There are some points in the story where Dykman gets a little preachy about conservation, but it is one of her passions, so that could be excused. It’s not overwhelming, and I actually finished this book admiring her dedication to her cause. Along the way, she trusted her instincts, relied on the kindness of others, and followed the science. Challenges occurred yet Dykman persisted with determination and a strong sense of purpose. Her journey is a cultural one, too, that stretches from horse-pulled vegetable garden furrows to urban high-rises, and from flattened habitat to nurturing wildflower growers (including Texas-based Native American Seed), school gardens, and home gardens big and small. 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. I celebrated my birthday and my survival by ending my day long before the sun did. After sixty-five car-crazed miles, my mind, legs, and butt were all pleading, STOP!

Avoiding the coldest, wettest conditions is of the utmost importance for monarchs, as their nightmare scenario occurs when the two conditions overlap. Cold, dry monarchs at least stand a chance. Cold, wet monarchs are in real danger. Monarchs get wet when they are exposed to precipitation or dew. Clustering monarchs in a healthy forest are protected from storms, but as trees are removed, monarchs are left exposed." It’s just a devastating decline,” said Stuart Pimm, an ecologist at Duke University who was not involved in the new listing. “This is one of the most recognizable butterflies in the world.” a long trip is nothing more than a collection of miles. If I could bike one mile, then I could bike two. If I could bike two, then I could bike 10,000. The group estimates that the population of monarch butterflies in North America has declined between 22% and 72% over 10 years, depending on the measurement method.

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Many thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for allowing me to review a digital arc of this book. From the start, I was in awe of the author and her story. Thirty two years old, with courage for days, no smartphone and only paper maps. With both humor and humility, Dykman offers a compelling story, confirming the urgency of saving the threatened monarch migration – and the other threatened systems of nature that affect the survival of us all. Monarchs must be at least 41 degrees F to crawl and 55 degrees F to fly (known as their flight threshold)."

The butterflies flew, and since I couldn’t fly, I biked. After so much planning, so much dreaming, so much work, I was officially butterbiking with the butterflies. The name of my project, Butterbike, finally made sense. She has no regard for private property and even turns a trespassing situation with cops into a commentary on race. You are not entitled to ignore posted signs and then get offended when property owners or police question you. Be thoughtful, respectful, and mature, especially when you are a self-proclaimed ambassador for the Monarch.My camping options were not obvious. There were open fields of young corn, rows of spiderlike agave plants, clusters of colorful cement houses, and the occasional grove of spared pine trees. Even though I had biked thousands of miles and deliberated over camping spots hundreds of times, each night was its own puzzle.

Sara’s Butterbikes is just one of her adventure-linked projects in Beyond a Book where she connects real-time adventures to classrooms. On her 2017 trip, she talked with over 9000 people, along with hundreds of interviews and thousands of roadside encounters. Sara’s hope and vision is “That we can start to see the world and share the world with monarchs, and we can share the world with cyclists. And we can also share the world with people that don’t look like me, with people of color that might feel too scared for a good reason to camp behind a church. I think the monarchs helped me see that. And I think the more we can see and the more we can see the world through the perspective of different people and different animals and different plants, the healthier the world will be for everyone.” And there are plenty of opportunities to advocate: "The farm is the monarchs’ present, and the seeds it produces can plant the monarchs’ future. Halfway through our farm tour, Bill stopped and dropped to the ground. On his belly, he gently prodded a small purple plant emerging along the trail—an Earth inhabitant he deemed worthy of examination. I don’t recall the plant’s name, but I do remember the grandeur of its tiny petals and Bill’s curiosity. I remember admiring his relationship with every native plant, which gave him eyes to see a world most of us miss. He sees caterpillars as success, small plants as potential crops, and bugs as bird food. I knelt down, learning to see and celebrate the secrets cultivated by wildness."

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Also- I enjoyed how she touched on what it was like to ride solo as a woman, and how she was discouraged by many people from doing so because it was 'dangerous' yet most of the people and situations that she encountered were friendly. She didn't let fear-mongering get in her way. She was smart about risks and made good choices along the way. Dykman is obviously very passionate about conservation. I liked reading about how the book combines her passions with the practical matters of a long bike tour and scientific information. She does an excellent job presenting science and conservation information in an engaging way. During her trek, the author highlighted the monarchs’ plight, giving presentations at schools and explaining her mission to curious bystanders. Her book is a passionate celebration of the glory of the monarchs, with tips on what people can do to ensure their survival. She also writes about the challenges she faced – problems all too common for an experienced long-distance cyclist: bad weather, flat tires, questioning by authorities, and, in the case of this trip, one uncomfortable human encounter.

Without a smartphone, my only option was to rely on the clues of the road, my horrible sense of direction, and my paper map. This map had been only semi-reliable on my first bicycle trip through Mexico. The creases were worn and I’d covered most of it in clear tape to protect it. What I was protecting, however, was a colorful piece of paper that was accurate about 70 percent of the time. Even if the cities were misnamed and some of the roads didn’t actually exist, I used it because it was better than nothing. Doubt is as much of an adversary on a long trip as tired muscles are. However, just as legs can be conditioned to carry one farther, a mind can be conditioned, too. The key, at least for me, was to ignore the big picture. Never project thousands of miles into the future. Instead, think about the next mile, the next town, or (best of all) the next meal. In this way, I could confront small distances, and celebrate strings of tiny victories that would soon add up. I knew this strategy because I was not on my first long trip. I had already pedaled thousands of miles, including a twelve-country bicycle trip from Bolivia to Texas and a forty-nine-state tour around the United States. What these trips had in common was the sense of impossibility that lingered at the start. Before each trip, people told me my dream was not attainable, that I would probably die. Before each trip, I worried that I would fail. But by continuing, I had proved each time that a mile is a mile, regardless of how many are strung together. Queen butterflies absolutely cannot resist Gregg’s mistflower ( Conoclinium greggii), a perennial that blooms in fall but sometimes at other times, too. Here’s how to tell the difference between queen and monarch butterflies. Starting from the El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Preserve in Michoacán, Mexico in March 2017—sometimes with unreliable maps or no map at all—she kept her eyes on the true road ahead. “The goal of my butterfly bicycle trip was to be a voice for the monarch and to really tell people that they need our help. The monarchs need us to share our yards with them. And of course, halfway through my trip, I realized I had a lot to say and I had a lot of opinions. And often I was a little, I was very angry. I shouldn’t say a little. I was very angry at the state of the planet and how much we’ve stolen from the monarchs and how we just refuse to share,” she told us.

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Dykman's transformation as she follows the kaleidoscope of butterflies is a wonder to observe as it unfolds [...] Her writing is frank, uplifting, informative, and gorgeous." PDF / EPUB File Name: Bicycling_with_Butterflies_-_Sara_Dykman.pdf, Bicycling_with_Butterflies_-_Sara_Dykman.epub People have long been fascinated by the monarch butterfly's migration across the North American continent. Thanks to this book, readers have a better idea of what that incredible journey entails [...] Dykman's enthusiasm will motivate others to be more thoughtful about their decisions."