To boldly go where no man has gone before

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Thou dost presume too much, poor needy wretch,
To claim a station in the firmament
Because thy humble cottage, or thy tub,
Nurses some lazy or pedantic virtue
In the cheap sunshine or by shady springs,
With roots and pot-herbs; where thy right hand,
Tearing those humane passions from the mind,
Upon whose stocks fair blooming virtues flourish,
Degradeth nature, and benumbeth sense,
And, Gorgon-like, turnes active men to stone.
We not require the dull society
Of your necessitated temperance,
Or that unnatural stupidity
That knows nor joy nor sorrow; nor your forc'd
Falsely exalted passive fortitude
Above the active. This low abject brood,
That fix their seats in mediocrity,
Become your servile minds; but we advance
Such virtues only as admit excess.
Brave, bounteous acts, regal magnificence,
All-seeing prudence, magnanimity,
That knows no bound, and that heroic virtue
For which antiquity hath left no name,
But patterns only, such as Hercules,
Achilles, Theseus. Back to why loath'd cell;
And when thou seest the new enlightened sphere,
Study to know but what those worthies were.

- T. Carew


I started this entry with the previous poem due to the deep complexity it entails. It has spoke to me on every level of intellectuality out on the road. The road....
The road is becoming particularly hot as we approach Nevada. Most of the advice we hear is not "advice" but more like a pessimistic dog afraid to eat broccoli for the first time. People, people, people and their thoughts...comical. What I keep telling Tim in his subtleties of doubt is nothing short of "@#$& it, we'll be alright in 3's; food, water and shelter." So with that said we are taking a break in Delta Utah until twilight tonight where it will be cooler to ride. Night rides through the desert with a full moon...mmmmm, think about the beauty. As for Tim, he is doing better than I expected a biker to do their third day out. A total of 100 miles to his belt. And these are no easy miles to say the least. The sun is not taking a toll on us as much as it is on our skin, and knowing me, in comparison to Tim, is I don't wear sunscreen. This time around I have dropped so much weight I can now put my backpack on my bike rack as opposed to my back. Tim is figuring out the organizationally-efficient way to compose his belongings (also not an easy task). Other than that we are looking to hit the Nevada border tonight, then it's a hop-skip-and-a-jump to California. San Francisco is calling.

Thanks for reading.

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