Familyonbikes.org
Two years on the road. 24 months of steadily making our way southward. 104 weeks and 20,000 kilometers of magic.
As I look back on these two years since we left home on June 8, 2008, I think about how Davy and Daryl have changed. My mind goes back to that day when we climbed aboard our bikes for the very first time and the boys looked so small and vulnerable and I wondered what I was doing taking them on a bicycle ride to the other end of the earth.
Then I fast forward to the time in Panama when I was sicker than a dog and my head was spinning and I didn’t trust myself on my bike at all. Davy stayed right on my tail all day – escorting me, protecting me, guiding me. I remember looking in my rear view mirror at the cyclist right behind me and thinking, “Who is that young man?” And then I rea
lized that young man was the very same person who just yesterday had been so tiny and vulnerable – and yet now he was anything but. Now he was a strong, confident, capable young man who was able to take care of me should I collapse by the side of the road.
I remember there was a part of my brain that rebelled at that thought – “I’m the mom here! I’m the one who takes care of my children! Not the other way.” And yet I took great comfort in the fact that my son, once so small and fragile, had grown and matured into what he is today.
I look at my boys – so determined to reach the end of the earth, so confident in their abilities, so uncomplaining about the demands of our journey – and I’m humbled. I tend to grumble and complain when times get tough and yet Davy and Daryl have shown me a wisdom I can’t come close to achieving. They’ve seen when it’s time to bicker (chore time anyone?) and when it’s time to jump in and give it everything they’ve got. They can climb the highest mountain and wrestle their bikes through the deepest sand – because they are determined to get to Ushuaia and that’s what they have to do to get there. They’ve dreamed the impossible dream and will reach the unreachable star.
These past two years have been filled with so many small victories I don’t even know where to begin. When I look back at our time on the road I think about all the teensy tiny baby steps we’ve taken; about both the small, daily victories and the massive triumphs we’ve celebrated. There have been days when we considered it a miracle that we made it to our destination and times when we looked at a map and marveled at just how far we had traveled.
It’s hard to believe it was two years ago when we pedaled away from the shores of the Arctic Ocean and started pedaling through the tundra. Our first pass was still so far away – and terrified us to no end. Crossing that pass was one of our first tiny triumphs along a path filled with daily challenges and conquests. It was just one of the many baby steps we’ve taken in the past two years.
This time on the road rolls under my wheels in a steady progress
ion of victories – like a high speed video flashing before my eyes.
** Watching the boys climb atop the Arctic Circle sign – one of the big landmarks you can even see on a map!
** Making that last, frantic descent off the Dalton Highway to solid pavement at last and knowing that we had conquered the Dalton! Long known as one of the toughest cycling routes in North America, our little boys had done it against all odds.
** Stopping by a small sign on the side of the road – Entering Canada. The first of many international borders we had yet to cross.
* Cycling up to the sign at Mile 0 of the historic Alaska Highway knowing we had cycled all 1422 miles of it. As far as we know, Davy and Daryl are the youngest kids to cycle the entire highway.
** Surviving a week on the “World’s Most Beautiful Highway” between Jasper and Banff in pouring rain and we couldn’t see a blasted thing. Because you carry your own food for the whole segment, we had no choice but to push on even though the forces that be were against us.
** Crossing back into our own country – the USA! It had been a long, grueling climb to the pass where the border lay, but we did it! We made it to the United States of America!
** Waking up to find our tent buried in snow on the top of Big Hole Pass in Montana. We donned our winter gear and headed down anyway.
** Making it through Wyoming even though daytime temperatures didn’t even break freezing and nighttime temps were cold enough to freeze our water bottles solid.
** Staying alive throughout Mexico despite all the warnings we had heard from people throughout the world. In fact, Mexico was one of our favorite countries with tasty food and friendly people!
** Crossing more borders – Belize, Guatemala, Honduras… Honduras! We made it back to my Peace Corps village that I left 22 years before and I fell into the arms of the woman I had lived with as a volunteer.
** Walking down the steps of a hotel somewhere in Panama and seeing a map of the Americas – and seeing for the first time just how far we had come.
** Visiting the Panama Canal – in my mind the dividing line between North and South America.
** Managing to climb our first ascent of the Andes in Colombia – a massive 6000-foot climb. Davy and I pushed our bikes nearly the whole way while Daryl walked alongside us. But we made it – we were in the Andes!
** Reaching the equator and knowing we had cycled there from beyond the Arctic Circle. The boys ran and cheered, John and I snapped photos, and we all celebrated that historic moment.
** Seeing the sign announcing the arrival of Chiclayo, Peru after three days in the Sechura Desert. Three of us were sick the second day of our crossing and yet we pushed on anyway – battling fierce headwinds the whole way. Emerging from the desert was one of the biggest victories of our journey.
** Reaching the small Peruvian town of Cananá near the southern end of the country – after battling 2500 km of desert and headwinds – where we would finally turn off the coast and head up into the Andes Mountains away from both desert and headwinds.
Yes, we still have a long ways to go – around 7000 km, in fact. We plan to cross through Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. We will climb more hills and face more headwinds. We’ll cycle through rain and cold and on bad roads. And all along, we’ll celebrate those small victories. We’ll rejoice with each tiny baby step we achieve – knowing that to put many of those baby steps together makes a giant leap.
That’s what our journey is really all about. It’s about baby steps. It’s about setting out in the morning to pedal 30 miles. Or 40. Or perhaps 50. It’s about reaching the next village or camping spot. It’s about living for today.
Yes, we are living our dream on a daily basis. We are taking advantage of every day we have and are living life on our own terms. We are taking time for one another and delighting in the fact that we are together.
We are a family working together toward a common goal – something all too rare in today’s society. We know that we will all reach Ushuaia together or we won’t arrive at all. We are focused on our goal, but taking time to enjoy right now.
It’s been a wild two years, and one I wouldn’t trade for anything. All four of us have learned more than we ever could have dreamed and enjoyed life fully.
Mark Twain once said, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
I couldn’t agree more.
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