Epilogue

It's been several days since I've abandoned the trek from the Arch here in St. Louis to Tor House in Carmel, California. If I had gutted over the mountains west of La Veta, Colorado, I'd now be biking through Arizona. At the moment, however, the regimentation of 1100 miles had taken my legs, the altitude in the mountains had stolen my breath, and the sun was burning my skin away. But if I had rested a couple of days in Walsenburg, I could have gotten over the passes. But what-ifs don't change anything, so here I am in my chair at home, perfectly happy with having crossed two states and half of a third.

I think I made two serious mistakes in the planning and the implementation of the trek. First, I was obsessed with mapping the shortest route possible, and now I think the shortest route is not necessarily the easiest or quickest route. Second, I was too regimented once I started, thinking I had to get from A to B each day. Had I been more leisurely, I would have had more get-go in my legs once I reached La Veta Pass. Or I could have spent a couple of days resting in the state park in Walsenburg. I'll keep those two mistakes in mind when I begin planning for the second attempt at the trek next year.

REI offers a course in touring. I think I'll take the course so I can see what I did right during the trek this year and what I need to do differently next year.