Meeting God on my bicycle tour by Bill Poindexter
As most of you know, over the last few years, I’ve been on a journey to come to terms with my own spirituality. I’ve had numerous conversations with people from all different religions, and I’ve gone in meditation, asking for guidance from the universe. And I find that when I am traveling, and I travel by bicycle on self contained bicycle tours, also known as bikepacking, if you’re not familiar with Bikepacking, just think backpacking, but on a bicycle-I’m carrying all my camping gear as well as food and water and tools for my bicycle.
And on this particular journey, synchronicity played a big part of the whole journey coming together -everything from being able to raise/earn funds for the journey to someone loaning me a bicycle, and it was very interesting about how all the timing came together as I was originally supposed to start the journey in Canada but instead had to start two weeks later further south by taking a train to Santa Fe New Mexico, and then making my way up to Taos because of some conversations I had about Taos having a spiritual Vortex with some locals that I met in Santa Fe after getting kicked out of a hostel- That’s another story for another time. And then making my way from Taos across a vast Desert basin to the beginnings of the great divide mountain bike route, which I started at Hopewell Lake New Mexico and then I rode for the next 40 days to Banff Alberta Canada.
This the story of me leaving Taos and it’s about an experience I had on the way to a town called Tres Piedres right at the edge of the Carson National Forest.
I woke early in the morning on the covered front doorstep of the visitor center in Taos, New Mexico. I slept illegally, probably, I might add because I was on a tight budget on the trip and there had been a thunderstorm the night before, so I decided not to camp and I figured, well, it’s a visitor center. It was closed and I slept on the front doorstep. I got up and left at first light made my way to McDonald’s where I had breakfast with some homeless people and then I did a little sightseeing around the town, but Taos didn’t do anything for me. I decided to make my way to the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route or at least get as far as I could that day.
I met a Native American man and we had some interesting conversations. He was the maintenance man for the Rio Grande Gorge rest area, the Gorge, also known as the Little Grand Canyon, was just west of Taos.
He was kind enough to offer me water and asked questions about my journey.
I told him I was heading to Canada, and he in his simple way said,
“Canada that’s a long way. How are you gonna get there?”
I told him I was gonna ride the great divide mountain bike route
and he said “well there’s an easier way”
and I said “yeah I’m sure there is.”
He smiled. “How did you get here?” He asked
And I said well I just took the highway
“there’s an easier way to get here to from Taos” he said
“you just go to the end of town take the dirt road go to the second Mesa and take a right“
I said oh, I didn’t know that. But I love that simplicity, “just go to the second mesa and take
a right!“
We had a great conversation and shook hands and I rolled out across the basin to Tres Piedres, which is about 40 miles to my destination. It was already close to noon, and it was a hot day, and the sun high as I meandered across the desert on my bicycle being unsure of what my future was going to hold over the next month or so. I contemplated life as I rolled across the desert, I would see mini dust devils / vortexes rise, and there wasn’t a lot of traffic, and it reminded me of a scene out of Lawrence of Arabia. The movie with Peter O’Toole playing,
T.E. Lawrence, crossing the great Desert.
I rode and contemplated life, I would go deeply meditation and speculate on my own existence, mortality, and purpose. As I crossed the vast desert with few cars, I would periodically stop to have some food and water looking down one side of the highway and then the other with no sign of humans just the mirages rising from the heat of the day on the road – I marveled at the beauty of the desert and of New Mexico. After 2 -3 hours I started to get fatigued. I probably hadn’t been drinking enough water and hadn’t eaten enough food which is pretty normal on my expeditions -in the beginning as it takes me a few days to get dialed in on how much food and water I need and the desert itself was very hot and dry. I would continue to occasionally stop to have drink and I would look behind me, and in front of me and see the vastness of the road and see the mirages as the dust devils Danced off in the distance. I was in deep thought, and I knew I wasn’t very far from the town probably 15 miles or so, an easy ride for me.
I was in deep thought and all the sudden out of nowhere there was an old pick up truck like one of those small pick up trucks from the 90s. It was covered with rust and there was a bunch of junk in the back. It seemed like it was going just a little bit faster than my pace, and I hadn’t heard it coming, but I caught it out of the corner of my eye as it started to pass me.
I turned my head as it just went past, and I could see there was no back window there was an old man, skinny, scruffy looking, tanned with deep wrinkles, gray hair and a beard, and he looked directly at me, and I remember thinking he had the clearest blue eyes I’ve ever seen in my life as our eyes connected, and he smiled, winked at me and nodded and then sped off. The look he gave me was one of comfort, that calmed me.
I had felt alone on the road and been feeling a little bit anxious and that one look that one glance, gave me comfort. I think maybe it was just that I wasn’t alone then.
I started feeling very fatigued and occasionally when you don’t eat enough or drink enough, you have an experience called -bonking. It’s where you don’t have enough calories in your body, and you start getting, very fatigued, low blood sugar, shaky, erratic heartbeat, go slower than normal and it’s important to stop and take a break.
I turned off the road into an area that was going into a sparsely populated residential area and there was a place on the side of the road just off the highway that was covered with some picnic benches. I didn’t have much water left maybe half a bottle left but I did have some food so I ate some food drank the rest of my water and I was only about 6 miles from town so I knew I’d be OK. I took a quick nap on the picnic bench. And after about an hour I felt better and got up, packed my bike. I was walking out to the road, pushing my bike, the man in the pick up truck pulled up. I think I had stopped on the road he lived on.
He stopped right in front of me and smiled at me with those infinite blue eyes.
He grinned and I smiled. The pick up truck itself was an old dilapidated truck. Lots of rust, very old and I could see that even in the inside of the truck some of the seats were didn’t even have fabric on them. They were just rusted old Wire frames from underneath, and the man himself had a little puppy dog wrapped around his neck, who is just as happy as could be and I looked at the passenger side and saw that he had some packages and bags of stuff and there was a case of beer and 2 L bottles of vodka, and he had a beer in between his legs.
“How ya doing?” He asked
“I’m doing good, just took a break in the shade.” I said
“Where you heading?”
“To town, then over the the Continental Divide to ride a road to Canada.”
“Canada! That is gonna take some time.” he said laughing
“I’d offer you a beer but I don’t think you would want it.”
Actually, I did, but I didn’t want to deprive him of his stash. I asked him if he had any water, he said, no, and then I told him that was a good looking little puppy he had on his shoulders.
“ Yeah, I’m teaching him how to drive!” he explained reaching up petting the dog. “No, I’m just teasing, he’s too young to drive.”He said rubbing the dog’s head vigorously.
I just smiled and was unsure what to say. Actually, I think he was probably teaching the dog how to drive. I thanked him for stopping. And we parted ways.
I remember the comfort he gave me by that interaction, the calmness and the presence of mind. And I like to think that he was an angel or God, and that out of all the people around there this poor scraggly old man who in the desert with his dog after most likely cashing his Social Security check, was kind enough to stop and offer me help in guidance if I needed it. And honestly at that time, bonking, feeling stressed out, uncertain of the long expedition I was on solo. I was scared and stressed out physically and mentally and I was very uncertain of my future and I needed a calming voice, a calming presence. Unconditionally. And as I rode away, I just shook my head, and said, “wow!“
I remember as I looked in those beautiful blue eyes I saw something I saw a light.
Some things are hard to explain in life. But I remember those blue eyes, which twinkled with light, like sunlight or moonlight reflecting off the vastness of an ocean. I don’t know, but in my mind, and in that moment I met,God.
Perhaps, the God/ Universe within all of us?
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Peace and love from the road Bill Poindexter.
