Daily Routine

Todd: OK, Terry, now when you take your bike trips, when you bicycle across America or down the West Coast, what is a typical day? Like how would you start your day and how would you finish your day on the bicycle?

Terry: Well, a typical day, I'm camping usually, so I usually get up at or near sunrise, sometimes I get up slightly before sunrise, and I have to pack up all of my camping gear, stuff the sleeping bag in a stuffed sack, roll up my air mattress, pack up the tent, and then eat breakfast and then I usually try and, you know, do the daily essentials and then hit the road. I usually try to be on the road on the road sometime around 7, 7:30 in the morning, depending on when the sun comes up. But I like to go cycling early in the morning because it's cooler and there's, you tend to see more wildlife and I just think it's a nicer time of day, especially if you're riding in the summer, it tends to get warmer, as the day goes on, so, and then I usually try and hit, find a campground sometime in the afternoon and then the process starts again in setting up camp, setting up a tent and whatnot. Um, during the day, I'm usually cycling, actually cycling for 5 to 6 hours a day and then taking two or three hours off, various breaks, and eating lunch and what not, and then usually in the afternoon, I stop and buy some food, that I can cook, so I can cook dinner in camp and have breakfast the next morning. Oh, that's pretty cool.

Todd: So you just pay for everything with a credit card, or you bring cash, or?

Terry: Oh, both. Especially in the Unites States, with debit cards you can get cash back when you're buying food at a grocery store or so. It's always nice to have cash to pay for incidentals and .

Todd: Well, that's interesting. You said that you see wildlife. What wildlife would you see?

Terry: Oh, on this trip, as an example: elk and deer and raccoon and possums and turtles and snakes and all kinds of wildlife.

Todd: You know, have you almost ever hit an animal?

Terry: I haven't. I don't think I've ever come close to hitting an animal, no.

Todd: Well, speaking of being hit, have you had any close calls with cars?

Terry: Um, well, that's kind of, I think goes with the territory, so to speak. I've never come close to getting hit but I certainly feel like on occasion, I've been, I've had vehicles come closer to me that I wanted them to close, and, kind of, the real bug-a-boo for cyclists is logging trucks, and back east, coal trucks, they're just, they can be really terrifying when they are going by and you're cycling down the road.

Todd: I bet. Wow. OK, thanks Terry.