I think like these places they aren't meant to be talked about.

They're meant to be experienced.

So go out there and make a plan as much as you can because we had a lot of unknowns,

but we planned as much as we could.

And it didn't go according to our plan, but it went well.

Welcome to the Bikes for Death podcast.

That was my friend Connor.

I'm Patrick, and I'm still your host.

Connor's reflection there reminded me of one of my favorite Edward Abbey quotes.

This is from Desert Solitaire, and if you haven't read Desert Solitaire, I would put it on your reading list.

I've read it, I don't know, many times.

And it is, it's essentially the Bible of the desert.

You know, it's just very well rented.

But Edward Abbey says, you can't see anything from a car.

You got to get out of the goddamn contraption and walk.

Better yet, crawl on hands and knees over the sandstone and through the thorn bush and cactus.

When traces of blood begin to mark your trail, you'll see something.

Maybe.

The last two years, Connor and I have gone out to Big Bend in February. It is both of our birth months. And I like to call it our Big Bend birthday

bash weekend. Last year, we did a podcast. It was called Bikepacking Basics.

It's episode number 64, I believe.

On that episode, we basically just answer a bunch of questions from the listeners, but we use that trip as the backdrop.

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