Gifts: From Maine to Vermont

I once learned that in our human brains, the center for language is quite distinct from the center which processes our emotions. In other words, it's hard to SAY how we FEEL. But, on one cold and damp night mid-week, we (me, Joey, and Lily) found ourselves feeling full. Full in our hearts and full in our stomachs sitting warm and dry surrounded by the nighttime hills of Bethel, Vermont. And there, scattered amongst our hanging wet biking clothes by the wood stove of our new friends, I wrote this:

"When I leave what I know, I can no longer expect anything.
So then when I find myself so happy and comfortable- standing, warm and dry, with a full belly, surrounded by the love of friends who used to be strangers and the beautiful land, what do I do? How do I express gratitude? How do I thank?

I suppose...give back is my best answer. Be the same person to others as others are to me.
We have had nothing but blessings since Day One. Our families nurtured us as we prepared our bags, bikes, and bodies to set forth. The bright sun lit our path as we pedaled away from what we knew, leaving the Atlantic Ocean from Wells, Maine. The rain cooled us as we relentlessly pedaled our way through the White Mountains up the Kancamagus Highway of New Hampshire. Out of the past 8 days of travel, we've slept in our tents only once (and that was in the backyard of a friend) due to the kindness of those who have offered shelter in the form of a trailer, a pottery studio, a cabin, house, or home. We have made friends with a ranger, a nurse, two potters, a steel drum tuner, bike repairmen, musicians, an ice cream shop scooper, an artist, international camp counselors, parents, students, dogs (lots of dogs), and car windows with waving hands.

Those who were once strangers, now begin to look after us. They have feed us warm bowls of chili at night, given us towels with which to clean our sweaty selves, offered us beer, coffee, tea, steaming bowls of oats in the morning, and dry beds. Those who were once strangers begin to show concern for us, "Are you warm enough? Do you have food? Have you felt safe enough around the cars?" Those who were once strangers and are now friends have done so much for us that I feel flustered with gratitude and with the constant question, "How, How will you, Bekah, give back?"

And while that is perhaps a life-long question, one that is best embodied rather than quantified and qualified, I do know this:
each time I face a steep hill up ahead, each time I experience the cold and the wet, each time I feel lost or tired, all I have to do is think of these blessings and know that all is well. Each pedal to the Pacific is dedicated to these faces. Faces new as well as old...for equally as powerful are the words, messages, and phone calls from family and friends that have been lighting my fire and inspiring me each day.
So then, thanks because we just ate a home-cooked meal (goat chili, coconut milk rice, sauteed vegetables, nuts, toasted corn, breads, and cheese), thanks because I'm looking out onto the Green Mountains, thanks because we received free bike tune ups at Green Mountain Bike Shop in Rochester, thanks because our friend met up with us to bike over the Middlebury Gap, thanks, thanks, thanks......

Slowly and surely, we ride.

 The Atlantic

 My Best Friends...sending me off

Killgore!!! (biker name)

Together on the Ocean

 Tamworth, New Hampshire

Taco Tuesday

 Sharon Trading Post, VT

 

Surprise Friends in South Royalton, VT

 Up the Middlebury Gap in VT with a Familiar Face

 Made it! Middlebury, VT

Rest Days

Yep...he's the best

I leave you with the reply of one of our recent Vermont hosts. After asking him how to best express the kind of immense thanks I felt for all that he and his wife had done for us, he responded: "Well, I just strive to be the kind of person I'd want to meet on the road. And, you know, life can be hard sometimes. So, why not make it great?"