Traveling by bike, a challenge and a world of possibilities.
A moment of vital low spirits led the cartoonist Eleanor Davis (1983, Tucson, Arizona) to set himself a curious challenge: to ride a bike, alone, the distance that separated her parents' house in Arizona from her house in Georgia.
The 2,500 kilometer adventure , in which of course the creator of alternative comics traveled with her inseparable notebook, took her two months and led to a unique work published by Astiberri: You, a bike and the road.
Cartoonist Eleanor Davis.
"I learned that I am weaker than I would like to be," the author confesses. “That doesn't mean I can't do the things I want. My journey was not about discovering my own strength; I was scared most of the time and it was frustrating how slow it was going, but I did it anyway…and I loved doing it.”
Cover of You, a bike and the road (Astiberri).
Two months on the road alone, with journeys of up to 80 kilometers, gave Davis the opportunity to speak on her self-improvement page: "I am more intelligent, brave and powerful than I thought, but also small and naive."
But also from the barbed wire fences that she saw along the way, from the border patrols that she came across. In short, immigration, solidarity and activism.
Fragment of 'You, a bike and the road'.
“At first she – she remembers – she didn't have in mind to turn those notes into a comic. She mainly wanted to draw every day to have something to post on Instagram and Twitter because I was worried that my clients would forget me. I was very surprised when this work became a book.”
Why precisely by bike? “I love to ride a bike. I had already done routes with my friends. It's a really amazing way to travel. You can cover a lot of ground, but you're not going so fast that you miss anything."
The Texas landscape amazed the author, Eleanor Davis.
It was her friend Laura, who had cycled alone from Georgia to Oregon, who primarily gave her the inspiration. But not only: “My friend Kate also she had cycled alone through Europe. My friends Maggie and Lacey around Florida. And my parents toured England like that."
Eleanor she drew each day and wrote down the kilometers reached, the speed overcome, her technical stops, her encounters and, above all, her moods. “All the anecdotes that happened to me are reflected in the book. I met many interesting and fun people. The truth is, most people are very, very funny,” she concludes.
Fragment of 'You, a bike and the road'.
Her loneliness and weariness are also 'characters' of her personal journey, in which the pain in her knees made her want to send everything to walk on more than one occasion. But during those two months she also discovered unforgettable places.
“I loved El Paso. The Tap restaurant-bar downtown was very nice. And I really liked it too Marathon, Texas. They have a very interesting hostel called La Loma del Chivo and a small library."
"At **Fort Clark Springs , in Brackettville,** they were great. I found every spring in Texas incredibly beautiful and crystal clear. Stuart Lake, outside of Pollack, Louisiana, it's very beautiful and there are a lot of families there."
Davis faced physical and emotional limitations to live this adventure.
"Texas, all of Texas is incredibly beautiful. The light is different there. In spring, with the light and the wildflowers, I felt like I was in a beautiful dream.”
When asked how she defines herself as an artist, Eleanor tells us: “I try to be honest. I want to explain my experiences to connect with other people. I want to be good."
Fragment of 'You, a bike and the road'.
Her biggest disappointment (eye, spoiler) for her was not being able to reach the goal. “I wish I had made the trip back to my home in Georgia, of course. But then he would not have met the woman who had just lost her husband and the one I talk about at the end of the book, I wouldn't have found my cat, none of that would have happened."
And she adds: “Thinking too much about disappointments is pointless, because they have shaped our current reality in unthinkable ways, both the good things and the bad.”
Fragment of 'You, a bike and the road'.