Oct 27, 9:30pm
This bed, with its many small faded bloodstains and crinkling plasic
cover. With its frilly, faded and torn spread and its bent and rotten
leg. With its comical sag and its creaking wooden frame.
That frequent Mexican music, loud and sloppy, with it's splashing
drunken trumpets and its fast, shrill drumming. The way it's always
played proudly, as though in order to share it. With its high pitched
singers and its wailing fast, comical melodies, but why must it be
played late into the night!
I stepped out of my room in the hotel and was startled to see a
magnificently hairy man sitting in the courtyard, near the chicken in
the small cage and surrounded by the bags of beans and piles of...
of... well I haven't a clue what, but they were lying around
everywhere. He had his shirt off and his chest, arms and back were
covered in a mess of hair. Long hair tumbled down from his head and
mixed into a scraggley beard. He looked up sharply and with wide eyes
from the TV as I stepped out. I smiled, sort of, and gave a quick nod
of hello, and stepped out into the street.
On March 3rd, 2010 I arrived in Ushuaia, Argentina and ended my journey to the southernmost city in the world.
This ride is a reminder of what can be accomplished through perseverance and a little hard work. It’s a reminder of what we as people are capable of, of what the human mind, body and spirit can achieve. I hope that I can help people realize that while it may take time, and it may be harsh and lonely at times, we can make our lives how we dream them to be. I do not want to be guilty of owning a life devoid of any living. Comfort and convenience are not synonymous with happiness!
For some reason I am under the impression that I will find both myself and God somewhere along this road. Maybe I won’t find either, but I must look! I want to allow the light of introspection a pure and undiluted chance to examine my soul. I have found greater value in thoughts born in solitude than those that spring from the fray of ordinary life. I hope this trip will be the beginning to a life full of experience, beauty and understanding. I don’t ever want to forget the way the world felt when I was a child: magical and huge, full of possibility and hope. I won’t let go of that. I am an artist at heart, and this, I hope, will be my first great work.
For some reason I am under the impression that I will find both myself and God somewhere along this road. Maybe I won’t find either, but I must look! I want to allow the light of introspection a pure and undiluted chance to examine my soul. I have found greater value in thoughts born in solitude than those that spring from the fray of ordinary life. I hope this trip will be the beginning to a life full of experience, beauty and understanding. I don’t ever want to forget the way the world felt when I was a child: magical and huge, full of possibility and hope. I won’t let go of that. I am an artist at heart, and this, I hope, will be my first great work.
I am riding to raise awareness for 'Acirfa,’ a non-profit organization which provides quality bikes to the people of Zambia, giving them the means to help themselves, rather than depend on charity. A bicycle changes the life of a Zambian in ways that are difficult for Americans to imagine, allowing doctors to see more patients, parents to make a living and teachers to get to school.
To clear the air and clear your head, ride a bike once a week!
On Facebook? Join the Earning the Horizon group!
