Changing Gears by Leah Day

Author:Leah Day [Day, Leah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Changing Gears: A Distant Teen, a Desperate Mother, and 4, 329 Miles Across the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail
ISBN: 9781641706681
Publisher: Familius
Published: 2022-09-15T05:00:00+00:00

We leave White Bird at 4:30 in the morning, ready to tackle yet another pass before the sun’s full strength hits us. The original route over the pass has been replaced by a busy interstate highway, so, blissfully, we get to ascend on an abandoned road. There are no vehicles, no people, no industry. Just switchbacks, snaking back and forth, up and up through the predawn desert.

As we leave the town, we match the silence all around us with our own silence and just listen acutely for the sounds of wildlife waking up around us. First come the birds—the first tentative calls, the replies, and then a swelling chorus. Then come the lowing of the cows, calling for each other and for breakfast. And then come the coyotes. We hear them in the ravine that cuts up the mountainside below us. Their chatter echoes from wall to wall and creates the illusion that there are hundreds surrounding us. We stop often and peer into the shadowy valley, trying to glimpse them. Suddenly Oakley shouts in a hoarse whisper, “Look there, there! They are chasing a baby deer!”

And they are. A deer clambers up out of the ravine with three coyotes on its tail. They are hunched, yet striding swiftly and stealthily. They don’t make a sound. The howls are coming from a gully, bouncing around and creating a distracting cacophony that I am sure is purposely intended to confuse the deer. The deer takes off at a run, bounding over chaparral, and the coyotes take up a more earnest chase. Suddenly, the others who had been calling erupt out of the ravine and join the pursuit. They run across the valley, and Oakley and I stand staring in awe at this wildlife theater unfolding before us. We watch until the deer gets away.

Oakley notices a cherry tree beside us. “Want a cherry?” he asks and hands me a handful. And we stand there, watching the sun come up, eating cherries until our lips are stained red.

We have now completed one thousand miles of our bicycle tour. Every day we encounter new and exciting adventures that are testing us in a myriad of ways, but also rewarding us with beautiful sights, interesting people, and growing strength. It has become a running joke between Oakley and me that we have not yet come upon a cyclops or the land of the lotus-eaters, but we know they are out here, and we won’t be surprised. They would fit right in. It feels like we are participating in the Odyssey, but I am no Odysseus, and I can’t help but wonder who is saving who on this quest.

Oakley’s Two Cents

The Desert

This week we were in what I call HELL. That is actually also what the name of the area is. We went up and over passes that were straight up and all switchbacks. One day, we were going down a pass, and we were turning onto a gravel road and my mom bit it, HARD, and there was blood, like, a LOT of blood.

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