From the Library: Bicycling with Butterflies

 A ten thousand mile journey, by bicycle, is a considerable distance to try and plan, and attempting to chart a course along the migratory path of winged creatures would seem to maximize the likelihood of unforeseen obstacles popping up along the way. Never-the-less, the authors' passion for long-distance bike travel, as well as an equal passion for drawing attention to the plight of Monarch butterflies, was guaranteed to provide fodder for a captivating story. As a result this tale is a mixture of pitfalls and hazards, joy and success, emotional lows and highs, questions and answers. 

As modern humans we have an ever-expanding abundance of historical, and in this case, biological precedents providing suggestions for organizing routes of personal, or group, discovery - things like the Trail of Tears, Route 66, the route of the Buffalo Soldiers, the Natchez Trace, or the Lewis and Clark Expedition are examples. Years ago I became intrigued with following the old road up the bottom of San Antonio Canyon, a route by the way, that would have approximated a trade route of much earlier times; much shorter than those others by a long shot, but still, a ride of personal discovery. Bicycling with Butterflies is the first book I have come across detailing a journey along the migration route of a fellow species of this Earth and, while the route of that migration follows a clear south to north, and north to south path, it is a much wider, less well defined path than that cut by human travel. While that allowed for a certain amount of deviation, it also created certain doubts about choices, doubts that might linger for considerable time, until finally, spotting a familiar, reassuring, flash of orange and black. 

Anyway, Bicycling with Butterflies is another good read about a solo journey by bicycle, one in which the good and the bad of human nature shows through. And you may even learn some new things about butterflies.

Dykman, Sara

Bicycling with Butterflies: My 10,201-Mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration

Portland, OR: Timber Press, 2021