Sitting in my big chair...

The first day back home, it's relaxing and comfortable.

The past 6 days included almost 4 full days of driving, over 3,000 miles on the road (both in the truck and on the bike), way too much fast food, a lot of good conversations, fun, and more than a couple hard moments in processing being away from home, the things that were going on back here, and coming back home.

It also gives me a little perspective on what I'm setting myself up for, if I really intend on spending 6 weeks traveling starting 15 days from now.

Things I have to consider:

• Staying in cheap hotels usually means bad beds. Staying in hotels with nice beds will cost more, which I OK, just need to be aware about it upfront.
• I need a better food plan, which might be easier traveling by myself on the bike. Mobility with a truck and trailer really makes finding places to eat that aren't right along the highway less appealing. Riding is more physically exerting than driving, so I'm not as worried about the days I won't be at the Y walking my 3 miles per day.
• I need to find at least one "touristy" thing to do each day. Just riding, sleeping, and eating will end up not being very fun.
• I may not be able to ride as far or as much as I thought I was going to be able to. I think I need to cut my target down from 500 miles per day to about 300. This would allow me to travel at a slower pace and stop to enjoy where I am more often. Trying to make 500 miles per day just means I'm trying to get someplace different than the place I was.
• I probably need to take a couple of long day trips over the next 2 weeks to get ready.

I'm still looking forward to traveling, but the excitement has been tempered a bit by the expereiences of the past week. Fortunately I'm not really on many hard deadlines in terms of travel. At any point I can change my mind, change me path, and change my destination.

Tomorrow is another day, and another road.