My best ideas usually come to me in the mornings. After that, it’s all uphill. I’m used to this. Means that the pressure is off. This idea came to me in the early evening. I had spent the day at VCRS, the recycling center, and I was heading out with Tinni, walking uproad in the direction of Siggi’s Trail.

I had, earlier, been thinking some about my upcoming trip – the one in which I am planning on bicycling and horseback riding from Fairbanks to Valdez. I have just now started working out the logistical details. Its not a straight shot on a bicycle, so it’s a bit more complicated. I’ll be leaving here in mid-June, and I’ll take two weeks to get to Hatcher Pass. I need to get over the pass before July 4th. The rest of my trip itinerary is more open.

Alys introduces Raudi to her new bike

My idea is this – I will, on this trip, promote the Bright Lights Book Project. I’ll stop in libraries and talk with them about what I’m doing, and also in places where I might arrange to have books dropped off. On the first part of my trip, which is to ride from Fairbanks to Hatcher Pass, I’ll be making stops in Cantwell, Talkeetna, Willow, and Houston.

I’ll also carry promotional materials – packets like those we’re putting in outgoing boxes of books. And I’ll carry some books and pass them out to people that I might meet along the way. I’d like to carry some of the books that in our area might be banned. I think it will be most appropriate to bring along the book The Things we Carried. When I’m done, I’ll write an article about the trip, and maybe call it, “The Things I carried.”

We might have a trip sendoff at VCRS, it will take the form of a book sale, with the most controversial books on one table, and gardening and Alaska books on another.

I am going to ask the VCRS Marketing Director Terri Koch if she will design and silk screen a tea (yes) tea shirt for me. It will have on the back the words RE:CYCLE and a bicycle wheel. And on the front, it will read Bright Lights Book Project. This shirt is going to have to be bright orange, so that motorists can see it.

I will, when going over Hatcher Pass on horseback, also have some books in my panniers. And I’ll restock when I get home. I can, when I arrive in Sutton, on horseback, restock the Sutton Post Office.
Way fun. I do have quite a bit of work ahead of me, and this is a bit daunting. But I’m up for it. Previously, the book project had its own momentum, and then the virus hit, and the momentum ceased. Now, it is up to me to get things going again. It does feel right now as if I am pushing a heavy rock up a steep hill. Not to worry. Others who are as invested in this as I am will undoubtedly give me a much needed assist.

Next: 130. 5/10/20: And with Spring Comes . . . Outside Work