On Saturday morning we put our eighteen-year-old son on a plane to Costa Rica where he plans to do a year of language immersion and mission work. He had purchased a one-way ticket which, to me, seems the best way to approach adventure. On Sunday night however, as I passed by Austin’s vacant bedroom, I began to doubt my philosophy. Then came the knock at our front door.
I went to answer it, walking up on my teenage daughter who had beat me to the task. There in front of us stood two young men sporting helmets. Both of them held onto modes of transportation I had only seen police officers ride through large cities and airports: a two wheel contraption called a Segway upon which the rider stands and maneuvers with the motion of his body.
The man closest to us introduced himself in a thick French accent as being from Belgium. He said their names I’m sure, but all I heard at the time was, “I’m Adventure and this is my friend whose name is also Adventure.”
They needed a place to recharge their Segways and pitch their tent for the night and asked if we could help. Of course, replied my husband who had joined us at the door, though he urged them to leave their tent packed. He led them instead to a building on our property designed specifically for sojourners’ needs, complete with a small kitchen, laundry, shower, restroom facilities and a couple of mattresses.
As we visited with them more, I learned their real names were PJ and Julien. They handed us a business card with the address of their website (www.segwaytravellers.com) detailing the history and purpose of their journey. Getting online, I clicked on the “Our Aim” tab of their webpage and read what PJ had posted their prior to their journey.“Our objective is to cross the United States of America from north to south along the Rocky Mountains chain by Segway…We think it’s too easy to say, ‘This is not for me.’ We would like to prove that with good preparation, it is possible to travel simply without busting your budget and without being an athlete. Adventures are not only for professionals even if their journeys are quite amazing. We think anybody should be able to get up and say: ‘This time, it’s my turn.’”
Anybody. Like my son. Me even.
But what about the small budgets, physical limitations, unreliable weather conditions, not to mention the people? Oh, the people. PJ wrote about them too. “We know perfectly well that we will need help and we will most probably end up knocking on people’s doors or hitchhiking from time to time, who knows what else…Taking on such a challenge could be compared to throwing yourself onto the crowd at a rock concert. You have to trust yourself and others. One thing is sure. We will experience amazing encounters.”
Such could be said of their encounter with a fire department in the Denver area when PJ—who, by the way, is partially paralyzed from a skiing accident three years ago—had fallen off his Segway along a darkened Highway 285. The emergency workers checked that he was okay and then aided the adventurers along their way to a place to stay for the night. Undeterred, they resumed their journey the next day at top speeds of twelve miles per hour, with a reinforced commitment to avoid travel at dark. That is, in fact, how they ended up on our doorstep. Dusk had begun to set in just outside our small town and so Adventure One and Two set foot onto our front porch. And then into our lives.
Listen carefully. Adventure is on the road again. On another Segway perhaps. Or maybe this time, on a bike or in a car. By chance, on foot, just off a plane. No matter how adventure comes however, most certainly it comes knocking.
PJ gave me a Segway driving lesson before he and Julien departed on Monday morning. What an adventure!!! (Oh, and before they left, I gave each of them a 2009 penny and PJ gave me two one cent euros!)
