Wormhole

 I always thought a wormhole was from the creative mind of a science fiction writer. Turns out the formal name for a wormhole is the Einstein-Rosen bridge. Although we are not pedaling fast enough for relativity to come into play, on our trip we do have our own form of a wormhole. The wormhole first came into existence when we found the Colombia river bridge on I90 in Washington to be our only reasonable option forward. The bikes went in the sag wagon and a mile later we were at the other end of the wormhole back on our bikes riding. The other side of I90 we tired to ride state highway 243, which turned out to be a problem for two reasons. First there was no decent shoulder and the semi’s passed so rudely at one point my daughter Ida was blown off her bike. The other problem will get it's own blog post – namely the route we were taking. When we finally got to camp (after a sag wagon kept the semis at bay by following us with emergency lights flashing), a quick look at a map revealed we needed to be elsewhere to get to where we were going. Looking around, we found our wormhole and popped out at a camp site that was in line with our target to ride the Coeur d' Alene trail.

 Today when I mentioned the wormhole to a friend, he immediately and vociferously replied “That’s Cheating!” Technically true, if your goal is to Cycle Across America. With a goal of Seeing America, the wormhole has its advantages, like keeping you alive. I don’t want to cheat myself out of Seeing America, so I keep track of those worm miles. A mapping program says its 3,143 miles from Seattle to Boston. So I figure I can use my worm miles to see more of America and still go 3,143 miles. If your goal is to see America, you can continue the journey, long after your front tire dips into the salt waters of the Atlantic. 

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