We all have experiences all day long, and as we do we “see them” differently. To “see” something is to “see” it as really, really good or really, really bad or at any place in between those two extremes. It is amazing how two people can have the same exact experience but “see” it totally different, in fact one person will see it as really, really bad and another will see it as really, really good. It is important to realize that how we “see” things affects how we feel and act, the way each one of us looks at events basically determines who we are as a person in the sense of our behavior most of the day. This attitude is amazingly powerful in our life determining to a huge extent how successful we will be in every area of life. How we “see” is a learned “attitude”. We have learned it from those around us who have influenced us over the years, and by various life shaping experiences, but a key truth is that we can change how we “see” things if we want to, and are willing to work at it diligently. The older we are the stronger this “attitude” will be in us, and the more work it will take to change it.

The simple way to say this is to say some people have a “positive attitude”, and others have a “negative attitude”. No one is just one or the other, we all are someplace in between the two extremes, but most understand the terms. The beginning place for change to happen is we must fairly accurately rate ourselves as mostly “positive” or “negative”. This is a huge blind spot in most people’s lives, so it will take some serious self-examination and reflection.

Start with these three simple questions, (1) how much do I grumble about things I don’t like? (2) How often do I get angry or irritated at people who do stupid things? and (3) how regular am I in a grouchy or foul mood?

Most people have long ago accepted themselves as who they are, meaning they don’t think they can change, so their expectation is that everyone around them will accept them the way they are as well, so conflict or failure as a result of their negative attitude is everyone else’s fault.

For those seriously wanting to move the dial in their life toward the “positive” direction the place to start is to memorize Philippians 4:4. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” also 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus,” and Philippians 2:14-15, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world”. Memorize them well and meditate on them over and over again everyday. There is more but this is a great place to start.

I found my handy Dandy doo dad that I can put my SD card from my camera in and download the pictures into my iPad. I looked in every bag, pocket, box, and pack I had so last night laying in bed as I was reviewing the day it popped into my mind that I left it laying on the table in Tom’s RV, I had looked there but I was guessing that it fell off as he drove on some bumpy roads. Sure enough, I looked under the table this morning and there it was, I am so happy now, what a great way to start a day😀!

The first picture shows the road that I peddled up, the second picture shows the view of where I had come from, the third is the summit, and the fourth is a modern day round up, complete with horses and quads. All the land around the area that I was biking in was BLM land, and June 1st is when the ranchers can turn their beef loose in it. Some truck the animals and others who live close enough like this rancher drive them up the road. I chatted with the owner a bit and he said it was a 10 mile walk up the road, so June 1st each year they have a family day of driving cows to to the “high ground” as he called it. As I bicycled up the hill I noticed that there was lots of green grass growing amidst the sage brush so I expected that the cows would have a good day tomorrow.

We have a short ride today, only 28 miles, and mostly a gradual downhill so it feels like a rest day. I don’t normally schedule days that short but sometimes the location of the campgrounds makes it hard to do otherwise. My only other option was to make one day out of yesterday’s 80 miles and today’s 28, and with the amount of climbing in yesterday’s ride I really didn’t want to do that!!

I am going to get confused now because I used the day of the month in May to tell me what day of the trip we were on because we started May 1st, now I will have to do a little math and add the day it is in June to 31 to get the number of days biking – I think!

Well today we biked 80 miles and it was another 9,000 foot summit as part of the day so it was a challenging day. I left at 6:30 am and pulled into camp at 5:30 pm so it was a long day as well, but that is what this trip is all about so I better quit fussing.

One of the results of having Parkinson’s is my sense of balance is very bad so getting started on my bicycle is a major challenge. If I don’t get some speed up quickly I wobble all over and regularly fall. I bought an electric motor that is the hub of my front tire, and it works very well getting me started. It is a small motor so it isn’t much good helping me up steep hills, but I tried to use it for that purpose a couple days ago and burned it up, so now I don’t have my start up help. I can’t start on a hill at all so what I do is head the bike across the road at a downward angle to help get my speed up quickly, and then just before I get to the other side of the road I turn up and then I pedal back across to the right side of the road. Obviously that won’t work if there are cars coming so I watch and when there is a break in traffic I do my start up routine. I called the company I bought the motor from and they are going to mail the burned up part to a campground we will be at in 5 days so hopefully I will get it running in a week.

One of the characteristics of Utah so far is very strong winds. We are sitting in Tom’s motorhome and it is rocking back and forth like we were in a boat in a rough sea. Several times I have had my tent blow away and I have had to go chasing after it. I hope the stakes that I put in it tonight don’t pull out. Once I get in it, it is pretty secure, I have lost a lot of weight but not so much that my tent would blow away with me in it.

I took some great pictures today, but I can’t find my handy dandy little device that allows me to load pictures from the SD card in my camera into my iPad. I put it someplace where I wouldn’t lose it, but I can’t remember where that is, hopefully by tomorrow it will come to me.

We are camped at Millsap Lake Campground just outside of Ferron, Utah.

I have an app on my IPad that I use to plot and plan each days ride. Once it is all done and downloaded it produces an “Elevation Profile” that gives you a picture of the day in terms of elevation. The elevation heights are labeled on the side, though you probably can’t see those, but from that you can figure the climbing you will be doing the next day. It also has color coding on it that you can’t see either, which indicates the percent of grade. Anything marked “red” means bad news, 10 % or more, anything marked blue is 8% to 10% grade, and anything marked in green means 2% to 6% grade, and tan is under 2%. I down load it on my phone as well, and all during the day there is a blue dot on the profile and the route that tells me where I am so I can breath easy or start to sweat based on what is ahead. I have often thought about “chucking” the app and just being surprised by what the next day brings in way of challenges. The problem with knowing what is coming the next day is that it produces an anxiety about how hard it will be, and if I can do it.

I have often wondered what it would be like to get a personal prophecy from God on what’s coming tomorrow, next week, next month, and maybe even a year. I could get a lot of premeditated planning in, and it seems like that would improve my performance in every area of life tremendously. But I suspect my real motive is just a heightened sense of being in control of my own life. My favorite part of these bicycle trips is planning out every detail of the trip, but once we get started most of it changes anyway, as new information and events unfold, but I keep planning anyway.

In the midst of the planning, setting goals, and dreaming that I do a high percentage of my time I often let out a big sigh, and think or even audibly say, “Thank You Lord, for being the one who really plans my life and directs my steps!” “I can’t wait for the adventures to come!” Proverbs 16:9. The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.

one of the enjoyable things about a trip like this are the other bicyclers we meet and hearing their stories. This fellow’s name is Tony Bruno and he can’t hear or speak. We have met up with him several times on the trip, and I think I mentioned that I wished I had thought of getting his email, well the next time we saw him I did, so now I can stay connected. He has been riding his bicycle none stop for the last 4 plus years going all over the country, location mostly dictated by the weather. He has 4 panniers on his bike and is pulling a trailer loaded down with stuff as well. He doesn’t stay in campgrounds that cost money, he just usually just pulls off the road at a secluded place to camp. We see his bike in front of various restaurants along the way where he sits in the foyer or outside using their internet service.

We met another guy yesterday with a similar story, this guy could hear and talk fine so I heard much of his story. He has been on the road living on his bicycle for 7 years. He was riding a recumbent Trike pulling a cart that was his bed with panniers all over his bike. He had a dog in his cart so he had some company.

We also met two guys who are bicycling to the East coast and camped in the same campground two nights in a row. Tom offered to take their panniers and gear in the motorhome so that going up to that 9600 foot summit would be easier and they gladly took him up on that.

In a couple of days we will connect with the “TransAmerica” route that thousands of bicyclists follow each year so we should see a bunch more riders after that.

Going down some very steep hills today I couldn’t help but notice this sign as we were going down one of the steep hills. As we passed the sign I looked down and saw that I was going 30 mph.

As you can see from the pictures, today was a very beautiful ride. At times we were riding in what was almost a tunnel because the rock walls went up so straight and high. I stopped about every 100 feet or so for a picture or two or three. This whole area is the “creators” masterpiece as an artist. It is like walking into an art gallery that is owned and run by the one who is the artist.

I can pedal up a 6% grade all day, but I can only last about 10minutes on a 8% grade, and about 10 seconds on a 10% grade, and most of the Climb today was 8, 10, and even some 14% grade so of the 20 miles of climbing I walked 8 miles of it. I walk pushing my bike up these steep grades at a speed of 2.5 mph so the 8 miles that I walked took a little over 3 hours, which is why it took 11 hours to complete the 66 miles

Today we rode 66 miles and we climbed about 5,000 feet up to this pass in the picture at 9,600 feet. This is the new “hardest day” for this trip for me, and also it is the highest pass I have gone over on my Bicycle. When I finally made it to camp after riding for 11 hours I was “toast”. In fact I was pretty sure I was going to fall over dead right after this picture was taken. But instead I rode 26 more miles, mostly down hill,to camp. We are in the town of Torrey, Utah, staying at 1000 Lakes Campground. I am not sure why they call it that because I haven’t seen any lakes.

InhaveA few pictures from our ride today which was very beautiful. We rode 48 miles that was about half and half up and down. It is a lot work climbing those hills but a great rush going down. Our last down hill lasted for over an hour. It wasn’t super steep, but steep enough so we could cruise along at 15 to 20 mph without pedaling at all. We came from 7,600 feet to 5,600 feet right into camp. One of the uphills was so steep I had to get off and walk, pushing my bike. That is the first time I have had to do that. I walked for over a mile trying to keep from bashing my shin into the pedal that is on the left side of the bike. Tomorrow is going to be a doozy. We are going 67 miles to Torrey and in between is a summit that is 9,500 feet high, that is just under what those who climb Mt Hood do. I hope it isn’t to hot. So far, no flat tires or any kind of bike problems which seems like a miracle considering all that we have had happen in past rides. I am so tired I keep falling asleep while I am writing this. Then I wake up and see that I have 5 lines of jjjjjjjjj’s on my blog where my hand rested on the keyboard.