Today is the big day!! I cycled across new territories of Shikoku to come meet my friend, he's all done with work and packed, we're well rested, and the sun and wind appear to be in our favor. Nothing left to do but to start that first pedal revolution and be on the way, on the road again.
Meet my friend Kyle. We work for the same company, so we knew each other from the previous year. Although already a strong outdoorsy person, he has never cyclo-toured. So, I feel this trip will be extra memorable for him.
And here I am next to a much slimmer and light weight bike thanks to me shipping some unneeded items off after making some adjustments. Life all about adjustments.
What an omen! So cool when this happens. Just hanging out in the parking lot talking bikes with Kyle, our packed picked ready to go, and this older fellow calls to us with some love sweet bean cakes in his hand. So cool. He wished us good luck on our journey and told us to take care before jumping in his beach cruiser and fumbled down to the end of the street, swung a left, and disappeared.
I almost forgot to take a picture before we ate them all as a pre breakfast snack to get us to our next checkpoint.
Our first destination is a temple where a (not joking) 80's hair band rock and roller guitar player is now a Buddhist monk living in celibacy. Amazing. I was very eager to meet this character and wondered if I could pick out any 80's rock and roll lifestyle mannerisms from his words and actions.
Alas, no one was home. Still cool to check out this cool temple, the view is amazing, as you can see.
From just outside the temple looking in.
After that, we started an ascent up the hills to the North. The trees gave us some shade, yet I still ended up with a tan. I have to remember to keep using sun block.
Up in theses regions, the water is so clear you can't never see the bottom.
So, the entire reason we took this detour is to see waterfalls! Never have I yet met someone who did not want to go see a waterfall. And for good reason. (Remember that rock sitting atop this waterfall for later).
Actually, the location we've cycled up to translates as "99 waterfalls." And there certainly are a lot. Of the larger ones, there are eight, and smaller ones almost everywhere you can walk. This one is my favorite.
Another beautiful drench of water.
Right, so remember that rock I asked you to remember? At the very bottom of this photograph you can see the tip of that rock. This is me being stupid and climbing up to the edge of a giving rock to catch a cool photo. Near the top of the pic, you can see where I was standing before.
Again, the clarity of water never leaves me without wonder. I hate to think of the day when you can't see water so clear you'd think it was air. The crystal clear water swept across this rock so majestically it looked like wet glass.
After what seemed a 2 hour descent from the mountain tops, we were starved! Only an onigiri or three for lunch, I almost forgot about the legendary cyclist's hunger! That unquenchable yearn, that bottomless stomach, that "I better stop, or I won't be able to pay my bill" kind of hunger. One trick, that we did today, is to not finish your ramen broth after you eat your ramen noodles. For a mere 150 more yen, you can ask for another batch of noodles to chow down on. Good eats, good eats, good eats.
Home for the night. We've earned a good rest. We approximate at least 80km today. Not bad at all considering today being his first run!
I ran into a small problem when my sister and I came to Japan two years ago. I had a tent I had been using in South East Asian for a year. However, it's a solo, and we both couldn't fit. So Gabi, my sister, brought my other two person tent, and we slept in that. But when she left, I somehow kept both. Anyways, the solo tent is now Kyle's.
And that's where I leave you tonight. Super tired, super full, and supper happy. Tomorrow will be a different rhythm and most likely stay up in the mountains where although spring has sprung, is still very cold....
Love,
-A
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