What If...?

"We are not super-cyclists who put in hundreds

of miles a week on the bike. What it really

took was the realization that we could do it. I

think getting beyond all the ‘what ifs’ and just

getting on the bikes is all it takes. We finally

realized that all we really needed to do was

‘shut up and pedal’!"

-Dan, Alison, Sonia & Gus

www.shutupandpedal.org

What if I end up in a ditch? What if I get hungry or thirsty? What if I can't come to terms with such an endeavor? What if I am not ready to go in time? What if no one wants to travel with the likes of me? What if I'm not good enough? What if a storm bellows in? What if I get skin cancer? What if my camera gets stolen? What if I ride into a parked car? What if my tent leaks? What if my tent blows away? What if I get mugged? What if its too beautiful? What if things just don't work out? What if I'm not in shape to go? What if...indeed.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"I think getting beyond all the 'what ifs' and just getting on the bike is all it takes." Some folks hesitate to straddle the saddle. Well, many folks do that anyway. They think they cannot complete a ride across town let alone across state. They go through all the 'what ifs' in their mind. What if this? What if that? All those 'what ifs' portray all the negative thoughts and ideas and circumstances that could possibly happen to them en route. I mean, after all that brain com-busting negativeness, who wouldn't be scared? What I think is interesting though is that all the 'what if' conversations are of the negative nature. No one says, "What if everything goes according to plan?" What if I enjoy myself? What if the weather is superb? What if I encounter an amazing view atop the next hill? You usually never hear positive "what if" statements. We are wired to expect the worse, not the best. What will happen if good things come our way? So be it. What if...something happens? So be it. What if the trip comes back to bite me in the rear? So be it. What if the trip is awesome? So be it. What if, what if, what if. Stuff happens, good and bad. The trip will be awesome in good weather and bad, through frustrations and stress, illness and health, soreness and strength, and when things go wrong, things will go on. When things go right, things will go on...and on...and on. What if? I don't know...that bridge will come and then I will cross it. Will you cross it? It's beckoning...it's calling...it's there.

Companions Wanted

Okay, here’s the deal: Next summer (flexible/tentative dates: June 15-August 30) I will bicycle down the Pacific Coast and up through the Sierra Nevada Mountains with my friend Jeff driving a support vehicle sharing the adventure with me and making sure I stay sane. The reasons for such a trip are first and foremost, adventure and freedom on the road. Other reasons include fundraising with the eventual goal of starting a Christian camp which may include the start of a bicycle adventure ministry which may also include backpacking and canoe trips. The fundraising also includes raising awareness and gaining support and spreading the word for my vision. In short, this trip down the Pacific Coast is the first in a possible series of bicycle trips to raise awareness and support for God’s future camp.

                                                  

That being said, I would love to have more company along for the ride. Like I said, I have a support guy coming along. In addition, I already have one other person interested in joining me for a leg or two along the Oregon Coast and may stay in a Yurt. I am in talks with another friend who also may join me for part of the trip. My guess is that most if not all of you will be available or will want to accompany me on the entire trip. However, as I lay out the rough route plan, consider joining me for a day, few days, or a week. It’s totally up to you. As soon as you commit, we can then talk about other logistics like getting to and from your starting and ending point.

Okay, here’s the “very rough” plan as I see it in early September: June 15, drive from Salem, OR to Port Angeles, WA. From there, we may or may not do a side trip into Olympic National Park. From Port Angeles, follow 101 to the coast; follow the coast down the coast until we cross over into Oregon. We will travel down the Oregon Coast making our way into the Redwood Coast, Northern California. As we travel through the Giant Redwoods, and the rest of California, crossing the Golden Gate, etc. there will be many points of interests, hikes, stops, etc. to see along the way as there will be in Oregon and Washington. Our goal is not to race, but stop when we want and to take our time, given the amount of time we are allotted. When we make it to Imperial Beach, CA, our journey will then take us back North, but this time through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I desire to visit such National Parks as Joshua Tree, Sequoia, King’s Canyon, Death Valley, and Yosemite making our way into the state of Nevada for a brief visit until we head back into Oregon past Crater Lake National Park and the Cascades ending the trip back in Salem, OR. Like I said, that is a very “rough” outline of the trek and may/will change as the departure time gets closer.

If you live in Washington, Oregon or California, or anywhere else I suppose and would like to join me on this fabulous adventure, please let me know and we will talk and deliberate and then ultimately have fun!!

See you out on the road.

Thirty

Tomorrow morning, the thirtieth of August I turn thirty years old. Being the youngest of three children, I have always considered myself young. And to be completely honest, I think I always will. We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. Yes, physical age is inevitable, but I do believe that age in the sense of imagination is more a matter of state of mind. When things stop working as you age, you may start to complain. I hear people say all the time, “well, I can’t do that when I was such and such years old.” That’s rubbish I say. Live in the moment. Remember your past; remember your life, as much as you can that is…and live in the present as you think and plan for the brighter future. “Better things are yet to come.” I have heard that statement all my life and I still have not come to understand that to be true. Yes, certain things, like Heaven are still to come and will blow our minds away to say the least, but on earth are things really getting better? I suppose; I don’t suppose. I don’t know. Does it matter? “This too shall pass,” a friend once told me. Now that is an encouraging thought. As we live in this old tent of ours, we are outsiders in a world. Sometimes we feel as though we are living on the Island of Misfit Toys. But the encouragement we get is from above saying, “I find you fit for my Kingdom.” We may be misfits in this world of fashion and technological gadgets trying to keep people young. But it is that very mindset that sets them apart as not seeing what’s around them. Their eyes are on a 4-inch screen or immersed with worry of what to wear to the next party or dance. Open your windows and let the rain or snow flow in. Let the sun shine on your face and catch a glimpse of the beautiful Saviour through the eyes of creation. High mountains, lush, green valleys, deep, blue oceans, bleak deserts and meadows that span miles. Drive the Great Plains, dive in the deep trenches, climb the Rockies, and hike through the Andes. It’s all beckoning and waiting. Won’t we take the plunge?

Okay, so I’m thirty, well not for a few more hours that is. No worries, I am in no way in a hurry to grow up. When I was in Elementary school, a boy younger than me asked me how old I was (I was like one year older than he was) and after I told him he said, “You’re going to die before me because you’re older.” Oh, the things we remember of life! If only the world and the circle of life worked that way. Wouldn’t it be nice? No parent would have to bury their son or daughter. I had a very close friend die a few years ago from heart complications when I was away and unable to see him. He passed just days shy of his 30^th birthday, also in August. As I approach my 30^th, I can’t help but think of him and his outstanding character. Why am I able to reach 3 decades and not him? Why did his tent falter and mine is still standing? I am constantly reminded of his delight and passion for life and what life brings, his love for people and what they bring. I am honored to be among his circle of friends. I say that because though he has left Earth, he is not forgotten and his lust for life and ministry lives on; his zeal comprises a vast amount of what I long to live for. A few days prior to his passing, we had our last conversation and his last words to me were, “We’ll talk soon.” Jason, my friend, we will; we most definitely will. When I get there, I’ll tell you what thirty looks like on this planet.

Birthdays…everyone has one. When you’re young you get excited about them, planning parties and the works. As we physically age, they don’t seem to mean that much to us anymore. Yes, it is always exciting to spend ‘your day’ with family and friends, receive gifts and eat some good food, but in the end, you start your new year the next day only to put ‘your day’ in the past until the next one a year away. Well, okay, I did kind of describe the life cycle, the passing of time. The time machine won’t be invented until another 140 years, I mean *cough, cough* you didn’t hear that from me. And so, time goes on, what we do with that (our) time is up to us…will we sit on our couch wishing we were younger or older? Or will we snap out of it and dust off those old hiking shoes, pump up those tires and hit the trail? The choice is up to us. It’s been said as you get older, time goes by faster. So, what are you waiting for? Time’s a flying away. Adventurize your life! (I don’t know why spell check tells me that adventurism is a word while adventurize is not.) Open the door, fling off the covers and seek something that’s wanted to be sought after. Catch it and take it and don’t forget to smile back.

And there you have it folks. Thirty’s coming for me. I vow to grab it and use it to do something great and venture out into the unknown basin of misunderstanding which sounds awful when put that way. But let me tell you…I won’t forget to smile back.

I sweat in the silence

The following is an original forward written by Alastair Humphreys for the new Lonely Planet’s Ultimate Adventures book. I decided to include it here because much of what he says resonates with me in terms of adventures and daydreams of adventures. I haven’t traveled the world like this guy, but I know the importance of adventuring. There is a fantastic world waiting out there. There is something missing from too much of my everyday life. Is that you? Read on.

I sweat in the silence. All around me the lone and level sands stretch far away. Nothing moves. There is no sound. The air has no smell. The crisp curves and shadows of the dunes cut up into the cloudless blue of the sky. There is no sign of life, no sign that anyone has ever been here before.
Despite the heat, despite the struggle, I smile.

Or perhaps I smile because of those things? Because adventures are not supposed to be easy, are they?
I am aware that the feeling of isolation is something of an illusion. I am in the Empty Quarter desert – the Rub’ al Khali – and the responsibility for my progress and safety is very much in my own hands. It is an exhilarating feeling, missing from too much of my everyday life. But I am not the first person out here. Just a few miles back I passed the billowing black smoke and orange burn-off flames of an oil field. And my whole reason for being here, the inspiration behind my journey, is to retrace fragments of the great journeys Wilfred Thesiger made here seventy years ago.
As a nod to the very different worlds that Thesiger and I pursue our adventures in, the end of my trek will be the summit of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa –  the tallest building on the planet. Thesiger would have been horrified. But there’s no point pretending to live in the past. The world, its people and its wild places, have changed an extraordinary amount since Thesiger and his camels lolled across these obsidian plains. But the thrill of discovering new places remains. It just becomes a more personal experience.
I love doing things I have never done before, going to places I’ve never been, and seeing glorious sights with my own eyes that I first read about and daydreamed about in books such as this one.
We live in fortunate times. Airlines and the internet have made the world more accessible than at any time in history. More of us than ever before have the opportunity not only to be armchair adventurers, dipping into the delicious photographs and ideas in this book, but to actually commit to an adventure of our own. It is a privilege to have the chance to go somewhere new, to attempt an adventure bold and difficult, and to surprise ourselves at being capable of more than we had realised. This book is a brilliant stepping stone to adventures of our own.

I first began plotting my adventures through stories of the great explorers. They inspired me to dream big; to be bolder. So I particularly enjoyed this book’s section on Famous Footsteps: I’ve been to the beach where Captain Cook was killed and I’ve followed Marco Polo across the Taklamakan desert. But Burke and Wills’ pioneering trek reminds me of a glaring omission on my own travelling CV: I have not yet been on an adventure in Australia. The world is so big and varied that I will never reach the bottom of my “Adventuring Wish List.” There’s so much to do, as this book makes deliciously plain. All the more reason to get dreaming and planning, and get out there!

I was flattered to be mentioned in the list of modern adventurers amongst guys and girls who are doing fabulous things. But here is a little secret about us: we are just normal people. We’re not super-strong nor unusually daring. We were not born rich. So don’t make the mistake of reading this book without also considering making the adventure of your choice actually happen. My first big adventure was cycling the Karakoram Highway, the stunning high-altitude ride from Pakistan to China. I’d been planning on a cycling holiday in Tuscany when a friend cajoled me into thinking a bit bigger. Not only was the ride considerably cheaper and more epic than Italy, it also acted as an epiphany and a catalyst. I was addicted. I haven’t looked back. I have been fortunate to cycle to some of the genuine world highlights in this book such as the wonderful Carretera Austral, Slovenia and the Salar de Uyuni. If I did it, you can too.

There are also a tasty dollop of adventures that I know I’ll never do. It’s good for some things to remain as dreams. I’ll never surf Jaws in Hawaii, nor will I tackle all the 8000 metre mountains (a genuinely hardcore inclusion in a book such as this!), but I love to read about them and gawp at the photography.  I’m pleased too to see a section devoted to adventures in the Middle East. My experiences of that part of the world have been laced with good-humoured, generous encounters so at odds with the image often depicted on the TV news. Jordan, Oman and Iran are beautiful, fascinating countries that should entice any curious adventurers.

Whilst working on this foreword I have jotted down several adventures that really grabbed my imagination – Mountain Biking the San Juan huts and paddling the Queen Charlotte Islands being just two. I’m sure you will do the same. There’s a wonderful world waiting out there and this book is a fantastic, enticing resource.
Let’s go!

Thorn in the flesh

I must confess that this is a blog I do not want to write. It is a topic I like to avoid and stray from at all costs because this is not what life must be about but often is. Ever since I became a teenager, I have struggled with my own personal physical adversity. It is very difficult and complex to explain or describe, so I won’t even try here. For lack of a better description I have referred to them as “dizzy spells.” Whether that is an accurate portrayal or not, it matters not. I will refrain from going into detail of the pain and spinning feeling I experience when they occur. They come and go and happen at random, or so it seems due to frustration. Doctors have tried to diagnose it long ago, but were unable to. Whether it is caused or brought on by nervousness, stress or anxiety, strenuous activity or lack of activity, the answer is yes & I don’t know. But I only ask this: please do not play doctor and try to discover what is wrong with me. Nothing is wrong with me. I am a child of God and will remain a child of God. I have always believed there is a reason for everything. What the reason for this ailment is I don’t know. Do I need to know? I’m not so sure that is the case. Trust me though; I have toiled over that very thought of “reason” for a long time. I remember years ago, my doctor asked me this question, “Are you able to live with this condition?” I looked at him with an awry expression thinking to myself, “Do I have a choice? What if I said no?” I have had loved ones, including my siblings try to set out on their own to figure out a “cure” or at least something that might help. Granted, they are no doctors, but I still couldn’t believe some random therapeutic massage or pressure point would do the trick. I have come to terms with – nay – I have understood that this is my thorn in the flesh.

Okay, now why did I bring that up? Well, for one, I am writing this blog after experiencing such an episode. And for another, I start back up to work next week, I am getting older, and my proposed bicycle journey is ten months away. Am I worried? In a word: yes. In two words: hell yes. In three words: Do not worry. Those are the words of Jesus Christ who taught the art of not to worry about our life, about our future, about stuff. Is it hard? Of course it is. I cannot pull through alone. I must be close to my Lord. Through danger and misfortune, trepidation need not dominate my life. I pray and find comfort in the arms of my Master when faced with harsh conditions. I have struggled to find joy in this dizzy world, but joy is to be found I am assured. It is there around every bend of the road. I am not one to say that we must try to find peace in war because have you read the Bible? We are a people who will always be at war until the time Christ returns. Life is a battle and I am called to press on through the front lines even though the thorns in my flesh dig deeper and deeper into my skin. It hurts; it hurts badly. I could throw up my arms and give my enemy the satisfaction of giving up. However, I was not raised that way. When a physical ailment exists, it is tempting to just quit and find the easy way out. I love the outdoors, I love hiking and camping and cycling. I love journeys in wet or dry weather. Next summer I am planning a long cycle journey if everything goes according to plan and preparations are prepared promptly. I hate the feeling of not being able to do what I enjoy doing. I mean, who wouldn’t? I believe God feels joy when we feel joy. He enjoys our pleasure. Therefore, I will press on towards the goal. When Lewis and Clark set out into the wilderness from Independence, one wrote in his journal, Goal: Pacific Ocean. I want to adopt the same mindset. Yes, there will be setbacks, but it is only a failure if I succumb to those setbacks and turn around. I am confident that all setbacks are minor and temporary, for this is but a temporary world we live in. We are on a life-long camping trip until we are called to go Home. Our tents will get old, some will get punctured and rain will seep through, but for now, challenge after challenge we push through the mess. I cannot foresee dangers ahead or illness or injuries, but I can do my best as I know how and I can do what I can. For that is all I can do…that, and dream. I have to put my trust in my GPS (God’s Personal Spirit). He can do the foreseeing for me.

I cannot cure myself from ailments, but I believe I can do a few things that might help. This next year I am going to try some of these attempts. I figured there is a better chance that I will accomplish them if I write them down and proclaim them here. First, I am going to try to cycle as much as I can each week. This will include commuting around town. Not only will I be consistently in the saddle, but it will also save me gas money. I hope to ride more than I drive. Living in the Pacific Northwest I cannot escape the wet weather. Therefore, I must ride on with a smile on my face. After all, it is training.

Next:

• Establish a simple workout schedule (using simple dumbbells and calisthenics)
• Be conscious of eating healthy (key words: fruits and veggies)
• Eat sweets (such as pop and ice cream) sparingly
• The key is to move everyday (whether it is to: walk 4-5 miles, cycle 10-15 miles, 10-12 pull-ups, jump-rope 10 minutes, play tennis or basketball)
• I would also like to shed a few pounds. This last year or so I lost about 10 pounds which is a good start, but there’s more I can lose I bet. However, I will workout and eat not to lose weight, but to get and stay in shape for my trip…and not to become the biggest loser.

Those are just some practical things I can begin to do and do consistently in physical preparation for my trip. I also may try to keep a food and workout journal. Those have been recommended to me and I think it’s time to incorporate them.

What's your thorn in the flesh? And how will you push through?

Until next time, keep those perfect circles turning…

Reasons for Adventure

Some people may wonder why people may climb a mountain or row the Atlantic or thru-hike the Appalachian Trail or pack raft across Iceland or cycle the world. When George Mallory was asked why he climbed Everest, he responded with, “Because it is there.” That, I believe is the simplest explanation for adventure.  Why must I cycle down the Pacific Coast and up through the Sierra Nevadas? Why must I expose myself to the elements and cruelty of the harsh terrain? Why would I spend a vacation outside sleeping on rocky ground and challenging myself each and every grueling day and why would I choose to become sore and endure pain? Why would I do this? Why cycle down the Pacific Coast of Washington, Oregon and California and up through the Sierra Nevadas through National Parks and a glimpse of Nevada? Answer? Because it is there.

Because it is there…Mountains rise up above the world and are just asking to be climbed. Vast oceans and seas are just asking to be sailed across. Jungles, rain forests and deep canyons are just begging to be explored. The arctic north is egging on those who venture that far. Adventure is to be had everywhere. Because they are there...why not? Why not cycle a few thousand miles? It is worth it. It is challenging. It is glorifying. It is awesome; awe-inspiring.

Adventure for the sake of adventure. Is adventure ever a bad thing? I'm not quite sure. Yes, there are misadventures. I have had my share of them. But even a misadventure can be looked back upon as a great experience. And isn't that what we strive for? Great experiences? When people set out to accomplish a great task to raise money for charity or some other noble event, they do so because they enjoy what they are about to do, or at least they crave the adventure of it. Adventure requires stepping out of our comfort zones and into the unknown. Because even if we have done some trip or experienced some activity before, it is a new day and with new days come new, unknown and unforeseen encounters. Yes, danger lurks nearby and within each adventure we choose...and don't choose, but isn't that a part of adventure? Without danger and the unknown aren't we still within the boundaries of our comfort zone? A lot of people are too quick to say, "Oh man, I would never be able to do something like that." "I can't," is uttered far too much by mere mortals. They say, "never," or "no," without thinking twice, and when they do think twice, it is usually due to the fact they have not though thrice. Think again...try again...and do it...just do it brothers and sisters. Set out and embark on some adventure for the sake of adventure.

Rekindling Love & Passion - While out on the road for 11 weeks (God-willing), I am eager to bask in God's creation. As I cycle with the wind in my face, stop at the top of hills for a lunch break, break open God's Word with the view of the Pacific, converse around a campfire at night, as I meet the locals and discuss life with friends new and old and as I seek out new adventures each day, I hope to find and rediscover my love and passions. As I am alone with my thoughts on the saddle with an endless road in sight and as I reunite with my partner, I anticipate to wonder and take the opportunity to rekindle my passion and life's mission. What on earth am I here for? What is my calling? What is my game plan? Where must I take my life from here? Who is really in control? I anticipate to set out on this adventure and come back with a rejuvenated sense of wonder and calling.

New Places & New Faces - Although I don't always consider myself what some refer to as a "people-person," I do enjoy meeting new people. Everyone on earth is a unique creation and each is here for a reason and each has something to offer and bring to the table. Some are funny, some are not; some are happy, some are grumpy. But whatever the case, they are loved people and it is always a pleasure, whether I think so at the time or not, to meet them and make new friends and contacts. In addition, I enjoy traveling to new places. To meet new people, one usually has to travel to new places. Again, each place is unique and offers many new adventures and misadventures that will be looked upon later as great experiences.

Incentive & Fitness - What I want this journey next summer to be is, above most, an adventure. I think I have made that clear. However, another reason for this particular adventure is to keep my state of fitness and give me an incentive to live healthier and stay stronger. Riding 40-80 (an estimate) miles a day for the better part of 2.5 months would seem to accomplish this task. My first hope is that this trip comes to fruition and my second hope is to continue a sense of adventure post-trip to stay healthy, fit and strong. These ten months leading up to said trip will also provide incentive to live a healthier life and come to a better understanding of living for adventure.

New Perspective - There is nothing like bicycling farther afield to better gain perspective on life. Nothing compares. Backpacking I suppose comes close. But bicycling is a field unto itself and we cyclists know that with riding far distances comes new perspectives about distance, about hunger, about the outdoors, about creation, about thirst, about comfort, about discomfort, about family, about warmth, about cold, about, about, about... New perspectives remind us there is more to life than a 9-5 job, the annual office party and raising 2.5 kids. Gaining new perspectives cause us to crave more perspectives and more, you guessed it, adventure. It dawns on us that there is more out there...new friends to be made, new places to visit, new thoughts to enter out heads, new discomforts to create. Okay, so that last one may cause some eyebrows to be raised, but think about. We emerge from comfort zone to discomfort zone and we're like, "Why am I here. I don't like it." But there is a reason. It stretches us and it causes growth. And sometimes those discomforts merge into comforts. Try it sometime, you won't regret it...unless you choose to.

Adventure Again - adventures, misadventures, adventures, misadventures, adventures...let's venture out and have some fun!

P.S. Fundraising & Support for a Camp Start-up - I am not usually one to ask for money or donations. In fact, it has never come easy for me. However, it is my desire for this trip (and future trips) to be, not only a trip of adventure, but also a fundraising trip. I would like to raise funds, not only to complete the trip itself, but also to go towards a camp start-up. If you know me, you know that starting a Christian camp based upon Biblical principles and Jesus' leading, has been a dream of mine for several years. If you would like more information about this project, I will be more than happy to talk to you about my dream and even e-mail a copy of my dream camp paper if you are interested and if you want to be invested in this endeavor. What this camp will look like at the outset (whether a small camp or a travel/trip camp to begin), is unknown at the moment. I am currently working on a brochure that will explain my vision and desire and calling that will hopefully go to people and camps I meet along the way. I currently do not have a paypal or giveforward account (I will update if/when I do get one of those accounts for easy donations), but if you feel called to donate to this cause, please send it to the following address:

1123 Orchard Ct. N. Apt. C

Keizer, OR 97303

This is a great way to get involved in this adventure. May God bless you as you seek His direction.

P.P.S. One last thing...I hope to keep a journal, maybe even a video diary of sorts along the route. If God wills it, I may be able to put together some writings and journals and thoughts and memoirs into a travel book recounting my adventures.

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness”

The following is an excerpt from Alastair Humphreys’ second book about his incredible 4-year bike ride around the world. As I read these words about his first impression of America, I thought it rang very true. He only saw a brief glimpse of what America is, but noticed and observed a whole deal more. As Mark Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” Why are we afraid to travel? What makes us stay comfortable? Make up your mind about America if you will. It is diverse as the jelly beans in the Jelly Belly Factory, probably more so.

“I find it difficult to summarize America neatly. I saw only a sliver of the country. My experience of the west coast tells me almost nothing about life in Texas or New York or Kentucky. However with the language being, for the most part, more understandable to me than Swahili or Arabic, I learned more than in many other countries. The United States is so diverse, so confused and so confusing that no two conversations or people are the same. I encountered creationists and evolutionists, Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, racists and mixed-raced families, idealists and defeatists, atheists and Christians, gay-marriage supporters and spittle-flying homophobes, Bush voters and Bush haters, anti-abortion and pro-electric chair, pro-choice and anti-electric chair, enormous wind-farms and enormous RV’s, triathletes and couch-potatoes, pristine National Parks and massive cities, drive-thru cash machines and epic trans-continental bike routes, anything-goes liberalism and old-fashioned bigotism, intrepid world travelers and folks who had barely left their state. I met millionaires and passed an Indian reservation as poor as the developing world. I rarely felt comfortable enough to knock on strangers’ doors to ask for a place to camp, but one family let me stay in their house alone for a week while they were out of town. America was the most overtly religious country I had been in since the Islamic world, yet arguments raged about the appropriateness of the word “God” being on the dollar bills. It was the most patriotic country I had been to, with the ‘stars’n’bars’ flying everywhere, yet many people were despondent about the state of the Union. Bumper stickers told many tales, from American flags and slogans like ‘United we Stand: the Power of Pride’ and ‘These Colors Don’t Run’ to ‘No War for Oil,’ ‘If you can read this, you’re not the President’ and ‘I’m pink therefore I’m Spam.’ I rode through a tree and the enormity of LA. I watched a lot of television, especially the shopping channels. I spoke English and Spanish. I consumed enormous amounts of food and drank bucketfuls of coffee, but even I could not manage the extraordinary two litre cups of fizzy drinks that petrol stations sold. It was little wonder that I needed the first dental filling of my life. I ate Indian, Mexican, Korean, Ethiopian, Chinese, Thai, Italian, Japanese and Israeli food.

            America is wealthy, hard-working, beautiful and welcoming. It also displays the things that anger people around the globe: consumerism gone crazy – the size of the supermarkets has to be seen to be believed – a disregard for the environment, most noticeable in the massive vehicles everybody drives, and a lack of interest in the affairs of the rest of the world. America has certainly made mistakes recently, but then the man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.

            I had entered America unhappy at the direction their President was leading our world and at what I perceived to be his government’s arrogant, ignorant, ill-judged behaviour with the British government trotting embarrassingly along behind. After a brief few months in America my feelings changed. They did not change towards the government and its foreign policy, but they certainly changed towards the American people. As a reflection of this, I pedaled on to Canada, I hoped to return to America one day. Not only for a holiday, but to live there for a couple of years.” (Alastair Humphreys, Thunder & Sunshine, 128-129)

It is true that America is as diverse as the prices of petrol stations. I hear ongoing talk of people wanting to escape this country to 'travel the world' as it were. If someone is to be considered "well-traveled" it seems to me that they have have traveled through many countries abroad. I am the least traveled person in my nuclear family and yet, I do consider myself pretty well-traveled, maybe not so much abroad, but in my own country. Yet, in comparison to some, I have not even left my home town. I do crave movement and travel and the expanse that is out there. Up until a few years ago, I traveled to, worked and lived in some random state in our Union. I enjoyed life on the road even though it got to be long. I enjoyed meeting new folks and reuniting with old ones. I enjoyed viewing new sites and experiencing new weather phenomena. I crave the joys of sitting around a campfire late at night swapping stories with a comrade or two. Sleeping under the stars is always a delight. Climbing a mountain and looking out at views of the ocean are always on my priority list when out and about. Stopping at a hole-in-the-wall ice cream shop is always a plus in my book. To experience the challenge and cruelty of cycling cross country is to experience life to its fullest. There is only so much we can experience in our big air-conditioned vehicles. There's nothing like a bicycle to put things into perspective, no? The accents of the locals puts a smile on my face. Reading by the light of a campfire, stopping on the top of a hill for lunch, feeling the breeze in my face, the sun on my skin, the tough of the cold ice cream on my lips, relaxing after a 100-mile day, stopping to splurge on a buffet when feeling famished, eating the local delicacies, riding away from angry canines, journaling along the route, all knowing that the farther we go, the longer we travel from home and the closer we get to home...all these experiences and all these memories can happen in our own backyard, meaning our own country. America is divided into 50 vastly different mini-countries with their own languages, weather, cultures and customs. Next summer I plan to experience but a brief sliver of this vast nation. There is a world map and a map of the United States on my wall of my apartment that I look at every day I walk by. It reminds me of the joys that are to come and I find myself doing a spontaneous trip-planning session with additional maps laid out and a cup of Joe as company. I get chills at the prospect of accomplishing such a task. Will you join me in this endeavor? I get excited at the very mention of what life will bring me each day and what new challenge I will face as I embark out my front door on two wheels.