Lessons Learned

Major lessons that we learned:

I'm sure many have wondered how we convinced our kids to do this ride with us and how we kept them motivated.  For starters, getting new bikes and seeing their Grandparents and cousins were initial sales points.  Once riding, things got more complicated, especially for Tan.  Bins was content to ride all day long, but for Tan it was an adjustment.  The first day was no problem.  On day 2, the doubts started creeping into his confidence.  "This is too hard.  I want to go home.  Why did we come on this trip anyway."  I answered all his questions, but it really boiled down to the fact that we were in the middle of nowhere at that moment, and we had to at least get to civilization before we could do anything about it.  By time we got to the campsite that night, he was happy as can be and thrilled to keep riding his bike.

The next day, and for about a week, same complaints.  I soon realized that part of the problem was hunger.  whenever he launched into his first complaint of the morning (usually around 10 or 11), I gave him a sandwich.  The biggest breakthrough came though when I told him, "We are going to see your Grandparents in a week.  Will you try this out until then?  After that, if you still don't want to ride, then we can send your bike home with them and buy you a trail-a-bike."  That worked wonders to give him a shorter-term goal, and when we met up with my parents in Astoria, he never once mentioned sending his bike back.  Good bye doubts, hello joyful riding.

This experience taught us a few important lessons.  Lesson #1:  Children are capable of far more than we give them credit.  Stephen and I would never have known our boys could do this if we didn't give them the opportunity.  I wonder what else they could accomplish if no one was holding them back?  Lesson #2: Inspire, not require.  This is actually a Thomas Jefferson Education Principle we use in Home Schooling, but it was applicable on the ride as well.  We didnt answer Tan's concerns with anger, frustration or telling him that he HAD to do this ride or else...  We encouraged, persuaded, rewarded and taught by example.  He saw that this wasn't something we were forcing him to do, but something we wanted to do as a family and we wanted him along with us.  We were not requiring something of him that we weren't willing to do ourselves.  In fact, we were willing to make it as easy as possible for him by carrying all the weight ourselves and making it as fun as possible.

I'm not going to lie; biking the Pacific Coast was physically hard.  We had to push ourselves to get stronger and to keep going even when our bodies ached.  In every other respect, this trip was absolutely wonderful.  We loved living outside for nearly 2 months, sleeping and arising with the sun.  We spent all day, every day together as a family working towards a goal and met inspiring, talented and generous people.  Even more than all of that, however are the innumerable times we knew that God was aware of us and that our happiness and success mattered to Him.  I'm not saying that completing this ride was some important part of our eternal destiny, but it was definitely spiritually strengthening.

We ran into friends at church who offered us a place to stay for the night.  We pulled into a campground in the rain and rented the first cabin that had been available in 4 months.  We crossed paths with The Thompson's who knew only that we were somewhere in the state of Oregon.  A stranger stopped to tell us about a nearby campsite (not on any maps) that we unexpectedly needed a short distance down the road.  These experiences and countless others confirmed to us that a loving God is not just concerned with the righteousness of His children, but with our comfort and joy as well.