i got an email this morning from a girl looking for contributions for a zine on loosing things. here's what i sent her:
Back in the summer of 2001, my best friend and I rode bikes from Reno, NV to Portland, OR and then to Washington, DC. I had a Palm VII with a modem that I used to write up daily journal entries that I mailed out to friends, family and people we met along the way. After we left Chicago, I started getting behind in the emails. My dad was going to be in DC for a meeting and if we timed it right we'd be able to stay in his hotel. To keep on schedule we were riding more each day and I didn't have time to write. I'd do an outline of each day's events, planning to finish them up when we had some time in DC.
The last 180 miles of the trip we rode on the C&O tow path from Cumberland, MD into Georgetown. The path is follows the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal that was constructed in the first half of the 1800s. The barges were towed by mules who walked on the path. It was a beautiful change from highway shoulders. No cars, easy camping, lots of nice people and wonderful scenery.
The final day, less than 80 miles from DC, my Palm computer fell from my sadle bag where I'd kept it the entire trip. I didn't notice that it was missing for a few miles. We spent almost three hours riding back and forth looking for it. I was pretty bumbed out about the whole thing. Besides all the half-finished emails, I had addresses of people who'd let us stay with them that wanted to mail thank you notes to, statistics on stupid things like the number of loaves of bread we'd eaten and flat tires we'd fixed. I don't think it was the loosing that bothered me but where I'd lost it, that close to the end.