Wow. Happy 2 months to us. We've been on the road for exactly 63 days now--yesterday was our official 2 month-a-versary--and have only four days left until we reach New Haven!
So many mixed feelings. I'm excited to be so close, yet I'm (surprisingly) not looking forward to not biking 50+ miles a day. I've come to love the simplicity of the pattern: bike, eat, sleep, repeat. Being on the road has taught me to live more in the present moment rather than always living in the future. Cliché, I know, but very true. For instance, we plan our route 2-3 days max in advance, and even then our route can change within the day depending on how we're feeling and what the locals say. It's because as long as there is a road (which there always will be a backroad of some sort), a bike can bike there. Might not be the easiest route, or even the quickest, but it's not like we have anything else to do during the day 😜.
Biking has also taught me that nothing will ever go your way perfectly. However, you can choose to make the most of it or not. Happiness is a choice; happiness is not a circumstance.
I'll admit, starting from North Dakota until Chicago, I was so angry at times that I wanted to scream my head off. And I made it worse by blaming everything around me. I never once took a look at myself not told myself to snap out of it because I thought the universe had it out for me, especially in Wisconsin where two of my screws had broken in half so my front rack had fallen off, leaving half of the screws stuck in the front fork. No one seemed to be able to fix this problem. We went to so many bike and auto shops and called many others, yet they all said the same thing: "sorry, but we can't fix that." It was demoralizing and frustrating to hear that for two days straight while riding an off-balanced bike.
Lo and behold, my saving grace came in the form of Al at Altimate Trans & Auto. Whereas everyone else had looked at my bike and automatically said "no can do," Al had given it a try and succeeded. I will forever be grateful to people like Al, and the countless others we have met on the way who have shown us so much kindness and generosity that I don't even know if I could ever begin to repay it all back. Without them, I think this trip would have been a whole heck of a lot harder and whole lot less fun. And coming from an introvert that's saying something.
Anyway, long story short, I'm not sure if I'm ready for this trip to end, but it's gotta end sometime, right? I wasn't sure if I was ready to bike across the country when the most I had ever ridden was from Denver to Boulder (one way and with no bags). But another thing that this trip has taught me so far is that life may seem daunting at first, but if you break it up into manageable tasks sooner or later you'll have accomplished what you needed to, like biking 140 miles in a day.
Ready or not, CT, here we come.
P.S. What am I going to do without my PIC, Ajelet?!
Quick Situation Update:
1) We're currently in Warrington, PA.
2) Tomorrow, we'll be in New Jersey to visit a pal we met in Missoula, MT while biking.
3) We're probably averaging 70-80 miles a day.
4) We'll be finishing on Aug 21, so if you're in the New Haven area come to the Lighthouse Point Park!
5) We went to the heart of Amish Country in PA and feasted on bread and baked goods. There were also samples at every stand and you best believe Ajelet and I sampled each one 😛💁🏽--carb loading right??
6) Mosquitos are the bane of my existence. I'm covered head to toe with mosquito bites.
7) PA Route S = PA Rte Sadist. (Must have been created by someone who has never ridden a bike).
8) Overcast every day we've been in PA. I think Ajelet and I have lost a bit of our tans.
That's it for now!
Xtina