Lusk, WY - Douglas, WY (Reflection of Trip So Far)

Leaving Lusk was a nice moment for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure its a nice place to live but it wasn't kind to me as a visitor so I was glad to leave it behind.

Today would be another tough day as we encountered headwind that slowed us down considerably. When we hit Manville, a small town with basically a post office and 3 Sisters Truck Stop, we were thrilled to sit down to a nice breakfast and break from the wind. We were also encouraged after conversing with a guy who told us there was a sporting goods store in Douglas because we were getting low on tubes and patches.

After breakfast we were full but that only made us worse in the wind. We dealt with it though and eventually reached to booming city (by Wyoming standards) of Douglas which actually had more than one highway exit (having even one is a big deal).

We hit the McDonald's which was the slowest I've ever been to surprisingly. It took a half hour to order and get my food but it was worth it to have what I will call a Land and Sky. See you take a McDouble and a McChicken (hot and spicy in Wyoming) and you fuse them together to create the best $2 fastfood sandwich available to man. I ordered enough for 2 of them but wimped out when I realized my stomach wasn't as empty as I first thought.

Then we headed down to Riverside Park which is a free campground on the flooded river. We were blown away to find that each site had a picnic table and there was a bathroom with showers. The only reason we found out about this is because we met Norm.

Norm will probably remain as one of the top characters I've met. I can't explain exactly why some people stand out more than others but in Norm's case there should be little wonder. Norm has a pickup truck. Inside the bed there is a bunch of items he feels are necessary to move off the grid. In the cabin sit his three cattle dogs who protect him and who he claims are his only friends. What amazes me is not that Norm wants to move off the grid into backcountry Montana, but rather that despite the times and ways he has been hurt by people he still managed to show us hospitality in his own unique way.

Norm has been living at the park a couple weeks. He sleeps on the ground behind his truck while his dogs protect him. Essentially Norm is homeless but has found a home at this park. And yet while the park is not his property, Norm showed us the ropes and welcomed us in to a place that he is familiar with. One of the best parts of this trip for me is that for some reason riding on bicycles seems to open up people who otherwise would have probably been afraid of us.

I look like a lycra wearing pirate really. I'm self aware and while most people who know me realize I'm a goof who wouldn't hurt anybody unless they were harming someone I love, to a stranger I'm a 6 foot tall, 200 plus pound guy wearing a bandana with scraggly facial hair that hasn't been trimmed since New York City. To top it off my skin is bronzed from constant exposure to the sun and to be honest I don't particularly smile all that much. I'm much more of a smirk kind of guy. Were I on a Harley I'm not sure people would accept me, but I'm slow. I ride a bicycle loaded up with gear so even if I intended to rob someone it wouldn't take long to track me down. In the hierarchy of motorists, especially out here where RVs are everywhere, I'm weak. I'm approachable.

I feel like that's one of the biggest blessings of this trip and given my background as a follower of Christ its not hard for me to put my finger on this familiar concept of the weak having strength. Perhaps Christ's greatest asset was his weakness. He wasn't exceptional when you looked at him (as long as we assume that the Fabio image often used to represent Christ was probably not quite an accurate Arabic Jewish depiction). Sure he performed miracles but had he looked like Hercules or Chuck Norris or Barry Bonds it wouldn't have blown people away nearly as much. Instead you have this rather ordinary guy who through God is able to do extraordinary things.

Before I draw out a parallel too much, I'm not Christ. So often on this trip I have relied on others and yet given them so little back. I am the goldfish who wanted to be a shark but upon looking in the mirror realized I'm really more of a guppy. And yet in many ways I understand my responsibility to others.

There have been countless times I've wanted to quit. I have not given a good explanation as to why but I will attempt to now. Quitting has a negative connotation in most every case, but I am convinced that this is a narrow view of the act of quitting itself. I evaluate this trip on opportunity cost each day. To be honest I have had more days of not enjoying this ride than is noble to admit. No kid who dreams of riding coast to coast wants to tell everyone that when it came down to it he just didn't have as much fun as those he talked into joining him, and I'm no different, but you're getting a transparent confession, I haven't enjoyed this trip as much as anybody I talked into joining me. On the whole I can say that I'm positive this trip has not meant quite as much to anybody else as it has to me (nobody else dreamed of it since childhood and nobody else has done as little living as I have though they be fortunate in that regard). When I look at individual moments I can say there has been a lot of time I wished I were doing something else. I would prefer church softball to South Dakota, family barbecues to Wyoming, and quiet date nights or movies on a couch with my girlfriend to the endless farmland of Indiana and Illinois.

That might seem sad but in the end isn't that more of a blessing that I have pedaled across this country, seen beautiful countryside and experienced the vastness of this nation while meeting beautiful people, all to realize that I have everything I need right where I was. Along the way I have met such fascinating people and many have expressed a desire to do a trip like the one I'm on. I ride for these people because it would be offensive to throw away such an opportunity, but what I now know in my 23 year old, lacking wisdom self, is that all these people who wish they could ride across the country are living normal lives in one place for a long time, and I look at them with wonder in my eyes because I know that once I reach the coast and this crazy dream becomes a lived out reality, I can maybe one day have what they have. I'm aware and honest enough to say that I know most of you who read this have not ridden a bicycle across the country. Maybe you have, but I'm not sure why this would interest you unless perhaps you have decided to invest into my life and adopt me as a son or friend. Still while most of you have not gone off the deep end, chased a childhood dream blindly and checked a line off on your bucket list, it is YOU who have MY utmost respect and admiration.

I hope to have what you have some day, but unlike you it has taken me far longer and through far more extreme measures to realize just how beautiful life is regardless of geographical features. People are what matter and through my weak appearance to others, from the seat of a bicycle, I have been welcomed in to the stories of so many amazing people and become but a fleeting moment in their adventures. I am blessed to have been invited into this opportunity of which I did nothing to deserve. I often hear the voices of hurting people like Norm or even of my own prior to this trip. People who cry for a fallen world of broken people. I thought I would see the ugly America that is so often discussed worldwide and even on our home soil, but no matter where you go there are beautiful places to live and beautiful people to live with. I wish Norm could meet people like Mike the Bike Medic, Shadow, or Earl and Arlene just to name a few. I bet he wouldn't want to run away to a place with no people. And sadly I know there are people who live right down the street who would inspire hope in Norm's heart and who would be glad to call him neighbor.

As you take a walk down the street in your normal life in a familiar place, why not take a risk and start a conversation with that person working on their flower bed outside? I bet there are a thousand stories better than mine right in your own neighborhood just waiting to be told or forgotten. If only we all could always look as weak as a loaded cyclist, maybe we'd be blessed enough to hear them all and be adopted into the lives of strangers all around us as sons, daughters, and friends.

Give it a shot and let me know how it goes. Comment on this and tell me a story of a stranger you never knew before. I've been sharing stories for months, please share one with me, either of a stranger or your own story.
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