"The end is not near, it's here".

“A conclusion is simply the place where someone got tired of thinking.” Although that’s probably why it’s taken me so long to finish, I don’t want that to be the reason why I’m ending this blog. It’s not how we ended our trip (although, sometimes looking back, it kind of feels that way. The light at the end of the tunnel was mesmerizing).

Why? Why ride our bikes across the country? For lots of reasons…probably none of them very good. Because…it’s there. Because we’ve never seen it. Because we don’t have jobs, or kids, or a house payment. Because… there’s no real reason that could convince someone that they had to take this trip. Maybe because if you wait to do everything until you're sure it's right, you'll probably never do much of anything. Maybe. Maybe we didn’t have a good reason.

Did it change us? Yes. And no. I can’t give you a good answer for that. I would hope that after having 2 ½ months to closely evaluate…all things under the sun… we would all come away changed. I feel more focused. We didn’t have much internet access, TV episodes online, movies…facebook. I don’t feel like I used these too much before, but I can actually get quite a bit done when I don’t use them at all… and I thought about things that aren’t the news, or an episode, or facebook. I thought about my relationships with people. I spent time remembering. I spent time self-evaluating. I realize I have too much stuff. Everything we needed to survive for three months fit on our bikes. It struck me that we work so hard for…what? We’re stuck on a hamster wheel. There is a whole life to live, but our hamster wheel gets in the way sometimes. It gets in the way of being a part of people’s lives…of doing what we really want to, or aspire to. It gets in the way of enjoying what we do have. I have a kitchen sink. This lone, simple fact is something that I have never considered. I didn’t have a sink on the trip.

But in other ways, I’m still the same. Those messy parts of me that I could ignore when I had a single task—riding my bike—for two months start emerging. I don’t prioritize correctly. I haven’t run this week. I know those things will slowly creep back out, but I’m trying to keep them in their places.

Was it ever terribly boring? I would be lying if I told you it was a joy-ride the entire trip. I listened to my ipod only four times on the trip, but it was over a stretch of days that riding seemed incredibly boring, or difficult. There were days when I’d wake up, and didn’t want to ride…primarily because I was bored. But I had to. Thank you, C.S. Lewis for entertaining me then. Most of the time, though… no. It wasn’t boring… sometimes David and I were talking, other times we were thinking about things separately. Lots of time, but lots to think about. Toward the end of the trip…the second to last day... it was boring coupled with antsiness. Most of the time, it was just peaceful. You can pray. You can just ride and not think about anything.

Was it incredibly hard? Annie Smith Peck says “Nothing to mountaineering, just a little physical endurance, a good deal of brains, lots of practice, and plenty of warm clothing.” I say “nothing to cross-country biking, just a little physical endurance, a good deal of thinking, and bike shorts.” I honestly think if you are physically capable of running a few miles, you’re probably physically capable of riding across the country. It’s just a matter of whether or not you can sit on a bike seat for hours every day and keep pedaling. I was pretty nervous before the trip. Not, ‘will I make it?’ but, ‘how hard is this going to be?’ There were a few stretches that were difficult, but for the most part… it was almost always enjoyable.

Did you drive each other crazy? Never. Not even once. My mom always said you can tell the true character of someone when they’re sick or tired. I’m happy to tell you that I’m married to a pretty awesome man.

What was the best part? Glacier National Park. The people we met. The way the trip unfolded. Everything.

What was the worst part? Regrets? Besides waiting on a dark street corner waiting for David’s friend to get off work for hours, it was this: (you’re probably getting tired of quotes. I’m sorry… I feel like this one sums up when I look back a little too well) “Just remember, the same as a spectacular Vogue magazine, remember that no matter how close you follow the jumps: Continued on page whatever. No matter how careful you are, there's going to be the sense you missed something, the collapsed feeling under your skin that you didn't experience it all. There's that fallen heart feeling that you rushed right through the moments where you should've been paying attention.” Chuck Palahniuk

Scariest? Not a lot of scary parts… maybe the tunnel in Wisconsin? Except that wasn’t scary… just eerie.

Did you lose weight? Do you feel in the best shape of your life? David lost a lot of weight… all said in done, it was probably 30-35 lbs. I lost…6 lbs (maybe? I’m still confused because I weigh 5 lbs different everyday). I feel more solid, and trim. However, I don’t feel like I’m in super-human shape. I went for a six mile run when I got back and while my body was like, “hey. ok. I get it…we’re running.” My lungs were like, “What is THIS? Actual cardio?”

How much did you average each day? We averaged about 70 miles a day. We rode as little as 50 miles, and as much as 140 in one day.

Did you see anyone else doing what you were? There were LOTS of people riding the same trip we were. I’d say we often ran into the same seven bicyclists throughout the ride, but we crossed at least 120 touring bicyclists between the west coast and the Northern Tier. We ran into only one other person our age… almost everyone else was retired.

Would you change anything about how you did it? Yes. David wouldn’t use the BOB trailer (in fact, he’s getting ready to sell it). We’d get slightly thicker tires so they wouldn’t wear as quickly. We’d ‘camp’ the same way… we’d use the same map company… we’d probably look for state maps to go off of rather than rely on Google, but we’d probably still have the Netbook with the internet USB. It was really handy when we did turn off the route. We might leave the propane stove at home if we did it again. And we’d start out with less.

What will you miss? I’ll miss a lot. The carefree-ness of it. Meeting new people every day. The unexpected. Pedaling in the middle of nowhere.

What won't you miss? I’ll bet David won’t miss his bike seat.

Was it hard to re-adjust when you came back? Not really. I think we were both ready to be back. It was disappointing to find our apartment in the mess that it was, but I think it made us appreciate it more now that it’s ‘ours’ again (aka: clean. organized). I’ve gone through and gotten rid of a bunch of ‘stuff’. After visiting our families, David started school right away, and went back to working at Melanthios… we just kind of slid back into our lives here…hopefully with some things changed. It was like pushing a reset button.

Best part of being back? A bed every night. Community. Having a church we are a part of. Family. A kitchen sink.

Would you do it again? In a heartbeat.

This trip was more than we'd hoped it would be. It was everything plus some. I think the biggest surprise was the kindness and hospitality that still thrives in the United States. Chicago has the highest youth crime rate in the US. That doesn't mean that every other person out there has a heart of stone. We were carried by the kindness of the people we met, the people we talked with or stayed with... that was why I got up and got on my bike in the morning... not necessarily to see everything we would see, but because I knew we'd meet more people, see more ways that people did life, and that we'd get to be a part of it.

Thank you, thank you to everyone that prayed for us along the way... that read up on us, that sent messages and called to tell us you were 'here' with us. We really appreciated it. This was the trip of a lifetime, and we are so thankful we got to share it with the people we love.

If you want to email me if you have any questions, or to tell me thoughts you had about our trip while we biked, go ahead and email me at kmrdjanov@gmail.com -- I would love to hear your take on things.

I guess... is this goodbye? Maybe for now, but we'll be back. Oh, yes we will.






Some other nerdy quotes I related to our trip:

"Endurance is patience concentrated." - Thomas Carlyle

“I learned from the example of my father that the manner in which one endures what must be endured is more important than the thing that must be endured” Dean Acheson

“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many races one after another.” -Walter Elliot.

“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.” Ralph Waldo Emerson