The Buddha and the Bee: Biking through America's Forgotten Roadways on an Accidental Journey of Discovery

by Cory Mortensen

Overview

Life-Changing Journey... but this is NOT a typical blah-blah-blah memoir

Planning is for sissies. A solo bike ride across the country will be filled with sunshine, lollipops, rainbows, and 80 degree temps every day, right? Not so much. The Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, an alkaline desert, and the Sierra Nevadas lay miles and days ahead. Disappointment with unrealized potential, and the thirst for what's next drew farther away in the rotating wide-angle shockproof convex rear-view mirror.

I will ride my bike down a never-ending ribbon of asphalt wearing a backpack.

Cory Mortensen began his bike ride across the United States from Chaska, Minnesota, to Truckee, California, without a route, a timeline, or proper equipment. Along the way, he gained more than technical skills required for a ride that would test every fiber of his physical being and mental toughness. Ride along as he meets "unusual" characters, dangerous animals, and sweet little old ladies with a serious vendetta for strangers in their town.

Humor ■ Insight ■ Adventure ■ Gratitude ■ Peace

From long stretches of road ending in a vanishing point at the distant horizon, to stunning vistas, terrifying close calls, grueling conditions, failed equipment, and joyous milestones he stayed the course and gained an appreciation for the beauty of the land, the genius of engineering and marvel of nature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781735498126
Publisher:	White Condor, LLC
Publication date:	08/10/2020
Series:	The Buddha and the Bee , #1
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.79(d)

Editorial Reviews

2024-04-24
A memoir chronicles one man’s bicycling journey across the western United States.

On August 22, 2001, Mortensen began a 2,000-mile trek from his father’s home in Chaska, Minnesota, to Truckee, California, on his 1999 Specialized Allez bike. Eschewing a planned route or timeline, and even proper equipment, he threw caution to the wind and hit the open road. Three days in, he wanted to quit. After pushing on, he would be chased by a pack of dogs, narrowly avoid a possible kidnapping, and fix too many flat tires to count—all while taking in the Rocky Mountains, the Great Salt Lake Desert, and the Sierra Nevadas and singlehandedly keeping small-town Subway restaurants in business. At the end of the journey, he found the courage to leave his desk job and use his savings to spend his time traveling: “On the road, no one asked anything of me. I was…coasting, looking, hearing, smelling, seeing. I picked and chose what was important. I had never before had such control over who I was or wasn’t.” Mortensen’s storytelling perfectly captures the casually intimate tone of a spontaneous conversation with a stranger. Intriguingly, the sense of freedom he describes feels like a thing of the past. Without a cell phone, he could only communicate with his loved ones via pay phones and library computers; he heard of the 9/11 attacks from passing cyclers while biking over the Rocky Mountains. Mortensen also spent his days cycling through ghost towns founded during the westward expansion of the 19th century, and, like every good travel writer, he’s a master at capturing forgotten places at specific moments in time. Travel takes on greater significance with the past as a backdrop; the book has a personalized feel to it thanks to the addition of historical anecdotes, along with photos Mortensen snapped along the way.

A humorous, insightful book for readers who enjoy the outdoors and tales of pursuing one’s dreams.

Kirkus Reviews