As you can guess from the title for this newsletter these
past two months have been frustrating. I do not like to complain but not
mentioning the bad times, when they occur, would be along the lines of
lying. Admittedly, the vast majority of our travels are wonderful but we
have hard times like everyone else. So, here is what I call “singing the
drifter blues.”
First, except for a handful of sunny days, we have dealt
with unseasonably cold temperatures (40 F -50 F) and 80% rainy wet riding.
Once we crossed the border from Alaska into the Yukon, Canada the cold head
wind picked up force in our faces and has lasted about eight weeks to date.
We are now riding the ferry from Vancouver Island, BC, Canada to Washington
State, USA. We are optimistic that our weather luck will change in this new
region.
Second, and by far the biggest problem we have faced since
we were arrested in China a few years ago(see
http://www.downtheroad.org/Asia/Letters/9China_censorship.htm) is when
Cindie came down with a painful case of the Shingles in the middle of the
Yukon Territory, Canada. I have never seen her suffer in so much pain
before. Because we were in a remote area, she had to ride through weeks of
her agonizing experience. I have seen her rise to the occasion to overcome
obstacles in her way before but this was almost her undoing. We could of
flagged down a truck and got a ride but she said that the pain was there
whether she rode or not and the traveling took her mind off it. I do not
know how she did it but she drug herself through about six weeks of hard
riding in bad weather while the illness ran its course.
Third, and another big blow to our moral was a thread we
started on an online bicycle touring forum. (see link below) When we
finished our second book we posted a message letting interested people know
that after several delays our second book was finally published. I thought
we would reconnect with a few old friends who were waiting for news of the
books progress; possibly sell two or three, but not much more. At first, the
reaction was pretty much as expected but then along came a couple nasty
attacks. We know we are suppose to ignore such things but that seems harder
for us than most people. We do not live anywhere and have a group of friends
we hang out with. We do not socialize with coworkers or meet the local bike
club for rides. Our only home these days is on the internet and this, for
the most part, is our only socializing opportunities. When things went
negative, we felt like we were “voted off the island” even though there were
more pro than con comments. I can accept that some will not like the way our
web site looks or other constructive criticisms but I have no respect for
people who hide behind an alias and say things online that they would not
dare say to my face.
If you read through all five pages of the thread below you
can see that the discussion went on for some time even while we were
traveling and offline
Therefore, we have no plans of returning to public bicycle
touring forums. It is sad that a few bad apples ran us off but the drama is
not our cup of tea. Leaving this kind of drama and bullies behind was one of
the advantages of graduating from high school. We hope that the positive
people in these circles come over and join us on our web site and interact
with us through the comment section of our blog.
I am sure the next RoadNews Newsletter will be much more
upbeat and interesting as we reintegrate ourselves to the USA and see our
own country through the perspective of being abroad all these years. We will
need some tailwinds as we ride south trying to reach the desert southwest
before winter catches us but as always, everything has a way of working out.
Tim Travis
Victoria, British Colombia, Canada
YOU SHOULD COMMENT - If you have something to say to us or the
other readers of our web site you can now post your comments on our new blog.
This is by far a better way to reach us than email because it ensures we will
see it and not be blocked by our spam filter. We also prefer answering
questions in a public place so others can read our answers too
