cheg

"In traveling over the vast prairies and mountains it is well that the range of our vision has certain limits. If we could take within scope of our sight the whole extent of the distance to be traveled, we should most probably give up our original intention as one of the impossibilities; a wise Providence has ordained otherwise. The distance is bounded frequently by high ranges or mountains, which cut off the perspective, or the atmosphere between the eye and the object obscures like a curtain the far spread waste, inspiring the wearied traveler with fresh and renewed energy."

Solomon Nunes Carvalho, 1857


Don't look to far ahead, focus on where you are now.

Homeyba

Apparently Soloman didn't ride across Kansas... Sage advice though.

unterhausen

Usually I just think about the next 20 miles. When I'm riding a longer ride, I can still get worked up about having to ride another 100 miles. Maybe not when I'm riding a 1200k though, 200k really does seem like a short ride when it's the last 200k.

StephenH

That brings up a good point. In 1857, he would have been traveling by horse or foot or wagon, making maybe 20 miles a day. Get in the right areas, and you can see mountains that are 120 miles away or more, so you can travel several days at that speed without getting to them. Seems like there was a story about Pikes Peak, where the namesake was planning to ride to it and go up it the next day, and at the end of the day, they had only managed to make it to the base of the mountain, without even starting up.