Tuesday, February 08, 2005

One Wheel - Many Spokes: USA by Unicycle

It won't surprise you that I enjoy books about traveling on a bicycle. A major joy for me in riding a bicycle is seeing things. I like to explore and the bicycle provides a near perfect method.

Daughter Jessica recently gave me Lars Clausen's book "One Wheel - Many Spokes: USA by Unicycle". We're only as far as South Dakota in his first trip across the country (he rides from Washington State to Boston to the Gulf to California), but I'm enjoying his description of the land and the people. His entourage includes his wife and young children plus another couple. Clausen is a Lutheran pastor. His trip included a fundraising effort for the Seward Peninsula Lutheran Endowment.

Clausen's story is a contrast to one of my favorite bike adventure books, "Over the Hills: A Midlife Escape Across America by Bicycle". David Lamb, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize eight times, climbs on to a bike in Alexandria and rides to the end of the pier at Santa Monica. He rides alone much of the trip. He's using the trip to try to reshape his life.

Both of these books tell me more about America than about cycling and what I read is reassuring. What books are you reading? Read a good book about this land and the people lately?

Happy Trails to you.

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