Wide Open – Postscript

The rain that kept coming and coming and closing roads and prematurely ending my ride did not abate after I got home. No, it kept up its unseasonable precipitation well into August.

Nigel’s neighbours, who were caravanning in South Australia and Western NSW, ended up coming back home two weeks early also. And the Mundi Mundi Bash, near Broken Hill, had massive interruptions due to all the rain. In one interview, the organiser said, “well, normally it is just cool and dry this time of year.” See this link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-19/mundi-mundi-bash-music-festival-heavy-rain-nsw/107053550

So, while I hate that other people’s plans were also ruined, I at least don’t feel so wimpy for calling an end to things a week early on this latest tour. I was truly over it by the time I got home. It was definitely the right decision.

I then headed over to America. Due to a close connection in Denver, I flew carry-on only. That feels weirdo on an international flight!

And while I had heard a zillion horror stories over the past 12-18 months of people (including Americans) being questioned and detained at Immigration at LAX, it was the quickest I’ve ever made it through. I was at the back of the plane and was still off the plane and out on the sidewalk in front of the Tom Bradley terminal in 10 minutes! I literally just kept walking the whole time, with only a momentary pause for a facial recognition photo by the Immigration Officer. Amazing.

When I got to Colorado, I spent time in Denver and Fort Collins with some old uni friends and their families. We all have gone on very different trajectories and have very different lives. If we met in the present day, would we become friends given our very different lives? I don’t know. But we always pick up right where we left off, and always fill the time with interesting conversation and catch-up, so I’m always grateful for those relationships that have stood the test of time.

I am also grateful that Bob Mould kicked off his American tour with his old band SUGAR in Denver just after I got to Colorado. I had actually postponed buying an airfare waiting for him to announce tour dates but eventually gave up and bought airline tickets. So I was the happiest person on earth that day when the dates were announced and the Denver one lined up perfectly.

The concert was nowhere near as sonic and full-on as the shows in the 90s, when the decibel levels were almost ear-bleed painful (that muffled hearing you get for a few hours after a concert?… that feeling lasted for 3 days after those 90s SUGAR concerts).

And no one was moshing. But I was not the only one jumping up and down the whole time (at elevation and wearing a mask, mind you!).

And the concert venue was excellent – if you have a chance to see something at The Mission Ballroom…. go! The sound was fantastic, the venue was set up very well and the staff were friendly. Apparently, the venue was 10 years in the making to ensure everything was just perfect.

I then headed down to see my immediate family. My brother made the the trip from his home state to coincide with my trip. We hadn’t all been together since 2022. It is always sad to see how much further my parents’ health has deteriorated and how small their lives have become. I’m so glad I spent a bunch of time there in 2022, as I thought it might be the last time we could a lot of hiking… and that was correct. I’m grateful for all those bigger hikes my dad and I did that summer, as he does not have the leg strength or stamina to do them now. My mom’s lung issues preclude anything with an incline or more than 2-3 very slow miles.

My dad still spends lots of time on garage projects, though, and had built a new skatewheel car for my guys to take home. So my dad, brother and I took all of the skate wheel cars he has made down to the skatepark and gave all the cars a run. I managed NOT to slip and fall in the skate bowl and break any more bones.

Soon enough, it was time to do that long trip home once again. I always feel so much ex-pat guilt when leaving – guilt for not being there more often, guilt for not being around to help them with things and guilt for not ever missing ‘home’. I always feel like I live two lives – my real life in Oz and this old life I step back into for a couple weeks a year with people who knew me from childhood to age 22.

While I was in America, I celebrated 25 years of living in Oz and 20 years of being a citizen. I’ve spent half of my total life in Oz and almost all of my adult life here. America has not felt like ‘home’ for a long time.

I managed to get covid from the visibly ill man next to me on the train from Melbourne to Albury. I did not have any masks left for that last leg of the 60-hour journey. I got away from the sick dude as quickly as I could, but the damage was done. I got off pretty lightly, though, with only a razor blade sore throat and headache for 24 hours and 10 days of congestion and fatigue.

I also started planning the next ride. I could not get excited about the ride to Brisbane to see the Muppet exhibition. I just felt like I was leaving too late, riding into the fire season and doing another town-to-town sort of ride which just doesn’t excite me. I want to do that ride as a big loop, excluding Brisbane, but it needs to be at another time of year to do it justice.

This is what we’re heading up to see: https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/exhibition/make-believe-magic-the-worlds-of-the-jim-henson-company

So I’ve decided to fly up to see the Muppet exhibition and then go on a VIC High Country ride instead. As soon as I made that decision, I felt so much relief. I just could not get into the Brisbane ride idea but am super-excited about heading into the bush for up to 10 days at a time and tackling all the climbs and descents on remote gravel roads. That is the sort of thing I really love the most! Not long after I made the decision, I saw reports of various bushfires along the route to Brisbane I’d planned to take, so that confirmed I’d made the right decision.

I’ve been able to plan out an initial bit of the VIC High Country ride, as shown below. Seasonal road closures don’t end until the beginning of November, so this route mostly avoids those. This is probably about 14-18 days of riding if I try to keep climbing to about 1000 metres per day.

I’m planning on riding until the beginning of November. I’ll then reassess what El Nino is doing and whether it’s safe to ride for another month. Then I will do the same reassessment at the beginning of December.

El Nino tends to bring us very hot and dry weather, and it may not be safe to be deep in the bush on a bicycle this summer. We’ll just take it as it comes.

Look for an introduction to that journal soon – but, as always, I won’t write it up until I’m finished. But “Into the Great Wide Open” is definitely finished and we are movin’ right along to the next ride.