so far, its been great. There hasn't’t been a single rainstorm yet, and there have been sunny skies ever since I got to the mainland. It was overcast a lot in England but it never rained. I spent less than 100 Francs today. I don’t want to buy any more processed food. It gives me a headache and I feel dehydrated. I want to write down everything I think of. I have noticed that stuff gets cheaper as I go farther south in this country. I think I am being too harsh on the French. They are nice people.	24I didn't ride very far today, only like 70 miles. I got up at 8:12, had a Mcbreakfast and took off early. I had like 36 miles under me by the time I am usually off. I think I like this way of starting early better. I don’t need such big breakfasts, they just waste my time. I could have ridden like twice as far today if I wanted to, but I did my laundry instead, learned how to call mom and got two big mac meals and a bag of candy. I am still reading the Bible which I like a lot. I don’t want to go back home until I can ride all day long with out a single negative thought. Mike and mom think I am going too fast but I am just right. This is the fourth night in a row in a McDonalds; I am on a roll. People honk a lot when they come up behind me to pass which is nice. They don’t honk here like they do in America with a long honk, but with a series of short honks. They yield more to bikes here also, but bikers are expected to stop at stop lights. They do it even when there are no cars coming, which I have heard before somewhere not too long ago and here I see it is true. I am learning to comprehend French more. Eric says women are more subordinate here, but I don’t detect that. I do detect that sexual relationships are more settled in here than in America.	25 I got up at about 8:30 this morning. I was awake before and even though it was warm enough to immediately put on my shorts, but it wasn't light enough for me to get up. Today I had breakfast at McDonalds for the second morning in a row. After breakfast I got bread and fruit at the supermarket next door because I wasn't full and I am going to go to another Mcdonalds for the fifth night in a row. I wonder if there are McDonalds's in Spain and if I will keep the tradition alive. I love knowing I can go to a place and get a meal that I know won’t be a rip off and I can have a well light place to read and write until eleven at night. These burgers are good also because they are nice and filling and taste great. Two years ago I was slamming McDonalds because they were a multinational corporation and used beef, but these burgers are half soy and the beef is filling. Beef isn't a good thing to eat too much of because cows use up so much land that can be used more efficiently growing other things. My bike computer didn't work today but I rode well over a hundred miles. I didn't get the earliest start and lost my way a little, but I rode flat terrain on smooth roads and a highway. The highways really help you cover serious miles, so overall they are as good as the back roads that go the same way as far as I am concerned. I will try to set a balance between the two, maybe half and half. I got another flat today; from glass this time instead of a thorn. It also ripped a big tear in my tire, but not so much as to risk the tube coming out. I feel kind of beat today. I rode very fast, usually averaging 22-25 mph . I wonder if I will be tired tomorrow. My days of exhaustion seem to be behind me. I tried to take a picture of the road signs in Bordeaux that say where stuff is, but the battery was dead. I should have bought another one yesterday. This battery only lasted two roles. I haven't kept track but I think I have had about a half dozen flats so far this trip. This culture of paying for something before hanging out there does annoy me, and is overall bad because it instills paranoia and a selfish attitude. Maybe their just treating me like this because I'm American though. I am getting good at writing fast, it is great. I can write faster than I can think right now. Maybe that's not quite such a good sign. I sat at a place today that served coffee and such near the supermarket in an indoor shopping mall and the woman asked me what I wanted so I had to go. Maybe I should just tell them I'm American and in America people can sit down at places without buying anything. That's not true though; I'm just being overly frugal. I could at least get a coffee but they are so expensive and all I want to do is sit down. I did 40 pushups in a row this morning and stretched. I want to do 200 a day, but I am too rushed. Maybe I will remember to do more tonight. I want to be able to do a hundred in a row. I was thinking how auspicious my fathers death was today. He died at 4:20 in the morning two days before Wyndham was set to leave, less than a week after my birthday which he was conscious for. It was neatso how my mom knew exactly when he was about to go and got us. But I couldn't stand to stay and he was very warm, so I left and he died. I wish I stayed. It makes me feel sick I couldn't be there but my mom was. While I was thinking this I thought about how very much he loved me, and would do anything for me. He gave me most of his money and was more happy and distressed than me when good and bad things happened to me. Food is very expensive at stands and gas stations. I paid 80 cents for an apple at a total gas station today which is an American chain I think. The only fast food chain I can detect here is Q-quick which I went to in Belgium. In England the only one is the little chef, which has a big breakfast of cereal, two slices of toast, bacon, egg, tomato and E.G. for 5 pounds which is like 8 bucks. The bacon in England isn't as fried, small and hard as it is in America. I like it more in England, even though it is pure blubber. Speaking of blubber, on me, I think this will be my last segment of life where I won’t have to watch the fat in order to not get a spare tire. I did another 50 curls with my handle bar bag today. I want to be able to do a hundred at one time. I am not craving things as much now which is good. I don’t crave to be stoned and eat ice cream and drink alcohol, which is great. I am not being distracted much at all. What looked like wilderness on the map turns out to be a big tree farm; fields of full grown trees as far as the eye can see and patches of clear cut. The trees look healthy. I have a feeling of trust for the forest service now. I feel like I have turned 180 degrees since my dready days of environmentalism. I would probably be going like 1, 2 or 3 miles per hour faster if I had my road bike, but flats would be more of a problem, especially in third world countries. I think I will be glad I took the mountain bike. I heard "many rivers to cross" twice so far in Europe. They also like that song "I'm a bitch I'm a mother, you don't wan't it any other way" by Natalie Imbruglia or somebody.	26	27 Yesterday I entered Spain. The first thing I did when I entered the first town just south of the boarder was buy a Spanish English dictionary. It took me like an hour and a half to find a store because although people knew what I wanted, they gave directions in Spanish; so I only knew the direction and basic distance. I probably would have done better just looking for a bookstore myself. I wish I had gone through Andorra, oh well. Right after I left the town I saw three British boys who are also 23 years old. I knew they were British because they had Great Britain stickers on their helmets. I was excited to see other English speaking bike tourists and talked to them about their trip. Right after I met them we started climbing, and in about 10 minutes we came upon a car wreck. Two cars had a head on collision. No one was seriously hurt but the front of the cars looked totaled. I thought, wow maybe if I hadn’t seen these guys I would have been in the middle of this wreck. But they said I probably would have been ahead of it. About ten minutes later was where they planned to camp out near a cemetery. They made a habit of camping near cemetaries because you can get water there. They were touring heavy. The way I went the first time I toured. They each had their own stoves and cooked their food which is definitely cheaper. They said they spent 30 quid each which is about 50 bucks for the last two weeks, which is impressive. But they stayed at relatives for a while in France. I asked to camp with them for the night and they kindly accepted. Their plans where to ride down Morocco and back up. Dave, Paul, and Mike were their names. Dave gave me his address. None of them had really ridden before and bought their bikes just for the trip. The campsite was picture perfect. I didn’t take a photo though because I thought my battery was dead, but the film was out. We camped just across the road from the cemetery in a smooth grassy area inside a wall and a small grove of trees. At the next town over I bought a bottle of Martini and shared it with them but they had almost nothing. For now on the only alcohol I want to buy is beer. All other kinds of alcohol make me feel hot an give me the sweats and no good buzz like with beer. I don't know why; maybe beer is better for an athelete because the body can get more use out of the Carbos in the beer. They got up this morning while it was still dark out, which caused me to get up a half hour later at about 7:30. There were giant slugs on my stuff this morning. Those guys started about a half hour before me but I caught up to them quickly and we wished each other well. One of them said we might see each other in Morocco, seeing how they only go 90 km a day and I am going to Portugal first. The Pyrenees were steep but not hard because the altitude is so low here. I think I rode about 110 miles today. Cars are nice here; they give me a lot of room. I have seen more cyclists today than I have the whole time I have been in Europe, and like a dozen team bike cars have passed me. The tour of Spain is happening now, that would be neat if I happenstance on it. The roads here have been nice and smooth, except parts in the Pyrenees where it got quite rough. Spain does't look like a first world country to me. The towns here, like Pamplona, are very "blah". The paint is chipped on the buildings which are all brown. There is no vegetation like grass and flowers in the cities, and all the buildings look the same. It makes for good bike touring though because much of the countryside is smooth and soft and the red color everywhere is pleasant. The most striking feature I have noticed about Spain is how the towns all took like fortified white castles from afar. There is no gradual entrance into a town in Spain like in America. Here in Spain you are either in the city or not. As soon as you leave a town you are in camping territory, which makes it easy for me. It was bizarre when I rode through these places in the middle of the day and saw no one on the streets. As soon as the sun goes down thousands of people come out as if out of nowhere. Dave is reading the book about the guy who rode his bike from England to cape town in 1879. I read some of it last night. It got me thinking maybe I want to do it. These Brit's say it is ridiculously cheap in Morocco. Maybe I should at least go there. Stuff is cheaper here than America which is great. People seem nicer here than France, so far. People have the worst teeth in France. Judging from this meal I have, stuff is half the price than in England. The Cathedrals here are more elaborate than France.
28I camped in a field next to the highway but was shielded from it by a wall of trees. It was a quarter mile from apartment buildings in three feet of grass. A good camp site. As I left the joint I was in last night, the owner stopped me and wanted me to take one of his large water bottles with me, but I said I couldn't take it because didn’t have the room and he seemed disappointed. I should have taken the bottle and left him my golden one which leaks sometimes. After stretching my very tight hamstrings and eating breakfast, I left at 12:00. I climbed all day to timberline, and after the descent from the pass I caught a headwind. I noticed while climbing that I was on the verge of sickness, and my ass was very sore in an overworked way; so I stopped at five. I got up at like 8:30 this morning after nice dreams which I can't remember and sowed up my bike shorts and one piece suite; the super suite. I went to the center of the city to a place that says bar-restaurant. But all they had for food is potato pie, probably because it is Sunday. Concerning the cars here, there are a lot of Citrons, which I have never heard of before, and Renaults, which I have only seen one brand of in the 80's; the Le car, or Lee Car as I called it them. There are a lot of Ford vans and quite a few Ford cars. Mercedes, Audis, and BMWs are plentiful, and the majority in this city Soria that I am now in. Right now, I am feeling my routine getting a little old, but I can't foresee anything changing it, neither do I want to change it. I was thinking about eventually writing about some things, like what the outline of education should be, and my philosophy about religion and philosophy. I will have plenty of time to write about that when I run out of stuff to read. I was thinking about how I would like to do Africa. I have a firm belief that it isn’t in my Karma to have anything seriously bad happen to me, and other people have done it and I am good at playing things safe; so I am heading that way as of now. I saw another 50 or so bikers as I left Logrono Today, but none since then. The pass I did today was way bigger than the one I did yesterday. I bet it is one of the 5 biggest in Spain. I like Spain more than France. The part of France that I saw is like Kansas, and all of Spain is like it was today; like Colorado with less trees. The people seem mellower here than in France, but more run down or beat in or something. They are definitely not as lively as in America, or Colorado anyway. The roads are very wide and smooth here, and quite empty. The roads are less populated than Colorado, which gives me the impression as I ride that I'm in an abandoned country. It feels like there are less people here than there should be. The towns here are much different than America. There are almost no houses, only brown condominiums. Because of the lack of houses and the very narrow streets, the towns are much smaller. The oldness of this country is definitely definite if you know what I mean. People on bikes smile, but normal people on the streets don’t, not even with their eyes, and the waiters and waitresses aren’t polite like they are in America. I remember cousin Karen talking about how they don’t have tipping in Europe so the waiters aren’t as polite. I definitely notice the lack of politeness in the waiters. When it gets dark I will roam around a little and then go inside somewhere. I will read the bible now. One abstract thought I had was in Europe people of same the age don’t identify with each other as much as America.	29 I had a good day today because not much went through by mind, the day went by fast because I didn't think a lot, which is just the way I like it. I had an interesting dream about three nights ago: I was on a plane ride with my mom to somewhere relatively far off, and we landed and took off like ten times or something, and every time we took off, the plane was shot at a 45 degree angle out of a sling shot and there were like three goes and it was very exciting. There were two guys behind me who would yell and scream in excitement every time we took off, and right when we took off, I wanted to be safe and thought that my seat belt wasn’t tight enough, so I would try to tighten it but I would just release it and it happened every time. I can’t remember the part of the dream before that but I was hanging with good friends and the whole dream had very good energy. The dream I had last night was about the first street house, except it was another house in another town. I lived with some friends in a house a few blocks from a house we called the first street house, which was a one story house that was about 50 by 50 feet, and we hadn’t seen it for a few years because I guess we just moved into town and one of my friends said, "Wow, I don’t remember it being so big" It was in a boring neighborhood, right next to a big road leading out of some flat, dull town. But the energy of the people in the dream was happy.	30Yesterday I rode 140 some odd miles and felt great. I road a lot of the way on smaller roads. It was a hilly day, but the roads were very smooth. It also seems as though the wind goes from east to west, so I cruised, especially on the highways. I like riding the highways; sure there is a lot of noise from traffic but the road is smooth and there is a big shoulder and no lights to ever stop at, and they go through rather than over the hills. Last night I stayed at a youth Hostel in Madrid. I called the number for the youth hostel mom gave me, which I guess is the national number, and he gave me two numbers for Madrid. The person at the first place I called didn’t speak English, and the second place I called spoke minimal, but there was a Canadian boy at the place I was making the call who gave me directions. It took me a little while to find it, and while I was riding through the park I saw what looked like a silhouette of a woman dressed in underwear. I turned around to see she was a prostitute just standing there. Then I saw two more fat prostitutes. The next morning I saw another fat one. These women were so dark and dull looking I wouldn’t fuck them if you paid me a hundred bucks. After riding past the eerie prostitute sector I went by the zoo, but didn’t go in because it was 12 bucks. This was the first youth hostel I have ever been to; it was neat. For seven bucks I got a shower, bed and breakfast consisting of a ham sandwich, pastry, and a hot coco latte. But it is kind of hard to sleep because it is like a freshman dorm room with all the kids staying up late. when I shacked there was a group of about 15 Spaniards yelling songs with one playing a guitar. I assumed the songs were made up because they were laughing. I thought to myself, "Now you would never see this in America". Is it we are too cool and smart to concern ourselves with such measly things as singing together? Or too stuck up, lazy and paranoid to express ourselves in such an archaic and simple way? Whichever way you cut it, I wish I knew some songs to sing with a bunch of buddies and a guitar. I feel like I have entered the good form zone where I can ride everyday without burning out and having to eat too much. It is 7:00 now and I have only spent about 5 bucks today. I sure hope I remember to work out tonight at bed time. My sleeping bag sure needed airing out last night and it is still wet. I am covering good miles, and it looks like Morocco’s coming up pretty soon, how exciting. Africa, where the cheap living, poisonous snakes, wild dogs, lions, monkeys, and primitive people dwell; that is were the adventure starts. I will probably hang out in Gibraltar for a week to wait for mom to mail me my stuff. I'll call her tonight. I sure hope I remember to ask for a compass, for that is what I need most. When I breezed into this town Navalmoral at 4:45 after 118 miles, the first thing I did was stretch for about a half hour. Then I changed and looked for a restaurant, but all the places here are bars and the only food they have are measly portions of what not. I finally found a place to eat but they didn’t open until 7:00, but here I am now eating my yummy meal. There aren’t many radio stations here, and most of them are talk stations. They listen to a lot of American music here also just like in all the other countries I've been to.