Almost 7 years to the day, I sat on the porch of my 100 year old cabin just on the outskirts of Boulder CO. Per usual, I was home alone, sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch, overlooking Boulder from a similar view as the flatirons. The porch was perched above all other homes and neighborhoods in Boulder, providing spectacular views of Pearl street as well as the university. The secluded area allowed for as many quiet moments as one desired.
How did I end up here? I often asked myself in these ever too often moments of sitting in this exact chair, alone, sad, isolated and terrified to admit the reality of what I was feeling within. If I only concentrated on the positives in life, I truly believed that those would become my reality and not the nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that I was extremely unhappy.
We (Ryan and I) found ourselves in Boulder after we sailed the Pacific (San Diego to Mexico, across to Hawaii, around the Islands, up to Sitka, AK and eventually down to Bellingham, WA on a 42ft boat that Ryan spent 5 years refurbishing), ending our travels with $180 between the two us, newly married and carefree.
Ryan found a job in Boulder, and I willingly followed. I truly fell in love with the area after just one short visit. There is something genuine and captivating about this part of the country. I started my life in Boulder lonely. I left Boulder lonely. Just like I was in this moment.
Late-June, 2009, Ryan returned home fairly late from work. I spent my evening preparing a 5 course meal, drinking wine, and patiently awaiting his arrival. "Let's go travel," I said. Now that Ryan was into his evening routine of coming home rather irritated from his overworked and underpaid job, I waited, as always, for his second cocktail to be in hand before saying much.
Ryan is a very patient man, who always thinks before he speaks, might possibly be one of the smartest people in the world with his photographic memory and keen desire to fix anything. He is someone who will learn every aspect of any given topic for the ability to build or fix it. It's truly amazing. Keeping this theme to who he is, he didn't say much at first. "Where do you want to go? How do you want to travel?" He said.
"We could backpack. Or how about biking?" I replied, not thinking too much about the question, just going with my gut and taking what I love to do on a daily basis and incorporate it into my everyday life. Ryan the thinker. Lisa the impulse traveler.
"Neither of us have ever bicycle toured, but Jason works in a bike shop and could probably get us a great deal." Ryan responded. His wheels started turning, the research began, and I knew that we were onto our next adventure.
Within just a few short months, our bicycles had arrived. Thanks to Jason, step 1 was complete. We had our Surly Long Haul Truckers in hand, which we almost instantly shipped over to Philadelphia to saw the bicycles in half. Yes, the steal frames were literally sawed in half in two places and S&S Couplers and cable splitters were installed.
