The one way plane ride to Yorktown, Virginia is one I will never forget. I was barely sixteen years old, an upcoming tenth grader in a small rural town hidden in the wheat fields of southeastern Washington and cautiously aware, that getting back home was going to take a lot of hard work. As the plane descended and the lights of the airport grew brighter, I picked up my map and studied it one last time. What less than 1% of the population will ever even think about attempting, I was ready to tackle.
In the summer of 2014, I was lucky to partner with my father for this once in a lifetime adventure. We were embarking on a 4,200 mile bike ride across the United States. Both excited and afraid, I was looking forward to the hard work, personal …show more content…
I had biked forty-two-hundred miles, navigated through eleven stats all in fifty six days. I had slept in churches, fire stations, campgrounds and a Wal-Mart parking lot. I biked over the Appalachians, the Ozarks and the Rocky Mountains with an elevation of 11,542 feet at Hoosier Pass in Colorado. I was occasionally chased by dogs, pushed off the road by careless drivers and discouraged by non-bike friendly folks. But I would do it all again…and I plan to this next summer. Despite the small handful of negatives, that summer was about personal growth and social awareness. I found a self-discipline in me I didn’t know was there. Putting off hard work didn’t make it go away-it only postponed the experience. Getting up every morning, sometimes in the very cold, knowing today was going to be hard work didn’t excite me, but the feeling of accomplishment and pride at the top of the hill was enough to do it again and again. I had the privilege to meet many wonderful, caring people willing to extend a helping hand, provide shelter from storms, build your self-esteem and share their love for their town. These are the experiences that are bringing me back to the
In the summer of 2014, I was lucky to partner with my father for this once in a lifetime adventure. We were embarking on a 4,200 mile bike ride across the United States. Both excited and afraid, I was looking forward to the hard work, personal …show more content…
I had biked forty-two-hundred miles, navigated through eleven stats all in fifty six days. I had slept in churches, fire stations, campgrounds and a Wal-Mart parking lot. I biked over the Appalachians, the Ozarks and the Rocky Mountains with an elevation of 11,542 feet at Hoosier Pass in Colorado. I was occasionally chased by dogs, pushed off the road by careless drivers and discouraged by non-bike friendly folks. But I would do it all again…and I plan to this next summer. Despite the small handful of negatives, that summer was about personal growth and social awareness. I found a self-discipline in me I didn’t know was there. Putting off hard work didn’t make it go away-it only postponed the experience. Getting up every morning, sometimes in the very cold, knowing today was going to be hard work didn’t excite me, but the feeling of accomplishment and pride at the top of the hill was enough to do it again and again. I had the privilege to meet many wonderful, caring people willing to extend a helping hand, provide shelter from storms, build your self-esteem and share their love for their town. These are the experiences that are bringing me back to the