Yosemite

As Stephanie called it: the Disneyland of natural parks.

There was So much that couldn't be seen from our bikes, but even the tip of the iceberg was sure nice. We wanted to be sure we caught the afternoon bus to our campground (skipping a circus of tents in the popular campgrounds) so we put on our cycling clothing the night before, slept out in the open, woke up at 5:30am, and sprinted through abbreviated forms of our a.m. routines.

The most interesting shortcut was told to me as having been done by some ultra marathoner Steph knew, who poured his instant oatmeal packets into his full water bottle, shook it into a flurry, and then drank the mixture. I was initially quite intrigued, but in my practice this morning the hard flakes-in-sugar-(and in my case a packet of via instant coffee as well) just weren't as awesome as nice, warm, gooey oatmeal. Or any other bike food I could be eating then. But now we know!!!

The 2 hour bus ride gave us a great view of glacially carved canyons and roads that made my stomach gulp just to look at them. I don't often say this, but I'm glad we didn't ride that. I'm all for adventure, but this was one of those routes that suddenly made me feel very cozy sitting in a motoriZed vehicle.

Listened to a bit more music on that ride and I got tremendously wistful for all my instruments and music left in various pieces of the country. I've done a bit of songwriting in my head while riding, but only one of the promising hooks made it past the "will I remember it in the morning test?"

I also miss singing in the shower every night. Sometimes I sing to myself on the downhills, but I passed pretty close to a deer on a descent this morning without really noticing, to the chorus of "you are my sunshine." I decided I really ought to pay more attention, as not every deer will wait politely for me to pass.

All in all, a fine day: much of the free afternoon spent lounging around writing postcards, looking at maps, and riding on buses. A little lazy, but we might have needed it.

I think I have most of your addresses, but if I don't (and you want a postcard) send me your digits, letters, zippy codes, and whatever else I need to get it to the right place. Till next time!