Reckless Adventure

Michinao Okachi
Japan
ESOL 173
Fall 2007

“I am tired! I am thirsty!” I said to myself.

The air was very cold in spite of the fact that it was August. The sun was going down, and the surrounding scenery was darkening. There was no one around. I could only hear the sound of passing cars sometimes. However, no one was paying attention to me. I had no energy to ride my bicycle, and the slope of the mountain which I was going up was amazingly steep. I had to walk.

“I can’t walk any more!” I sat on the roadside at last and I began to regret this rash adventure.

I had decided to go from Tokyo, where I lived, to Kyoto, which was my parents’ home, by my bicycle. I had had confidence that I could go to Kyoto in two days. However, I did not expect the Japanese mountains to be steep. By looking at the maps, I could not have imagined how hard it would be to climb the mountains.

I woke up at 5 a.m. and went toward Kyoto cheerfully. Actually, it was a comfortable trip because I did not need to worry about traffic jams. Moreover, I loved riding bicycles. I went more than 150 kilometers (which was about 100 miles) and reached the foot of a mountain. There was no one who was walking or riding on a bicycle. Everyone was riding in cars, yet I thought it was not difficult to go up because I was not tired in spite of having pedaled for a long time.

However, reality did not equal the expectation. After I had pedaled for 10 minutes, I began to feel tired. I got off the bicycle, and walked in order to recover my energy. Nevertheless, no matter how far I walked, I could not get back the power to ride on the bicycle, and I gave up riding it.

I walked around 4 hours; it was getting dark and I had already run out of water. I wanted to sleep and recover my energy, but I did not have a tent or blankets. “I cannot sleep outdoors.” I said to myself. Then, I decided to give up this severe journey, and use my cell phone to ask for help. However, the mountain was outside the cell phone’s service area!“Oh God! What should I do?”

I had no way out, but to continue to walk. It began to be colder and colder. In addition to that, I felt much colder because of my sweaty t-shirt. There were no houses or buildings. I heard the sound of crows. I walked more than 30 minutes. "I may die.” I felt like that. However, if I had said the words, I would have had a feeling that I would really have died. Thus, I never said such words.

Then, just before the sun sank, I saw a sign which indicated the top of the mountain. “That’s it! That’s it! That’s what I wanted see for a long time!” I shouted out, and hurried to go there with the little extra energy that I had. I almost cried.

Then, I rode the bicycle downhill. The speed was amazing! I did not pedal, but I could gather speed faster than the speed of cars. “Hey! Come on! Come on! I love this speed!”

I immediately reached the foot of the mountain. I bought water, and searched for a hotel. However, I could not find one. Thus, I had to pedal more to find it.

When I reached a bigger city two hours later, all of the hotels was booked because it was August 15th, the memorial day of the end of World War Two.

I felt bewildered again. It was completely dark. I was so tired and wanted to lie down on a bed. Then, I went to a police station to ask whether there were any places to stay or not.
“Excuse me, sir. Are there any places to stay around here other than hotels?” I asked. “What happened to you? You look so tired. What’s your name? What’s your address?” He looked at me doubtfully. “My name is Okachi Michinao. I came from Tokyo.” The moment I said Tokyo, he responded, “You came from Tokyo? Are you sure? By bicycle? Did you go up the mountain?” he screamed. “Yes, sir,” I said quietly. I did not want to hear the loud voice. “Could you tell me any place to stay?” After I questioned him quietly, he got serious and began to looking for one. After a few minutes, he brought a map and indicated one place. “This is not a hotel but a coffee shop, yet it is open 24 hours, so you can stay there. Is it okay?”“I do not care. I will sleep in that shop. Thank you very much.” After I said that, I went to the shop, and slept sitting on a chair.

Next morning, I gave up continuing the adventure by bicycle. I went back to my parents’ home by trains. After I arrived there, I slept over twelve hours.

Before that reckless adventure, I thought I could overcome many difficulties with my strength and tough spirit. However, I understand that reckless is reckless. Now, I have to consider a plan before carrying it out.