just a nomad

Months of rest-

2009-12-06T03:08:00.000-08:00

It has been some months that I have not written, and some might begin to wonder what has happen. I have been living in Louisville, KY working on my Masters degree. It has been just over 4 months since I arrived, and in that time I have finished my first semester of classes. I toke a church history, biblical hermeneutics, systematic theology and Old Testament class. When I arrived I did not know if I would complete a degree or just take a few classes, I have decided to go ahead and pursue a full master’s degree in theology. In the mean time I am working three part time jobs, one as a driver for a hotel and then I work the front desk at that same hotel. The other job is that I sell and repair oriental rugs. I ride my bike almost every day to class and to church on Sunday. Every night my bike sits beside my bed. My bike and I have been so many miles together I think it is nice to have a season of luxury. I still love to ride in the rain, and sometimes getting to ride in the middle of the night when the roads are abandoned I feel the open space again. In such a short time I have been received by so many with open arms, and have fallen in love with Louisville. It has a small town feel that is perfect for riding a bike, listening to local musicians and hanging out in local owned coffee shops. I will be returning to Oklahoma for Christmas and to see my niece that was born just a few days ago. I hope over the next few weeks to have more time to blog about life over these last few months and to share with you the journey that I have been on. In the mean time, may the wind be at you back and the sun shine on your face.

When the wind blows-

2009-08-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel the sound in the distance,

it is the voice of the ages to come.

And in a thousand years does any of this matter,

in a thousand years will the wind carry my body with the sands.

The problem that I see is that we only see a few days, maybe a few weeks at most a few months in advance.

But what would happen if we thought one hundred years in advance of even a thousand?

What if we lived as if we were a thousand years away?

The wind blows through the branches of the tree and we are shaken, to fear so deep that we die.

Not to die physically, but to never allow our the heart to pump blood through the veins.

Let the wind carry away all our futile worries.

Let the wind bring hope.

Hope to waken and live life.

And when the wind blows would let it carry us away.

Paying rent-

2009-08-03T12:15:00.001-07:00

It has now been six years since I last paid rent, and a few days ago I sent in a check.

It is a very strange feeling, the thought of setting up an apartment.

Having my own space.

Actually I attempted to move to Chicago, when I packed up my truck last year I did not move to Chicago with my heart.

My heart was still wandering out there somewhere, and I still feel like there are parts of my heart that are still traveling.

A fear of mine that I will hate it, that I will be found once again in the breakdown lane of the highway with lights flashing.

I still dream about the road, I often dream about Africa, India and every place in between.

My eyes searching open air markets, buying a kilo of fresh fruit, striking up conversation with a vendor.

It will be weird to wake up in the same bed day after day for a year.

In a matter of days I will be leaving Oklahoma and moving to Louisville Kentucky to start graduate school.

I will be starting a two year program in religious studies.

I will to my best to keep writing, I look forward to living in a new place, hopefully this time the feeling will not fade.

Ten minutes before it is too late-

2009-06-30T18:32:00.000-07:00

My dad said that rain always comes ten minutes before it is too late,

and I have pondered this statement a lot over the last few days.

Life does seem to work out that way, the dry seasons of our souls

and when we think that we cannot take it any more the skies open and rain covers us.

Here at the ranch all the grass has been burning up, it has just been too long without any rain

and with temperatures hovering close to a hundred degrees, we needed rain.

And today the rain came, and as I ran to escape the giant drops that felt like tears, it was hard not to laugh and dance.

Because I knew that God had not forgotten me

And truly it is never too late

It might feel like it is too late but ten minutes before it is too late Gods rain will come,

but we must wait.

Around the Ranch-

2009-06-22T18:56:00.001-07:00

This last weekend we held the Oklahoma Brangus field day at our place. We had quite a few ranchers come out, and had some great speakers and a great heifer show. I have decided to just post a few pictures. And I have included a few more pictures of my family.

My grandpa and niece Kelsey

This is Momo, my grandpa Kelsey and my other sister Lauren.

Lauren, Momo and I

My dad, Lauren, Momo and I

Moon summer Sun-

2009-06-22T18:44:00.000-07:00

It has been a great summer for my family, these are just a few photos from a few weeks ago.

We always seem to have a great time,

and the pool just makes things a little bit better if that is possible.

Emily and Benson

Phil my little brother

Shannon, my mom, emily and I

Emily my sister and Phil my brother in law.

Tanner and Shannon, it was a great water fight

Hunter and Bobby fighting to the death!

My grandparents

When 10 years comes around-

2009-06-22T17:48:00.000-07:00

In ten years since graduating high school I could never have dreamed that my life would have played out the way that it has.
This last weekend was my ten year high school reunion, it has been a wild ten years, and one thing is for sure I would have never dreamed that I would have been here in Oklahoma for my reunion.
But I guess that is one of the small blessings in life. It was great to be able to see old friends, some faces looked just the way they had walking across the stage at graduation and some I would say they were wearing their bodies out way too fast and they had better slow down. I have travelled a lot of miles, slept in the ditch in at least a dozen countries, but I had not aged as much as some of my fellow classmates.
It was great to laugh at old stories, and to hear that so many of my friends have lived their dreams. I received the award for having lived in the most places, and I am thankful it was not the award for having had the most children which is four I would like to include. I guess maybe I have not lived in the most places, maybe I would have won the award rather for not having lived in any place for the longest period of time, or maybe in truth there would be someone else that lives so far off the radar that they know nothing of facebook and had no idea of the reunion, nor even knew how to get back to Edmond even if they wanted, and if that fellow traveler is out there then the award goes to them.
But it is always funny to me when people ask me if Afghanistan was scary and I want to ask them if being married and having kids is scary. Because I can honestly say that living in Afghanistan was a breeze to untangling my emotions and figuring out how to communicate clearly in a relationship. Sticks and stones will break my bones, but a broken heart takes a long time to heal. And so in my opinion is that awards should be garland around the shoulders of my classmates with successful marriages and who are raising children. It just does not look as exciting at times, but I tip my hat to you.
These last ten years have gone by way too fast, where has the time gone, slipped through our fingers.
And if I could not imagine the last ten years, only God knows the next ten years.
Really I have not a clue what the next ten months will hold,
I hope just to have a grasp on the next ten days.
And in the next ten minutes I will hopefully have this posted on my blog.
So let this be a reminder to us all that we need to take it a little easy, find some time to figure out just where we are going.
But do not underestimate the significance of the small things
In ten years from now, would be love deeper and hopefully be a little bit wiser.

Ramblings of love-

2009-06-18T19:25:00.000-07:00

I have spent a few hours today pondering love,
It has been a long journey of discovery over these last few months.
A few months ago I starting memorizing a portion of the Bible.
1 Corinthians 13, which part of it goes like this.4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,endures all things.
As I pondered I came up with many more questions then answers,

Have we cheapened the word "love" by using it so carelessly, or so haphazardly?
Is love a feeling?
Is it something that you fall into?
Something that just comes over us, or is it a choice that we make?

You see the reason why I ask these questions is because part of me strongly believes that love is a choice,
a million small decisions that we make every day, and the words " I love you" have no power without the context love in action.
Words are cheap, the word love has been cheapened, to the point that I feel lost in this context.

Where are the modern day models of love?
How can the word love be redeemed?

Is it possible that we are trusting too much in some false idealized state of love, that we do not experience the love that is in our everyday life's.
Because I believe just as haphazardly as we falsely use the word love, true love is all around us to the same degree and volume.
But we are fixed on our love in context of getting our own needs met, or immediate needs, instead of the love that flows out of true life.
For me Jesus life is the only true model of love that I know,
His life was lived as not only to walk with people and to hurt with them, but as a protector, and in the end someone who laid down his life.
Love is so much greater then we could ever imagine, so much more powerful then the colliding of the universe.
If love is an action and not just a word then we have a wonderful model
If it is just word with out a true disciption then our world is full of these models also
If only to discover that love does not have to be cheap,
It does not have to leave us feeling empty.
The test of true love is that never fails, or rather it endures all things.

Lost Sacredness-

2009-06-13T07:12:00.000-07:00

The dew covers the body no more
Only baking sun and the taste of salt at the corners of the mouth
A storm is emerging, but not one of rain
Obsession with power
Desperation for a meal
Dry dirt consumes us up through our feet
In the market she is sold as sacrificial offering to save us all,
If only we would have burned her body at the stake instead of the lust of men
Far away, distant language and land
In this trade she has no name
Nothing matters anymore, not to raw materials
Faceless slaughter robbing all of humanity
A conveyer built of activity only leading to the demise of all mankind
Only her tears fall from her cheek
Until they are all gone
Leaving a hollow cistern the only thing that remaining
Humanity where is our daughter, sons where is your sister?
Mother does not your heart ache at the departed sound of pattering feet
Or the little beat of her heart
Father is not your heart not torn from your very chest
My little sister what would I not give?
Does anything matter but your very freedom?
To see you play once again among the fields
Or resting once again in our arms
May your whisper awaken the slumbering warrior with in
Would your very tears mix with our blood awakening a passion for justice
Awaken heart do not give in to this idle passing of time or pursuits of folly
Nor passions for a kingdom of straw
To pour out love until the bottle runs dry
Holding nothing back not even a drop
Smashing of glass with this life as to never hold any for reserve
My dear sister I am coming for you!

I just finished a book “Not for Sale”, It is the fight against modern day slavery.
I would highly recommend it to anyone This is a response I have written mostly because I did not know how else to respond for now.

Shine-

2009-06-12T22:02:00.000-07:00

If given tears to drink
Or sun’s rays to bath in
Dark nights
Bright mornings
Mourning cries
Light skies
Clawing pain
Clinging joy
Hopes rain
Party of one
If given a moment
If given a life time
Hold on
To what is given
If all if hopeless
Have hope
If all is faithless
Just let a seed be enough
If loveless
Let the world crash
Because in the pieces of catastrophe
There you will find it
In the empty womb
In the flat line
Flat plains
In this moment
Love is there
Not for you to find
But to find you
In my tears I need you there
In your tears I am there,
if you will only allow me
to see behind your hands
There our tears become here
Here our tears become home
And love is present in this moment
Not when things get better
Not with a job
Not with a credit line
Or credit card
Love is now
In the hopeless mundane tired moments of life
When you know that it is over
Life is just beginning
So lets shine

Choose your own adventure-

2009-06-10T19:44:00.000-07:00

There were these books that I read as a boy called "Choose your own Adventure", in the summer time when school was out I would read dozens of these books.
I would walk to the library which was a converted trailer, and with the air-conditioning humming, I would sit on the little stool and read books. It was the hot summer days of the late 80's
and was life so ever grand. Sometimes I remember disliking one of the story lines and I would try to end the book. Which in the books you were given chooses to make, and if I did not like the story line I would chose to quit missions, but the books never ended that way, because if in the books you would always get sucked back into the story no matter what choice you made and many times have the same ending no matter what choices you would have made. And life to me feels a little bit like that, like no matter how I mess things up, or no matter how hard I try to accomplish something, if it is supposed to fall apart that it will and if I try to let things slide, then some how it sticks together. In this season of life I wonder if I have any control, and it seems like when I let go things stay together, and I have spent my life trying to keep it all together.
So it feels good to let life happen, and to love the place that I am.
Love the people that I am with
To chose to be HERE!

1000 stitches-

2009-06-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

So another thing about living on the farm is accidents,
it truth we make a lot of visits to the emergency room.
My father goes at least a couple times a year.
It is typically my mother that is taking my father to the hospital,
either with heat stroke, almost cutting off his finger and
then there was the time that he fell off the ladder and broke his sternum.
This week my father had a trip to the emergency room after a cow kicked him,
The cow had an infected hoof and we were trying to treat it and she smashed his fingers.
But the x-ray come back that his fingers were not broken.
Last nights trip to the emergency room is one of the scariest that we have had in a long time.
My Dad, Mom and 2 year old cousin were riding the 4wheeler together when they hit a wire about head level.
My father was in the front and scraped his face and ear up pretty bad,
but my mom hit the wire with the full impact on her face just above her lip
and tore a hole about the size of a quarter.
It took a plastic surgeon close to three hours and over a thousand stitches to stitch her back up.
He had to stitch inside her nose, mouth and her lip.
The left the house to go to the emergency room at 8 pm and did not return until after 4 am,
so it was a very long night.
So please be praying for my mom and a speedy recovery.

Not having a clue of what is going on-

2009-06-04T19:59:00.000-07:00

It is funny I feel like with time one should arrive at a

greater understanding of what is going on,
but it feels like to me that I understand

less then I have ever understood before.
I have less confidence in my opinion,

less confidence that I have all the answers.
I guess it just feels like I should be arriving at some destination,
and it truth it feels like this ship is just setting sail.
It feels like I have found parts of my heart

that leave me feeling more confused.
So much feels like a chasing after the wind,
But I love chasing the wind,

not metaphorically speaking, but in reality.
Life for me on the road was very simple,
I love simple life.
But it feels like we have confused the hell out of it here
Just way too much running around,

and we want it fast and now, but what is it.
We love to talk about being busy,

and it truth we are busy, there is a lot to do,
but what is the sum of it all.
What are we trying to accomplish?
But I just do not understand and admit I do not have to have it all figured out,
which it feels nice to say, and to be on a journey.
And in truth it is great to know that I am just one part of many,
and God created us as a body that functions together,

and we can lean on one another.
And so I can ask for help, what a revolution,

to admit that we need each other and it our

chasing and running around we do not have to be self contained islands.

And I have a simple plan,
Let go of some pride,
Take on a little humility
Admit to my humanity
and walk with others
not as a fixed up mess
but a mess that I am
just feeling the wind and not chasing it
embracing life, even when that includes tears
laughing a little louder
so maybe if I can get these things maybe

I am on the path to getting something
I hope something begins at admitting that

I am at the beginning and not the end.
It feels great to be here!

Covered in Paint!-

2009-06-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

So I guess the cool kids are all doing it out on the farm getting covered in all kinds of stuff.
Today was paint, I will be painting tomorrow and I will have to post a photo.
We are painting all the pens around the property.
Which is several hundred feet of fence.
And the industrial paint and hot sun make for a really sticky experience.
But after a good shower I can get cleaned up.
Sorry about the last post, maybe I should give some kind of rating system.
It just made me laugh because so many people live out of touch of reality,
and living on the farm is another reality that is for sure.

Manure on my lips-

2009-06-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

I think many people think of life in one way,
this list of people includes myself,
like WOW! a farm how fun.
But in truth, there are many things about the farm that are not fun.
Which is a lot like life.
So on the farm today it was my job to clean out the pens,
it has been some time since the last deep cleaning.
So with a pressure washer I shot the piles of manure with
lots of water. And like blood on the front lines I was quickly covered
in carnage. A couple times in the cleaning process I had to clean my sunglasses because I could not see out of them, and to keep the crap out of my mouth it was just best to keep my lips closed tight, but not closed enough not to get a little bit on my lips.
The great thing about living on here is that not a day passes that I do not have some story.
My story today was special spa treatment that I toke to a whole new level.
In a couple months I am sure the pens will need to be pressure washed again,
so maybe for a small fee you too could be covered in manure.

The garden and my great grandma-

2009-05-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

My great grandma Bertie is 95 years old, and she spent the day with us, it was great to laugh, share stories and to see her eyes brighten over the garden. What a wonderful day.

Drivingpictures-

2009-05-25T12:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I just miss movement,
the feel of the road.
The sound of life speeding by.

Friends from before time-

2009-05-25T06:26:00.001-07:00

It is great to be with friends from the past especially when they are friends in the present.
I lived with Ryan and Kristian in Taiwan, and I knew them before they married and before the three additions. Jen and I were in youth group together and travelled together half way across the country, down to Mexico and can swap stories to the point where we both come out looking like really mean people, nice to come full circle with you Jen.
Jenna is a golden girl always quick to smile.
All the little ones are additions of love and what smiles of joy to this world.
It was a great cook out and swim party.

Deja Vu-

2009-05-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

One great thing about this year is that it is exactly like last year, or rather it feels that way.
And when I wonder what I should or should not do, all I have to do is look at last years mistakes and not repeat them. I guess that does not necessary mean that I am doing the right thing, I can just keep from repeating last years mistakes. Actually there are many things that are not the same as last year, like this year I am not in relationship with a girl in Chicago,
so that means that in the Fall after working and saving some money I can go anywhere in the world. So that is defiantly different. Also I have gained some wisdom over this last year that I did not have before. I am now making long term plans to move overseas, at this point I do not know where, or what it will look like, but I am going to do some studies over this next year and try to figure out just where it is that I am going to go. But I do look forward to having another year or two in the States, which are wild words for me to write. Of course I always enjoy the time with my family, someday I think that I will say goodbye and it will be a long expansion of time in our parting. I am really praying about returning to Afghanistan, it is a truly amazing country and there is so much development work that is needed. This was not on my radar last year, nor was living in one place on my mind. I had road fever and just wanted to get out the door, before I ever even really walked in the door. I just did not have my head on straight last year, too much road is not good for the soul. I am seeking now to put all those exiled pieces together. Last year I was not ready to pursue as relationship, I had been living in a tent for a year, and before that living in a mud walled home in Afghanistan before that. I had lived more like Tarzan and the fast paced society of Chicago ate my lunch, my gypsy blood was boiling over. If I would have just seen the States like a undiscovered land, some distant country I would have done just fine, but the good ole' USA was just not good enough for me a year ago. Never in my life have I had things fall apart like they did last year, maybe God was trying to teach me some lesson, like it is not all about me. I figured out this last year that I am really selfish, if I would have just stepped back, slowed down and not worried so much how I was going to get out of this place and figured out that the world does not revolve around me I might have just made it fine. This year I am just going to live, but not "just live" but live purposeful and take each day as a new day, I am going to love people, love the church, love community. I am not going to be so weird, and am going to be more open, more honest, and I am going to ask for help when I need it. After living on the road and in Afghanistan, I thought I had nothing to be afraid of and I thought I could do anything. I could live in the third world like a duck in water, but put me in the States and I need help, I have no idea what is going on here most of the time.
But here I am,
And this is where I will be for now.
And I will love it this time around.

Returning to Oklahoma!-

2009-05-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

The funny thing is that you think that I would be used to returning to Oklahoma and that it would be easy, but I must confess that I have been a lot of different places over the years, but returning to Oklahoma this time has kind of has me freaking out and it is hard. Maybe it is too much of the familiar mixed in, old faces and places, but it is not the same. Like a blast from the past, something like you know that you have been here before, but not quite the same. Over the last few years it feels like I am always moving, but it feels like moving forward, but coming back to Oklahoma feels like moving backwards. Maybe it is not a challenge physically, no landmines or deserts to cross, but going back to the place where I once lived, and where I known in part, parts of me that maybe I want to forget about, the old me, that is not really who I am now.
It is great to see family, great to see friends, well the ones that are left.
Oklahoma seems much more small town, it feels so safe, everyone so friendly, people are always asking lots of questions and striking up conversation. The driving is so tame, and everything is so cheap! We parked down town OKC last night for $5. My 10 year high school reunion is coming up, and I do not know if I am ready for all this history. I love the future, I love dreaming and planning what is next. But learning to be "here" is a good lesson in this season on my life, and "here" meaning Oklahoma is a good place, it is a great place to me because all my family is here. It is a great place because I can see so much of myself here, so many memories, so many great memories.

One wild year-

2009-05-05T06:13:00.000-07:00

It has been a wild year, as a nomad the year biking to southern Chile was easier. But as far as life experience I learned just as much if not more than my year on the road. There are challenges in life that are greater than biking 12,000 miles. One is pursuing a relationship, why is it that the most important lessons in life are sometimes learned too late. I moved up to Chicago last fall, after working for the summer. I was hoping to get into Wheaton Graduate School, which I did, but the scholarship that I was applying for fell through, and then in the process of looking for a job did not work out, and then as my relationship with Devon was falling apart this left me reeling for a life line. So I did something to try and get some air, I broke up with Devon and started making plans to get out of the country. Around December I started making plans to go to Africa, but I did not just want to go to Africa but to bike across the continent. It was not a good move, really my heart was not in a good place to go to Africa, I was running away. There is a difference between running away and living the life. I have learned over the last 4 months, even as I still feel like I have a nomad’s heart that I must journey from a healthy place. Running away from relationships and commitment is not being true to me. It has been a very humbling season of my life, and I have had to swallow a lot of my pride and ask for help.
So over the last few months I have done just that, I asked for help, I asked for others to walk with me, and I can honestly say for one of the first times in my life my heart found a home in my body.
On my bike I biked, but I also had lost part of myself out there, and lost part of my heart. And I lost part of my heart on Devon, lost part again in Chicago, and out there the confusion had rained down on my head. But in the cold snow of Chicago, alone I found all those missing parts as I laid on my back. To surrender is to find oneness. You see in my striving having starved my soul. I was striving to be so many things that I was not, and it was not until I said that I am lost could I be found.
The nomad had taken over, the desire to fit some normal mold had taken over and both of them battled within me and in the end I lost. So now I am holding on to the truth that I do not have to do anything to be me, I just have to be. And to be me I know that the truth is not in me alone, but in God. It toke a lot of hurt and tears to find out that the best that I can give, does not include in its agenda running away. Actually I am back to where I started a year ago, back in Oklahoma, working for the summer. I am back at the beginning, and it hurts to be here. I think about the words spoken and the race I feel like I lost, but in truth I need to see it as a new start This time to not to get it right, but rather to be. In my heart I have had to learn to let go, quit the chasing, quit the running, and quit living in dreams, but to let reality be present in this place.
I am sending in an application to take on some studies in the fall. I am doing the last thing that I think that I thought I wanted to do, which is the best thing. To take some steps, to nestle into a place for a few years, to surround myself with some books and a good church for a few years and to dive deep into some hearts and allow my own heart to be discovered in the deep places. To know ourselves we can only be known as we know the maker and to find the maker one must surrender from playing the game and trying to pretend to be the mask before us.

I make this promise to write in this blog as my heart journeys not just in miles pedaled but in the journey of the heart as discovery and the discovered.

So what NOW!

2008-05-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

Actually I am sitting at the Edmond Library in Oklahoma, one of my favorite places in the world.
Free Internet and the connection is fast. So this means I made it on my flight, which I will have to write about. I am back in the States for a bit. Who knows exactly for how long. A lot of things are up in the air. I am going to work the summer and save up money. My father has also given me an old barn as a home, so I am going to work and fix it up this summer. This I will all write about soon enough. I am also crazy about a girl living in Chicago and look forward to going to Chicago to send some more time with her. This I will also write about. But for now I just wanted to write a little post and tell everyone I am back in the Northern Hemisphere, and if you want to share a pot of tea or come and work on my new home/barn with me give me a call. This is a busy country so you call me, my number is 405.706.9811.

Also, I will be selling prints from my trip if you are interested. I also do weddings, portraits and commercial, so if you need any photo services I can show you my work upon request.
This is a expensive place to live, more expensive than travelling so I have to put my hands to the plow. I plan on posting over the summer on this blog just as I have over the last year, hence the nomad life and not the nomad trip.

Thank you all for your support, it has been a beautiful experience and thank you for joining it with me, and I hope you will continue with me in the future.

Some photos-

2008-04-28T10:04:00.000-07:00

Walden

Morning frost

Frozen water bottle

Tea on Walden

Lunch on the river

Why I ride a bike and not a semi truck

I do not know what this is a sign for, something like a pig with horns

cafe and bus

My last meal on the road

Last night in the woods

Walden-

2008-04-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

I have been lost in nature, lost beside the woods and carried away by the wind. For the last week or so I have lived alone in nature. I did not want to come back, the place beside what I called my Walden, a lake, with a back drop of mountains. I stayed until I ran out of food and then stayed another day without food just living off the beauty around me. I truly have never enjoyed myself in the whole year as this last week. I did bike but since it was through a national park I would only bike 30 or so kilometers before I would find another truly amazing place to camp and I would then again get lost in nature all together. I am a fool to have ever have left that place, maybe the most amazing place I have ever been in my life. It was a combination of things, the weather, finishing a 18,000 kilometer bike trip, the birth of so many great things, and life has never felt so great.

In the matter of the last 14 days I have written over three hundred pages. It usually takes me a year to write this, and it is like the pen exploded in my hand, ideas, dreams, thoughts and reflections. I wish I could put all three hundred pages here. As I look back on this blog I realize that I have left out thousands of pages and so I have decided to write a book in the next six months, and put the whole thing together. Because I have so many stories left unshared, and even now I have some conclusions of the last year that I need to share. Sorry I have left so much out. I will work on writing a book and if it is not published, I will post it here for you to down load. If it is picked up and published, I will also have it here where you can get the whole book. I love holding something in my hand anyway, it is better than reading a flashing screen, but I will write more, for there is much more to be written.

Snow Storms-

2008-04-09T08:58:00.000-07:00

Whenever I am in trouble, the Lord always brings people to help, and as I biked into a snow storm in the middle of nowhere, which is pretty much where I keep residence- the middle of nowhere, there was a border, and as I entered Argentina I was met by a warm office and smiling faces. These guys saw no one. It was a far out border and they processed about 20 or 30 people a day. So they were surprised to see me in the middle of a blizzard, and on a bike, but I had to keep biking or freeze in my tent. Then as I jumped back on my bike after getting my stamp they invited me in for a cup of coffee and offered to allow me to sleep in the station. So I took them up on the offer and had a great visit that evening, and stayed dry that night. But in the morning there was a couple inches of snow covering the road, which meant that I biked and/or pushed my bike to the next town. And now I am taking a bus back north to get out of the snow, which is not really that fun to bike in or camp in, so I am heading back north to bike more of the coast of Chile. Here are a few photos from the road.

Really far South-

2008-04-05T14:47:00.001-07:00

Southern most city in the world

This is what you dress like when you do not have a mirror

My Emu that was beside my tent

Santiago to Santiago

2008-04-03T04:08:00.001-07:00

Time is now working against me and I am running out of time, at least for this season of my life. I now have less than 30 days before I return to the States and the weather is turning colder than I had planned or expected. Actually when I look back on this last year, I see many faults in my ability to plan, but I do believe I did a good job in researching gear and almost everything has held up sufficiently. However, I have done a poor job planning for seasons and wind direction in the countries I have travelled to.

One thing is that I changed my route at least 100 times in the last year, and this has given me a lot of freedom. The last major change I made was to go to Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world. It is the southern most tip of South America and this cut out Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay, which I was sad to do, but realized I was running out of time and I would never be able to do them justice, so the best thing I could do is save them for when I return. Changing my route means I have a very strong head wind to deal with and a winter that is quickly coming on so, I made a bold move with the advice of many friends in this part of the world, to bus to the Southern tip and bike back to Santiago. This works just the same, other than now I have the wind to my back and will be with the winter that is coming on.

So now I will be biking north which will be the first time I have biked north in my whole trip, and actually I am glad to have bused first because it has taken me almost twice as long to get there than I originally expected, which means if I would have bused back after biking down then I might has missed my plane because the bus ride took twice as long as I expected. I am glad to find the weather here not as cold as I expected, but it is wet and this wet weather can make for some cold riding. Thanks to Mike I now have a proper sleeping bag and cold weather riding gear. So here I come Santiago!

More Photos!

2008-03-31T12:05:00.000-07:00

It is a rough life sometimes

Our second camping site

We found this beside our tent in the morning, and no we did not kill the goat and eat it

Up one of those hills

Mike on the coast in the morning

Rage!

On the road with Mike-

2008-03-31T08:58:00.000-07:00

It has been a great week, the only week I did not bike by myself. I had dozens of people promise to bike with me and in a year only one took the challenge. But maybe they knew something that Mike did not, biking on these roads is hardcore. My style is fast, cheap and pushes the body to its limits. My goal for the week of Mike biking with me was to change things up a little. One, I have been biking for almost a year and Mike had only taken a few rides on a stationary bike before joining me, so on my list of goals for our time covering a certain distance was not my goal, but primarily to get Mike back safe and the second make sure he really gets to see Chile and has a great time. I knew that for anyone to survive a week with me I would have to try to make my life as luxurious as possible, no 150 km days, and no biking the whole day without eating. The weeks before I had gone 18 days without a shower. This would have to change. So I knew that if I made this week as luxurious as possible it would still be one of Mikes greatest challenges in his life, dry deserts, wind speeds that can knock a person off a bike, semi trucks and buses that drive at wreckless speeds at distances that would crush every bone in a body if they came within arms' reach.

Our first night on the road we camped on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, but this was after Rage, Mike's bike, had just about fallen apart. After I bought Rage, I knew Mike was going to be in trouble and it would be a miracle of God if the bike made it to the end of the week. I had a real hard time finding a good bike, and I must confess now that Rage is one of the worst bikes I have ever seen in my life. After 25 km on the bike, the whole gearing system gave out, and somehow by the grace of God, there was a little shop that had the right parts and a guy standing in front of the shop to help us put it on and the shop loaned us tools. I did not know how to fix the Rage nor did I have the tools and like almost every moment of desperation God provides. And on the road we were again, this would be only one of the dozens of repairs that I would make to Rage in the week of biking, but she got us to Santiago Chile.

There were greater challenges than Rage for Mike, like head wind and dry deserts, but the greatest challenge he faced was a sinus infection brought him almost to his knees. After the first day of riding, we had biked 75 km, then we spent the next few days fighting illness and Mike biked as much as he could, which was still more than anyone else could have biked. We stayed as close to the coast as we could and dined mostly on fish for the week. But during the week with Mike, he saw just how much I can eat, because I ate all of my meals and most of the time I ate half of his and then would finish a meal and a half off with a package of cookies. I told him it was my secret for being able to bike the distance, which, if I do not eat the caloric intake of 2 grown men, I will lose so much weight and it will be hard to bike the distances I do.

Rage continues on! On our last day in Santiago we saw a church set up on the street. They were worshiping and Mike told me that he felt like he should give them his bike, so he waved over one of the guys and the man walked up sheepishly. Mike told him that he would like to give him his bike and the man broke out in tears and laid his head on Mike's shoulder and then after a few minutes of tears and not saying anything he looked up at Mike and said that he had been praying that the Lord would give him a mode to get to the church that he was pastoring because it was a long distance from his house. So the Rage lives on and is used to bless the people of Santiago.

A revision-

2008-03-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

This is the updated route. I have decided to keep going south instead or going east to Brazil. I will save the eastern part of South America for another time.

So many words-

2008-03-21T06:13:00.000-07:00

The desert has filled my heart with words, ideas and dreams. I have been on the road for 18 days straight trying to make it to Santiago to meet my friend Mike Wall who is coming to bike with me a week. It has been a tough road these last few weeks, riding days and days along the coast with nothing but water on one side and desert on the other. I crossed the Atacama desert, the driest region in the world recording a 400 year drought.

I have daily seen God meet my needs. Daily I run out of water, daily God provides water. I run out of food and God places fruit and bread along the road for me. Some would think I am exaggerating these stories but it is true, I never know what God will place on the road for me. I have found 6 wrenches, and as I find them I give them away as gifts to the few people I meet along the road. I have filled the pages of my journal with thousands upon thousands of words. And I am praying that upon my return to the States that I have the opportunity to write all these things out in a book. But over the next 40 days I will be biking harder then ever to cover the 3500 km and I am afraid that I will have little time to write all these stories out. I have a ticket back to the States on April 30th. I will be flying out of Santiago, Chile.

Seals or sealions, I could not tell the difference, but wild along the coast of Chile

Bikes left to die in the desert

The hand of the desert

I am alive!

2008-03-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

It was touch and go there for awhile. I was not even on the map half of the time. I do not know how I crossed from Bolivia to Chile, but I think I took the road less traveled, well, at least it has been traveled once now. I am finally in Chile and the road ahead is a dry one. Last night I slept in my tent trying to stay warm, and all I had for dinner was rice and an onion. It has been a tough week and my wheels have not touched paved road even once. I did not to intend it to be this way.

I took the Bolivian Highways, which showed up as a highway on my map but turned out to be dirt roads and the worst of dirt roads. I ended up pushing my bike half the time. The highlight was covering the salt plains, which extends for more than 100km of nothing but salt. It was a great ride, but it was hard on my bike and me. I lost one of my pedals this week, but luckily I had an extra in my bag, which was miracle because I do not even carry a spare tube. All this got me way behind on meeting my friend Mike in Santiago, so yesterday I had to hitch a ride. I was out of food and had two or more days of riding on dirt roads, so I hitched a ride 80km so that I could make it to the next town before dying. OK that is an exaggeration but that is how it felt, I now have 10 days to cover 1400 km, which will take a miracle, but God is in the work of miracles.

Yes it was!

Space ships and Llamas-

2008-03-05T15:06:00.000-08:00

Bolivia, kind of a strange country, but I'm learning to take it all in.

I do not know what I was thinking when I took this photo,

but I have a funny look on my face, maybe I was wondering if I would see a space ship.

A nice little snack, figs, bread and bannanas

The open road

A warm night for me and the bike. I am staying more in Hostels in Bolivia, with all the rain storms, it is quite cold camping at night and this room cost $2 for the night, so it is well worth the investment.

A couple I met on the road

Llama crossing!

I think the drivers are crazy enough, they do not need to be given the right to run me over.

More road and sky

The space ship

Finally in Bolivia

2008-03-01T16:00:00.000-08:00

So after 45 days in Peru I needed a little change. I made it to the border yesterday morning and when I got to the border, I was informed that I needed to pay one hundred dollars in cash. I only had $75 and then I was told that the closest place to get cash was back down the road at Puno which is a two and a half hour bus ride, so I jumped on the bus leaving my bike at the immigration office, and then I withdrew the cash in Puno and hit the bus back to the border to make it just 15 minutes before the border closed for the night. I think that I spent more on the visa than I will in my whole time in Bolivia. It is crazy cheap.

I bargained for a room here in La Paz and when I calculated what I thought was a overpriced room, it turned out to cost $4 a night. I paid $2 a night at the border. And when I thought I was spending a lot of money on food it was always about a dollar for a meal. Here I am in Bolivia! And I am glad to be away from the rough border. It was a full days ride to La Paz from the border. La Paz is such a nice city and I had a nice walk around the center and just enjoyed all the foods. I ate and ate until I was so stuffed I could hardly walk. But I think after La Paz there is only one or two major cities before Chile, so I had better soak in the bright lights and great street food.

Miguel, a cool guy I met on my bus ride to Puno

A picture of the border on the other side of the lake

Lago Titicaca

La Paz

The Plaza

One of the boats resting on the Lake

Farmer up in the mountains. He was just checking out my camping sight up in the mountains

Rudy of the road - this guy is a logger from Canada, hitting South America by bike .

My first haircut in over a year, with a fat tip this set me back $1

From Cusco to Puno-

2008-02-26T08:24:00.000-08:00

I have never been in such a place of contrast- poverty and wealth, brokenness and birth. The road has taught me so many lessons, and when you need rest, it can be found. When you need encouragement, there it is. And in these last few hundred kilometers I have found pain and found joy. I have found friends in the most unexpected of places. I bathed in hot springs, slept in a parish, dined with a priest and cried at the loss of life. In the mountains I have lost my temper and yelled at passing trucks, laughed with Esmeralda in the hot springs, and upon arriving in Puno, met with a image of Christ over the city.

David, another biker buddy from the road

The last photo of the rooster. Sometime after this photo was taken

he was either stolen off my bike or decided to run away, but he will be missed.

Brown Swiss cattle, and the best cheese that can be found in Peru

The highest point of my trip to this point

Apalca friend in the mountains

Pablo and I at the parish

Pablo, the parish priest from Santa Rosa

This was attack of the bugs, in the middle of nowhere I was met by thousands of these little bugs and it felt something like getting hailed on.

Puno

Cusco-

2008-02-23T11:54:00.001-08:00

Drinking juice with friends in the market of Cusco

A normal meal from the market this meal cost $.50

Machu Pichu

2008-02-22T08:39:00.000-08:00

So finally I made it to Machu Pichu. It was on crazy ride. I thought it was just a matter of taking a short bus ride but I was very wrong. All together it took me 4 days from Cusco to Machu Pichu and back. I travelled with 10 Chileans and it was so great to have the company. It was a real blessing to be able to have them watching out for me and I loved being with them so much that I am thinking about changing my route and instead of going to Brazil, biking Chile.

Actually we were very lucky to make it in that time because of all the protests that are taking place in this area, lots of strikes and turmoil and it is hard to travel around. We left Cusco on Monday night and road a bus until Santa Maria, which at 3 am the road was blocked so we ended up walking a few hours in the dark to get to Santa Maria. Then from there we took another bus to Santa Teresa and then walked the train tracks for 3 hours to get to Aquas Calientes and then the following morning we went to Machu Pichu which was more walking and hiking. All together I think in 4 days I walked a total of 14 hours, and rode on the bus for around 20 hours and slept very little. I arrived back in Cusco, from where I left. I am ready to get to biking. All of Cusco is closed today because of the strikes and so there is not much to see and it is not a very restful feeling being in the city at this time.

Above Machu Pichu

Returning on the bus

From the middle of nowhere to another place nowhere

2008-02-16T07:41:00.000-08:00

I do not really know quite where I am, but I am getting closer to Cuzco. I checked into a hostel and planned on taking a train to Machu Pichu but missed the last train, which left at 8:30 am, so here I am stuck in some little town. The hostel would not return my money even though I had only stayed for 5 min in the room. Actually the lady running the hotel managed to lie to me a couple times in the matter of 30 minutes, but I guess that is just the way it goes sometimes. She told me that there were still trains, which there were not any, then she told me that someone else owned the hostel and they were way up in the mountains and I could not reach them to get a refund on the room, when know very well I am staying in her house, with two rooms converted as a hostel. And since I am stuck here I need a little bit of money and she gave me a very low exchange rate and then charged me $2 to change $20 because she said that she would have to take a bus to the next major town of Cuzco to change the money, and when she opened her money drawer, she had lots of US dollars and Sols, the local currency, so this too was a lie. I guess that is one bad thing about having lived a lot of places in the world, I can detect a lie about a hundred miles off. But it is all part of the journey, and for every time someone has ripped me off there have been a dozen or more people that have helped me out.

Back in Chacos

Red river, kind of like Oklahoma to me

The last few days

2008-02-13T17:15:00.000-08:00

The last few days have been hard because in three days I have been caught in two storms. It is quite scary being up in the mountains at 4,000 meters and a storm moves overhead and there are not many places to go. One storm moved in so fast with sleet and then snow, I quickly set up my tent to get warmed up and in another 30 minutes it cleared and the sun came out.

It has been three days of hard biking with an average of one small town a day. In the small towns I try to get a warm meal and enough food to carry me until the next little town. I have seen lots of wildlife, but not many people. And whenever I see someone I try to talk with them, because it can make a person go crazy going days and days without talking to anyone. The food that I have had has been good. At one place I had trout and there is always lots of fresh baked bread and cheese to be found. I even have been eating cactus buds, they are sweet like fruit, but the only down fall is that they are full of seeds.

I just passed the 14,000 km marker. I will be in Cuzco in a few more days, and hopefully from here on out there will be more small towns. I will buy some winter gear in the next town or so, an extra pair of gloves, socks and a stocking cap. It is cold at night, the days stay warm when the sun is out.The first few photos are the last photos of the little town of Puquio.

Storm clouds moving in

Two Brazilians - they were some of the only people I talked to in three days of riding

This Alpaca is owned by someone, it has tags in its ears

Wild Alpaca in the mountains

Finding a place to eat up in the mountains

Almost 4,000 meters

Up above the couds in the morning hour

The yellow ones are the ones that you eat

Cactus buds, great fruit

A little green again

Puquio-

2008-02-10T10:49:00.001-08:00

When I arrived in the little town of Puqiuo, I was greeted by a carnival of dancing and one giant water fight, so what can one do but stay the night. I could use the rest anyway. I have been biking up for the last two and a half days. In two days of riding there was nothing, except one or two little restaurants. I ran out of water and struggled to keep warm. I played in the snow and chased the wild alpacas in the mountains. I camped in abandoned sheep herders hut in the mountains. I went from the desert to snow in the mountains. I slept in all my clothes just to stay warm, two pairs of pants, two long sleeve shirts, but I was able to make it. Then I woke in the morning for one of the most wonderful rides in my life, just above the clouds and life does not get any more perfect than this.

Camping below the cross, last night in the desert.

Up above the clouds once again

The wildlife

Snow, and I could feel it

But the snow does not bother my friends

SNOW!, and my Chacos

Little rooster likes to play in the snow too.

The hut in the mountains

The kitchen

Out the front door

Camping in the hut

GREEN!

Cow with earrings

Little pigs, my friends on the road

Up above the town

Who would have known

Bring it on

Dancing in the streets - this is my kind of place

With my face painted and wet from water balloons, it is time to party

Staying with John´s Family in Lima-

2008-02-07T11:59:00.000-08:00

I stayed two nights with my friend John Flores family. It was too bad that John was not there to be with us. We mostly just relaxed the two days, which was perfect for me. Luz and Maximo, Johns parents, treated me so well it was hard to leave, but after two days rest and being able to go to Church on Sunday I was ready for the road again.

Biking with Juan

2008-02-07T11:42:00.000-08:00

So I met Juan back in Colombia some months back- I passed him pushing his bike up a hill. He is biking all of South America also, but he is doing in on a tricycle, or something like that. When I flew home for Christmas, it gave him time to pass me and then I caught up with him again south of Lima. So I decided to slow down and bike with him for a few days. He travels at about half my speed, but it is the turtle and the hare, he bikes solid all day long where I stop, lay in the shade a little in the afternoon, and eat ice cream as much as possible. And so it has worked out where I bike ahead, buy some fruit, lay in the shade and wait for him to catch up. Juan is from Venezuela and biking with him has really given me a different prospective on the whole of South America. In the morning he will take off south down the coast and I will head up to Cuzco in the mountains, so it will be goodbye to my travelling companion. It has been fun to have Juan to ride with for a few days. I think we both needed someone to talk to to pass the desert a little faster.

I am still going

2008-02-02T08:12:00.000-08:00

So just to clarify, I am still biking. I am in Lima now, and will take off to Cusco on Monday. I do not have a plane ticket to the States, but have 7,000 km to Buenos Aires. It is by the Lord's strength, but I am still going. In the desert places we learn to listen, in the deserted places we learn to trust and though it all we learn to love. It is not for us to decide but the journey decides for us. In the morning hour a small breeze blows from behind and the road is easier just to know that I am not alone.

More from Peru

2008-02-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

The Cross in the desert

A place on the road for me

Which I will try to share with this truck

But there is plenty of space for all of us

Even a crazy biker named Ben. He bought this bike in Ecuador for $1,200, and has already replaced half the bike. I hope he makes in down to the rest of South America.

The escaped chicken., I found this little guy on the side of the road and

I am giving him a ride until I can find him a new home.
Sunrise on the road this morning

Art in the sand, God is so creative

Homes in the desert. I bet you could pick up a house here for a few hundred dollars. Not far from the ocean.

Did I say the drivers here in Peru are the worst I have seen so far on my trip? After this accident, cars and trucks were driving the oppposite direction in both lanes leading to a horrible traffic jam. Good thing for the little bike. I just went through the middle of it all.

Treating myself better-

2008-01-31T17:14:00.000-08:00

I have been a little hard on myself these last few weeks and my body and bike have both taken a pretty good beating. So to celebrate 13,000 km on the road and biking 175 km in a day, both in the same day I treated myself to a room ($2.35) in a hostel and a chinese dinner that cost $2, plus ice cream and cake $.75. Actually two roads diverged yesterday and I took the paved one. I woke this morning at 4,000 meters in the mountians and watched the sunrise, then I watched the sunset on the ocean. I biked 175 km in one day (mostly downhill). My previous record was 165 km. But the cross roads was this 1000 km of mostly unpaved roads or Lima where I have a place to crash for a day or two, another chance to swim in the ocean and 1200 km of paved roads. Plus last night I slept with all my clothes on and still froze. It was 1C and I decided that I will hit the mountians again in a week or so, but for now let me have the beach and a comfortable bed.

I will be in Lima on Saturday. It is just 200 km away to the south. I am back on the panamerican highway, and let's just say, it is a love and hate kind of thing, The drivers here in Peru are going to kill me, I am sure of it. They are the craziest that I have seen in sometime and their love for the horn is appauling, but it is just one minus to the many pluses that I have found to this lovely country.

Two flowers for my two moms

I would like to buy a couple acres of this

One of these sunsets

Up high, lots of clothes, this is a first

Sunset on the mountians

The sunset from the night before

A mountian lake

What a day!

Up above the clouds

The valley coming down

The herd, coming down the road. I bet I saw at least 10 herds

today coming right down the road. What a country!

The ocean and a wonderful sunset

My room for the night

The Chef at work. We talked for along time in Chinese.

He was a real nice chap and made a real good meal,

the real thing - not american chinese.

My chinese dinner

Peru, the road less travelled.

2008-01-30T06:11:00.000-08:00

I am known for doing stupid things, so when a friend recommended that I take a short cut to Cusco, and he assured me the road was amazing, I skipped Lima and took off on some road that was not even on my map. The first 60 km was a dirt road and I only saw one truck and one motorcycle. Then the road got worse, much worse. I have been on roads this bad before in Afghanistan, but I did not expect them in Peru, so for three days I grueled away at the road. The little towns that I biked through had little on the shelves, but I was able to scrap up enough food. When I finally did get back on the map yesterday, I thought about kissing the pavement.

Last night I camped at 3,000 meters and over the next few days I will go over a couple passes that will reach 4,800 meters. The camping at night has been great. I camped one night on the side of a cliff, below me was a canyon bottom 1,000 meters, and a giant water fall on the other side of the canyon. Now I am in the town Huarez, then I will be going to Huancayo, then Cusco. I will be on and off the map, some of the roads that I will be taking are dirt roads. I do not know exactly how long it will take me to get to Cusco, maybe more than 10 days. It is roughly 1,000 km to Cusco so I am expecting 12 or 13 days depending on rest days and road conditions. I will be connected again to the Internet in a few days, hopefully!

The dirt road

Camping for the night, it was a rough day.

The only drinking water, and I wonder why I have stomach problems

Lots of tunnels on the side of the mountain

Some coal miners on lunch break

Just one of the dozens of tunnels

The real road through the mountains

Early morning

And my bright shining face

Snow capped mountains, it is only up from here.

Peru

2008-01-25T14:32:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Peru.

I am now in Trujillo, almost to Lima. This sign was just past the border.

Welcome to my new home on the beach

Boat building 101, I wish I had the time to learn how to build a boat like this

Another one of my friends along the road

The 77 year old travelling from Chile to Ecuador

This couple has been on the road for over 4 years and travelled most of the world

Luckily there was a road around this one. It would be hard to jump

The sky from my tent at night

A windmill picture from my father

This windmill was in bad shape like the one on our ranch

Mangos I found when I camped for the night

My wonderful feet, God bless Chacos

Enter of the Dunes

What a road and what wind

Camping for the night, no need for a tent in the desert, no bugs and no rain!

Peru part 2

2008-01-24T14:45:00.000-08:00

I will publish the first part of Peru tomorrow

A night in the desert

Mangos that were given to me by a trucker

The cutest little girl

Carrying a watermelon and sugercane on my bike

Carrying the dog home

Broken pedal - it is attached to my left foot

Two more bike tourists

My second broken mirror. I was hit by another truck. My poor bike!

The last of Ecuador

2008-01-24T14:06:00.000-08:00

I pick flowers everyday for my sister and friends.

This is camping one night all the mesquitoes. Here is the proof.

And another flat

This one in the middle of a bridge

I also had to get my wheel fixed

A cattle drive, down the middle of the panamerican highway

The last sunset

Trying to stay sane-

2008-01-22T10:29:00.000-08:00

The desert is a hard place and I just spent the last three days biking alone in it. I had a strong head wind most of the time, ran out of water several times and started talking to myself out loud. But God provided Manna from heaven and when ever I needed water I just held up an empty water bottle to the passing truckers and they always filled it up for me. I was also given mango's, orange juice and plenty of thumbs up and waves, which are the best of encouragements.

I have now passed the 12,000 km marker and I have biked an average of 120 km a day for the last 9 days and I am just 6 or 7 days away from Lima. In the beginning of the week I biked along the coast, swimming in the ocean and enjoying the 100 degree weather. I have enjoyed camping out under the stars. But not every night has been easy one night. I was attacked by hundreds of mosquitoes. I have never seen so many in my life. I could count hundreds of them sitting on my tent. In the desert I slept without a tent, but woke up covered in sand as the winds never really died down all night long. I met a couple that had been biking around the world for the last four years and I also met a 77 year old man who was biking from Chile to Ecuador. I was not able to upload any photos, just this one, but I should upload more in a few days.

In the middle of Ecuador and Peru-

2008-01-17T12:54:00.000-08:00

So I have an exit stamp in my passport for Ecuador, but I have yet to enter Peru. I found a little internet cafe to give everyone a little update. I just biked in 3 days what I was hoping to bike in 6 days, and in a short ride I am now at the border of Peru. I was hoping to have a place to stay last night with some friends, but it fell through. That happens quite frequently, but then again so many homes open up out ot the blue also.

I have had a few problems with my bike over the last 4 days. I had one flat in the middle of a bridge, which luckly I was able to get it patched up and back on the road and then this morning my wheel was making a funny noise and it kept getting worse and worse until I had to bike back to a town to find a guy to fix it. I never really did figure out what was wrong. I think it just needed to be straightened because I hit some big pot holes yesterday. I am missing my family and friends a lot. The road I have been on today has almost all been under construction which means lots of dust, dirt and mud. So I am covered just about head to town in grime, but I am sure I will find a river to jump in tonight and go for a swim. I have over 10,000 km to bike in just over three months. It took me just about 5 months to cover the first 10,000 km, but I know that I can do it. I guess we will see how I feel biking up into the Andes.

Good times in Puerto Viejo

2008-01-16T13:30:00.000-08:00

I spent a total of 10 days in Puerto Viejo, which is a lot for such a small town. But I had some friends there that opened up their doors and heart to me. Here are a few pictures of my last days there.

The Church on Sunday

The Pastor and his boys, this is the family that I stayed with

And me getting beat up by Mira from the church. She really let me have it.

A map for my map lovers-

2008-01-12T08:57:00.000-08:00

I will follow this little white line for the next month or so. If you click on the map you can enlarge it. Enjoy my map lovers!

Give me Monday-

2008-01-12T07:28:00.000-08:00

It would scare you and it scares me - the explosion of my thoughts in the last 24 hours. It is like I have been reborn and found my life by stepping off. I cannot explain it but I can see so clearly, like putting on those glasses for the first time and you can see blemish on one's nose in the mirror. I am finding a space where I can break out. But this is not a mental longing for something different. It is a supernatural lifting of my spirit. I have written before about the difficulty to compose my thoughts in the States. Actually I quit writing in my journal while in the States and in time all my thoughts became blurred. And here I am, an invisible wall has been lifted off of me and I have been able to write and write for the last 24 hours and have filled more pages in the last 24 hours than I have written in the last month. It is like my spirit is where it is supposed to be and I have found my place. I cannot really explain why it is that way. It is like I am doing what I am created to do what I am doing. Is it possible some of us are created to move and some are created to live outside the lines? Is it that some are us are created to break the rules and not just to live on the edge but to jump into the vast expansion? Monday is my day back on the road, and it feels great! It feels as natural a breathing. My bike needs a little wipe down for it has collected some dust and I need to add a little air in the back tire, and I could shed off those few extra pounds but other than that, we are ready to ride off into the vast expansion, off the edge, into the void. And life has never felt so great!

Hebrews 11- By Faith

2008-01-12T07:11:00.000-08:00

I was sitting in the building last night when God hit me with this and even though I did not understand a word of the sermon in Spanish, this chapter spoke to me more than almost every sermon I have ever heard in my life.

I encourage you to read the whole thing

Hebrews 11
By Faith

1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for.

3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 4By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

5By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

11By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

17By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." 19Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

21By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

22By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.

23By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

24By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 25He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

29By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

30By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.

31By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

32And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

39These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Some of what happened-

2008-01-11T08:44:00.000-08:00

Where it all started for me going back to the States was when I was walking on the beach with one of my best friends in the world and he said he wanted to buy a ticket for me to return to the States for Christmas. I am at the place in my life when he could have said I would like you to fly to Russia and I would have gone. The last six months have been so crazy I think waking up in a different place every day makes waking up in a bed in the States not seem so strange. It is a weird feeling when I can walk on a plane with a ticket in my hand for anywhere in the world and it be the same feeling as someone would feel when getting in a taxi and going across town.

So while in the States I was able to see just about all my family and so many friends that I have not seen in too many years. I gave about half my family a heart attack when I showed up in the States and as soon as my sister found out I was in Oklahoma she bought a ticket and flew in from California. I think it might have been the best Christmas ever because I flew in just in time to miss all the commercialism and no one had time to buy me any gifts that I had to pretend like I liked. It was just family time, which has to be one of my favorite parts of the year. When I was back in the States I also worked for a couple days cleaning up trees on both my grandfather's land and on my family's ranch. I was able to make it to a church building, which it was a surprise to me to find tears on my cheek as the power of God moved despite our buildings and programs. Then as I lost track of time, I got lost in a goodbye which I did not want to say which I will have to write more about later. And then there I was once again at the Oklahoma City Airport, ticket in hand. Luckly it did not say Russia, but rather some place warmer.

Lost words-

2008-01-11T07:07:00.000-08:00

Over the last three weeks, I could write a book in two large volumes of the words that have fillled the air around me. It has been a blessed break but it is funny, even with all those words I have a hard time writing them out. With words like that it takes a computer running 24 hours a day to process and since I have to sleep, I am way behind and look forward to the open road to help me figure out what happened in this wild wind of events. It is funny how life can change so quickly. This free falling feeling is a little too comforting which should scare me.

I am back on the road. I flew through the night, arrived in the early hours in Guayaquil, Ecuador to walk to the bus station in the morning hours to jump on a bus in time to stretch out and wake in the wonderful little town of Puerto Viejo, Ecuador. I walked into the church to find my bike sitting there waiting on me. What a faithful friend. The air is warm and it wrapped around me like one of my grandma's blankets. All I could hear in my ears was welcome home. I arrived with no fear, no doubt, without struggle, just breathing deep the mountian air. The skies were clear and streets filled with puddles of rain reflecting the heaven and stars. I took it all in as if it was inside me. The skies are getting clearer and as I wipe the morning from my eyes, I feel it, the life it calls me. Words are lost, words are found and at 10:24 AM on Friday January 11, 2007, it feels great to be alive!

Where?

2007-12-26T12:44:00.000-08:00

So my great friend Mike Wall bought me a ticket to the States for Christmas,
So I am in OK for a few weeks, so if you would like to talk over coffee or tea, give me a call 405-706-9811.

Camp- (another person's camera)

2007-12-23T15:24:00.000-08:00

Here is a few pictures from the last week at camp, these are all from a friend's camera, so they include more of me.

Late night birthday for Bryan, the guy in the middle with the red hat

Birthday swats
Rafa from Nic and Gabby from Ecuador
This was the closest thing I will have to a white Chirstmas

Fun on the beach, it is a tough Christmas

The Pastor from the Church
Kyle, Sara and I and the POTS AND PANS BAND
Happy Birthday Bryan

A dozen words

2007-12-11T09:39:00.001-08:00

I often wonder how I speak Spanish at all. I have not had any classes since high school, which got me as far as a B minus could take a student. And then here I am after a few months of being in Spanish speaking countries and I sound quite bad and my grammar would make a high school Spanish teacher cry, but I understand a lot and can communicate surprisingly well. How it happens I do not know, and if I learn this way it will prove that we can all learn as a child like we all learned our native language as a child. I have heard many people tell me that I have a gift for learning languages and it makes me laugh, because I do not know who told them this lie and how it continues I do not know, but in truth I was in special English classes up until 9^th grade and still have so many problems properly expressing myself in my native language. Spanish is my fourth language to learn but that means nothing; language learning is just as hard for the first one as it is for the third and fourth language.

I think one thing that I have over most language learners is my endurance of pain. I can spend hours and hours enduring a language not understanding more than a dozen words. I also really love being around people, and can spend hours and hours talking to people with my dozen words, where I have seen many students not venture out into the streets unless they can speak in perfect sentences and the moment they say their two sentences they head back to the lab to work for hours on a few more sentences. I just go for it and do not worry about grammar, I do not worry about past tense and I must confess I know no one who can have as many conversations with as dozen words like me.

11,000 km

2007-12-11T09:38:00.000-08:00

When I look back on the last 11,000 km I see a change in me in so many areas. For one thing, I own less now than when I left 7 months ago. I only have two sets of clothes and I have become a survivor. I feel that I could almost sleep anywhere, in any weather condition and I have noticed just in the last few days that I do not get hot nor cold. I noticed the other night when everyone was talking about it being cold, I felt comfortable and the next day when everyone was talking about it being hot, I felt perfect.

I have not spent more than a few days with any one person and just about the time I get to know someone, I head down the road where I will meet others and share life with them for a few days before going further and further. It is funny because some would think that I would be cold towards friendships and would forget the ones I meet, but I find just the opposite. I find that my heart just grows more and more and I do not forget one person that I have met, nor a face, instead my heart grows with all the new friends I make. I make friends fast and love deeply and trust more quickly. I have to. If I held up my guard then I would have no friends. Life is too short for me to hold people at arm's length.

I have realized how little we actually need to live and it seems the less I own the happier I am, and I must say that I am about as happy as I think anyone can be. I own about 45 kilos including my bike and all my gear and my heart is full of a million kilos of memories, faces, sounds, smells and sights. I often wonder how after these last 7 months, I can ever do anything else. How could I ever go back to talking about movies, sports, watching the same TV programs as the masses, living off two week vacations and fast food, driving a car that I would not own, nor a house I cannot afford, making enough salary to pay off the interest on a dozen credit cards? Some ask me how I do it, traveling like I do and I want to ask- is it hard living in slavery to debt, because I am free of debt, free of commercialism, capitalism and the rat race. Yes, sometime it is a little lonely up in the mountains looking out on one of the most wonderful sunsets, not because I am lonely but because none are with me to enjoy such a wonderful moment, instead so many settle for the 5 o’clock news over a microwave dinner.

11,000 Kilometers has taught me so much, but I do not know if I could ever adequately explain it. Maybe it is a dream that the alarm on the side of my bed will wake me from but then again, maybe your life is a dream and you will wake in the Andes mountains to ponder upon the millions of stars in the sky, or then again maybe your alarm will wake you to a cup of 12 0z cup of coffee and a thirty minute commute to work where you will wish it had just been a bad dream. Really 11,000 km is not that far, or is it?

Ecuador-

2007-12-11T09:35:00.000-08:00

As I crossed the border into Ecuador I could instantly see a difference from Colombia.

Actually, I found in the highlands of Ecuador, men with long hair, which is a first I have seen in all my travels and I think is a rarity in most cultures of the world. The indigenous of Colombia and Ecuador, at least in the highlands, are found with the longest and most beautiful hair. I saw most of the indigenous children had long hair and it was hard to tell in a group which ones were little boys or girls. I found that among these areas that I was the rarity and I was stared at more than in most countries. Actually I think the idea of biking the Andes mountains is far fetched and the thought of doing so would make someone question this person's sanity. But Ecuador has met me quite easily and the mountains have been nothing compared to Colombia.

From Quito the capital, I headed out to the coast, and once leaving Quito, I rode one of the most dangerous roads of the country. I heard later that many people die on this road, the fog covers the mountain quite frequently and the road is narrow, and a steep grade makes for the dangerous combination. And I was not only met with a fog that allowed me to see only about ten feet in front of me, but a misty rain made the road slick and this made for a cold combination . I thought if the road did not kill me I would freeze, but in a few hours of hard riding I was down in the plains of the coast. Here the land was like the desert of northern Mexico, not quite as hot but the dust filled the road like the fog of the mountains.

I also found one of the worst of road conditions, lots of road construction and the other half desperately in need of construction and to make matters worse I broke my gear shifter so I had to bike in a high gear all the way to the coast. I stayed a few days in a little town of Santo Domingo. It is not really much of a town, but like Stephenville of Texas it is amazing how a incredible normal town can turn into a special place, not by the history of the past but rather the history in the making. When I meet friends and warm people, I feel like I am at home. I guess that is what takes me back in the rather average Oklahoma time after time. Now I am in the same situation again just a few hundred kilometers towards the coast in Portoviejo. This little town is where I will pass the next week or two. I have friends here and also some of my friends from the States are coming down in a week. I might even be passing Christmas here in this rather average town with special friends and a special church which makes this average town a fabulous place to spend Christmas.

Misionero recorre el país en bicicleta

2007-12-10T08:05:00.000-08:00

The local news channel did this little piece on my trip, check out the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VywE3solgs0&eurl=http://www.eldiario.com.ec/eldiario-manavision.php?ver=320

Audio Journal-

2007-12-07T08:56:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the audio journal. I have had problems, first with a virus and now I am having problems with my email. I will try to get that worked out soon and get out some audio messages.

I crossed into Ecuador and passed through Quito. Sadly no pictures but my camera is coming from the States soon. I am taking a week or two to spend with friends here and I will be resting my sore body and bike.

The last two weeks have been quite crazy similar to the two weeks before that, but now I am on the coast of Ecuador in a nice warm place with friends and a good church. Some of my friends from the States are coming down in a week or two to Ecuador and I look forward to seeing some familiar faces. I will up date more in a few days.

Returning in the Spring-

2007-11-26T08:25:00.000-08:00

I feel like after South America and before Africa I need to make it back to the States for a few months, one to be around family, friends and the church and another to make some money. I am hoping to make in back to the States in April and stay for around 3 months before heading to bike across Africa. My dad owns a construction company and has promised me some work and I also hope to do a couple of art exibits and make a little bit of money by selling some of my prints from the last year. Maybe I will even sell a few prints from Afghanistan. It would be good for my spirit to be off the road for a little bit of time to process all that has happened and also to write down my experinces. I look forward to the opportunity to share my experience with others and to cast the vision to others. I know that the Lord is doing some great things around the nations and I need to share a little part of what I have seen and to learn a little what has been going on with my family and friends in the States.

Thanksgiving-

2007-11-26T08:17:00.000-08:00

I have had some strange Thanksgivings in my life. I remember the first of strange Thanksgivings was when I was living in Taiwan. We had the normal fare of food, plus all the wonderful dishes like seaweed, duck and tofu that our Taiwanese friends brought. Then last year while living in Afghanistan was also unique where we had Thanksgiving Pigeon instead of turkey. But we were thankful for the pigeon none the less. This year might have been the most obscure.

I biked a hard 50 miles up into the mountains to the little town of Pasto so that I could make a phone call to my family. I made a promise to my mom that I would call. So I had to bike really hard and when I arrived in Pasto to make the call I was able to get a hold of my dad, but I never reached my mom, and to make matters even a little worse I could not find anything that looked anything like a Thanksgiving dinner. I thought about Chinese and it just did not fit or Italian. Nor was this so inticing. And so what I settled for was a progressive ´´American´´ Thanksgiving dinner. I had a slice of pizza at one restaurant, then a hamburger at another, then cake and some cookies at a bakery, and to finish the night, ice cream at another place. I am sure of one thing even after all this food this was the first Thanksgiving that I burned more calories then I consumed. But to redeem the Thanksgiving I was able to find Internet the following morning where I was able to talk to my mom.

No brakes and a cracked rim-

2007-11-26T08:16:00.000-08:00

The very next day after the crazy night beside the waterfall, I ran into a even scarier problem with my bike. Over time my brakes had become quite worn which is not a problem if you are in a flat area, but if you are in the Andes mountains it makes for a very scary ride. I had been putting off replacing my brakes for some time, but on this day when my bike was making a really funny noise I checked the whole bike to find a huge crack on my back rim that ran almost the whole side wall of the rim. So I had just crossed into Ecuador and the thought to riding even another 20 km was a very scary one. But I found a little town, Tulcan, just across the border. I made it into the town on a prayer because my brakes quit working all together and would at best slow me down enough to put on my Flintstone brakes, my feet. I found a shop but they were closed until 3 p.m.

I waited around in Tulcan until the shop opened and for $15 I bought a rim, brake pads and a few other little odds and ends for my bike. I found a guy to rebuild my wheel, fix my brakes and replaces some worn gear cables. He did all the work for $2, but I gave him $4. I think the extra $2 was for saving my life. But by then it was night time and pouring down rain, so I had to find a place to stay the night in Tulcan. I found the La Florida and for $5, I had my own room, with a bed and private bathroom. Then after a Chinese dinner I was in for the night and thankful. With a warm bed and full belly, it is funny how one can forget the worries of the day.

Under the waterfall, but not under the fall rocks-

2007-11-26T07:29:00.000-08:00

It is funny to think of all the crazy places I have camped. I know I could write a book just about my weird camping experiences. But two nights ago might have been one of the strangest and scariest.

I was way up in the Andes Mountains about 8,000 feet and looking for a place to camp. There was none for quite some distance, all except for this little grassy patch beside a huge waterfall. I hid behind some bushes and waited for the sun to set before setting up my tent. But as the sun set, a huge rain storm came in soaking me and all my gear. It was very cold, wet and I was quite afraid it was going to be a miserable night. But I kept my sleeping bag dry which is my life line in cold weather. The storm passed and I tried to get the water out of my tent, and I changed into a dry set of clothes and unrolled my sleeping bag. The water got in the tent while setting it up because the grassy patch was on top of a bunch of rocks and I was not able to properly set up my tent.

I was finally safe and warm inside my sleeping bag when I heard what sounded like cables popping. It quite scared me the first time, then it continued a few minutes later. When it happen the third time I knew I needed to check it out. Rocks were falling from the cliff above down into the road and it was obstructing traffic. I stayed hidden beside the waterfall behind the bushes as the people in the cars cleared the rocks from the road. I was thankful I had set up my tent in the grassy patch beside the waterfall and not in the road.

Cali-

2007-11-16T08:02:00.000-08:00

Life does not get any better then this. I arrived in Cali quite blue, the road had been hard on me and I was tired down to my bones. I was burned out on cities and just wanted to bike past Cali and every city as far as I was concerned. To me cities have become a thorn in the flesh and I much prefer the open spaces with country people. But I had a connection in Cali and when I arrived there I gave Uzuz a call. I did not know anything about him, nor did he know anything about me. I met him in the south of Cali, and it had been in my heart since I felt quite empty that I would try to be light. What I found from Uzuz was a great brother in Christ. We instantly hit it off and shared stories of life, the church and our journeys in Christ. I have been a long time praying that I would meet another brother, the road had been feeling really long and lonely and the Lord knew that these clouds overhead were becoming too much.

Uzuz is a Colombian artist who has worked in the inner city many years. He has lived all over the world, including Oklahoma City, OK. He has a great house full of fruit trees and I have taken a few days off to work on making a few sketches of my journey, to read the scripture with my brother and encourage each other. I hope to get a canvas and a paint brush in my hand tomorrow, and if I cannot take any pictures with my camera I will paint them. It is great to be around another artist and brother, and we have had dozens of wonderful conversations. Truly the Lord does not forget us even when in the middle of Colombia with no place to call home.

Colombia

2007-11-08T09:54:00.000-08:00

I have been here in Colombia for 12 days. I crossed a good part of the country and it seems to me like a nice country. I am quite sad not to have my camera-I have missed way too many photos. I spent 6 days biking from Cartagena to Medellin. I will spend a few days around here before heading to Cali and then off to Ecuador. I look forward to Thanksgiving which seems to be just around the corner, and then I will have Christmas with some friends in southern Ecuador.

I am sorry I am so behind on my blog. When I get to the city I just do not feel like updating it, more because I get where I like cities less and less and really try to get out as fast as I can. I will only spend a few days here in Medellin long enough to let my body rest a few days, clean all my gear, bike and clothes. I hope to see a dentist tomorrow to have my teeth cleaned and then I am out of here. I am staying at the hostel Casa Kiwi, where I meet many other travellers. I met two Canadians biking around South America on motorcycles and we have had some good talks. I enjoy the talks, coffee and hanging out, but I do not like all the parties, drugs and alcohol, which is usually found at such hostels. But it is a good opportunity to just share and listen. I look forward today to seeing around the city and resting another day before taking off.

Panama

2007-11-08T09:29:00.000-08:00

On the beach

Drying out my gear on the beach

Drying myself out

The bridge to Panama city

This was in a little newspaper sitting beside the side of the road where I was eating lunch

Lunch

I have more photos of Panama but I will have to add them later, so sorry this blog is getting so messed up and disorganized. I just do not have the internet service, nor the time to keep the blog running like I would like. I guess that is why I am starting an audio blog, so keep reading down to become a part of that.

These are a few pictures of a bus in Panama,
this bus driver was so proud of this piece of art work.

Costa Rica

2007-11-08T08:45:00.000-08:00

Costa Rica was really amazing, a land of much wildlife, jungle and wonderul beaches. I could have been lost there. Here are a few pictures from there, sorry I am late in uploading them.

These were wild alligators, just below a bridge that I crossed. I did not stop to feed them.

A ferry I took across the bay

From a campsite

The worst road so far, 30 km and it rained most of the time.

A wonderful little bridge to keeps things exciting.

A fellow traveler, he camped beside me on the beach.

Sunset on one of my campsites on the beach.

If I had a truck this is would I would fill it with.

French guy biking north, he smoked three cigirettes while we were visiting.

The day before I met two more bikers, www.chewhoward.com. They were also going north.

Fabian, a German hitchhiker guy. We camped out on the beach

a couple days and shared stories and pasta.

This was a headshoot for cattle, made in the good old Oklahoma

Rodeo time

Camping again

Another end of a day

Last of Nicaragua

2007-11-08T08:34:00.000-08:00

The Start of an Audio Journal-

2007-11-06T14:32:00.000-08:00

I am starting an audio journal, since I never seem to find the Internet and I lose so many stories. I have decided to start an audio journal. Basically every night I will take a few minutes out and tell about my day, maybe a story, who knows. This could be interesting or it could be something that only my loving father and mother listen to. If you are interested send me a message to jrvorel@gmail.com in the heading put "add me to audio journal", I have already recorded the first few entries and it seems that the sound quality is not that great and I realized that I say "um" a lot, but it is the best I can do. I will try to send out an email once a week with the recordings from the week.

More from Nicaragua-

2007-11-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

For a small amount of money you too can have a nice lunch.

Flowers of Nicaragua-

2007-11-02T06:43:00.000-07:00

This is bad! I am just now uploading photos from Nicaragua. I have hundreds to add, but the great thing is that I am not taking any pictures so hopefully by the time I get them all uploaded I will have a new camera. These are a few flower pictures that I took in Nicaragua. Hopefully I can add more soon.

Sailing-

2007-10-30T19:32:00.000-07:00

With my bike broken down into pieces and places in a cardboard box, my bike and I were ready to sail. I would be sailing on the Windseeker ran by Captain Mike from Australia. Also on the ship was Carlos, a Portuguese skipper, who actually owned his own ship, but was sailing with us for fun. Then there were four of us seeking passage, Harvey from France, Pet and Nigel from England and then myself.

Actually I would have given the trip a 10 out of 10 if we would have thrown Carlos overboard. I have never met a more obnoxious person in my life and being in a sailboat 6 days with the guy almost killed all of us. In six days I do not know if he was quiet for more the 5 min the whole time. No one could hold a conversation without being interrupted and his talk of his great valor, chasing women and thousands of other exaggerated stories. He never even so much as learned any of our names, but he could cook I will give him that. We ate so well on the six days at sea, fried fish, snails, soups, hamburgers, omelets. The captain was really wonderful and the crew all got along really well. I have never heard so much cursing in my whole life and I now know around a million crude jokes. I have really fallen in love with sailing and now am planning on buying a boat after biking around the world so I can sail around the world. I might get more people to join me if I have a boat instead of a bike.

Getting ready to sail-

2007-10-30T19:31:00.000-07:00

I got down to Portobello which is on the Atlantic coast of Panama. I looked forward to a few days of rest and finding a ship to sail down to Colombia. When I got down there, that is when all the festivities of Black Christ started so it was not the restful experience I was looking for. But What I did find was a boat to sail to Colombia and half a dozen really good friends. I spent 4 days in Portobello. I met Marcos, a Canadian guy who ran a little restaurant. There were no places to stay but he offered me a place to camp up in the mountains on his property. It might have been the best place that I have camped in the last 5 months. I could view the ocean and the lively city of Portobello. I had a nice mountain stream to bath in and the jungle surrounded me on all sides. As I waited for the ship to leave, I met almost a dozen other boat captains and I spent hours talking about sailing. Actually with time, I made quite a few friends and got invited on most of the boats in the port. I even got offered passage to Australia if I wanted to go. The last night I was even offered a bed to sleep on in one of the boats. It was so wonderful be be so kindly received. On the last night of the Black Christ festival we watched fireworks from a 45 ft sailboat. Even though I had the bad experience of having my camera stolen I had such a great time in Portobello and made so many new friends.

27 days of silence-

2007-10-30T19:29:00.002-07:00

I finished my 27 days without my mp3 player. Actually I feel like this was one of the best things that I have done in my whole trip. In Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama I found bird, monkeys and wildlife almost everywhere and had very few moments of silence. Actually I found just the opposite, kind words of encouragement met me almost at every turn, the sounds of the ocean, wind blowing through the grass. It was really a wonderful time. I did miss my audio books and afternoon music when the riding got tiring.

Costa Rica-

2007-10-30T19:29:00.001-07:00

Costa Rica was the most expensive country in central America. I think there are more people from the States living there than any place I have been so far. Actually I think it is quite a popular place for retired couples from the States. The prices on property are more than double any place else in Central America, but the government is more stable and the investment more secure. Actually in the supermarkets you could find any product that ones heart desired, chocolate, bread, cheeses, fruit and vegetables to fit any appetite from Europe or the States. I enjoyed Costa Rica a lot, the beaches were nice for camping and I did almost all my shopping at the supermarket and cooked almost all my own food. The restaurants were all so fancy and expensive so I resorted back to my pasta diet. In Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador I almost quit cooking all together, the food was so cheap and plentiful I could eat two or three meals a day for under $5. In Costa Rica this was not possible.

Black Christ-

2007-10-30T19:28:00.001-07:00

I made it down to the port city Portobello in time for the Black Christ festival. The story is that off the coast a ship sank and on the boat was a black Christ statue and after the boat sank the black Christ washed up on shore. The people did not know what to do with it, but the black Christ brought healing to the masses and forgiveness of sins. So every year on the 21st of October thousands travel from all over panama to be forgiven of sins and have healing from sickness. Many walk, some crawl and many of the Pilgrims burn their backs with hot wax. It was a very crazy celebration like none I have ever seen before. This was when my camera was stolen in the middle of all this, actually I think that it is quite common for many criminals and thugs to come for forgiveness of sin, but even with all the security there was a lot of crime, drunkenness and drugs. I have never in my life been to a place like Panama, there is so much influence from china, Africa and Europe. It does not feel like central America, it does not feel like any other place that I have ever been to in my life. Maybe it would be smilier to the Caribbean, Haiti, Jamaica Dominican republic.

14 days without a roof over my head-

2007-10-30T19:26:00.000-07:00

I spent too many nights under the open skies and it almost swallowed me. I slept on the beach most of the time, but 3 solid days of rain put a little damper on my camping spirit. But I biked the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and there were plenty of beaches, actually dozens of beaches. I slept like a king, with the waves as a rocking me to sleep. In Costa Rica I met some bike tourists. It was a nice feel to see someone else dumb enough to bike Central America in the rainy season. I made it all the way down to Panama City where I was supposed to have a place to crash, but it turned out I did not, so biked out one of the worst biking city I have been to. At this point in my trip I hit one of my all time lows, no place to stay, tired, dirty and moments away from getting ran over by a bus. So I rolled through town without a friend and the blues surrounded me like few other times before. As I biked out of town I was looking for a place to camp, but none could be found and the sun was quickly setting and this is a really bad place to be in. And that is when God provided me with a wonderful Oasis, I came across a Ywam base, which is youth with a mission. I had many friends in the States that worked with this organization and they told me that I should stay at some of the bases. I had completely forgotten about this until this moment in my trip. I walked up the long drive to ask if I could set up a tent, instead they offered me a bed, a nice shower, good meal and half a dozen cups of coffee. It was like being back in Stephenville. The best sunrises are after the darkest nights and I owe these guys a big thanks.

Now

2007-10-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

I had been quite lucky and had not had anything stolen in my 5 months on the road, but the thief finally caught up with me. My camera was stolen in Panama. It was a heartbreaking experience. It is not a matter of money, but a matter of attachment that happens when you travel over 5,000 miles with something. But I count it a blessing that just two days before I had removed all my photos off the camera and put them on a hard drive, otherwise the lose would have been much greater. I am now in Colombia, in the city Cartagena. I will go back in time now that I have a good Internet connections and catch everyone up on the last few weeks of travel. I am still not able to add photos, but I will in the next week hopefully.

No photos-

2007-10-19T07:37:00.000-07:00

I have never had such a hard time uploading photos. I am in Portobello, Panama and I will be taking a sailboat in a few days down to Colombia. I have spent just one night in the last 17 days under a roof. I have never gone so long just camping but it has been hard to find a place to stay and the places that I thought I had to stay cancelled so it is just me in the tent. I have tried to stay presentable but it is actually quite hard to do, with all the rain and the beach atmosphere my clothes get pretty funky fast. But I would say that this has been two of the best weeks of my whole trip. I have met so many wonderful people and biked so many wonderful roads. Hopefully in Colombia I can find a place to hang out for a day or two and upload some photos.
But until then you will just have to wait. Sorry.

I am alive!

2007-10-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

It has been a really crazy week and I could write pages and pages about it and I will when I get some down time in Panama city. Now I am still a couple days away to the north in David, Panama. I spent the last week biking from beach to beach in Costa Rica, camping the whole time. I went two weeks without sleeping under a roof and it has been great. I have a few pictures to add but those will have to wait too, this computer is giving me problems.

A few pictures from this morning-

2007-10-04T11:44:00.000-07:00

Managua-

2007-10-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Managua. I have so many to share but I have little time and a slow connection. These are some friends I made this week. They were speaking at different college universities and on the radio and they let me tag along. It was really a lot of fun being around the college students and I know it was an encouraging week for me.

Leaving Managua, Angel was my host for the week and it was great to have the time together.

Leon, Nicaragua

2007-10-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

I just spent one night in Leon, but I got a few photos.

Some pictures of the last two weeks-

2007-10-02T09:30:00.000-07:00

The $.25 pineapple

Lots of rain in the west part of Nicaragua and this house was more like ocean front property

Last day in Somatillo

This moment ten years ago-

2007-10-01T13:52:00.000-07:00

Nicaragua was the second foreign country I ever traveled to. I had to get my first passport and at the age of 17, I flew to this wonderful country. I spent the week performing in churches and schools. We were sharing Christ with the people of Nicaragua through skits and music. That was almost 10 years ago. When I was here, I met a family from the States. They moved to Nicaragua just to love on the people. They had two daughters and spent most of the day in the city dump and working with poor people around the city. When I met this family it changed my life, and maybe this was where the nomad seed was first planted in my life. After this point I knew I was called to this life. So here I am again. I am back and my life journey comes full circle. This week I have been able to speak to a couple groups of university students about my journey. I have been able to visit an orphanage and just be able to love on some children. I have been encouraged and lifted up, and it has been good to be here with family.

Giving my bike a name-

2007-09-23T13:21:00.000-07:00

I guess I am afraid if I name my bike someone will steal it. Losing a bike without a name is no big deal, but once it has a name it is personal and I might have to seek revenge on anyone who harms it.
I have thought about calling it "the big wheel." When I was a boy I had a big wheel and it was also black. Actually, I rode the big wheel into the ground. And this is the reincarnate big wheel. I do not know if my big wheel had a name. I think I just called it the big wheel. But "the big wheel" is kind of a long name, I need to shorten it somehow, maybe calling it BW, but that does not sound that cool. So any ideas? Actually I kind of enjoyed calling it bike with no name. I think there is a song about a man riding through a desert on a horse with no name. I am a little different. I am riding in a rainstorm on a bike with no name, but kind of the same idea.

Learning Spanish-

2007-09-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

So I found this Vest Pocket Spanish book at the thrift store when I was in the States. It cost me a whole quarter. When I started the lessons I noticed something a little funny about the book. One, that it seemed a little out of date and when I looked at the copyright, it was copyrighted in 1958. This book has provided some needed comic relief for me. I would like to share some of the phrases with you from the book.
Many of these phases I have never even used in my life in English.

What is the price of the alligator handbag?
Cuanto cuesta esa bolsa de cocodrilo?

I want to buy a large sarape for a bed.
Deseo comprar un sarape grande, para cama.

Let me have one dozen flash bulbs.
Deme una docena de focos "flash"

Do you have 16mm. Movie film?
Tiene pelicula para cina de dieciseis milimetros?

I want to send a telegram.
Deseo mandar un telegrama

What is the rate per word?
Cuanto cuesta cada palabra?

Caddy, my driver please.
Caddy, mi palo numero uno

The partridge season is from December to March.
La estacion para perices es de diciembre a marzo.

Biking alone-

2007-09-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the road is lonely out here. I guess I miss the touch of friends and family. Sleeping and eating alone is always the hardest. When I am biking in the day the time fills full, but the void at night can be hard. I grew up in a big family and we always shared meals together in the evening, someone was always waiting to use the bathroom and on the couch there was someone to sit with. The meals, the stories and hugs are hard to live without, and all that greet me in the evening are the smell of my stinky body and partially cooked pasta mixed with tomato paste. Again if anyone decides to sign up for my diet plan, or to turn off your electricity maybe you would be interested in partially cooked pasta with tomato paste and the open road. I promise that you will have a partner. And just think, you will not have to bike alone, nor will you be the only one called gringo, it will be gringos!

Beans and Rice-

2007-09-23T13:17:00.000-07:00

It seems like millions and millions are made and lost on diet plans,
so I thought I would like to cash in on another diet plan idea.
Actually over the last few years I have come up with several diet plans although none of them have really taken off. The first diet plan was the Third World Diet, which included moving to a third world country, eating all the meals off the street and drinking unclean water. I guaranteed a minimal of 10 pounds of weight lose in just one week. Then I came up with the diet plan that you could eat as much as you want as long as you bike all day long. Again I do not know why this one failed. Maybe people just do not like bikes.

The last diet plan just came to me a few days ago. Here it is, eat only beans and rice.
Just imagine the thousands of dollars you will save and I promise that the pounds will come off you just like melting butter. Why do you not see a fat person in a beans and rice country? That is because they eat beans and rice. If the beans and rice is too plain then just add vegetables, but no meat, no processed foods and no golden arches, no sweets, or candy. For $5 a person you could live a whole week off just rice and beans.

Why has this diet not taken off before? Because it has no flashy design or logo, and it does not cost you anything. So if you want to start on my "Super Duper Beans and Rice" just send me $99 a month. I promise that you will lose all the weight you want and you will not have to worry about all those expensive grocery bills.
I will try to work on some logo somewhere in between biking the next thousand miles. I am sure I can find lots of people down here to testify that the diet really works.

Silence-

2007-09-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

Last night in Somotillo the electricity was out, actually most of the time it is out here. Only in the evening and in the early hours of the morning is there power. But last night it was out and at the same moment a huge storm hit and I must say it was wonderful. I had forgotten how much I dislike electricity, and I was reminded how much I love storms. So what was there to do last night but walk across the little town of Somotillo in the rain. As all the city lights were out and the rain covered me like a blanket, it was the closest thing to heaven I have felt in a long time.

I was taken back to the mountains of Afghanistan. At night I would listen to the winter storms blow and alone I would sit in the silence of the night, no television, no radio, no electricity. I thought last night, 'What would our lives be like in the United States if we turned off the electricity in the night? What if the only sound that could be heard was the sound of silence?' I believe that it would change our lives, all the noise crowds our thoughts and the business causes us to miss life. Time is gone and all because we did not listen in the silence.

I have been challenged to have 27 days of silence. Why 27 days? Because for the last few years I have given up something to take a moment to reflect my last year and get focused on the year ahead. For every year of my life I give up one day. This year I am going 27 days without my mp3 player. This is a very big challenge for me because in the middle of the day when the road gets challenging, I put on my headphones and zone out of the silence. When I have been called gringo for the thousandth time in a day, a little music makes all the pain go away.

I wonder how many people in the States turn on the television to make the pain go away to live a false reality, to go off to a dream land where the problems seem to fade away. What would happen instead of going off into some false reality if we shared our thoughts and fears with those in our family and with friends? And what if we prayed for one another and lifted each other up with encouraging words. What would happen if we went to the Lord instead of the television, or the Internet. Last night was a challenge to me, and I hope this is a challenge to you, just to take one night without television, without the radio, ipod, Internet, just to sit and be silent. I believe this would radically change the family as we know it. Instead of trying to talk over the television, everyone just sat and listened to one another. Silence is a scary thing, and life without electricity is something unimaginable. But I challenge you to turn everything off and just be quiet for one night, and hopefully we can all learn to really listen.

Something to look at-

2007-09-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

I figured that there would be many of you out there wondering what Madrid, Spain to Oklahoma would look like, so I am putting this map out as a rough idea. I am sure everything will change, but this kind of gives you an idea of where I could possibly be biking.

Actually, this is a big map I promise, but you will have to click on it to see the larger version.

Blue- This is what I have already biked
Red- What I am planning on biking
Yellow- I am guessing (It is almost two years away)

Church this Sunday-

2007-09-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

I was met this morning by pastor Santos who invited me to go to his church with him. I jumped on the back of of his off-road motorcycle. We headed out the back roads for 15 km, then walked for another 3 km with 70 other church members up to a river. It was a wonderful baptism service and it was great to be in the outdoors. I do not know why we do not have church outside the four walls more often.

Pastor Santos

The Master Plan-

2007-09-15T15:54:00.000-07:00

This plan has been in my head and in my heart for years, but until I biked a few thousand miles I did not want to share it with many people. This is kind of the rough layout for the next couple of years, that is, if the Lord brings it all together. The Lord puts things in our heart and he has every right to change directions. All that said, this is what I am thinking.

Stage I
Started- May 5th, 2007 in Luther, Oklahoma
Arrive- Sao Paulo, Brazil March 5th, 2008

Time- 10 months
Distance- 14,000 km*
Countries- 15 (USA, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina Uruguay, Brazil.)

Stage II
Fly or Sail to Cape Town, South Africa
Start- Cape Town, South Africa -March 5th, 2008
Finish- Madrid, Spain- December 5th, 2008

Time- 9 months
Distance- 14,000 km*
Countries- 15 (route yet to be decided)
Fly to the States for a 3-month break and raise funds for Stage III

Stage III
Return to Madrid, Spain
Start-Madrid, Spain- March 5th, 2009
Finish- Luther, Oklahoma May 5th, 2010

Time- 14 months
Distance-20, 000 km*
Countries 20+ (route yet to be decided)

From China I would like to fly to California, them bike back to Oklahoma to finish where I started.
The whole time frame 36 months

Distance- 48,000 km or 30,000 miles*
Countries-50+ countries
* All distance are wild guesses or rather something I made up in my head.

Finances-

All my expenses of date.
I spent $750 on my flight back to the States for my sister's wedding
and around $10 a day x 125 days = $1250
Insurance - $125
Gear and repairs-$1000 (this includes all my camping gear, bike, bike parts and most of my clothes, but does not include my camera)

Total spent to date- $3,125.

Getting all the gear I needed and making repairs has cost me more then what I originally expected, but it has still been manageable.

For the next 15 months-

I still have $8,000 in savings for the next 15 months.
I will have three flights in this 15 months period.
Panama to Colombia- $350
Sao Paulo, Brazil to Cape town, South Africa- $1150
Madrid, Spain $1000

Total for airfare $2400 (I am looking into cheaper ways to travel, and I am looking at sailing as one possibility)

450 days X $10 a day $4500

Insurance for 15 months- $600

Total expenses for 15 months $7500 (this leaves $500 for repairs and gear replacement)

100 km/h

2007-09-14T17:50:00.000-07:00

I normally do not travel at this speed, but I entered Nicaragua and had no cash. I will be staying in Samatillo which is about the size of a really small town if you know what I mean and there is no bank. So into town we went an hour and a half drive and upon my arrival at the bank, I realized that I had $15.16 in my account, the rest was in savings. I was hoping to get enough money to last me a couple weeks and let's just say this $15 is not going to cut it, so I did what any normal person would do, I withdrew all my money from my account and prayed for quail and manna. I did get to see the children's parade, which was a blast. But in return for wasting the day I decided to create some art and I call this body of work 100 km/h that is because all the pictures were taken at 100 km/h on my trip back to Samatillo where I only have $7 left to last me until it starts raining quail and manna from heaven.
I think I like my 15km/h better, but it was fun to change things up.

Celebration of Children-

2007-09-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

In Nicaragua and other Central American countries it has been the festival of the children,
and I made it just in time to get in on the action.