The Journey

One of my best friends from college, Matt Hewston, and his buddy, Ryan, recently began a cross-country journey on mountain bikes! Their trip, which started in California, will take them through Texas, into Florida and then back up the East Coast to Pennsylvania, where they will head west toward Pittsburgh (Matt's hometown).

You can follow their journey here. Not only do they got tons of pics from each leg of the journey, they are also doing an audio blog, where they call in and leave a message on their progress. It's pretty cool stuff.


But the really cool thing about the trip is the personal experiences Matt is soaking in along the way. He's done a number of other journeys by bike, and it always struck me that what he took away from them was less about a sense of personal accomplishment and more about an appreciation for nature and the tons of good people that still inhabit the extremely selfish culture that is the United States. Here's a recent email I got from Matt:

This trip is allowing me to see places and meet people that I never would have! We spent Easter in Ozona, TX at a picnic hosted by Mexican-American Families. That was three days after a young couple we met brought us Pancakes to our tent for breakfast. Sounds made up, but there are some absolutely amazing people out there!!!!

This screams of hope!! Which gets me thinking, maybe the majority of people out there are truly good-hearted, and its only the truly self-centered and cold-hearted ones that make it onto TV and into popular magazines?

Why do we idolize such people in this country?

Why do we "do it to ourselves" time and time again?

Why do we ignore the path laid before us by our creator, in favor of the thorny and rocky path laid before us by man?