On March 3rd, 2010 I arrived in Ushuaia, Argentina and ended my journey to the southernmost city in the world.

On July 25th, I left for Prudhoe Bay on the north shore of Alaska to begin a solo bicycle journey 15,000 miles south along the Pan-American Highway to Tierra Del Fuego, the bottom of South America. I traveled through the vast Alaskan wilderness, into Canada and crossed into the forests of northern Washington. From there I followed the coast down, all the way through the deserts of southern Baja, where I took a ferry to the mainland. I continued to follow the coast south through the rainforests of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Then came South America: Colombia, Ecuador, the endless deserts of Peru, Northern Chile and then finally Argentina. I will ended in Ushuaia and the bottom of the Americas.

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.

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!

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Saturday, January 2, 2010

Those people

I wrote the paragraph below somewhere in Central America and recently
re-discovered it. I didn't post it at the time but on re-reading it, I
found it impactful. In the first sentence I reference 'those people.'
So a fair question would be to ask 'Who are those people?' But let me
avoid the question. I would much rather you fill in the blank
yourself. Let me just say that I have found 'those people' everywhere
I have gone.

Sometimes I want to shout at those people. Stand up! Don't you know
you're human? Don't you know how special that makes you! Don't you
know how powerferful you are? We are the stewards of the world! We can
think and feel and create! Stand up! Why are you just sitting there!
Don't you know what you are, what you can do, the freedom you have?
Don't you see life in all its richness and texture laid out before
you? Don't you want to protect that, admire it and enhance it? Stand
up! Why are you sitting down! This life now is the chance you have
to... do something. Don't be passive. Don't be nothing. Don't you know
you're human? Don't you know what that means?