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Inception and Introductions

By Daniel Lins - 2008-09-10

My name is Daniel.

I’ve loved adventure since I learned to read. Back then, I let words take me to fantastic places on exciting quests. The addiction set in, and now it’s my feet that take me to faraway places.

Freshman year of college, I took a quest to meet my inner self. A bicycle trip over Christmas break for the challenge and the struggle. I bought a bike, learned how to ride it, and rode ~700 miles to Georgia. It was cold, lonely, and exhausting. It broke me down, and I loved it. God taught me loads, and it changed the course of my life.

The next year, my buddy Birenbaum got it in his head to cycle to the Outer Banks, NC over spring break. Since I already had the experience, he asked if I’d lead it. Three of us went that week, the third man being a stranger named Mike Beris. Mike proved to be a spry guy with long endurance and a cautious mind.

Months went by, and one day, hanging out in the dormitory with my long-time buddy Chris Thompson, someone mentioned cycling across the whole United States as a joke. That was far-fetched, but the idea took root as we realized it may actually be possible. So we worked our tails off that summer, often 90 hours a week, to come up with enough money to take the following summer off.

The summer after Junior year, Chris and I cycled from coast to coast: Rehoboth Beach, Delaware to Santa Barbara, California. By contrast, this trip wasn’t about self-discovery at all. It was about seeing the country of our birth.

We journeyed across mountains, plains, caves, more mountains, and eventually to beaches. It was the trip of a lifetime! But it nearly broke our friendship. In fact, we came to blows in the final days. In the end, we learned a lot about ourselves and each other. We saw the wonders and diversity of the land we call America. And we met the beautiful people it holds.

Chris and I have now graduated and gotten professional jobs in our respective fields. We’ve done many smaller trips in the time since then (camping, caving, canoing, hiking, sailing, climbing, skiing, and cycling), but never one so long or demanding. Our current jobs simply don’t allow enough time off.

We realized it was time for a change! This time, we’ve decided to see the wonders and the people of South America. The wild allure of the continent, the diversity of the sights and people, and the economy of the currency make it the inescapable decision.

But we didn’t want to waste our time living for ourselves, with no actual eternal value to the journey. We recognized our love for people and our shared passion for encouraging others to grow, to step out, and to learn about the things around them. So we’ve quit our jobs, sold our belongings, and are setting off into the unknown.

We decided to share our journey with the world and especially young kids through online videos and blogs. We’ve also partnered with a non-profit to formally supplement multi-cultural curriculum in local schools.

To do these things, we’d need a larger team (which would also help to buffer our conflicting personalities). Mike Beris, now one of my roommates, knew he had to join the expedition as soon as he heard about it. We are happy to have his artistic skills.

I met the fourth member of our team providentially… I was skiing with a long-time friend in the Poconos. There was a pot-luck dinner at his church on Sunday, and I mingled with the gentry. One of the crowd was Dan Wallace, an enthusiastic Scottsman. He heard about the trip and committed to it even before hearing all the details. Dan’s training as a teacher lends well to the educational mission of the trip.

The four of us are completely different, being a scientist, an engineer, a mental health worker, and a teacher by trade. But we all have one thing in common.

It is that irresistible call of the wild that beckons us. The unknown. New faces and new smiles. New creeks and new trails. The hope of a new treasure around every corner, and new challenges to pit ourselves against. We’re explorers at heart. Bicyclers by necessity.