Friendship Visits on the Hope

As difficult as the biking could get sometimes, I always knew that at the end of the day there would be a crowd there cheering us in. I didn't get it at first, how much we meant to the people we visited with, but over time through more friendship visits, I realized that many of the organizations we met with eagerly looked forward to our arrival in their town much of the year. The friendship visits ranged greatly in the activities that we participated in as well as the number of clients we worked with. Some involved going to a baseball game, singing karaoke, games like bowling, puppet shows, dances, bike rides, and more. Some also just consisted of dinner or lunch and good conversation. The friendship visits were almost always a blast though. I had some great conversations with some very interesting people, and got to learn about all that was happening in their lives. I got to work with all ages, ranging from young kids to elderly adults. In the few hours we had at the visits I would try and learn as much as I could about people, but there is only so close you can get to someone in that short of a time period. I guess that is one of the downfalls of always being on the move, is that we are so mobile that we have a very limited amount of time to impact each town. We got to spend time with people who excited to see us, interested in what we were doing, and happy and excited about life. Working with people with disabilities certainly reaffirmed what was important in life, and reminded me to never take the little things for granted. Life can change in the blink of an eye, and so every day should be valued. We worked with people with varying types of disabilities, both mental and physical, and varying degrees of disabilities. Some had disabilities so minor you could not even notice unless they pointed it out to you. Others had disabilities that were quite debilitating and greatly limited functionality. What was important to take note of though is that so many of the people we worked with who had disabilities that limited some aspect of their life, had more impressive abilities that pushed them to be interesting, intelligent, contributing members of their community. Many times in our culture people who appear different are so quickly pushed aside and excluded because of their differences, when what makes people different from others, defines them and makes them that much more interesting. My experiences this summer have taught me to always dig deeper in all relationships, and don't take whats on the surface at face value.

Biking on the hope

In order to reflect on the Journey of hope in a way that can be digestible I have chosen to break it down into sections. The first area I want to talk about is the biking itself. We would wake up most mornings around 5 am and be on the bike within an hour after packing our bags and a small breakfast. The days ranged from the brief 35 mile ride to the longest of 126 miles one day in Wyoming. The also ranged from the hot flatlands of Kansas to the cold steep mountains we passed over. We rode in some parts of the Cascades, Tetons, and Rockies. I found the Tetons to be the most scenic range we passed through with their sharp jutted peaks covered in mounds of snow that could be seen for miles around. the quality of rides and the events that took place on rides ranged greatly. Some days were short and quick, while others were long and arduous. As difficult as some of the hard rides were, they were almost always the most rewarding. When I would ride into lodging after riding on the bike for over 6 hours and hop off exhausted I felt in my body what I had accomplished. When finishing these rides i would feel wiped out and tired, but also like i had truly tested myself and succeeded. It is easy to finish short and flat rides, because I had no doubt about my capability of doing so, but when I had large climbs and long rides, I was more unsure of a successful outcome, which made finishing the ride all the more rewarding. There were times during a few of the rides where I had completely tapped all my energy and almost felt like i was going to bonk. This was never something a quick drink of water or a cliff bar couldn't fix though. Another fun aspect of the rides was the "Push America Challenges" as we called them that were added in. For the Push America Challenges we would take on such tasks as downing a gallon of milk as a pace line at a crewstop before then biking the remainder of the ride. Other challenges consisted of eating large amounts of food, chugging 2 liters of soda, smoking cigars on the bike, and eating Mcdonald's burgers at a stop. The challenges were a great way to add some newness to the rides. When we werw on the bike for 5 plus hours we would get plenty of time to talk within out pacelines and really get to know the other team members on a personal level. We would also play various games to keep us entertained and disclose some of our more ridiculous stories from college. It was an incredible experience to be able to bike across the country at a nice pace and really see so much of america from that perspective. There were certainly times where ifelt surreal, when no one else was around except us, and all we could see is green grass give way to towering mountains, and all we could hear is our own voices, and the wind blowing by.

Coming down off of the Journey of Hope

Just 10 days ago on August 15th, i was riding into the Nations Capitol building in DC on a bicycle after crossing the entire country. I along with fellow Elon classmate Bobby Hoppey led the group of over 100 cyclist down the mall and onto the Capitol lawn where we were greeted by over 2000 spectators including many peoples family and friends. I had so many mixed emotions about finishing the summer and ending such and incredible experience that I will certainly never forget. I wanted to blog and write about it during the summer but decided against it because I thought it would take up time I should be spending getting to know my teammates and making memories on this once in a lifetime experience. Now that I am home, and will be resuming classes soon and normal lifestyle, I feel it is a good time to write about my experience and document some of the highlights of the trip. Ultimately there is no way to verbalize such an experience. I believe it is one of those things one can only truly understand if they go through it. But nonetheless, I plan to share some photos and info about my amazing journey by bicycle across the country, the cause it was for, and the incredible sights I saw. As I am now home in North Carolina with ample free time on my hands I can write about the experience as I adjust to a much slower pace of life, and a life not on the Journey of Hope.