What do I miss?

Rest day 3. Sioux Falls South Dakota.

Before I get to today's post, I have to let all my loyal readers in on a trick I played. The other day I posted mail from my mother-in-law wherein she suggested that I shouldn't have left the Duchess for this long and that I should stay away for another 6-8 months. I was just joking. Nobody had written anything to me that day and I got a little bored, so I just made that up.

Eleanor would never suggest that I go away for 6-8 months. 6-8 years, maybe, but never 6-8 months.

Anyway, I'm here in the absolute middle of the United States, just over halfway to our destination and this is our third rest day. It's a much needed rest day for me. After taking Wonderboy to the bike Doctor yesterday, I did a couple of loads of laundry. Now all my clothes are clean for the next leg of the trip. Laundry is a major concern on the road like this. I wash my cycling stuff in the sink each day and rotate what I'm wearing, but all my clothes need a wash at least once a week and finding laundry facilities near these motels is a pain. You don't realize how limited your range is when you don't have a car to do simple things like go 2-3 miles from the motel. This morning I gave Wonderboy a bath and he is rarin' to go tomorrow. Rest Wonderboy, rest. You need to be strong for me for the next 3 weeks.

I'm just sitting here watching the British Open, wondering how I'm doing in the neighborhood Majors Golf Pool. I don't think this was my year. Oh, lo the humiliation if I finish behind the Duchess. I'll never live it down, and I'll never hear the end of it. So far through a few holes, anyway, nobody at this Open seems to be making a charge. It's actually pretty boring to this point.

Today after I gave Wonderboy a bath, I went for a walk with Jeff to Scheels so Jeff could get some new cycling jerseys. When we got back, we went to see the movie Inception, which was the most confusing movie I've seen since 2001 A Space Odyssey. I mean I totally didn't understand it. It was about a dream, right? It didn't help that I slept through the first 15 minutes of the movie, but it was confusing nonetheless.

Then Jeff, Joe, and I went to see a semi-pro baseball game. It was the Sioux Falls Pheasants versus the Wichita Wingnuts. Real minor league ball. It was a great stadium (see picture above). There were lots of errors and goofy giveaways like the Beer Batter. A Wichita player was nominated as the Beer Batter and if the home pitcher struck him out, everybody in the stadium could buy $1 domestic beer for the remainder of the half of the inning. Anyway, he struck out twice, so twice tonight there was a mad rush for $1 beer from everyone in the stands. The Pheasants lost 9-2 but it was fun to see another slice of middle America. When the in-stadium announcer heard that there were some people in the stands riding their bikes across America, they interviewed us on the big scoreboard. Here's the video of the interview of Jeff and Joe (I recorded this on my phone):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCaH9IHjZEU

So, you see the title of my blog today. What do I miss on the road? I miss having a car at my disposal. I miss watching sports in HD TV on our amazing plasma TV! I miss cold fresh fruit. I miss Chinese food (good Chinese food). I miss dim sum. I miss Chinese food (did I say that already?). I miss not worrying about the wind and the weather everyday. I miss playing squash and going to the gym. I miss the fine folks at Due North (except for Pat – the lady who runs the logistics on this tour is very Pat-like). I don't miss working though. I have to admit, this is really nice. I've been working non-stop since 1982 and this is the first time I've been away from work for more than 2 weeks. Before I went on this trip, I don't think I went more than 2 waking hours without checking my e-mail. Now, I can go a whole day. That is progress for me. As a so-called business owner, detaching yourself for any period of time is tough. So far though, so good.

I miss the old folks (my parents) and my extended family of my sister, in-laws, nieces, cousins, and neighborhood friends. This is a long time to be away and you just don't realize how family grounds you. Mostly though I miss The Duchess (aka "Beer Pong Duchess" above), Samantha, Lauren, and Adam. As the kids get older, you begin to treasure time with them and the one thing I hate about this trip is that I'm not home to hang out with my daughters who are in Toronto this summer for the first time in over 10 years. I'll have 2 weeks with them before they go back to school at the end of August. I'm growing more accustomed to being away from Adam, and now that he's set up in his closet, errr, apartment in NY, it's easier to picture him being settled. I think The Duchess and I are going to try to visit him Labor Day weekend.

I miss the TV options we have in Toronto. It's hard to believe, but America is the TV center of the universe yet American hotel TV sucks. Infomercial, informercial, infomercial, religious blather, conservative talk show, infomercial, religious blather, sports. Every infomercial is about weight loss or making money/getting out of debt. It doesn't help that we are in a very conservative part of the US. Oh yeah, we're also in a fairly obese part of America (ABB riders obviously excluded). This country has got some problems with obesity. It's scary. Everywhere you look there are crazy numbers of seriously obese people. Wow. It's sad.

I don't miss Toronto traffic, humidity, lousy weather, or golf. I made a vow to my Duchess to pursue golf more diligently starting next year, and I will. This summer is for me. It's the most selfish thing I've done in my life. But I'm glad I'm doing it.

I'll be less selfish starting in 3 weeks.

FYI – the DQ Blizzard and Snickers count is static so far today, but the milk shake count went up by 1

:

6 Snickers

11 Blizzards

5 milk shakes

Now, on to today's mail:

Irwin from Toronto writes (in response to me wondering if I'll ever know why I wanted to do this ride and what I'll remember from this ride 30 years form now): "I think 2 songs sum up what you are experiencing or may think about in the future. One is The Impossible Dream from Man of LaMancha and the other is Climb Every Mountain from The Sound of Music". Those 2 are bang-on Dad. Those are great musical references for the kinds of things we are going through out here. See you in less than 2 weeks.

Esther form Toronto writes: "

l'll tell you what we miss Mark, you. I especially miss hearing you complain about golf at this time of the year (and of course - who you're forced to golf with!). I look forward to the next golf season. By the way, I'm sure Susan is thrilled you posted her Pius picture!

I should explain that when I say "who you're forced to golf with", so as not to insult anyone else, I was of course referring to those 2 great duffers, Allan and Esther." You need to include me in the Duffer count Esther. That's 3 Duffers, not 2!

This is Joe's blog:

http://jpschroeder.blogspot.com/

Trip journal and photos by our tour leader Mike Munk:

http://www.americabybicycle.com/BAMA/BAMA/North/North.html

This link is Jeff's blog:

http://sites.google.com/site/jeffsrideacrossamerica/

This link is Baltimore Mark's blog:

http://marksrideacrossamerica.blogspot.com/

And this is Katie's blog:

http://blog-by-bike.blogspot.com/