When I laid out this summer’s tour, one of my criteria was to avoid long drives. With that objective in mind, I focused on finding cities that were less than five hours drive apart — ideally less than four.
My stop in Kennewick, WA was a byproduct of that plan. I had no idea what was in Kennewick or what to expect. All I knew was that is was roughly half way between Seattle and Boise. Funny how minimalist planning can lead to some of the best outcomes.
On my 2012 Drive N Bike, I stopped in Effingham, IL for the same reason — it was midway between Lake of the Ozarks and Columbus, OH. On my little adventure last year I met Dick Reimers, owner of the bike shop Uphill Grind who took me on a marvelous morning bike ride through the outer regions of Effingham, IL. It was truly one of the highlights of my 2012 Drive N Bike. So much so that I am working on making another cycling trek through Effingham simply to celebrate another spin around town with my new friend.
Back to Kennewick. Call me geographically ignorant; but, I had no idea the Columbia River went through this tri-cities area. I could not have expected or predicted that there would be an easily, navigable bike path along the river. And, I could not have anticipated how pleasantly comfortable I was in this town. I simply picked a spot on the map and magic happened. Another of life’s many lessons on this trip.
Simple planning and taking action are often all that are needed to celebrate a great outcome. How many times do we sit down and map, plan, organize, anticipate, think, fret, worry, and adjust, tweak, amend our plans before we do something?
Why? Do we really expect that it will go perfectly, that we can anticipate every possible outcome, and that we can organize out any failings?
The reality of life is that no matter how much we map out our life, something is going to mess up our plans. By planning a little less and living on the edge a little more, we have a great opportunity to be pleasantly surprised.
If Effingham, IL and Kennewick, WA are any indicators of the power of simply putting a pin on the map and going for it — I am a big fan of minimizing organizational planning and simply taking the leap!! Try it — embrace the adventure and the experience!
