New Blog…kinda

So I’ve been asked to be a contributing author for a new blog with Bryan Barley and Mark Turner, two guys I really appreciate and respect. The title of the blog is Unlikely Christians: Theology, Culture, and the Gospel and can be found HERE.

I’ve never been a part of this sort of endeavor, but the opportunity seems both intriguing and worthwhile. There’s always a sense of careful consciousness (for me, at least) that goes along with publishing written material online, knowing that others may read it and that I will be held accountable by the public (despite how little of an audience I maintain) for what I say and write. That, however, is one of the primary reasons why I blog; knowing that I must be careful in how I articulate what I’m thinking is a great discipline that I want to constantly exercise. I believe it forces me to be intellectually responsible and fairly reasonable as I think through certain–sometimes difficult–issues.

With Unlikely Christians, however, I will be representing the opinions of more than just myself (to some degree). Needless to say, the pressure to be compelling, relevant, and, well…right…will be a little greater! Evenso, I’m looking forward to writing with these guys and sparking some interesting theological conversations that will hopefully provide a resource for many others. I will, of course, continue this blog just the same. Hope you enjoy!

Home Sweet Home

The “Great Motorcycle Adventure out West” has been completed! After traveling 7,869 miles across 18 states in 28 days, it’s time to call it quits…for now! What an experience, too. Already people are asking what the next adventure will look like. So far, I have two ideas in mind:

a. Traveling the southern border of Canada to Alaska and back
b. Traveling through all of Central America to Panama and back

We’ll see! It will be a little while before either of those occur, but ideas will be stirring in the meantime. As mentioned in a previous post, there are numerous stories to share, but right now I really just need to go to work and make back some gas money. So I’ll let the photos do the talking…

(I’ve never done a Gallery before, but I believe if you want a closer look at a photo, you can click on it, and it will open up. Hope it works!)

Diving head first into the West. Notice the Gateway Arch in the background.

A night in St. Louis with Nana Metzger. Enjoyed a wonderful meal at “Lewis and Clark’s.” Quite appropriate for the adventure we had just begun…

What a stud.

Gearing up for the first rain storm. Day 2 of the trip!

Philip made me a Founding Father.

My camera skills aren’t nearly as good. Sad.

Camping in the corn field. Same place where we circled by coyotes for a short time, yet we survived.

Philip thought this may keep him warm as he rides. If anything, he pulls off the look quite nicely.

My Indian friend.

The Badlands. They were bad.

Looks like a photo from a magazine. I totally did not plan that.

Where’s Waldo?

One of the many terrains we traversed over the course of the adventure.

Philip’s new friend.

My old lady friend.

Dining in the fine Walmart parking lot. Notice the oil leaks covering our…er…table cloth.

The dinner of champions. I, of course, went for the Chunky soup – Soup that Eats Like a Meal.

Yes, we had snow.

Intense. And ready for the cold. (And maybe even some undercover FBI sting.)

Big Horn National Forest. Beatiful. And cold.

4 cyclists from Minneapolis we spent the night with outside of Yellowstone. They were headed to Portland on mission to bring political reform to the cycling world. Interesting!

Old Faithful. Still faithful…

Philip was planning his attack on an elk.

Our entertainment as we laundered the wet clothes.

What a boring state sign?! Notice how we’re in rain gear for almost all of the photos…

Still in rain gear. Cool sign though.

Parking lot of a casino where we spent the night.

Action shot

Napping in the park (after finally reaching warmth!)

California border

Rainbow after a storm (that we, of course, had to drive through!)

Reno, Nevada

San Francisco

The home of Robin Williams.

Driving across the Golden Gate in a car. Later to be done via motorcycle.

Philip’s sailing/motorcycle-racing/yacht-designing/art-enthusiast/jazz-loving/adventurer of a cousin. What a guy!

Lombard Street. Acclaimed “Curviest Road in the USA.”

Along the Pacific Coast Highway

Bon fire on the beaches at Monterey, California. I purchased an entire bag of marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate and later found out I was the only one who wanted smores. Lucky!

Pacific Ocean!

We made it to Hollywood! Unfortunately we didn’t see anyone famous.

Except Indiana Jones. The real one.

The tree I napped under outside of Los Angeles. So tired!

Desert. Beautiful.

Peter. Looking to have his “Memoirs of a City Boy” published one day. Keep an eye out on Amazon.com for this future best seller sometime in the next 10 years…

The Eiffel Tower – a quick detour to Paris from our trip across the US.

Here’s what happened in Vegas: It was hot, crowded, and bumper-to-bumper traffic. Not fun on a motorcycle. Fortunately, it was an uneventful stop.

Hoover Dam Bridge

“How’s your butt feelin’?” “OK!”

Hackberry’s General Store – Route 66

Historic Route 66 – The Mother Road

Famous motorcycle joint along Route 66. Grabbed some chili dogs and enjoyed interesting conversation with two Scottish tourists.

Grand Canyon

He’s a genius. Apparently his trench-digging barrier technique kept our tent floor dry. Good work, Philip.

Great Pale Horse was Philip’s western name due to his obsession with sunscreen.

Cliff Dwellers community – Arizona

Cliff Dwellers, Arizona. Look closely and you can see our itty-bitty motorcycles.

North Rim of Grand Canyon

These 3 mountains form the Court of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) – Zion National Park

After a new tire was installed – Grand Junction, Colorado

Art Institute of Anderson Ranch – Snowmass Valley, Colorado

Being the least artistic person ever, I was totally out of my element.

Yet it was incredibly fun to watch.

The Rim Trail (where we would later get lost and stranded!)

Aspen-birch trees.

Fun with the Benson bunch. True artists and truly kind.

Independence Pass. 12,095 ft. 2nd highest paved pass in Colorado. And cold!

So pretty.

John the Mechanic kept me from sleeping on the side of the road in Cookeville, TN. (Broken bearing.)

Fun with the Metzger boys! A stop in Pigeon Forge, TN. Great surprise…

Update – 6/23/09

Andy here!!! What a heck of an adventure it has been so far! Not over yet, but this is the first access I’ve had to internet in the last 23 days. I’m spending the night in Morristown, TN before saddling back up to trek on over to NC. I have loads to write about when I get back to school, but for now I’ll just leave you with a few photos.

P.S. By the way, Bryan’s previous post about the 1250 mile ride from Aspen, Colorado to Jackson, Tennessee is no joke. 25 hours straight of motorcycle riding. Pure nuts. The last 3 or 4 hours through Missouri were a complete blur. I can’t tell you a single thing we actually saw. It was a constant struggle between the eyes and the brain to stay awake. I’ve never actually hallucinated at the wheel before, but I kept seeing imaginary 18-wheelers in front of me and other strange vehicles that weren’t really there! Weird. I’m just thankful that we made it back safely. Thanks for the prayers everyone. I’ll update even more once I’m back. MANY great stories to tell…

Gateway Arch – St. Louis, MO

The Corn Palace – Mitchell, SD

Badlands National Park – South Dakota

Wall Drug Store – Wall, SD

Mount Rushmore – Keystone, SD

Yellowstone National Park, Canyon Falls – Wyoming (cold!!!)

California State Line!

Golden Gate Bridge – San Francisco, CA

Pacific Coast Highway  (Hwy 1) – Big Sur, CA

Pacific Ocean – Santa Monica, CA

Chinese Theatre – Hollywood, CA

Entrance of Death Valley – Death Valley, CA

“Johnny Quick” (Drummer for Bill Haley and the Comets) – Beatty, NV

Las Vegas, NV

Hoover Dam, AZ-NV Border

Hackberry General Store – Route 66, AZ

Highway 89 – Loop around Grand Canyon

Cliff Dweller Community – AZ

Grand Canyon (North Rim) – AZ

Aspen, CO

Somewhere in Kansas

Update from Andy (June 22) – How is he alive?

So I got this text from Andy today. It was the most amazing text message I believe I have ever received:

Aspen, CO to Jackson, TN: 1250 miles, 5 states, 25 hours of non-stop riding. No sleep/naps. Gas, water, & snack breaks only. 12,095 ft. to 350 ft. elevation. Wow.

I promptly responded to see if 1) he was for real 2) how is that possible and 3) was this actually his ghost texting me from beyond the grave since I think what he just described is impossible. Here was his response:

I barely am [alive]. I’m completely exhausted. Feels like I just ran a marathon. We left at 930 AM mtn. time on sunda and arrived here in jackson at 11:30. No sleep. No rest. No naps. Completely crazy. We were downing energy drinks and double shot coffees along the way and doing whatever else we could to stay awake. The worst was missouri when the heat started kicking in. It’s over 90 degrees here today!

Update from Andy (June 14 & 15)

from June 14

We’re walking around Hollywood … we’re headed to death valley now after crusing h-wood. going to the beach, visiting the chinest theatre, etc. its going to be hot!

from Jun 15

Drove thru death valley last night. IT was quite warm, but beautiful scenery. Prob the best sunset we’ve seen. We’re about 2 hours from vegas, we’re headed there this morning to win back all our gas money!

I heard from him once more that night – sounds like he made it out of Vegas without doing anything that should get him expelled from SEBTS – he was headed from the Grand Canyon on Rte. 66 from there.

Update from Andy (June 12)

Andy met up with our friend, Matt Young, in California. Matt went to USC with us, and was one of our best friends while there. Ironically, Matt also has lived in Raleigh for the last couple of years, and we hardly ever see each other. So Andy has seen more of Matt, who lives 30 minutes away, in California than he has back here in NC. Here’s another update:

Sitting on the rocky coast of pebble beach golf course, monterey, CA. Absolutely stunning. Clear green water crashing agains tthe rocks and the bluest skies ever.

Update from Andy (June 11)

This is Bryan again – I misplaced Andy’s username and haven’t been great about updating his blog for him, but am now back to do my job. Here are some of Andy’s recent updates:

In San Francisco. Enjoyed an amazing tour of the Bay yesterday along highway 1 from several mtn. tops. Crossed over the golden gate, as well as the Bay Bridge and rode up and down the city streets all day. Unfortunately I was riding in the back seat of a car and was reminded how weak my stomach is. I repeatedly had to ask for the car to be pulled over, and over the course of the day I think I threw up about 11 or 12 times. Unbelievable. Great city though! I absolutely love it. I just have to be the one behind the wheel (or handlebars). Not sure if we’re headed north or south after this, our original plans may change.

Update from Andy — 6/9/09

This is Bryan again, chronicling the travels of Andy’s trip across the country. I talked to him last night for about fifteen minutes – he was just preparing to head into California. It’s crazy that he’s made it across the country by motorcycle in a matter of days!

He said that tonight they’ll finally be able to enjoy the comforts of a bed, a roof over their heads, and a real meal, as they’ll be staying with a friend of a friend in San Francisco. It sounds like the last few days have consisted of sleeping in all sorts of crazy places and meals consisting of either bagels or peanut butter crackers. Ah, life on the road.

Here’s the text I got from him yesterday morning he wanted me to put on as well:

Made it out of Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, and Jackon Hole today. They were absolutely astonishing, spent last night in a small mountain town behind a church. We got poured on all through the night so much that we were floating inside. Needless to say, we didn’t get any sleep and were drenched by the end of it. Had a meal with the breakfast club to warm up – first purchased meal in 3,000 miles! Drove through the rest of WY, some of Idaho (very nice), and then Utah (incredible). Saw the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake, Tahoe, and a suburb called Bountiful. I guess that was the Mormon version of “loaded” – million dollar homes surrounding the temple everywhere! Spent the night in Wendover, a casino town on the border of UT and NV. Sleeping in the parking lot in a casino. It’s like trying to go to bed with every single light in your house on. And music. Tomorrow we have about 400 miles to Lake Tahoe to Reno, NV.

Sounds like a great trip to me – I’ll keep updating as I hear more, but good to see that Andy is alive and well, and enjoying being out West – it’s beautiful out there!

Update from Andy — 6/5/09

This is Bryan – I’ve been assigned the responsibility of updating Andy’s blog to let his concerned readers know that he’s still alive. Johnathan Edwards once wrote a book called The Life and Diary of David Brainerd where he edited and commented on the life of his good friend, Brainerd, a missionary to the Native Americans. My task here, as I edit and comment on Andy’s ridiculously long text messages, is nothing like that.

I got this text from him today:

Sioux Falls, SD… free lunch at O’Reilly’s auto parts for Customer Appreciation Day. We stuffed ourselves knowing we wouldn’t eat that well for a while. Almost cut my finger off trying to make a funnel to change my oil with (thanks for REALLY sharpening that blade mr. calvin white). Visited the corn palace in Mitchell, SD. Whoa. Weeeeeeeird [see picture below]. Learned a lot about the history of corn palaces and this prairie town dating back to 1892. Also fell asleep during a documentary video telling the corn palace story. Was so exhausted. Spent the night in the Badlands. Arrived after dark so we couldn’t see a thing (nor did we have to pay!) but woke up in the morning and were completely astonished at how beautiful the sight was. Absolutely amazing [see picture #2 below] We drove the 42 mile loop and then jumped back on I-90 to arrive in Keystone, SD. We got up to the entrance and realized we could see everything from there, so once again we chose not to pay, but took pics from the road, jumped the guardrail, hiked down towards the base, saw a bobcat and took some more pics. Did the same for crazy horse. Got there, could see it from the distance, didn’t go in. Went to deadwood for Mr. Calvin. Interesting little cowboy town. We were so tired we fell asleep in the parking lot. Then we drove through WY – beautiful state. Green hills everywhere. Rocky mtns in the close background, buffalo all over and coal trains passing through. Spent the night behind a church last night. Headed to Yellowstone today. Pray the bikes continue to perform well, we get some opportunities to share the gospel, and we stay warm and dry in the mtns. We’re doing great though and having a blast!

Gateway to the West

We’ve made it to St. Louis! Today was a beautiful day for riding…no rain, only sunshine. And lots of it! The temperatures rose to the low 90s today, and we felt it a few times. So far, we’ve been problem free…for the most part. A few maintenance issues with Phillip’s bike slowed us at the beginning, but they were all worked out with relative ease. Tomorrow we’re headed out early for Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 611 miles ahead of us…yikes! I have more pics to post from the Arch, but can’t find my camera cable. (Hope I didn’t leave it at home.) Will update ya again when I can. Keep praying for us!