The Time Had Come, So Marvin Went.

March 3, 2013
Hunterville



A nice rest on Manaia. Town chores done. Hectic schedule for Bruce right now and he's done a marvelous job of hosting this crazy American woman...and it's time to move on. After a 2 hour lift by Bruce back up to Bulls, I was back on the road.

Hadn't gone 2 feet down the road and I was approached by a truckee that wanted to take my picture. He wanted to send it to Mike Avery. Now this is not the first time I've heard of this guy. If you'll recall when I was cycling over near New Plymouth some people stopped me on the road thinking I was he (or is that him? Being a grammar buff I hate not to know.). This truckee, Stan, gave me Mike's wife's cell number so I should call him up. He's a kiwi who cycled in 2010 from Bluff in the south to Cape Reinga in the north on a recumbent trike. Stan said he's planning to cycle across Australia this summer starting in August. Through the outback.

Pedal, pedal, pedal. Wonder where I am. Pull off the road into a V intersection to check my map. Oh no! Police car! No helmet on! Nailed! It's stopping here! They're getting out! One has equipment. Is that a speed gun? But we're not moving. What's he doing? Hi. What's up? We're filming a TV show for NZ about cops and strange characters. Can we interview you? I'm on my bike with my umbrella up trying to keep my head covered. After asking me a ton of questions about my gear and my trip, the filmer asks the cop "Are you going to say something about the helmet?" The cop shakes his head and then asks, "What's the helmet protecting?" I wished I'd thought to say, my wallet! But I explained my rationale that I can't fall on my head from a trike and that if a truck hits me, it'll be all over anyways...no helmet will save me. Nothing more was said. Whew!! Then they filmed me cycling away. A bit down the road I stopped to check a campsite and post about the cops on Facebook. While there, the cop car comes back. "You all right?" Ya, why? "He's hot his camera all set up ahead to film you coming down the road." Oops!





So I'm still trying to find out the TV show. It's on channel 1. That's all I know. And I won't air until the end of the year.

So I pedal on looking for a campsite and nothing a ways off the road is appearing. I do not want to listen to trucks all night. Please. Maybe I'll find something in the next town. Yup. Plenty of different spots. As I'm scoping out one a car pulls up and the lady says you can camp on the lawn behind the hotel. Flush toilet and shower. I'm there! It's the lawn the dog pees on by all the brown spots but I can't say anything it will do. And a bit later the delightful Irish woman I met at the grocery store shows up out the back of the bar where she's having a smoke. Anastasia. Been in NZ 4 years. And her inquisitive son, Darrough (but I may not have that right...please let me know) who asked me for my autograph. That's a first. So flattered me. I gave him my last biker card. (I do need to get more made up soon.)

We chatted quite a bit. It's been hard for him to be away from his Nana for the last 5 yrs...half of his life. He asked some great questions about my traveling and what it's like. Kudos to you, Darrough for such a wondering mind. Keep wonder and asking! It was dark and I didn't get a picture of this delightful mum and son, but I will remember them.

Bashful BagLady.

(Need to feel less shy about taking pictures of people...good thing to work on these next few days. )


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Another Lesson of the Road

March 2, 2013
Mana Marina, NZ

This is Sunday. Time flies when you're having fun. Or chillaxing:)

I took the bus back here. "I can't fit that bike on here. I already have a bike on here. That bike's larger than normal. I still have more passengers to pick up. I'm not restacking that luggage."

"I will," as I wait patiently to see what's going to happen. Driver was not a happy camper. Deep breaths. It will all work out. Don't panic. Whatever is meant to be, will be.

"Ok, bring your bike over to this other side and you put it in there."

Will do. Guy I just friended helped with hauling all my pieces over.

"You're a good packer," says driver:). "Thanks for finding a space," says I.

Unloading in Porirua was another challenge as this was into traffic on a busy road. "Ok, let's go see how this works," says the driver with a smile as we both disembark. It went fine and his mood was so much better.

"Thanks muchly!"

"No worries!"

I want to write about something but I don't want folks to get upset and worry about me. I've tried several times over the last 10 days to write about this. Not easy. Now I have it in perspective so I hope this is a lesson in the law of attraction.

A friend posted on my Facebook timeline an article about 2 British world touring cyclists that were killed when hit by a truck outside of Bangkok, Thailand. She told me to take care and I said there was no care they could have taken to prevent the accident and that it's a constant danger to cyclists. But the thoughts of Peter and Mary weighed heavy on my mind. Such a tragedy. Such a loss. And I pedaled on.

But something had changed in me. I now was more aware of the traffic. And it seemed vans were coming closer to me. More close calls. More anger in me towards drivers. I once told a driver to F*#k off. I also added a branch that hung an orange bandanna off out to the right to keep drivers further over. Stay away from me!

What was happening? Before this I had told all who asked, the drivers are great...so courteous. And now all things had changed. What was going on? What had changed? Me. My thoughts. That's really the only change and now I was attracting all this negative energy and fear.

Enough. Stop this. You created this negative place and you need to go back to the way you were. No more side flag. No more fear. Just common sense and share the road.

We must be careful of our thoughts. They put ripples into the Universe. I need to change those ripples:). Another lesson of the road learned.

I'm enjoying my down time back on Manaia. Bruce is working crazy hours, getting up at 4 am. When uz the boss, that's what ya gotta do! And I'm getting "town chores" done like laundry, gear repairs, redo toe nail polish, downloading photos to iPad and organizing and thinning them,and designing new biker card. It's always nice to have no place to go. I like down time.

Oh and I listened to Wayne Dyer's PBS special from last year on Tao Te Ching and its 81 verses about living life. I was pleased to realize I've integrated many of them already, but there's always opportunities for improvement. I'm going to study this a bit further while traveling on.



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