On the summer's biking

Well, I still don't have any hard and fast plans, but there are two leading contenders. One depends on numerous things beyond my control. The idea is that I would fly out to Vancouver for John's wedding in Victoria with the bike. After the wedding, I would head to Seattle and via a combination of bike and train would spend a week seeing Seattle, Mount St Helen's and other assorted bits of Washington State. At the end of the week, I would meet Margo and Chris in Portland, Oregon. From Portland, we would head further South along the coast before heading inland to Crater Lake. From Crater Lake we would catch a train back to Vancouver.

The circumstances of this trip more or less dictate that I would have to get a certain set of days for my vacation which is not always possible at work. In addition, there is no guarantee that Margo and Chris will be free of assorted parental obligations relating to John's wedding. To further complicate the picture, Margo is recovering from a broken collar bone which has dashed her hopes of doing a triathlon this month. As well, it has put a spanner in the spokes for their planned trip to Japan and possibly Korea. Hence, therefore, or otherwise, their planned trips are in limbo.

The other plans doesn't require a particular set of dates (aside from being discreetly separate from John's wedding), and therefore it would be easier for me to plan it. Simply put, it would be Calgary to Winnipeg, i.e. the next leg of AMUAM JuNITO. ) Part of my rationale for doing it this year is that I feel like going back to Scotland in 2013, and therefore I should get some AMUAM JuNITOing in this year.

Another bit is that was given a beautiful book written by a pair of Québécois who crossed the continent in order to raise money for some disease that the father of one of them was suffering from. It has wonderful pictures of prairie fields that make me want to do that bit. (While the pictures is enchanting, the text reads rather like an exercise in what not to do.) Doing the prairies would also allow me to set foot in Saskatchewan for the first time.

I am still waffling, as each trip has its merits. Some days one seems more attractive, then I think of some reason that makes the other a better idea. Also, I won't know what I will be able to do because of the afore-mentionned outside elements until late April at the earliest.