"Add a Catchy Title Here"

Read me first!

Well the instructions on this website design page say "Add a Catchy Title Here" but I kinda like just leaving that as the title! Just to show that I don't have a freakin' clue on how to get this web page thing rolling. There are so many functions available which is both awesome and overwhelming at the same time. And yes! You should read this blog before you read the "Day One" one (wait - can the word 'one' be followed by the word 'one'!!?)

OK so totally being my first time writing any kind of bloggy thing, 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 thru setting all these pages up has been, to say the least, like trying to get that top button buttoned on a dress shirt that I wear like once a year now. Just when you think you got it buttoned....pop! Nope! Start over dude! Well the blog is the same - I think I typed that in the right spot...I think I saved it.... Nope! It's lost! Try again!

I have literally been all over this site trying to find where to put pictures, how to put pictures, where to type stuff and how to save what you just typed so it doesn't get lost in that cyber-world of unsaved things. You know when you spend time working on an email or document and think you have it all worded correctly but forget to click the save button? Ugggghhh! Right? I kind of picture that cyber-world of unsaved paragraphs like all those defunct satellites they say are up there just floating and orbiting the earth with no purpose anymore. All those words I've ever typed - on a work project or website - but never saved are doing the same! They're all just floating around in some sort of cyber world hoping they still have a purpose! 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? 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!

As someone I know says...

It's fine.

So 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 and look at some nice pictures and stuff before continuing on here (and hopefully what I wrote there is saved).

Wait 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 Upsi-downside and every which way blah blah blah".

I lied.

Don't be upset.

I'm allowed to.

Well not lie - no one should do that : )

I'm gonna call it full rein on creative license. Totally within my rights as the author no? (whoa now ya think you're an author? Geez settle down Mr. Almost wrote one blog post : )

So I'll review the title stuff of Upside-Downside blah blah blah 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 Mike Mayo (yes totally his real last name) 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? Yeah 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? Good! : )

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, some anger, the laughter and such that happens within us. All of our focus is usually on the 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 be able to love deeper or to be more grateful is a choice we can make on 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 also affect those people around me. Super important and that's what I'll be touching on here!

Outside

Well yup! You guessed it! The outside journey! "So much easier geez thank you DuckPond Pete!" Ha! That inside stuff can be scary! (Wait - Duckpond who you say? 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?).

So under this title will be a recap of the day's events - like where I drove and what awesome part of the country I saw and hopefully some pictures that may or may not load up to the site for you! You can 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.

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 counting your blessings. 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 trip cross country with a jeep and two bikes it's going to be hard to find some downsides...I think anyway! Geez 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 lol...

Any which way but east!

I tacked this 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...so any which way to "California" but backwards. The past is past. 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 or 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!