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I’ve been talking with my pen pal, Ed, lately about life and the life after a cycle ride – although mine has been considerably shorter…thus far.

Anyhow, the vain girl part of me gets a little frustrated about other things that are more obvious of change.

If you ever plan on a long tour, consider if you can live with this:

1. No more skinny jeans.  Actually, you’ll be lucky to even find pants.  Never really was a fashion diva of sorts, so I can deal with it…just a little frustrating at times.

2. My skin this winter is dry dry DRY.  Even for my naturally oily skin, its unusually dry this winter…in moist town Sh.

3. Sun spots!  Yep, lots of them.  As my tan slowly fades away, I see the damage.  I even had 2 moles removed last month because they were beginning to cause a little trouble.

4….and the kicker…WRINKLES!!!!  Especially all around the eyes and the nose bridge.  Funny thing, I would try not to squint when riding for this exact reason.  Damn it!  I lost that battle.

But you know what, I look at these spots, touch those budding eye wrinkles and I can see hundreds of stories and images behind each one.

What have I done?…oh well, I’d do it over again, in a heartbeat.  I just have to be better about applying sunscreen when I go back out…very VERY SOON.

I had a strange dream the other night.

I was living somewhere in Asia, in a shack, along the coast. For some reason I had moved all my possessions there – everything from photographs to important documents. Yeah, I know, crazy! I would never do that.

This tsunami wave comes in and wipes out the entire coast line. My hut was on the beach so everything was taken back out to sea with it. My neighbor, who’s home was deep inside a cave was able to hold onto most of his stuff.

I was so upset to lose photographs, as they can never be replaced. Although, my camera was still with me, as I had it in a bag on me when the wave came in. Of course, it makes no sense that the wave only emptied out my home and not demolish the home.

When I went inside to see if anything had been left, I was crushed when I looked against the back wall and my Saga was gone. My panniers had been still on her, fully loaded. I was crushed. Absolutely crushed. I thought, “I’ll never be able to continue on….”

Sometimes I still get butterflies in my stomach when thinking about hopping back on the saddle and continuing. I question if it’s still necessary, and after knowing the dangers…do I have the balls to go back at it.

Yeah. I do…I’m a pacifist but I will kill those butterflies.

Border of Hebei and Inner Mongolia. This is looking towards Hebei (where I came from), with a 1km tunnel behind me and then 80km downhill. It was 4 days of climbing through the mountains that separate the two provinces – this is one of my 2 favorite road signs. This day – a total of 240km – no joke. Take notice of how the road is not paved but brick – this thing was steep steep steep…I walked it.  After 3 days…come on – give a girl a break!

So two weeks ago (2 days after I got back from XiNing), I was a substitute teacher for a bilingual school here in Shanghai. The kids were so adorable and every day they got closer and closer to me. By the third day I had kids sitting in my laps and Friday was Teacher’s Day where I got a flower, chocolates, and a card from 3 different kids. Also, Friday was ballet for the girls – they LOVED it that I participated and they thought my tan lines on my ankles were hilarious. I brought home some pictures that a few of the girls drew for me, and some of them weren’t on paper.

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I have “The Incredible Hulk” legs…yes, my thighs have become a little too big for pants. Good bye skinny jeans…

But, I did get some awesome tan lines!

…that this would be my last day of riding for awhile. Every night I dream I am riding somewhere, and I wake in the morning to wonder where I might be at that exact time.

This weekend I aired out my tent and washed my panniers…the tears were from the soap…I swear!!!!

Qinghai, one day from XiNing