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!