Now that we are in Minneapolis and 2 and half months into this trip, it feels completely normal but it's still hard to feel like we have no home other than our bikes and tent. It was especially nice staying in Madison, WI for two weeks with all my extended family on my mom's side. I love them all so much. They are so supportive and in general it was just nice to be around familiar faces for so long.
Now we are back on the road and yes, it was really nice to get back on the bikes because this is what we consider to be normal now. We had a lovely ride along the Mississippi with beautiful bluffs on our right. In fact, it was the most beautiful ride so far (route 35 in Wisconsin). See beautiful things everyday also feels normal now. We are expecting beauty more and more now. I have also began to appreciate nature so much more than I did in the past. As we are biking we are not only seeing everything around us, but we are feeling everything around us from the wind, to the bugs flying in our faces to the heat pounding down on us. I noticed this most especially when we were at a beautiful overlook gazing at Lake Pepin in Wisconsin and a car came by with their windows up and just slowed down and looked from their airconditioned cube without getting out to feel their surroundings.
This sense of normalcy may be hard to understand but now that I have done this, I can't help but think about all the other amazing things we can do in our lives. It's like once I took the leap, more doors seemed to open. So many times when we meet people they say to us, "might as well do it when you're young!" It's true. But also why should adventures like this be reserved for only the young? We had a great opportunity to meet a friend of my aunt's who biked around the world with his wife in the 1980s (when he was "young") and now he is about to retire in the next couple years and they are planning on doing it again. Also, right now we are staying with amazing couchsurfers, Brian and Amy, and they have a house here in Minneapolis and work construction and then take the winters off to travel. Just last winter they biked through India and Bangladesh. You are never to old or young for an adventure.
What I'm trying to say is that no dream is too crazy and no lifestyle t00 abnormal. We all have choices that we can make and if you are looking for an adventure, you don't need millions of dollars or a heart of steel, you just have to put yourself out there and overcome your fear and make it happen. You are not alone in this adventure! We are constantly told that we have to have the "American dream" which doesn't even exist for most American people. We all need to create our own dreams rather than just following the one that we are told to follow. Break the cycle and create your own dream and go get it!
Now we are 600 miles away from getting to Pine Ridge, SD, which was what started this dream.
What's your dream that you want to follow that might seems unthinkable?
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