Bicycle touring is heightened awareness. You actually SEE the morning light.
In your day to day life, you might "see" the morning light as you hop in your car and drive to work, you look across the freeway and see a nice sunrise and think, "gosh, that looks pretty." But seeing something with your eyes and seeing something with your whole being is totally different.
I think that many of us live our lives as if we're looking at pictures and not reality. We see things and think, "oh, neat." and not "......WOW......" We can hardly be blamed-- we have so much to process, that our brains naturally want to create shortcuts for ease of processing.
If you bicycle to work, you may relate to what I'm trying to describe. Instead of being in a box, zooming up Capitol Hill-- you can FEEL Capitol Hill (quite literally, in your legs) if you pump a bicycle up it.
It's the difference between microwaving and cooking a meal from scratch.
It's the difference between standing awe-struck in front of a painting and clicking past it on the internet.
Now imagine this feeling every day, all day. Something as simple as THE GROUND becomes very important-- is it level? soft? wet? You really begin to SEE the ground. You see people. And landscapes. And food. You might even see yourself.
And that's just one reason, why I encourage people to bicycle tour.
If you're thinking about it-- DO IT. Even if you can't leave this summer or next year-- put just a little bit of money aside each month. Invest in a touring bike. Start riding to work and carrying a load. Get out of debt and don't create new ones. See how well you get along with that one friend for extended amounts of time. And bike some more.
