Bozeman, Montana

"I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love. I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet life." -Leo Tolstoy

It's Halloween night and I'm in a Days Inn doing laundry. I have been traveling through the top of Idaho and central Montana the last couple of days. I've seen beautiful golden hills with patches of deep-red, yellow and green trees, and have ridden through mountain passes on snow-plowed and rain-soaked roads. This is my second night in Bozeman, and I've been dreading Montana's freezing rain and snowfall.

I can feel it taking a toll on my body and there have been times when I've felt like I'm close to getting sick, and if I lie down and allow myself to think about it enough I begin to feel like I'm on the verge of becoming debilitatingly ill. I know it's because I'm mentally and physically exhausted, and my body hasn't had enough time to acclimate to the changes in environment that I've put it through since I arrived in the Northwest. This is clearly the point where it becomes predominantly a mental effort, and I need to ignore my body's natural response to mental and physical stress. It's a simple equation and I don't need to complicate it by allowing anxiety to surface; I either listen to my body and head home, or I fixate on NYC and move on.

I have to bring up the Bozeman Co-op, because this place has been an oasis in the middle of nowhere. Originally, I thought I'd be eating fast food while passing through Montana, but I stumbled upon this gem near downtown Bozeman where I've been able to load up on healthy calories, which should help me persevere through this weather. Tonight, I had red pepper and coconut milk soup, grilled eggplant and red peppers, red lentil hummus and grilled mushroom flat bread from the deli. For dessert I had a smoothie with mango, banana, papaya, coconut milk, ginger, hemp protein and flax oil from the cafe. This meal was more than an adequate serving of protein and healthy fats that will help my body recover.

In addition to high-protein, calorie-dense foods, I've been taking hot baths with magnesium oil, which I highly recommend and you can read more on here.

The Beginning

In the middle of moving everything from the apartment into storage to prepare for this trip, I came across this picture of me on my first motorcycle. The motorcycle was built by my father, and the picture was taken in front of our house in West Phoenix, in the neighborhood where most of my early childhood memories took place. One of my favorite experiences that occurred here, a few years before this picture was taken, was the time my dad lifted me into our wheelbarrow and ran me from our drive way across the street. I remember laughing uncontrollably, to the point of drooling on myself.

It is in this neighborhood where I first learned how to control and balance my bike, and where I often would have the bike pinned at full speed on the sidewalk and the throttle would stick, leaving me to delegate my next series of movements until I quickly learned the practical thing to do was not to panic, but instead to put all of my weight on the rear brake to slow it down and then shut off the engine. It's been around 14 years since I last had a motorcycle, and I understand that I will face foreign situations while on the road over the next couple of months. I just hope to face them with the same resolve I had while becoming familiar with the mini bike as a kid.

I have to pack to get ready for San Francisco, but as soon as I find the time and place where I don't have to worry about my bike or bags, I will write about my adventures on and off my bike over the last week and a half. Thanks for listening.