Greetings from the Subcontinent.

A quick update as as I head into the home stretch.
I am currently about 400 km west of Agra and the Taj Mahal in the sacred Hindu city of Pushkar, Rajasthan. I can already feel the energy and pull of the Taj and that great feeling of being Done.

As I see it, I have 3-4 days of riding left and the plan is to make them count. It is a straight shot from here on out via national highway 11 and national highway 8. After 6 weeks and thousands of kilometers, my bike, much like my life (just kidding), is in varying states of disrepair. The brakes, the wheels, the tubes. the spokes- there all there and trying to fall off. The only thing that hasn't given me trouble, thank the good Lord above and all 330 million Hindu Gods, is my dear seat. A true saddle of relative comfort of first class travel.

No, I jest, without a doubt this bicycle wasn't designed to go across the Indian subcontinent in one glorious streak of fire but it has indeed proved its mettle (every last piece of it). In a certain sense, this trip as been about being "Just Enough." The bike, the distances in between cities, my physical ability, the terrain, Indian hospitality. It all has been "just enough to make this trip happen." That beautiful balance of going for it all, holding nothing back, and catching a couple of timely breaks and twists of fortunes along the way.

Two quick stories- About a week ago, I arrived in Sasan Gir National Park. The last remaining home and stronghold of the Asiatic Lion. Yeah, they still do exist but only in this small corner of Gujarat in western India after once roaming freely throughout the subcontinent and west into Persia. I arrived in the evening and was reading the information presented in the Orientation Center. There I met a park guard who had 2 uncles just come to visit him. Initial conversation led to an invitation to dinner at his home in the village close to the park. Hungry after a days ride and intrigued to experience "authentic India" I accepted. (It is one of those things where you have to use your spider senses- go with your gut and feel out the situation and whether or not to accept).

However, as Indians eat dinner around 8 pm, I didn't know where I was going to sleep that night. The park guard, my new friend, Bavesh, cheerfully said I could sleep at his house. His face became a little apprehensive however as he realized that his family shared a one room mud thatched roof house with no running water and no electricity. No bother- sounds like the Peace Corps- sounds like fun. I ended up spending 2 nights there, sleeping outside under the stars, eating like a king in a pauper's abode, the rich spices and family conversation far outstripping the want of subsistence poverty and tracking Asiatic lions on forest safaris. Alas, no sightings but we were in hot pursuit of lioness for about an hour or two. in hind sight, what the hell was I going to do if in fact we had seen. It's paw prints were twice the size of my fist.

As I was riding through the desert a week back, I stopped under the only tree for miles around to catch a breath and a bit of shade. There was a man there selling chai tea and upon seeing me, told me to leave my bike and jump on his motorcycle. He was taking me to eat lunch with his family. A couple of turns along a dirt road and a past an ancient and forgotten centuries old castle we were in his modest home sharing a meal of rice, unleavened bread and spicy hot dahl. His mother, a women in her 60's said (in Gujarati and translated into English)- "you know, its not right you traveling by bicycle."

I smiled between bites and quickly shot back: "Absolutely, but if I wasnt on a bike, I wouldnt have had the opportunity to meet you and come to know of the town of Vithalgadh." She laughed and nodded her head in a mix of agreement and wisdom. "Next time," she said, "take the bus." Sound advice and I told her that I would be back with friends.