Sandy
Hello all my East Coast friends!! To those of you who are still reading my blog, I wanted to let you know that I have been thinking about you with the arrival of Sandy! I pray you are safe and recuperating from the storm. I know certain areas of the coast were hit much worse with the brunt of Sandy's strength. I cannot provide much relief or offer much help to you from Alaska, but I will keep you in my prayers and my thoughts. I am repeatedly reminded of the great kindness and hospitality you all showed me while I was traveling and I have been sharing my memories of you with my friends and family here. I cannot even began to tell you about the lives you have positively impacted through the kindness you showed to me (a stranger on a bicycle)! I miss talking with you all!
Home sweet Alaska!
Returning home is bittersweet. It was so nice to see my family and friends meet me at the airport in Anchorage and it felt good to sleep in my own bed last night, but I already miss being on the road.
I left Alaska almost 3 months ago, spending 2 of those months riding my bike down the Atlantic Coast. In just 15 hours of planes and airports I'm back home feeling like just yesterday I came up with the idea about doing the Justice Ride. Time really does fly by. It's hard for me to unpack mentally everything that just happened in the last few months. There were times when both my body and my mind did not feel like biking anymore. I stressed often about where I was going to sleep at night and what route I would take from town to town. I had many near misses with passing cars and trucks and I pushed on through blazing heat and pouring rain, both uphill and down. It's amazing what we can put our bodies and our minds through. Through it all, I met some amazing people! I made new friends and also learned to cherish and appreciate some friendships I've already had. For my first trip to the East Coast, I saw ALOT. I learned a lot of history about the United States and I got to see some beautiful scenery both rural and urban. My experiences however and the memories I will remember for years to come, the ones that truly impacted my outlook on life, are the ones that were shared. I think as humans, we are meant to live in community with one another.
Spending days alone on my bike was not so bad. I enjoyed the time to myself. It provided a good time to reflect on my life, think about my future, daydream, whatever. Sometimes I would go an entire day without really thinking about anything in particular. In the evenings however, I craved interaction with people. I wanted to talk. I wanted to learn about people. I wanted to share my thoughts.
If you have been reading this blog at all, you will know about some of the many strangers who took me in off the road and generously opened their homes to me for a short time. I am so impressed by the kindness of strangers.
I hope you have been blessed by this blog. If you are reading this blog and are one of the kind strangers I'm referring to, I hope you were blessed by meeting me because I have been greatly blessed by you :) I've been having a thought recently and I would like to share it with you all. I like watching animated movies and one that I enjoy is Ratatouille. It's a cute Disney Pixar movie about a rat in Paris who is an excellent chef. There's a famous chef in the movie who says at one point, "anyone can cook". What he means is not that anyone can be a great chef, but a great chef "can" come from "anywhere". I know I won't get along with everyone I meet nor with we all become friends, but I believe that a friend "can" come from "anywhere". I've experienced this first hand throughout my trip.
IJM continues to befriend people in need around the world. Donating to IJM and supporting their work is one way we can be kind strangers. You may not all have the opportunity to house a traveling cyclist, but there are many other ways right here, right now that you can help a stranger in need. My goal was to raise $10,000 for IJM through the Justice Ride. As of today, August 24th, people have generously donated $7,540! I am so encouraged by your support! The Justice Ride campaign is only open for 11 more days, so if you want to help me meet my goal, please donate now! Just click on the tab at the top of this blog that says "Donation Page". If you cannot donate before the 11 days are up, but would still like to support IJM, you can visit their website anytime at www.ijm.org and visit the tab that says GIVE.
Thank you everyone who has supported and encouraged me throughout this ride! I had a good team of friends and family at home who continually prayed for my health and safety. Throughout the ride, there were many more people who joined this team and housed me, fed me, donated to IJM, and all around supported and encouraged me. I could not have accomplished this without such a team effort! Together we have helped many people in need. That is a great success!
Returning home is bittersweet. It was so nice to see my family and friends meet me at the airport in Anchorage and it felt good to sleep in my own bed last night, but I already miss being on the road.
I left Alaska almost 3 months ago, spending 2 of those months riding my bike down the Atlantic Coast. In just 15 hours of planes and airports I'm back home feeling like just yesterday I came up with the idea about doing the Justice Ride. Time really does fly by. It's hard for me to unpack mentally everything that just happened in the last few months. There were times when both my body and my mind did not feel like biking anymore. I stressed often about where I was going to sleep at night and what route I would take from town to town. I had many near misses with passing cars and trucks and I pushed on through blazing heat and pouring rain, both uphill and down. It's amazing what we can put our bodies and our minds through. Through it all, I met some amazing people! I made new friends and also learned to cherish and appreciate some friendships I've already had. For my first trip to the East Coast, I saw ALOT. I learned a lot of history about the United States and I got to see some beautiful scenery both rural and urban. My experiences however and the memories I will remember for years to come, the ones that truly impacted my outlook on life, are the ones that were shared. I think as humans, we are meant to live in community with one another.
Spending days alone on my bike was not so bad. I enjoyed the time to myself. It provided a good time to reflect on my life, think about my future, daydream, whatever. Sometimes I would go an entire day without really thinking about anything in particular. In the evenings however, I craved interaction with people. I wanted to talk. I wanted to learn about people. I wanted to share my thoughts.
If you have been reading this blog at all, you will know about some of the many strangers who took me in off the road and generously opened their homes to me for a short time. I am so impressed by the kindness of strangers.
I hope you have been blessed by this blog. If you are reading this blog and are one of the kind strangers I'm referring to, I hope you were blessed by meeting me because I have been greatly blessed by you :) I've been having a thought recently and I would like to share it with you all. I like watching animated movies and one that I enjoy is Ratatouille. It's a cute Disney Pixar movie about a rat in Paris who is an excellent chef. There's a famous chef in the movie who says at one point, "anyone can cook". What he means is not that anyone can be a great chef, but a great chef "can" come from "anywhere". I know I won't get along with everyone I meet nor with we all become friends, but I believe that a friend "can" come from "anywhere". I've experienced this first hand throughout my trip.
IJM continues to befriend people in need around the world. Donating to IJM and supporting their work is one way we can be kind strangers. You may not all have the opportunity to house a traveling cyclist, but there are many other ways right here, right now that you can help a stranger in need. My goal was to raise $10,000 for IJM through the Justice Ride. As of today, August 24th, people have generously donated $7,540! I am so encouraged by your support! The Justice Ride campaign is only open for 11 more days, so if you want to help me meet my goal, please donate now! Just click on the tab at the top of this blog that says "Donation Page". If you cannot donate before the 11 days are up, but would still like to support IJM, you can visit their website anytime at www.ijm.org and visit the tab that says GIVE.
Thank you everyone who has supported and encouraged me throughout this ride! I had a good team of friends and family at home who continually prayed for my health and safety. Throughout the ride, there were many more people who joined this team and housed me, fed me, donated to IJM, and all around supported and encouraged me. I could not have accomplished this without such a team effort! Together we have helped many people in need. That is a great success!
I'm on the home stretch now! I'm in Savannah, GA now. There has definitely been a noticeable temperature and vegetation change coming from the Blue Ridge mountains just a week ago. It's hard to believe I'm just 5 days away from flying back home to Alaska. I've had so many new experiences in the last couple months and I have met so many new people and seen new places. I think it will take a few days to unpack this trip once I get home. Just about 400 more miles and I'll be hanging out waiting to catch a plane home. In just one day of flying, I'll cover almost twice the distance I've spent 2 months biking.
I had a really nice time in Asheville and stayed with a couple very hospitable people I met via couchsurfing.org. Planning to stay just one day and 2 nights I ended up being there for 3 nights. I got to go to a contra dance there which was super fun! I do some contra back in Alaska, so it was fun to try it over here on the east coast where it's much more popular. I actually knew the caller from the 2012 Dance Camp I went to earlier this year during Memorial day weekend in Wasilla, AK. I left the morning after the dance and biked to Greenville where I was connected with another great group of guys. I spent a day there making some new friends and enjoying the little city. ED from Greenville put me in touch with pastor JL and his wife in Colombia who welcomed me with open arms. From there I made the ride to Charleston where I met another great group of people and some very hospitable hosts. I have had been connected with a good group of people in the last few cities. They have worked together to host me as I pass through and have also put me in touch with some more friends here in Savannah. There has been a real sense of community and an overall desire to help someone they've never met (me). I am grateful for everyone's generosity. It has been a blessing to meet some young, Godly people who have encouraged me and supported me even though our time together was short. I've heard a few times recently from different people that it is the people who make a place. I've known this a little bit, but I'm being reminded and learning more about what that actually looks like.
I've been a head of schedule for most of this trip, but I am finally able to judge exactly how many days I have left of biking and how many I have off. It's been nice because I have had time to spend a few more days visiting with new friends in the last couple weeks of the bike ride. Between Charleston and Savannah, I had time to detour to the Seabrook Islands and spend some time on the beach with CS. Thank you CS for letting me share in your vacation for a couple days!
After a couple days here in Savannah, I'm going to hit the road tomorrow morning for Brunswick, then to St Augustine, and Orlando with probably one stop somewhere between.
Thank you everyone who has been praying for me and my safety on this trip. Thank you also to everyone who has supported IJM either through a monetary donation or by housing and feeding me as I biked through your neighborhood. I could not have made it this far if it wasn't for the help and support of the people around me. I'm still trying to raise just over $3000.00 more to reach my $10,000 goal. If you have been thinking about donating but have not done so yet, I encourage you to do it soon. The donation page linked to my blog is only available until September 10. After that you can still donate to IJM but it will have to be by other means. To all my friends I've met along this bike trip, I look forward to staying in touch and maybe seeing you somewhere down the road. To everyone back in Alaska... I'll see you soon!
I had a really nice time in Asheville and stayed with a couple very hospitable people I met via couchsurfing.org. Planning to stay just one day and 2 nights I ended up being there for 3 nights. I got to go to a contra dance there which was super fun! I do some contra back in Alaska, so it was fun to try it over here on the east coast where it's much more popular. I actually knew the caller from the 2012 Dance Camp I went to earlier this year during Memorial day weekend in Wasilla, AK. I left the morning after the dance and biked to Greenville where I was connected with another great group of guys. I spent a day there making some new friends and enjoying the little city. ED from Greenville put me in touch with pastor JL and his wife in Colombia who welcomed me with open arms. From there I made the ride to Charleston where I met another great group of people and some very hospitable hosts. I have had been connected with a good group of people in the last few cities. They have worked together to host me as I pass through and have also put me in touch with some more friends here in Savannah. There has been a real sense of community and an overall desire to help someone they've never met (me). I am grateful for everyone's generosity. It has been a blessing to meet some young, Godly people who have encouraged me and supported me even though our time together was short. I've heard a few times recently from different people that it is the people who make a place. I've known this a little bit, but I'm being reminded and learning more about what that actually looks like.
I've been a head of schedule for most of this trip, but I am finally able to judge exactly how many days I have left of biking and how many I have off. It's been nice because I have had time to spend a few more days visiting with new friends in the last couple weeks of the bike ride. Between Charleston and Savannah, I had time to detour to the Seabrook Islands and spend some time on the beach with CS. Thank you CS for letting me share in your vacation for a couple days!
After a couple days here in Savannah, I'm going to hit the road tomorrow morning for Brunswick, then to St Augustine, and Orlando with probably one stop somewhere between.
Thank you everyone who has been praying for me and my safety on this trip. Thank you also to everyone who has supported IJM either through a monetary donation or by housing and feeding me as I biked through your neighborhood. I could not have made it this far if it wasn't for the help and support of the people around me. I'm still trying to raise just over $3000.00 more to reach my $10,000 goal. If you have been thinking about donating but have not done so yet, I encourage you to do it soon. The donation page linked to my blog is only available until September 10. After that you can still donate to IJM but it will have to be by other means. To all my friends I've met along this bike trip, I look forward to staying in touch and maybe seeing you somewhere down the road. To everyone back in Alaska... I'll see you soon!
I'm in Asheville, NC today. It has been a very eventful and enjoyable time since I last posted a message here. I spent a few days visiting Washington DC where I also got to visit the International Justice Mission's headquarters! I met some very nice people there. L gave me a tour of the building and told me about IJM's beginnings. She was very kind and I enjoyed talking with her. After leaving DC, my next destination was to get on the Blue Ridge Parkway and follow it down to Asheville, NC. The Blue Ridge Parkway was a nice change from the congested, crazy, city streets I've been on mostly from Boston to DC. The Parkway is closed to commercial vehicles so even if there is a lot of traffic, there are no semi-trucks zooming by. I'd been warned a few times before getting to the Parkway that it is very hilly. Now I know what they were talking about. It seems to climb endlessly. Long, gradual uphills are pretty taxing mentally. I thought maybe it was just my imagination that I had been biking uphill for what seemed like an entire 8 hour day, until I ran into two other cyclists. They felt the same way. After climbing for so long, I felt like the next sign would say "Elevation: 10,000ft", but instead it was usually closer to 2000-3000. Haha what a ride! I saw lots of deer on the Parkway and moving at such a slow pace uphill, I got to really enjoy the butterflies in the air and the little bugs attempting to cross the street. There is something neat about pedaling for such a long time and at such a slow pace. Well as long as you're not in a hurry to get anywhere ;)
Once again I have been blessed by the generosity and hospitality of strangers. In Floyd, VA, JC took me in and gave me a bed and a shower. I had a blast with him and his family. I also got to attend a little girls birthday party where I met some more friendly people. Just outside Jefferson, NC I met BB who also took me in graciously. I learned a lot about making models from BB. He has a pretty awesome diorama of a 1937 pickup truck he made. After that I visited some dear friends near Boone, NC who opened up there home to me and let me rest. There is also DW in Boone. I believe God is in control of everything and He was definitely in control when He brought DW and I together. DW is a sweet old man and my friend. We just spent the afternoon together, but we became fast friends and I hope we can spend time together again soon. In Spruce Pine, I met J at a restaurant. He also gave me a bed and a shower. And now in Asheville, I am staying with AD who I contacted via couchcurfing.com. She has been very kind and I've enjoyed getting to know her and her roommate A.
I realize that as you read my blog, you don't know any of the people I am talking about. I think what is important and the reason I'm telling about all these people I've met is to encourage you. There are so many wonderful people willing to help out a complete stranger. I experience this daily. I've been learning that a friend can come from anywhere. I've experienced kindness from the rich, the poor, old, young, country folk, city people, gay, and straight. I believe God calls us to love one another. Human trafficking is just one example of people who are in need of a friend. As I continue towards Orlando, I encourage you to donate to this cause if you feel led. While I am providing the leg power to get to Orlando, it has been the kindness of friends (new and old) that has been supporting me and motivating me this far. I've reached the last 2 weeks of this trip but it is still not over.
Thank you all for your continued support and encouragement!!
Once again I have been blessed by the generosity and hospitality of strangers. In Floyd, VA, JC took me in and gave me a bed and a shower. I had a blast with him and his family. I also got to attend a little girls birthday party where I met some more friendly people. Just outside Jefferson, NC I met BB who also took me in graciously. I learned a lot about making models from BB. He has a pretty awesome diorama of a 1937 pickup truck he made. After that I visited some dear friends near Boone, NC who opened up there home to me and let me rest. There is also DW in Boone. I believe God is in control of everything and He was definitely in control when He brought DW and I together. DW is a sweet old man and my friend. We just spent the afternoon together, but we became fast friends and I hope we can spend time together again soon. In Spruce Pine, I met J at a restaurant. He also gave me a bed and a shower. And now in Asheville, I am staying with AD who I contacted via couchcurfing.com. She has been very kind and I've enjoyed getting to know her and her roommate A.
I realize that as you read my blog, you don't know any of the people I am talking about. I think what is important and the reason I'm telling about all these people I've met is to encourage you. There are so many wonderful people willing to help out a complete stranger. I experience this daily. I've been learning that a friend can come from anywhere. I've experienced kindness from the rich, the poor, old, young, country folk, city people, gay, and straight. I believe God calls us to love one another. Human trafficking is just one example of people who are in need of a friend. As I continue towards Orlando, I encourage you to donate to this cause if you feel led. While I am providing the leg power to get to Orlando, it has been the kindness of friends (new and old) that has been supporting me and motivating me this far. I've reached the last 2 weeks of this trip but it is still not over.
Thank you all for your continued support and encouragement!!
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| Heading through PA, on my way to Washington DC |
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| Stopped to visit the President. He was busy so I told him we could get lunch another time ;) |
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| I met some wonderful people in the IJM office. I'm so happy to be riding for them and supporting their work! Thank you IJM!! |
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| People often want to see my watch tan line. It's funny to meet some random person and one of the first things they say is, "can you take off your watch for a second?" |
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| I haven't had too many hills since the Gaspe peninsula in Quebec. The Blue Ridge Parkway has definitely made up for it! |
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| It has been mostly foggy and cloudy on the BRP, but it is still beautiful |
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| Eating breakfast and enjoying a nice relaxing day off. Thank you Cyndi for opening up your home to me! |
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| Boone, NC This little boutique is raising money for IJM! I was so happy and encouraged to stop by and say hello |
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| Biking the Viaduct along the BRP. Todd took these wonderful photos! I learned that the man who owned this section of land would not let the builders of the BRP cut into the mountain side so they had to build the Viaduct to connect the Parkway through this part. Very cool! |
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| Viaduct |
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| Just before arriving in Asheville I had the long climb over Mt. Mitchell. Very slow going and really foggy but still a beautiful ride. |
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