Grandma's floor, 1988

… a thousand words, but what about a thousand, or more, pictures. According to mine I eat a lot, and am outside a lot, and I do lots of other things except sleep. My pictures portray a very active lifestyle. I know we sleep; I think the Guinness World Record for most days without sleep is 11, so out of the 9,000+ days of my existence I should have around 850 days of sleep but finding evidence is slim in maybe ten photos dated prior 1990.

The dogs, though, will sleep anywhere at anytime unless there is eating or peeing to be done. I will sleep anywhere as well; the car, the couch, the floor. Caleb too likes to sleep in whatever he happens to be wearing, or not wearing, at the time. Other than baby pictures to help relay my point I am able to take a picture of the dogs waking upon our arrival after we were the ones to cycle 28 miles.

Soon after getting home I was proud and giddy and wrote my post for the day with no problem. We had salad for lunch, nuts to snack on, and then came an early dinner of noodles and cheese. Soon my legs felt like they had been at a rave all weekend; they were tired and wanted to rest. I would slowly drag the dogs out to pee before my legs took a nap; they would not be going out later, my legs or the dogs.

I began to relax on the couch but with cuddling dogs my legs became too cramped. I settled on the floor with my current read Around the World in Eighty Days and made it to Utah before I started drooling on the floor. My husband was able to finish his first Roald Dahl book The Witches before noticing me. We would end up in bed too early and I would toss and turn for hours but my legs feel great this morning.

I may not be able to ride an 80-mile day yet but my advice to anyone that wants to try: start with 30 miles, lots of water, some snacks, and a three-hour nap afterwards. Then, just keep pedaling, just keep pedaling. A journey of a thousand miles begins with pedaling and ends with a nap. Just remember to take some pictures along the way.