Change
Today, we write about some changes that have taken place in our bike trip team. Our friend, Jiwan, is no longer going on this adventure with us. She is currently the Teaching Assistant for Houghton’s London Honors program, and she has been in Europe since January. Jiwan has decided to stay in Europe and do some traveling while she has the opportunity before heading off to graduate school. Although we will miss Jiwan on this adventure, we wish her the best as she explores Europe!
When Chaz, Tim, and I realized that we had to do some re-calculating we decided that it was too late to find a fourth person. Logistically, there was a lot to consider, especially since we were about 7 weeks out from our flight to Portland. We’ve been planning for this trip for about 9 months. There is a lot to consider: fitness, finances (missing 10 weeks of work), time, and the mental strength to take on the idea of biking across the continent. I ended this hard conversation by saying, “unless if a miracle person shows up, looks like it will just be the three of us.”
Judith Marklin
I am very happy to have been taken up on that challenge! That day, our friend Judith Marklin messaged me asking if we could get together and talk about the bike trip. It turns out… that Judith is the miracle person. Judith and I went on a long walk and talked about the logistics, she listened to how the trip planning has been going, the adjustments of the past few weeks, and she is now on board! Judith is well-qualified for this adventure.
Judith is a Houghton College student as well, and has been a longtime outdoor enthusiast. She is also a former cross-country and track runner, and a teammate of Chaz and I. She has been a part of the Highlander adventure program at Houghton. This is a two-week backpacking trip for incoming freshmen in the Adirondacks. As a freshman Judith participated in this, and has also served as a leader. She is an experienced backpacker, traveler, and adventurer.
Judith and I met our freshman year. We did cross-country together, and were in East Meets West. EMW is a freshman honors program that centers on Balkan history, culture, literature, politics, and theology. For a year we studied all of this in an academic setting, and then took a Mayterm (about 3 weeks at the end of the spring semester) in the Balkans. During this time we spent a lot of time in conversation and exploration, especially along theological topics. Judith and I have stayed friends throughout our time at Houghton, sharing a lot of runs, conversations, travels, and religion classes. Our conversations around religion and spirituality have grown with our friendship, and as we walked and talked last week we discovered that we were both passionate about incorporating spiritual disciplines into our bike trip. We are envisioning morning and evening prayer, scripture readings, and worship as we journey across the country. This seems like a flowering of our friendship around these topics. We are looking forward to exploring this summer church community between the four of us, and sharing these times with the people that we will be meeting as we bike.
Teamwork
Chaz, Tim, and I are excited to welcome Judith on this trip. We are going to be doing a fair amount of camping out West, and we are put at ease by Judith’s wilderness experience and training. We are finding, as this team comes together, that we each have complementing strengths to offer the team.
All of us have been engaging in endurance exercise this year, but Chaz and I are the strongest in this area right now, so that will be a strength that we will lend to Judith and Tim. Judith and I will be leading the charge in creating spiritual community on the trip. Tim is upbeat, and has already been the social glue that holds us together. Chaz is cool as a cucumber, and his steady presence will balance us out in times of stress. Judith has a great sense of humor, and I am strong in detail and logistic planning. Now… I have decided not to list our many weaknesses, mostly because I know they will probably provide fodder for later blog posts. But as I reflect on the strengths that our team has, I can see how we have the potential to really be helpful to one another as we undertake this adventure.
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