The View From The Bridge

Every Monday while I’m on this crazy ride I’m sharing some reflections about the Mississippi River as a metaphor for a dream. You can see previous articles here.

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I’m noticing a lot about the river as I live with it.

I’ve lived in the Midwest a lot of my life. I can’t imagine how many times I’ve crossed the Mississippi River without paying much attention. At freeway speeds, it’s there one moment and gone the next.

But when you travel along its length, you have time to notice stuff. Small stuff, subtle changes, things you don’t see from the bridges. You realize that the river isn’t constant, that it’s not just a big ribbon of water.

The river has a life of its own, and you can only perceive its nature by being with it for a while. Drive-by encounters won’t do.

I think dreams work like that. When you pass by someone’s dream, it’s pretty hard to understand it. There’s a lot going on that you just can’t see from the bridge at highway speed.

I think perhaps that’s why others’ dreams are sometimes so hard to understand. When you live with a dream, it looks a lot different than it appears on a quick drive-by. Maybe the idea that seems crazy at from the bridge at freeway speed makes more sense when you travel with it a while.

Maybe we should be a bit slower to judge the worthiness of a dream based on its appearance as we intersect its path.

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Today begins week five of the journey. At 763 miles we’re just about on schedule to complete 1500 miles.

Today we’ll head out of St Louis toward Carbondale. Tuesday and Wednesday bring great opportunities to speak with students in several venues at Southern Illinois University. I’m not sure when we’ll squeeze in time to ride, but it’ll work out somehow.

For those who’ve followed the GPS tracker, I apologize for the glitches at the end of last week. It’s a bit touchy—glad my life doesn’t depend on it! However, it appears to be working again. Thanks for your patience.

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Where’s Rich? Today This Week

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