As we have heard many times in life “The Journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step”. I don’t even know who coined the phrase, but it has meant something to me for many years now. As I sit here in my Hotel room in Boulder City Nevada; I reflect on just how good God has been to me these past many months since choosing to uproot my entire life again and move to Houston, TX just so I could attend and volunteer at Lakewood Church as a fellow member of the Body of Christ. Leaving Pensacola, FL was the hardest decision I have made in sobriety. Thinking about the security of the job I had teaching at the Escambia County School District, the ability to drive for Uber, and Lyft on the weekends, go sailing and fishing at will, and just being close to family. Looking back in hindsight, had I stayed, my boat would have been destroyed, and all my belongings may have been lost. Leaving was the only sane thing to do. However, art the time I had no idea of that, nor of the trials that lay ahead as I sailed away... the broken rudder after 24 hours, the loss of my GPS and having to only use a compass and charts to navigate, the loss of auto pilot, and running lights due to my batteries failing... So many other things too numerous to mention...
Yet through it all God provided. I was able to get help in fixing the boat, even in the height of COVID-19 I was able to finish the school year and I didn’t go hungry. I was able to see my Grandma several times more before she passed away, in August 2020. There are many blessings and one that I am going to start writing about these next several blogs is the desire I have had for YEARS to ride long distance on a bicycle again. This time I wanted to do it on an E-Bike. I have been studying these bikes for years, and in particular I have had my heart set on the particular brand called E-Cells. www.ecells.com I hope you will check them out and tell them Christopher sent you if yo are interested. So, finally just this week I was able to save enough pennies to go and purchase one from Mr. David Cleveland and his wonderful company. www.ecells.com. I have tried to establish a relationship with them for years now as I truly believe in them and really want to promote their product as well as get involved to the extent they will let me. One thing I knew I could do was ride like the wind to be free again... and I wanted to do just that.
Originally I had planned to go from the North to the South of the United States. This is still in my mind’s eye, but the timing didn’t work out for them to get involved at the time I had the ability and time to do it, and I didn’t have all the financing available in order to buy the bike outright either. It is important to note here that I am paying cash for everything now as much as depends on me and I believe God is honoring my commitment to get out of debt one day at a time. The trip plans as of now are between now and next week I am going to bike from Pahrump, NV to Scottsdale, AZ. From there the plans have to go on hold because on the day I flew to Pahrump to meet the E-cells team, a job I have also been applying to and doing the needed things for two years to get called me to hire me. WOW... God is good. So, That brings us to today Saturday Feb. 6, 2021:-). I am here at the Quality Inn having went to the Hoover Dam today to walk around and see the magnitude of the great work so many people did. It is difficult to fathom all the work that went into building it such as blasting, using pick axes, such heavy and hard labor.,. And yet here it is today bringing such Beaty and power to the majestic places all around AZ and NV. To be able to do it on an E-Cells E-bike is just a dream come true. It is training but not so rigorous that I get hurt or give up. It is pleasurable and not to mention just downright fun. It’s heavier than a regular bike, but I like that feature as it feels safer and more secure. I also like the thought that after riding it around for a year or so, when I do get on an ultralight triathlon bike again I am going to fly fly fly...
So I arrived in Pahrump on 2/3/21, met them on 2/4/21, made the purchase, took it back to the hotel, went to an AA meeting online, went to Wal-Mart, bought a tent and a sleeping bag, some toiletries for the journey and got some emergency food and got a good nights sleep. Heading out on 2/5/21, I didn’t realize how treacherous the mountain terrain can be. I forgot... from my first journey across the United States on a single speed bike in 2012. My lips were chapped, my face was chapped, my legs ached from pushing hard with the assist up the mountain in order to conserve energy in the batteries... It was so worth it though to reach the top of the mountain and head mostly downhill back into Las Vegas. Google led me on four little goose chases, because although the directions for bicycling has greatly improved, many trails do not allow e-bikes (motor vehicles) and many roads have the no pedestrian or bike signs which made for a real struggle... then there always as seems to be at least one leg of the journey where I am led to a dead end or a no trespassing private road... such is the adventure:-). So because of this I had to stop and charge the battery bank for about an hour in order to reach my final destination which was here in Boulder City. I originally only planned to stay One day, but it has turned out very pleasant and the trip to Hoover Dam today was a dream come true. Looking down doesn’t do it justice. One really needs to see it by boat, so on my next visit there I am going to bring my little sailing Dinghy and sail around there... the real magnitude is noticed when looking up in awe and wonder; however looking down was pretty magnificent as well, and HOW COOL IT WAS TO DO ALL THAT ON AN E-CELLS E-BIKE:-). #JOYJOYJOY
If you are interested in my other blogs like the one from my trip across America, check them out at the links below:
www.christopher langham.blogspot.com
www.babybluebelle1.blogspot.com
There is much more to come. you can also see videos of the adventure at my YouTube channel: christopher langham
Check out these photos and video of the trip so far.
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