The Bike Tour Begins

Post author:Darrell Yardley
Post published:April 18, 2022
Post category:Bicycle Tour 2022

Day 1

Here I am ready to head out this morning from my motel in El Paso…

Got in late Saturday night. Used Sunday to rest up from my airline travel trauma, reassemble my bike, and buy supplies. Luckily there was a Walmart just down the road from the motel.

Today’s destination was Fabens, Tx, only 25 miles away. Google Maps kept trying to take me on all these winding, backroad ways instead of a straight shot down US 20. Finally, had to shut her off and just ride. It’s not like I could miss it.

High today is supposed to be 94 degrees. It felt like it when I finally pulled into my motel. Weather said it was only 86 at the time. What was it to know, it was riding a bicycle in it.

The ride started out great this morning. Only a gentle headwind and nearly flat ground for miles and miles. Got off about 8:30am. Everything was chuggin’ along fine till about 11:00am. Then the desert heat started climbing, and along with it, the wind. By the time I got into Fabens, it as a 14 mph headwind. Then, it turned out I had to ride another two miles out to Interstate 10, to where the motels were. This was an uphill 2 miles! Not bad like in South Carolina and foothills I encounter there, but taxing enough.

Tomorrow, my destination is Fort Hancock, another 25 mile ride, and my riding partner, Keith Tang, for this part of my journey from El Paso to Del Rio, will hopefully catch up. He’s a day behind me but can ride greater distances. Plus, we will have a 15¬20 mph headwind!

Tags: BicycleTour2022

This Post Has 2 Comments

Sandy April 18, 2022

Yippeeee, it has begun!!! So proud of you my friend!!!!!!
Lani Banner April 18, 2022

So proud of you, my dharma brother! Sending lots of positive energy in your direction!

Comments are closed.

Chop water, carry wood is a blog by Darrell G. Yardley, PhD, LPC, focusing on wide variety of topics on spirituality and science, Zen Buddhism, secular religious naturalism, Native American spirituality, and science (psychology, evolution, genetics, neurobiology, chaos theory). Defining spirituality as a combination of the cultivation of inner-peace and personal growth.

Promoting simplicity, mindfulness, self-sufficiency, self-reliance, self-actualization, inner-peace, personal growth, and eco-responsibility. My credo is: reduce, repair, repurpose, recycle, and compost. I will take up a range of topics including gardening, bicycling, and whatever topics are on my mind.

Having just finished my second book, The Guru on the Mountain, which shortly will be available on Amazon.com, I am working toward another with a working title, Buddha on a Bike, about my increased interest and involvement in bicycling, the adventures thereon, and relevant to the above topics.

The blog’s title is a wordplay based on an old Zen proverb: “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”

What does it mean? There are several layers of meaning to this old, pithy saying. One one level it means that the world does not change when we become “enlightened”. We still must do the work we need to do from moment to moment. The world doesn’t change, but we do, or rather, our perspective and response to the world changes. After enlightenment, the world is still just, the world. It just is. At another level, it is telling us to be fully present in each moment, i.e. to be mindful, no matter what our task.

It is about living your regular life, but from a different perspective and understanding. A spiritual life does not require that we shave our heads, live in the desert, give up all possessions, etc. We can live our regular life, only different; with mindfulness, less attachment, letting go into each moment, then letting it go into the next, realizing that all is impermanent. Being more relaxed, less uptight, realizing that nothing is permanent, everything changes. Less judgmental.

My wordplay is that you can’t of course, chop water, not unless of course it is its solid form of ice. So, my wordplay is a paradox built upon the Zen paradox, known as koans. Koans are Zen word puzzles that are directed to helping students (that be all of us) to obtain enlightenment.

Hopefully my words will help you in this endeavor in your own journey. If not, at least maybe a little enjoyment. Gassho

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