Again, today I rode further than I’ve ever rode on a bike before: thirty-seven miles. One biiiiiig caveat here: it was on an e-Bike. Lol. Man. That shit is SO MUCH EASIER than a normal bike, omg.
I was dyyyinnggg yesterday from the 26 mile ride on a normal bike. Dying. I was legitimately afraid that I’d completely worn out my legs and I was going to be hobbling for the rest of the trip, but one: no, the legs were totally fine, no hobbling—just some stretching, some cold water on them, and a good long sleep—and two: my e-bike showed up this morning and I have it for the rest of the trip.
Flying.
Absolutely flying today. And it was insaaaaaanneeelly gorgeous. Insanely. Good lord. The first two thirds or so were through a national forest, a lot of it along the cousin river (same meaning in French as in English) and, for real, the sound of that babbling water almost *almost* brought tears to my eyes. I grew up with running water as a kid—we had a little creek, no more than a drainage ditch, really, that ran through our property in several spots, and all those spots were my favorite places to play. Dappled sunlight. Ferns. Little wild flowers. And the creek. It really hit me today how much I loved those places, and how much I miss living in the forest. How much I miss those times. It all feels very far away down in LA. It’s felt far away, to be honest, ever since we moved away from that property when I was twelve, twenty-eight years ago. I didn’t want to move. I understood why we did, even back then, but man…those woods were my special place. Forever and ever. My most special place. I can see why families hold onto land for generations, something one is acutely aware of while traveling through France.
Night night.