A Warm Shower

www.warmshowers.org is a community for touring cyclists and hosts. It is similar to www.couchsurfing.org, but with an emphasis on bicycle touring. When traveling by bike, people can contact someone registered with warmshowers.org and request to stay with them for a night. And in turn they will be gracious and offer their place and any amenities they desire. It is based wholly on 100% hospitality and common courtesy is expected. Why do I mention this? Well, last weekend I had two such bicycle tourists stop by and crash for a night. One (Kai) was from Germany and the other (Marco) from Seattle. Kai, a bicycle messenger, flew into Seattle and met up with his buddy Marco, also a bike messenger. Together they rode their bikes south and met up with me in Salem on Sunday night. They were heading to San Francisco where Marco would fly back to Seattle and Kai would ride on, making his way to Mexico City where there is a bike messenger world championship taking place.

These two were very friendly and even shared their pasta and apple pie with me. Although, they did leave their beers in my frig which I don't plan on drinking myself. But I got inspired by their gung-ho attitude. They were not carrying much and were able to ride between 100 to 150 miles daily. They liked to see stuff, but they were all about the miles. If they can do that, I can surely average 50 miles daily. I enjoyed talking with them and accommodating another bicycle tourist or two in this case in my home. For, I don't have many, if any friends who share my passion for bicycle traveling. Hopefully things like this upcoming trip and the local bike club will help me gain some adventure-minded friends.

That said, I do enjoy camping out in the wild, but also, I would very much like to take advantage of warmshowers.org and meet people and have great conversations. Plus, I will be on a strict budget and this will help in cutting costs. A warm shower wouldn't hurt either...to wash off my bike grime.

Ah, adventure looms around the corner and the wind beckons forth...

As the days count down

As the days count down to take off I find myself getting more and more excited and anxious about every detail and plan made. As an American tourist, I tend to fret too much rather than do what I ought to: just get on the bike and peddle. I know I'll be okay out there on the road and I know I always have a place to run to if I need it, but the simple fact is this has been a dream of mine for a very long time and it's finally becoming a reality. Truth be told, if you have a dream and you want it bad enough you just need to take a risk and fight for it. You can't let life hold you down where you continuously find yourself saying, 'man I wish I could have done that when I had the chance.' It only sets you up for that last day on earth where you say to yourself the only thing I regret is not doing what I wanted to do. Life is yours to live, so live it. That said, I could use my summer vacation to sit around, watch movies, go on hikes, camping, hang out with family, be comfortable, but I have a dream and my hope is that this trip will be the start of something bigger...

June 15th sets me on a path I know will change me for the greater. One week alone in the wilderness can do so much to one's mind. Granted, I won't be completely alone with my friend and supporter joining me for most of the adventure. I will be in the wilderness and cities taking in the most breathtaking vistas, skies, waterfalls, and coastlines, and all at 10 mph. Cars passing me at 80 miles and hour on roads without shoulders, unpredictable rain showers, cold brisk mornings and grueling desert heat will surely test every ounce of mental strength I have. I'll find myself crying my eyes out in the middle of nowhere from the doorstep of God's creation, the physical pain I will endure and the loneliness I will feel. But it is all for the sake of adventure and dreaming...dream to live? or live to dream?

When I return in August I will have ridden my bike over 3500 miles, become a new man and have found a new respect for life and the great beauty that is our world...though only a glimpse of it. I will spend Independence Day with the company of the Golden Gate and will arrive home on my birthday to celebrate another year gone by, an adventure complete and cheers to looking ahead for adventure number two. For those of you who want to follow my progress, I will try my best to update my blog when given the chance and my friend has downloaded strava on his smartphone. It is a ride-tracking/sharing application that allows friends and family to track my progress back home. I hope to make at least a slideshow if not movie of my travels when I return sharing my experiences with folks along the way, the hard times, break downs and the emotional battles one faces on the bike for so long. And you guessed it, I will also work on putting together a travel book of sorts chronicling my odyssey.

Please take the time to share my blog with others and help make a difference.

dream big,

Penn

ONE

I am but one. One among many. So, here’s my thought: I enjoy travel. I like adventure and arguably come from a very adventurous family. My Mom is a world traveler and has been to close to fifty different nations. My Dad has been to several with her and always enjoys exploring the wilderness with loved ones. My sister has traveled criss-cross around the country and has also done a fair amount of traveling and missions work in other nations. My brother has traveled in Eastern Europe and road tripped through Central America. He is currently enrolled in a 2-year mountain guide school that has taken him from Alaska to Patagonia to Spain and back again. With all these travels comes many experiences and meeting new people, eating new foods and doing new activities in amazing and not-so amazing settings. So, in a word: adventure. Therefore, it is not by mistake that I would pick up the same adventure gene and want the same for my life. The same ‘ole thing gets kind of boring and the world beckons for attention.

I am but one. There is one of me on this Perfect Circles odyssey next summer. Granted, I do have a support guy that is in as well. And for that I am very grateful and welcome him and his wife with open arms as they did to me a few years ago. However, for the sake of argument, there is one going on this trip. I have clumped me and my friend into the “one.” I have made the route publicly known and have sent out advertisements for companions. I have invited anyone who wants to come along for any leg of the journey. I have had a few minor interests, but nothing definite. I know everyone has their lives and not many people can just take a summer and leave, but no one even has expressed so much as a “awe man, I wish I could go.” I have tried to gain supporters and raise any funds for said trip that would’ve been a support raising journey for the start of a camp or a bicycle trip ministry, but within the past year I have had zero interest. I am not saying I don’t have support. I do. I have people who believe in me and support my decisions. But beyond that (save from my family) I have had zero interest. I ran into the same obstacle with my dream to start a Christian camp ministry. In my journey I have discovered that no one is willing to “get their hands dirty” but many are willing to “support me.” I don’t really know what “support” means to a lot of people, but it seems to me that they use that word all to frequently and it has lost some of its meaning.

I ask, “Where have all my good friends gone to?” I was thinking just the other day that if a friend of mine was in my position asking for companions or whatnot, I would have been all over that. If nothing else, I would be excited for them. This is not a complaint blog. It is more of an observance blog. With four months to go until departure day, I can’t help but notice and observe the lack of support. This trip, I hope, goes hand-in-hand with my dream of staring a camp. “Perfect Circles” is not just a name I devised for this 2014 trip, it is the name of a hopeful future bicycle adventure ministry. This trip, I have made it known will hopefully be the first in many trips and adventures (with differing locations) in a series of “Perfect Circles” journeys that will, God-willing reflect research and support-raising for a future in Christian camping that may first take form as a bicycle adventure ministry for youth and adults.

Here’s to hoping a future blog will claim two or three or thirty-four.

I do thank all of you have expressed some form of support for me and my trip. Gratitude goes out to. But for now…keep the wheels rolling and the sending the prayer upwards. I will update more as “Perfect Circles” is formed and I talk to my present comrade-in-arms. Peace to you.

Weather or not, here I come

In just four short months I will embark on a journey of a lifetime (which itself will hopefully be the first in a series of “Perfect Circles” journeys). In a way it seems surreal, especially when I don’t feel ready. Part of me wants to plan and likes to plan, but another part of me says, “just skip the planning and GO.” I have read up on many adventurers and their treks and recently I came upon one guy who basically chose not to prepare at all, well at least prepare in the “this is where I’m going” aspect. He took his bike, tent, and toothbrush and headed out to get lost on the open road to cycle around the world. It just so happens fate had other plans and he met a girl enroute and fell in love. But isn’t that the essence of adventurous travel? That is what separates travel from adventurous travel I suppose. Whatever happens in four months, I will be on an adventure. This does comfort me some to know that whatever purchases I may need or whatever planning I think necessary, the “Go factor” is what matters and the open road is what beckons and looms over the rest.

                                   

I would be lying if I said I had no worries. Worry beckons whenever I get dizzy from inactivity or I feel sick from cycling across town. Worry makes itself present when my legs fail to carry me up a mild city hill or when my core feels weak or when my bike acts up and I need to get it looked at. In a Bible study a few weeks ago I looked at the Do Not Worry passage in the Gospel of Luke. That passage is so relevant and yet so easy to look past and ignore. What do I have to worry about? God will protect me and provide for me as He has protected and provides for the sparrows and lilies. But alas, it is much easier to say or write such things than it is to put into practice. After all, God has provided this adventure and laid a dream in my lap…so why wouldn’t He keep me safe on such a voyage? It will be an incredible feeling once I get a few weeks down the road and learn to keep my wits about me and have a sense of “this is actually happening!”

So I say to you, “Weather or Not, Here I Come.” (Now, before you English fanatics get excited, no I did not misuse the word ‘weather’ when I should’ve used ‘whether,’ nor did I unintentionally replace ‘ready or not’ with ‘weather or not.’) ‘Weather or not, here I come’ refers not only to the physical elements that surround us out-of-doors, but also to any physical bodily weather or preparation weather. Where do you think they get the term, “Under the weather?” I pray that I will cycle above the weather and gouge out any eye of any storm that I may encounter. I pray that I will fear no evil or thief or trucker or hill that I will encounter. Whether there is weather or not (and there will be, so the “or not” is obsolete) I will ride my mechanical horse down the Pacific Coast of the US of A and God-willing, back up through the Mojave Desert and Sierra Nevada Mountains. Weather will try to haunt me all the way along and will be my constant companion but I must embrace it like a brother. Although I do ask for your prayer, even though it is four months away, I ask for prayer for final preparations and also during the trip itself. The weather will find me. I pray that it won’t find me unawares. This is becoming real. This is actually going to happen. What have I gotten myself into? Well, the answer is: adventure.

Weather or not, here I come…

Reflections on a week with no riding + My proposed route

Well well, it's been awhile. I thought I ought to return with a blog before you thought I was backing out of this endeavor of mine. I must assure you that it is still on. Some may think I am a bit crazy for doing such a thing in such short a time, but if I knew I would succeed in this, it would be too easy. The super bowl is playing on the tube in the background, but seeing that I am not much of a football fan, I thought I'd pen a blog instead. The game may be  more interesting if the players were all riding bikes or shooting arrows, but I digress. Although...I do enjoy the commercials and trailers. I just got chills up my spine when I saw the new Transformers movie. Maybe I'll get to see it on my trip.

Last Monday on the way to my ASL class, my rear tire blew causing me to walk the rest of the way. Since my tire-changing expertise is lacking, especially when it involves my rear tube, I needed to take it in to a bike shop. A few lazy days later, I finally did. However, needless to say, I went without riding a bike for the longest time since September. It's been a week since I've felt the wind at my back (or front) and experienced the challenge of traveling up a hill. I have had to take that wretched form of transportation called a car. Ironically, the less I drive, the more I dislike driving. That should be backwards. But alas, my tire is fixed and God-willing I should be back on two wheels tomorrow for my morning commute.

Simply put: driving is lame. Stuck in traffic, stop and go, impatient honkers, expensive fuel prices and insurance...it does get you places faster, I'll give you that....only sometimes though, sometimes a bike is faster. But the heater in the auto succumbs you to comfort so easily. I'm sure, even being gone a week, it will still take a little bit of time to get used to riding again...to be in the elements, the cold, the heat, the wind, the hills, the freedom. I have given some thought, not seriously min you, that when my car's life comes to an end, I should take note of my transportation needs and perhaps just forget about getting a new car...and make cycle-commuting my life...but only time will tell on that one.

I did recently get some panniers for my bike and am still figuring them out...things are coming together! In the coming weeks I will talk to my support guy (who is currently on a mission to Mexico) about some specifics and share with him my proposed route for the trip in which I attached here. I hope you enjoy it. If you or someone you know lives along my route and would like to accommodate me, please let me know...that would be so great!! Or, if you see a leg of the journey in which you would like to travel with me, either by bike or auto, that's cool too. I'd love the company! But for now, I'm out. Take care and enjoy your own adventures.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

This is a question that many ask weighing the outcomes of each. What are the outcomes if I STAY: Safety, comfort, stability, security, status quo, boredom, control, expectations. When I think of a trip of this magnitude that I am about to embark on, I cannot help but think upon the COMFORT and SAFETY I will give up. But alas, as Christians, believers in Christ, we are not called to be safe. God himself is not safe, not tame, but He is good. I view adventure the same way. It will be a trek into an untamed wilderness and the safety zone behind me will linger there until I turn a corner into the unknown street. When Simon Peter walked on water as he so famously is known, I cannot help but focus on the other eleven disciples. Peter gets such a hard time for being the disciple who took his eyes off of Jesus, but guess what? He was the only man who stepped out of the comfort of the boat to follow his Lord. The others just sat there and thought he was crazy. Some will think I am crazy for cycling down the Pacific Coast and back up through the Sierra Nevadas during the hottest part of the year with a deadline lingering in front of me. But those folks are the guys and gals who will not even leave the boat. They won’t leave the house, the town, the state…and if they do, it will be by a motorized means. When I venture out my STABILITY will be altered, my SECURITY tampered with, the STATUS QUO out of whack. Becoming a vagabond as one wandering from village to city, BOREDOM will never take place. The CONTROL of my circumstances will be out of my hands. I cannot EXPECT what will happen to me or whom I will meet. Adventure awaits…

                                                                                                           

Should I stay or should I go?

What are the outcomes if I GO: Sacrifice, blessing, risk, hope, adventure, fear, change, faith. Next summer I will SACRIFICE my time that I could be spending with family and friends, watching movies, hanging out and enjoying life at home twiddling my thumbs. That is a sacrifice I am willing to make. If I do not sacrifice and take the plunge, I will be missing out on the BLESSINGS of a God who has called us to sacrifice our very selves. My friends, it is a blessing to go. It is most definitely a RISK to step out of the boat, but oh the joys that will befall you are boundless. Risky business is always wary when you don’t know what will happen next, but that is the joy…the joy of not knowing. Whom do you put your trust in? If it is someone or something other than God Almighty, then you do have something to worry about, but if He is for you, who can be against you? Step out and have a blast. When you do step out, you will be filled with HOPE, hope that you will return, hope that around the next corner will be an ice cream shop and hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. As I have mentioned and will continue to mention, there will be no lack of ADVENTURE outside of the boat. Yes, challenges will happen, but where do we grow? Where are we stretched the most? Inside or outside of the boat? I’ll let you answer that one yourself. FEAR is one that gets me and I’m sure it gets you as well. There will be many dangers along this odyssey and it will not be without fear. But fear is actually good to have. Without fear, adventure will lose its meaning. But with the CHANGING tides, new experiences and opportunities will present themselves and who knows what will happen on the road to exploration. If I set my eyes on the One who has gotten me thus far and is taking me even farther, what do I have to worry? I put my FAITH in Him and His doings and not my own. That is the key I suppose. I long for this trip, but as the weeks turn into months and as the new year is right around the corner I think of all I need to do to get ready for Perfect Circles 2014…will this trip actually happen? Am I ready? It must happen, I’ve told so many people about it. I can’t let them down now…nor ever. I feel like Gollum at times with a contradicting conversation piercing my thoughts. Safety or Sacrifice? Comfort or Risk? Security or Hope? Boredom or Adventure? Control or Change? Expectations or Faith? Stay or Go?

Should I stay or should I go?

A Good Salemite Story

Last weekend as I was riding past Riverfront Park here in downtown Salem, I witnessed a horrific sight. I glimpsed an old cyclist crossing a railroad track as he was leaving the park. As it happens, he did not make it past the tracks. As I looked over I saw him and his bike do a nose dive into the pavement in front of him. At first I did not know what was happening. For a split second, my mind did a flip-flop and a double take. Did that really happen? It looked like slow motion. Regardless, I didn’t think twice as I pedaled on over to him forgetting my agenda. I laid my bike down and knelt down close to this man. He was in bad shape. His face was smashed against the cement with a puddle of blood to show for it. He wasn’t moving except for some shaking and groaning. I quick whipped out my cell phone and dialed 9-1-1. There really wasn’t anyone else around save for the passing cars that took no notice. As I was waiting for the dispatcher to pick up, a gentleman was walking towards me to see what the problem was. I called over to him and asked if he had a phone because mine for whatever reason was not getting through to Emergency. Of all the times for my phone to malfunction, this had to be it. The other man called and got through to the paramedics just as a man and his wife came running from their car parked in the park. I helped get the bike off of him. They asked the man his name and started to administer first aid that they got from their car. Luckily he was conscious and was able to sit up. The ambulance and fire came and took it the rest of the way. They took him away on a stretcher and also were kind enough to bring along his bike. Not a minute after they drove away a downpour of rain and hail started to happen.

I don’t know if this man was homeless, but he did have some homeless friends near the scene that were afraid and asking about him. The good news is I am sure the man will be okay. It did not look too serious, but one can never tell for sure. I was sure thankful that I was there when I was. Things happen for a purpose. At the exact moment of the accident, I was riding by. The cool thing was that the previous evening I was in a Bible study discussing the Parable of the Good Samaritan founding Luke chapter 10. I had the opportunity to practice what I studied. God is good, no? Every day there are blessings and opportunities if we know where to look…and sometimes, they come looking for us.

Will you join me in keeping your eyes pealed for opportunities to be a blessing in your community and beyond just as the Good Samaritan man had compassion on the Jewish man? Help is in short supply; let’s resupply the world.