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There’s plenty of emotion too. Sara loses her cool. She shows her anger at habitat destruction, bad decisions, and industrial mowers cutting down vegetation despite the presence of monarch eggs. She challenges the notion that 'composed apathy' is dignified while speaking the truth is considered unbecoming.
Her anecdotes about travelling as a single female on a bike and finding places to camp were interesting. She's a glass half empty kind of person. Lots of info about habitat destruction, which is fine and a well deserved cause to be passionate about, but the scenes about the people who ARE making a difference just don't have the same emotional impact. Presentation and tone can make a huge difference in the outcome of your story. I'm assuming she wants to motivate people to make a difference, not just shame people for things they have only indirect relationships to. While I appreciated her raw emotions in her story as they related to animal deaths or habitat, there was also a tone of hatred and condescension that really bothered me. Some excerpts talked as though cars are horrible things or the drivers are heartless because an animal is accidentally killed. Sie describes not being able to forgive those who destroyed pollinator habitat, even though she was describing farmers and general civilians who likely just didn't know.Did you know that monarch butterflies leaving Mexico in March are not the same ones that return in fall, or even the ones that we’ll see in our gardens and around town? Last October, when I spotted this one on Salvia farinacea ‘Henry Duelberg’, fueling up for the next leg, I wondered where it started its life cycle.
I have read a number of enlightening and enjoyable books about the adventures of researchers trying to learn more about the natural world, but Bicycling with Butterflies is the best I have seen. In Ohio, wildlife gardener Kylee Baumle–a friend I met online and in person over the years–hosted Sara in her home and set up talks with local schools. She documented her solitary 10,201-mile journey in Bicycling with Butterflies, a real-life adventure story of bravery, commitment, friendships, hardships, plain old spunk, and self-discovery. Can you imagine living for months on what you could haul on a bike? No smartphone. Often no internet connection, shower, or market in sight through rain, brutal heat, and freezing cold. Just like the monarchs. The sun’s warmth began to pour steadily through the branches, and the monarchs responded by opening their wings, every scale twinkling with gratitude. In the spotlight of spring, butterflies by the thousands sailed toward the sky as fluttering eruptions of orange. The monarchs crowded the skies, painted poems against the blue, and danced with the wind. The song of millions of wings hummed through the trees’ needles, and I felt the anticipation in their swirling flight.
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Does that sound daunting? Don’t stop pedalling! The way Sara weaves the science into the physical adventure is the strength of the book. She makes the science interesting and palatable to the layman.
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