Days 4, 5, & 6.. and today. --- Kinda boring, kinda good.

As you can see my last blog was a few days ago and it consisted of me spending a morning at the doctor and me not getting to ride. I don't know if a lot has happened really since then but a whole bunch has at the same time. I should probably write everyday to help me remember things going on but i mean i don't have a computer. i just have to use one of the guys that i have met. haha. These people up here are really nice though.

Day 4, I mean Daniel left on day four. Me sitting at the house. I honestly was pretty bummed while he was getting ready and all that. Why wouldn't i be? I had put so much into this trip. He is meeting me in Denver, Co in 3 weeks. which should give my knee enough time to heal. I am keeping my fingers crossed. It's not up to me. i am taking care of it like i am supposed to so ya as far as i know i can ride in about a week and a half. I had a bunch of alone time that day though.

I was really sad and pissed and everything that day. As i sat down at a local coffe shop though i really started to think about why i came out here and what i am doing. What i kept asking myself was what good am i if i am constantly pissed that i am not going on my way with DKAL. As i sit there though a girl sits beside me and just starts talking. We go on to talk for a good hour or so. Then as i am leaving the coffee shop the girl at the counter stops and talks to me for like 20 minutes as well. We talked about life, God, music, and really just everything. I have decided that either way if i am on my bike or not i am out here for a reason just gotta make the best of it.

Day 5, honestly this was a really boring day but it's whatever. I hung out with the fellas of HQ, did nothing, and then a bunch of people got together and hung out. This night was probably the most i have missed home since leaving. minus being on the plane heading this way. People all came over, listened to music on the TV, had a hookah going, and just overall a really chill feel. It just reminded me of home so much. It was a tough night for me to have fun. I tried though. It's just harder sometimes that others.

Day 6, Yet another day of pretty much nothing. I have gone to a coffee shop almost every day here. it's been nice. I enjoy it. The coffee out here is nuts good. Like for reals... east coast doesn't have anything on that west coast cuppa joe. This day i went to a coffee shop with my friend Tristan. He is a hella cool dude. We honestly sat there for an hour. Mostly because i was eating and if you know me i eat forever. ha. But that's about it for yesterday. I went to dinner with my aunt and had Top 5 Pizza i hav ever had. It was called Woodstocks. So good. Also we watched all three matrix movies today. that was a great time. Although i think the only one worth anything is obviously the first one.

Today, i woke up and had some leftover lasagna from a couple nights ago and let's be honestly... it's always better a couple days old. Ha. Then i haven't done much of anything. I found out that a good friend of mine is going to be heading down to California from Washington and he and i are gonna road trip to sacramento... should be a good time. I don't have anything to do there but i will prolly get into something. i never know. I have nowhere to stay and i can't really do much about it... adventure here i come. I have never been to california... so that will be fun! As for meeting up with daniel, i have a train ticket for sunday and i will get to denver on monday... i am going to meet him there in a couple weeks.

Thanks to everyone who has been encouraging me. It's been a tough week. My knee is still hurting and i want it to get better but it's not on my timing and i realize that. All i can do is take care of it and live where i am. So for now i am making the best of my stay in Corvallis, Or.

Also random fact about oregon... all they drink is coffee and beer... they even have espresso beer... weird right!?

Days 2 & 3- interesting couple of days.

As i sit here and type this i am in a room with about 10 people, I met each of them within the last 36 hours. We have played disc golf twice, eaten pizza twice, and hung out constantly. Been a glorious time. Even met a new friend as i started this blog. It's been an interesting couple of days.

Since posting my last blog about my knee and the rides, a lot has happened. It's been on a DL for the most part and i have only told a couple of people, but i hurt my knee day 1 of the ride. It's been pretty bad. It takes a lot for me to admit being hurt but i spent all morning today at the hospital. Not fun honestly. I spent all night last night being frustrated with myself and all morning just being pissed at all the time i had spent on the trip and the thought it could be shut down for me, i was def bummed and still am a bit. The doctor told me that i couldn't have prevented it and i couldn't do anything to fix it. So that's the bummer.

I get to the doctor's office and every possibility was going thru my head. It was killing me. I go back and he does a few tests with moving my leg around, and then he kinda moves my other knee around and wow... It hurt really bad. I told him to stop at one point. ha. Then he sends me back to get x-rays. That was fun for sure. (hopefully you can read the sarcasm)!

The doctor sits me down at the end of everything and tells me not great news but not the worst news. I have to take 9-14 days off of riding. Everything in my knee is inflamed and am on a steroid of some sort. It hurts but imma make it. I have spent the past 24 hours really trying to figure out what i am going to do and tonight i kinda nailed it down. I am going to snag a train (since they have bike racks on them) to denver within the next week and a half, might even go multi city and spend a day somewhere else too). Plus if i go to Denver i can hangout with my sister and future brother in law for a week or so which would be hella rad.

Daniel is leaving in the morning and forging on with out me. He is gonna meet me in Denver where i will continue the journey after my knee heals up. (hoping it does, if not, Cortisone injections might be next on the list of things to do.) I have been super frustrated and i have been super sad with this whole thing but i have decided my plan isn't the best one so i am stickin it out and living it up.

Thanks for all your encouragement and texts and facebook messages. Leave comments if you want. This trip has already been the trip of a life time. Thanks also to Amy Chapman and her Husband John for letting up stay at their house and they cooked us an incredible dinner and to the people of HQ (janae, charlotte, and taylor included) for taking Dan and i Disc Golfing 2 days in a row.

Days 0 & 1 - Ups and Downs.

Yesterday was day 0. What a day. Leaving Knoxville yesterday morning was one of the hardest things i have done3 in so long. I mean it was hard. I was basically miserable all day. Once i got on the plane it got a bit easier but landing in Denver, well it was miserable again.(ups and downs... get it, like my emotions were up and down) Every 2 seconds i was thinkin i had made a mistake. There is still a part of me that thinks that, but i will talk about that later. So i get to Portland and i call Daniel and he says he is at baggage claim, he lied, he was at my gate waiting and i was so stoked to see him . It had been far too long. He and i are just chlilin at the airport throwing frisbee waiting on our shuttle and we met a lady named Amy. Amy talks to us for a bit and we finally get on the shuttle to go to portland she offered to have us over the next night, tonight, for a salmon bbq and a bed to stay in. We obviously said yes to that, but hey we were like let's see. sometimes stuff happens and things call thru. After getting to my aunts house we put our bikes together and all that then decided we had to eat. Carbs! Went and got pasta. had a really cool server too, Janae was her name. Kinda told her abotu what were were doing and we decided we would get a group of people to go for a bike ride after she got off of work. Daniel and i were so excited. Ended up falling thru but hey stuff happens. He and i went to bed at like 1030... so it was a good night.

Day 1, what an epic day. It was our first ride together. We decided we would leave by 1 today cause we had a few things to do beforehand. Woke up around 10... i did at least and ended up getting coffee with Janae and her friend Charlotte. Best dirty chai i have ever had in my life. No questions asked about that. SOOOO Good. She ended up showing us to the bike shop and how to get the the grocery store. We had no clue where we were going. it ws quite funny! So ya after all that we loaded down our bikes and hit the road. So abotu 5 miles in we started climbing a hill... we climbed for literally 7 miles at about a 7 percent grade. it was awful. the other side wasn't even that much of a downhill... it was totally bull. haha. Then after the short decent we find yet abnother climb waiting on the other side. I think total out of our 57 miles... 45 of those were climbing miles. Everytime we rounded a blind corner there was another climb waitiing for us. Which i will say every climb had a crapy downhill side. So hopefully tomorrow will be a good one! Took us 6.5 hours to go 57 miles... Keep in mind that we are riding into a headwind and to top it off it rained for 6 out of the 6.5 hours. We ended the day though getting into Newport, Or and having dinner with an amazing family. They are even letting us stay the night here in a bed. Feels so good. plus the hot shower after our ride... what a night! I forgot to mention about 3 inutes after getting into Newport, well, Daniels handlebars go boom and i turn around and he is on thte ground. He is ok, but it scared us both for sure.

Today though mentally that rain was demoralizng. I honestly have thought if i leave now i have enough money for a  plane ticket. I wouldn't leave this trip but today broke me quite a bit. I miss home, i miss people, and i really just struggled today. My knee isn't doign so great so if you can send a good vibe or prayer my way for my knees healing. I am not gonna back out of this trip. I might have my knee looked at tomorrow in Corballis... we will see how it is feeling. So ya, there is my day 1 and 0. Overall this trip has been epic thus far. I can't complain. I am falling asleep as i type this so i think i am going to go to bed. i hope you enjoy reading these. ia m not the best writer but i am really trying to make it interesting.

Yesterday sucked then got a lil bit better. Today was good then sucked. ha. (ups and downs??)]g'night to everyone. Encouraging tweets or text or FB messages are amazing and help me make it thru. Love you all!

..and let the good times roll...

Today i graduated. I am officially done with college and an MTSU graduate. It's a bit odd to say i am done with school, but i don't think it will really hit me until the fall when i don't have to go back to Murfreesboro, TN. It's been an amazingly great day. I had family and friends come in town for my Graduation and it was so good to be with people who really love me.

On another note i leave for Oregon in 3 days!  I am so ready to go... but not at all. My body is ready but honestly i have so many mixed emotions about leaving for 50 days. I want to do this so bad though. It's been in the works since July. It's gonna be nuts


At one point my riding partner is going to take kids to camp and i was a bit bummed at first (i thought i was going to have to ride on by myself) but i discovered i get to spend a week with one of my really amazing friends and her family for a week. Which i think during that week will be 4th of July which is such a great holiday! That's quite a ways in the future though.

I leave Murfreesboro tomorrow to go back to Knoxville, then i will have all day Monday in Knoxville to get ready for my trip doing things like packing and getting stuff together. I need some cycling shorts, i need to pay the rest of my bike off, and i have a bunch of other stuff also (i.e. chamois cream, knee brace, a new bike tire... i could go on and on honestly a bunch of little things) but it's whatever. i will get it done... I hope. My mind is everywhere so i really am just hoping i don't forget anything.

While blogging i am watching Ghost Adventures on Travel Channel and looking at cycling short reviews online. Woo hoo... fun times right?

9 DAYS!

Just got done playing basketball... i realized 2 things while playing...
1. I suck at basketball.
2. I would rather be on my bike than playing basketball.

I am sitting here at my place right now watching the Tour de Romandie, i feel like i am torturing myself. I don't have my bike yet i am just sitting here watching people on their bikes. The trip is on the horizon and it's more surreal now than it has ever been. I am going back to East Tennessee tomorrow to train this week and really try to ride everyday, rain or shine.

After my post maybe a week or so ago about why i am going on this trip i got some really good feedback from some of my friends who liked my reason for going. I have thought about it a bunch but there is also another reason i am going that most people don't know except a few close friends and i feel like it should be known why i am really going.

I want to love people. I want to show people what being a Christian is about. I don't want to judge anyone and i want to spend time with people and hear their stories. I want to build relationships with each individual i meet along the way and hopefully in some way, shape, or form impact people's lives. I feel like so many people are pushed away from the church by many different reasons, but the one i have heard the most of is that they have felt judged. Jesus didn't judge. He loved. No matter what. That's what i wanna do. I may not agree with things people do but i am in no place to judge them. So this is why i am going.

The trip is my right to passage but also i want to hopefully meet people and build friendships with people each day. I can't explain how excited i am about leaving.

While blogging: Obama's Speech, Tour de Romandie, and listened to my friends talk...

Short blog? ...YUP.

Today i wake up to a call from Daniel, mind you it was at like 11 in the morning... i shoulda been up already anyways, and he asked me my aunts address... I was confused at first but i realized it is time to ship our bikes! He shipped his today and i am shipping mine pretty soon also. Mine should be sent out by no later than Wednesday. Might have to pay a bit more to get it there on time but it is the only time i can ship it.

A bunch of people keep asking me why i am doing this trip. I kind of explained it a few posts back but be prepared for another "deep" blog later tonight. i will go into more detail but i am more excited about this trip more than most anything i can recall being excited for!

Listening to Afroman... yes... Afroman.

Eat before you are hungry.
Drink before you are thirsty.
Rest before you are tired.
Cover up before you are cold.
Peel off before you are hot.
Don't drink or smoke on tour.
Never ride just to prove yourself.

Time keeps on slippin slippin slippin.

Yes my title of this blog is a song reference but a cover... totally a cover song from the space jam soundtrack. Don't judge.
I sent a text to Daniel today it read,
2 weeks. 14 days. 336 hours. 20,160 minutes... No biggie

All those numbers keep getting smaller and smaller. These are the numbers of weeks, days, hours, and minutes till we fly out of here to head to Oregon. Not training is driving me crazy. Like i want to be on My bike so bad. I am hoping this down time before the trip won't hurt my first couple weeks of the trip and slow us down too much. It's gonna be the challenge of a lifetime.

Good news though, if anyone was wondering, my bike is named. She was named just yesterday and i wanted to break the news to you all. 
Her name is Jolene "The Green Goblin". It is lovely but a lil bit strong. ha. 

As for things that don't have to do with biking... i wrote this blog while watching NBC's the voice. My friends Josh and Nicole were on there and killed it. Their new coach Blake better get ready to be wowed. #teamelenowen all day everyday.