On the Road

This week prior to the 'Hotter than Hell' Paddy decided that we needed to rest our bodies and prepare our minds.

The first bit was fine by me as I sought to change the colour of my body from a Yorkshire Tan (Pale White) to something that might just stand out in a snowfield.

Paddy idea of mental preparation was a 'Road trip'. Yes by car.

This was a real novel concept to me as my own car had only done barely 2000 miles this year.

When we were Paddy and I used to watch the famous 'Road to' films staring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope with the romantic interest always provided by the delectable Dorothy Lamour. This was my first introduction into the Road film genre.

Personally I have always believed that any 'journey' whether physical or metaphorical is usually far more interesting and revealing that the point of departure or arrival.As a film genre it has always been popular with Hollywood.The genre has its roots in spoken and written tales of epic journeys, such as the Odyssey and the Aeneid. The road film is a standard plot employed by screenwriters. It is a kind of bildungsroman, a kind of story in which the hero changes, grows or improves over the course of the story. The modern "road picture" is to filmmakers what the heroic quest was to Medieval writers.
The on-the-road plot was used at the birth of American Cinema but blossomed in the years after World War II, reflecting a boom in automobile production and the growth of youth culture. Even so, awareness of the "road picture" as a genre came only in the 1960s with Easy Rider and Bonnie and Clyde. Road movies traditionally end in one of four ways:
* Having met with triumph at their ultimate destination, the protagonist(s) return home, wiser for their experiences.
* At the end of the journey, the protagonist(s) find a new home at their destination.
* The journey continues endlessly.
* Having realised that, as a result of their journey, they can never go home, the protagonists either choose death or are killed.
About Schmidt
Broken Flowers
Duel
Easy Rider
Elizabethtown
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Little Miss Sunshine
Midnight Run
Paper Moon
Paris, Texas
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Our trip takes us to San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Witchita Falls (Hotter N Hell) then back to Houston. We will visit the Alamo to raise our spirits and generate a rallying call for our pedalling on Saturday.

The rest today was not totally adhered too as we did have a little ride around the beautiful 'Terry Hershey' Park in Houston.

Simon Paddy