Day One

I am calling it our first day. Today, we will travel across the country in a few hours by plane, a distance that we’ll spend the rest of the summer biking. It is an odd thought. We’ll fly over the Rockies, the plains, and (my favorite) Pennsylvania. I am thinking about slow travel. It is easy to fly across the country and it’s exciting and fast… I’ve done it a few times. Yet today I am excited to begin slow-traveling the continent. I’ll be traveling at a pace that allows me to see individual rocks and blades of grass, a speed that lets me stop and converse, or jump in creeks and pet horses. It might also mean I get run over by a bison… There’s a lot more unknown in this type of travel, and I admit, it does scare me if I think too hard (tornadoes, semis, a week of rain, my choice to bring 3 books over 3,000 miles, etc.) - but ultimately I am curious and expectant.

Those are my general thoughts.

Specifically, I am tired yet still very keyed up. Chaz, Judith, and I woke up at about 6:30 AM today (in spite of going to bed at midnight) because we were excited! Judith and I had to prod Chaz to admit this, he is very chill. The past 2 days we have spent packing and re-packing, contacting hosts, budgeting, route finalizing, and analyzing airport baggage requirements. The equipment required for a cross-country bike trip seems destined to create airport problems.

Mom and Rodger (Tim’s Dad) are going to take us down to Philly soon to catch our planes. I have been picturing the moment that I sit down on the plane ever since I bought the tickets in Houghton College’s student government office this fall. This year has been wild for me: engagement, graduation, a full academic year, student government, wedding planning, and this bike trip. It might have been too much, there were some tough weeks this year where I was overwhelmed. What kept me going was knowing that all this work was for a purpose. And I pictured the plane seat. This trip is not going to be a rest, but it will be restorative. Modern life seems set up to exhaust, and I am looking forward to taking my life down to the basics: people, simple transportation, and staying alive. I hope that this adversity and simplicity will form me to be a better person, a person who is reminded of the primary ingredients of a wholesome life. I hope to deepen my friendships with my bike-buddies, and grow physically stronger as well.

Those are some of my hopes and dreams for this trip. I’m sure I don’t know the half of what this adventure will do to me.. But the above is my best prediction.

Finally, as I sit at my kitchen table and type away, I am reminded of all of the people who have made this trip possible. Friends, family, fellow-bikers, they have encouraged and supported us amidst their own occasional bewilderment on why we would want to do this. Chaz, Judith, Tim, and I all come from communities that have sent us off with prayer, love, and trust. We value it, and carry this with us as we leave.

The next blog post will be from Oregon!

So, in the words of Michael Scott, catch you on the flippety-flip!

- Joanna Friesen

*The picture is from Mt. Irenaeus in Friendship NY, we spent the night there two weekends ago on our test ride, just one of many communities that has sent us away with warm food, prayer, and best wishes for the big ride.