From the Library: Lands of Lost Borders

 "... an existence rich in mountains, words, stars, wildness, really everything but money..."

Okay, that is kind of how I have tried to live my life, measuring wealth in the accumulation of experiences, so maybe a portion of what I found so appealing about this book is some kind of kindred sentiment but, mostly, it goes beyond that - Lands of Lost Borders is good reading; and that for a book that I found marked down in price at the local REI.

Let me just say out front, or at this point anyway - this is what any book that seeks to call itself a cycling travelogue should aspire to be. All the "i did this," followed by "I did that," that more typically fill the pages of such books have been replaced by descriptions that help you see, smell, and feel with your mind what the author was experiencing, rather than dryly reading them with your eyes.

Lands of Lost Borders recounts the authors' journey, taken in the company of a childhood friend along the Silk Road, between Istanbul and Kashmir. Such a journey might be daunting enough considering the plethora of counties with different languages and customs through which one must pass, but becomes even more so when saddled by the constraints of contemporary nationalist politics.

"...You are getting closer when you recognize doubt as the heaviest burden on your bike and toss it aside, for when it comes to exploring, any direction will do. You have finally arrived when you realize that persistent creak you've been hearing all this time, is not your wheels, not your mind, but the sound of the planet turning."

The planet is turning on all of us; the only way i have found to slow it is to get out and see what is there.

Harris, Kate.   Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road   Alfred A. Knopf, 2018