Chilly Day with Snow and Sleet in the Forecast - Reserve, New Mexico Take a look at the morning sky as I walked outside of the motel in Reserve. It had not snowed yet, but that sky looked really dark. Considering my route would take me uphill to the Continental Divide, where the weather would likely be worse, I decided to stay put. I would spend this entire day in Reserve, New Mexico. The Triumph Of Doing It Instead Of Just Talking About It I definitely went a little crazy in this small town with not much to do besides eat, sit in my motel room and surf the Internet at the town library. I visited the nearly empty Reserve Library three times over the two-day period and after the second visit, I introduced myself out of self-consciousness. "Just to let you know, I'm a visitor here. I'm one of those people riding my bike across America and I'm stuck here today because of the bad weather. I just wanted you to know this so you don't think I'm a vagrant or anything." I explained to the woman at the front desk. One e-mail at the library summed up some of my recent reflections: Friend: "How have you been? Is this trip turning out to be what you expected?" Me: "I can't possibly answer those questions in any kind of short way without sounding trite of superficial. The trip has been exhilirating, difficult, inspiring, physically exhausting, intensely lonely and magnificient all together. "My only other comment is it feels SO GOOD to actually *do* one of my life dreams. Most people just run their mouth and never actually *do* what they say they want to accomplish. In that light, I am so fortunate and blessed. I feel fully alive." I never expected this journey to be some sort of rosey fairy tale with me cheerfully riding day after day from town to town. My many trials and struggles from the start obviously confirmed that. Strangely, the journey no longer seemed like a big deal to me two weeks and one day into the ride - a stark contrast from the feedback I received from friends and family who were continually in awe and praise. Still, I had a profound and settled peace in my soul that I was making this adventure a reality, even if it was a fairly monotonous routine of motels, lonely rides and physical exhaustion. It simply felt great to actually do what I have always wanted to do. Ever since I successfully bicycled across Colorado in 2003, I had been thinking and talking about doing a bike across America trip. If I could cross a mountain state like Colorado, why not add seven or eight more states and do them consecutively in a longer trip? The larger consideration was creating the foundation where I could simultaneously have the time and money to do such a thing. Once that became a reality, I still had to take the courageous step of committing to the trip and backing it with actions, bold behaviors that showed I was serious beginning in November 2007 two months before the ride. With a tremendous endeavor such as this, words without actions were useless.

Here are two more examples of how dark the clouds were throughout the day. Notice the white covering of snow on the mountain in the background of the bottom photo. It would not begin snowing in Reserve until 8 p.m. that night and the forecast called for some snowfall until the next morning. By the end of the night, the boredom, lack of cell phone reception and frustration of being immobile (just 33 miles in two days!) took its toll on me. I did not care what the weather forecast was for tomorrow or how chilly it was. I will get out of this town no matter what!

Occupying myself by eating at Ella's Cafe helped things. I ate three meals at Ella's Cafe in a two day period and captured a picture with myself and a waitress. I told her and other employees about my long bike journey and they were friendly enough to listen and be interested! :) And oh my goodness! Their chicken parmegian special was just amazing. It was a very generous portion of food, decently priced and delicious!