Monday - December 20, 2004

An Awesome Trip!!!

Scott’s Adventures

You may remember that occasionally I mention my other web site (link found under my avatar in the right hand bar of this blog) and the bicycle trip I took across the US in 1997.  Well, on that trip, while in Wyoming in the Tetons our group met a cyclist named Scott.  He’d started near D.C. and faced all sorts of travails on his trip cross country.  It was good to have him with the group and we had great discussions.  You can read about our meeting here.

Anyway, a year later we all got together again (for some, for differing lengths of time depending on their schedules) but for me it was a trip from Oregon to Mexico along the Pacific Coast. Scott joined us north of San Francisco.

Well, Scott and Dennis started planning a trip AROUND THE WORLD by bicycle!  Scott finished the trip last month.  It took him 3 years.  They started the day before 9/11.

Scott will try writing a book about his adventures and hopes to find a publisher.  He did write a book about his cross country trip and I read the manuscript.  I thought it was awesome.  So far, no publisher agrees with me. 

Scott sent me a copy of an essay he submitted in a publishing contest.  I thought I’d share it with you.

Before I get to that, here are some links you might enjoy:

Scott’s website for his trip.

A link to his last journal entry.

His journals archive.

My Life Story By Scott Stoll

I left home vowing never to return until I found happiness. This quest led me to ride my bicycle 40,220 km (the circumference of the planet) over 39 months, through 48 countries and 6 continents. Here is the summary of my life story:

I was about to burst with angst; like a lot of Americans, I had everything but was still unhappy. Then —all in one week—I was fired from a career that had become the meaning to my life, my girlfriend left me for lack of love, and my “best friend” abandoned me in a strange city without enough money for rent. I thought, “I never wanted this life, anyway. What happened?” Fortunately, my thoughts spiraled up instead of down: “I only have one life - one chance. If I could do anything—anything in the world—what would I do?”

After several years preparation, including knee and eye surgery, I left my home in San Francisco intending to ride my bicycle around the world. Five days later the terrorist attacked New York City, and I realized that many people would rather see Americans dead than alive. For weeks, I cycled slowly towards Mexico unsure whether to continue, but again I renewed my vow to find happiness or die trying. I had nothing to lose.

As my confidence grew and depression disappeared, I realized that there was nothing fundamentally wrong with me, yet I was still unfulfilled; my quest for happiness turned to a quest to fill that God-shaped hole in my soul. I divorced myself of books and dogma. I felt that whether I was a product of evolution or creation, the answer was ingrained inside myself and written in the stars.

I had many wonderful experiences, but it is the misadventures that forge our character and reveal our soul: In Mexico, I cycled until I fell over from exhaustion. In Costa Rica, I dislocated my wrist and rode for two months until it popped back into place (the local doctors couldn’t fix it). In Ecuador, I ate some bad cheese and contracted acute salmonella intestinitis that ate holes in my bowels. In Argentina, I was stung three times by a scorpion in my bed. In Egypt, I was held hostage in the tombs of Giza. In Israel, I was interrogated for three hours, my luggage x-rayed, and sniffed for bombs and drugs, because I was a suspected terrorist. In India, I was assaulted by an angry mob. In Nepal, I was nearly trampled by an elephant. In Vietnam, some teenagers lost control of their scooter while playing chicken and slammed into me. In Zambia, I met some dangerous poachers. In Zimbabwe, I was thrown in prison for money changing and espionage. Blizzards, floods, heat exhaustion, hypothermia, thugs, thieves—I suffered many things, but the most difficult aspect of my trip was the loneliness and my lack of faith.

The most rewarding experiences were simply things, like dying of thirst in the desert and knowing everything I own was worth one glass of water. I was overwhelmed by the fundamental goodness of people, especially strangers, who would shelter me and feed me their last bowl of soup. And, yes, I found God and happiness along the way. Evidence for God is everywhere. It seemed to me that sometimes God, Himself, as
pedaling my bicycle. I found peace knowing that life is designed to be difficult and mysterious, that questions are more important than the answers, that I will always be able to surprise myself, love more, and grow closer to God.

A couple of pictures

Posted by Ranting Right Wing Howler     on 12/20/2004 at 06:34 AM   
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