Too hot, too cold, too windy, too wet... too bad.

We're frequently asked "Why are you doing this trip?" Our answer changes depending on whom we're talking with and that's because we don't actually know why we're doing this ride. We have a few reasons to carry on like we are but in the end there is only one true answer.

We chose the northwestern United States because we've never been there. We chose to ride them because we already owned the bike. We chose to do a loop out to the west coast and then back because we didn't want to ship the bike and fly ourselves around. We picked the time of year with all it's spring time tormenting weather because Dave's job ended and we weren't having responses to other jobs that we'd applied for. We chose to camp and bum patches of grass to save money. We chose to do this ride instead of walk the Appalachian Trail because we wanted to stay out where we could meet lots of people who could inspire us as we looked for a job to pursue.

But the true reason why we chose to do this ride is after 2 years of dreaming and making excuses for why not we'd finally run out of excuses. It was time to pursue a dream. It was time to shed our comfort zone and walk out into the world to experience what was out there. We had built up a world around us where we were masters of everything yet we had stopped growing and learning. Like a baby bird ready to fly but not being kicked out by its parents, we sat around getting fat and lazy. Then one day it all changed and we worked hard to reclaim our lives. Then we began this ride.

We chose to do this ride to, as Dave put it: "To see what there is to see, to hear what there is to hear, and to inspire whom we could inspire.

The weather will not be perfect our whole ride. We may have a few "gorgeous" days according to the weatherman, but every day that we're riding no matter if it is too hot or too cold, too windy or too wet, we are still living and that's what this ride was done for. To live.

And what happens when we're done with this adventure... well we'll just start another. We're not going to "settle down" and wait around to die. We're walking through every day of life and loving it and when this adventure on earth is over, one more will be waiting.