Day Zero: "Add a Catchy Title Here" the blog template suggests...

Preface to Day One : )

Ok first thing- "Day Zero" - I mean...why not? Women's clothes have a size zero right? Actually, I've even seen double zero. Maybe it's my math kind of mind, or because I'm a guy, but how to you get twice as much as zero? Couldn't we just start with a size one and go from there? I mean if my bank account was zero and it doubled in one day would I be running out to buy a house? That would be awesome! I would have twice as much as zero? Ha! Not far off actually : )

But yes! You should read this blog before you read the "Day One" one (editor check please can the word 'one' be followed by the word 'one'? : ) in order to taste how this blog will flow. Kinda like those first few pages in a novel where the author tells you stuff about themselves or why they decided to spend all their free time typing away never knowing if anyone would ever buy their book.

The same here. But this is free. Well for now anyway. Maybe one day it'll make me millions. Of something. Probably not dollars. Millions of pennies maybe. What's that worth? Wow and if it doubled in the bank...sweet!

Second thing - the instructions on this website design page say "Add a Catchy Title Here" but I actually like just leaving that as the title. I mean it kinda sounds catchy already! Plus then I don't have to think anymore because right now I've been a bit overwhelmed on how to get this web page thing rolling. There are so many functions available - which is awesome but also daunting at the same time.

Yes this is totally like my first time writing any kind of blog thing in any form let alone a web page and I am so like totally confused! (Wow I'm headed to Cali and already I'm sounding like a Valley Girl what gives?).

So many functions, so many tabs hidden underneath other ones, I'm never quite sure I saved what I thought I saved.

Plowing through formatting all these pages has been, to say the least, like trying to get that top button buttoned on a guys dress shirt. (Size 42. Slightly larger than zero). You know, so you can put a tie on as well? I probably do that once a year is all and it always seems more difficult than it should be?

Just when your fingers grab the button solid and you think you have it through the collar hole....pop! Nope! Start over dude! Well this blog kinda seems the same - I think I typed something in the right spot and I think I even saved it, great. I leave the page and nope pop!

It's lost! Try again!

I have been all over this site trying to find where to put pictures, how to put pictures, where to type stuff and like I said -how to save what you just typed so it doesn't get lost in that cyber-world of unsaved things. Have you ever spent time working on an email or document and think you finally have it all worded correctly - but then forget to click the save button? Ugggghhh! Right? Where does it go? Is it still alive somewhere? I figure there must be a cyber-world of all those unsaved paragraphs, just like all those defunct satellites they say are floating around up there orbiting the earth with no purpose anymore. All those words I've ever typed - on a work project or something, but never saved - are doing the same! They're all just floating around in some sort of cyberspace hoping they still have a purpose. They must be somewhere right? Because I literally typed something up and then spent 15 minutes trying to find where I typed it. Where the heck did it go?? Editor page? Under blog post drafts? Preview column? Is it totally lost? Maybe I have to look under settings? Geez...

So who knows, maybe there will be words to read, maybe they'll even be pictures! Maybe they'll be words right on top of pictures!

But lets back up a teenie bit -

If you read the "About" page first (which ya should!) it might shed some light on the wackiness here. So find your way over to that tab first if you haven't read it and look at some nice pictures and stuff before continuing on here (and hopefully what I wrote there is saved : )

No really.

Exit out of here and head to the "About" page.

I'll wait! : )

Back? Great!

So in the "About" section I promised that my first post would explain the Duckpond Pete nickname and this whacky title "Inside outside Upside-downside and every which way but east..."

I lied.

Don't be upset.

I'm allowed to.

Well not lie - no one should do that : )

I'm gonna call it more of a creative license type thing. Totally within my rights as the author yes? (whoa now ya think you're an author? Geez settle down Mr. Almost Wrote One Blog post : )

So I'll review the title of Inside-Outside-Upside-Downside here and now... but the DuckPond Pete nickname thing is a story in itself, could take up a whole bloggy page alone...AND it involves taking down and publicly displaying that takedown of another bike riders ever-so-fragile ego (cyclist and fragile ego go together by the way - I think it's on the application actually-

I know...I am one : )

So let me reach out to Mr. Mayo (yes it's his real last name, it hasn't been changed and he's not innocent) and see if he could sign something like a release form or if he is at least actively seeing a therapist first before the unveiling of his story.

Wait.

Is it ok to mention his name already before he signs a release form? Maybe I should use a pseudo name for him? I'll call him "Mike the Sandwich". Or maybe it's easier not to tell him about this blog stuff. What are the odds he sees it?

So here goes:

I've always wanted to see and explore this incredibly beautiful country. To do it in a jeep with two bikes is gonna be just killer. I figure a blog is a great thing for two reasons: One is so that I remember what the heck I did on this trip and the second one is so that I remember what the heck I did on this trip (Ha! See what I did there? : )

Definitely hoping to capture my thoughts, insights and hopefully a few laughs as I travel across it so I've decided to give the blog structure by using the categories of Inside, Outside, Upside-downside...

Inside

I actually think the most important journey of our lives takes place on the inside. Worldly concerns, day to day activities and responsibilities grab our attention from all the emotions, the love, the fears, the confidence, anger, the laughter and such that happens within us. All of our focus is usually preoccupied with external happenings.

But! The real growth, if we choose it be growth, is on the inside.

Whether it's learning to be more patient with ourselves (and hence others), or to love deeper or to be more grateful is a choice we can make on a minute to minute basis...and most times we over look it! So for me - I like to 'av-a-lil' look on the inside to see how I'm doing, what I'm processing there, and if the way I'm processing it is actually helping me. In turn this will affect the course of my life and those people around me. Super important to me and that's what I'll be touching on here.

Outside

Well yup! You guessed it...the outside journey!

I know, I know that inside stuff can be scary! So under this title you can find a recap of the day's events - like where I drove and what awesome part of the country I saw. Simple.

With a little bit of luck there might even be some pictures here for you too. You can do a little reading and either gaze at the photos and wish you were here or maybe you'll look at them and reply with something like "You slept in the woods in 19 degrees!? What kind of cookies are you eating on this trip? Can ducks even do that without losing all their feathers?"

(Right, that nickname again. Sorry, I know the suspense is killing you - I'll explain that nickname soon enough. But geez relax already - maybe those bike shorts are on too tight?

Soon.

I promise : )

Upside

Getting the hang of this yet? The upsides of the day! The positives... the blessings so to speak of doing whatever the heck it is that I'm doing that day. So many of these we can miss throughout our daily lives it's crazy. Actually taking time to notice these things is paramount to living a happier and 'lighter' life. I remember just after divorce coming across a book by Rhonda Byrne called "The Magic". It was popular for awhile. Totally encourage anyone to have a look at it. It's an easy read 'grateful' workbook. Thirty days of reading maybe three pages a night and listing things that you are grateful for... really good way to sharpen the quality of being grateful for what you have. I promise - doing this sort of stuff can work miracles in your life.

Downside

Probably going to be the hardest but I'll give it a shot. When you are on a cross country trip with a jeep and two bikes it's going to be hard to find some downsides...I think anyway. I mean even the downside has got to be better than sitting in a cubicle and listening to your boss whine about how many more days he has until he can have fun in retirement right!?

I'll see what happens with this one...

Any which way but east!

I tacked this one on because I liked the way it sounds. And it kinda points the direction I'm going. In two ways. The deep meaning is - "Life always moves forward...I'm not going back". Growth is in front of us...learn from stuff and move forward. So any which way to "California" but backwards! The second and lighter reason for that title (and maybe for people that are retired, drink beer and write recaps under pseudo names) is just "Hey! Where did you travel today and where ya goin' next!?"

Hopefully I remember to touch on all of these but if I don't, relax -

it's just a blog.

So as the Liberty Riders say -

Ride on!