Brian!

Sorry I haven’t posted anything until now but for some reason the block of time hasn’t come until now. I know some of you may have thought that the guys left me in DC from the lack blogs but, alas, I am here.

The trip has been nothing but interesting and entertaining. There are several occurrences of Benton brother feuding, which has been always been a stalemate despite their relentless attempt to top one another. They keep Matt and me entertained for hours. As Matt had said before, it is truly amazing how well these two have organized and prepared everything for this trip. They have been on top of their game and the Benton family should be very proud of them.

Two days ago, I was reminded that this is a small world. Will, Matt and I stopped for a little afternoon snack in the shade next to a tool shed in rural Kentucky. After our cool off, we noticed a transamerican east-bounder headed our way, only the second cyclist we have seen in Kentucky. This was a rare occurrence as opposed to the plethora of cyclists we met in Virginia. As we do with everyone we meet on the road, we discussed the route ahead and what to expect. After having mentioned that Matt and I went to LSU, our fellow traveler told us that his nieces went to LSU as well; their last name was Keegan. The name shuffled through my head and I remembered Jenny Keegan from Baton Rouge High and LSU. She is a good friend of mine although I haven’t seen her in a long time. John Keegan, our new acquaintance, is her uncle and even tried to convince Jenny’s father, his brother, to join him on his transamerican journey. John was born in New York, currently lived in Atlanta, flew to Oregon to begin his bike trip, had nieces in Baton Rouge and met a friend of his nieces on one of the most abandoned roads in Kentucky; it is a small world.

Thankfully, we are finally out of the mountains and into the rolling hills of Kentucky. The Appalachians can be described as many different things. Some refer to them as steep, long, gradual; I call them painful. They were a challenge both mentally and physically. I would constantly have to think of happy thoughts and inspirational stories, provided by my pep talk from Ms. Amy B. Physically, it has been a tough two weeks but I have enjoyed every moment of it.

One thing I have enjoyed the most is observing how each of us seems to be growing younger and younger as the days go by. Without the pressures of a daily working routine, we are letting go of many of the stresses that plague each of us in the “regular” world. It seems to be a common occurrence when I take any extended trip. We laugh, joke, cut up, have fun and enjoy ourselves. While we are still on a mission, no one ever said that we couldn’t have fun doing it.

An incident that has stuck out in my mind was in Charlottesville. You will have to get a testimony from each of the Benton brothers to be the judge but I will give you my unbiased, third party observer’s perspective. Michael, Will and I were lost in downtown Charlottesville and trying to get our bearings, although there are about four different streets with the name Monticello. As we sped along to avoid the treacherous Charlottesville traffic, we weave in and out of the debris on the shoulder of the highway. I then see Michael turn his head to speak to Will, who is second in the pace line. As Michael turns back towards the road and resume riding, I see him suddenly swerve. Within the same half second, I hear a sudden whoosh and white smoke exploding in front of Will. At first, I thought that Will had hit a soda can that had exploded. Will then pulls off to the side of the road with an airless tire. Apparently, (I say that with some hesitancy after hearing both sides of the story) Will had said something to Michael, who then turned to hear him better. However upon looking back at the road, Michael saw a large rock split into two halves with a small gap in between them. He then quickly threads his front wheel through the opening. Will, unaware of the impeding obstacle, hits the massive boulder, as Michael describes it, head on. The impact then flats his tire. The course of events is actually quite boring but the playful argument between two siblings is pretty humorous. I imagine two grown men suddenly reduced into two young boys arguing over some trivial matter like who can throw a rock the farthest. These two are trying to put fault onto each other as I simply sit there, giggling to the point of an abs workout. Michael teases with statements such as, “Will, how can you distract me like that? If you had spoken louder, I would not have had to turn my head. I was just trying to be polite and face you while you were speaking to me.” Will then retorts with comments such as, “Michael, how could you be so careless as to not warn your own flesh and blood about a life-threatening obstruction? What kind of responsible older brother are you? If you had been paying attention to the road ahead rather than aimless looking around, we could have all avoided the rock that you failed to point out.” I, as I have said before, am sitting on the wayside simply laughing my heart out at their hysterical back and forth. By the end of it, I was convinced that it was the rock’s fault for just being there. However, it was not enough for Michael to simply argue; he had to have proof. Thus, he tells Will to put the tire around his neck, hold the two rock halves in his hands and pose for a picture. Will obviously refuses. Michael tries to justify the picture with comments like, “We have people following our journey. We must have accurate documentation of our trip and all the events that ensue.” This continues for several minutes and finally culminates in Michael holding both the rock and flat tire in one hand near the camera lens and placing Will in the middle of the tire in the frame of the picture. At this point, I am completely tickled with the whole situation and cannot control my laughter. Neither of the Benton brothers can help but crack a smile either. Their whole situation reminds me of the little pointless arguments that my brother and I had when we were young. They always went nowhere and ended with a humorous story to recount. In that moment, I realized that we were all boys at heart and would get through anything together. We will take a stressful situation like a flat tire in a busy, unknown city and transform it into an experience that we can get through together, laughs included.

That is just some of the happenings that have gone on during the trip. We love and miss our family and friends back home and wish the best. More stories to come soon.

PS: One of the pictures is posted on the website. Check it out.

Brian