This is a web page for Pilgrim 2001, also called Pacific Eastward, being the traveling by Avram and Elijah Brown on bicycles from Oregon to Maine in the summer of 2001.
The interviewer is their father Dwite Brown.
Dad: What was your reason for going on the bike ride?
Avram: It was an adventure.
Dad: What is your reason now?
Avram: It's an adventure, new country, new scenery, being outdoors -- an expedition.
It's a pilgrimage. It's sort of penitential and you are going to meet God in the places you go. We aren't going to any shrines, but we are traveling through God's creation. Pope John Paul II blessed a cross that was to be placed on the North Pole. He said traveling into nature can be seen as a pilgrimage. It is not to a shrine, but it is to the creation of God.
Dad: Are you glad you did it?
Avram: It's something so much more exciting than I would be doing otherwise. It is a window of opportunity that maybe would not ever open again, to take a whole summer and cross an entire continent.
It is one of the most real things I have ever done, because it requires so much commitment and enthusiasm. In that enthusiasm, you have to prepare and plan, and prepare yourself for the trip. Then once the journey begins, every single day requires renewed motivation and discipline and perseverance. Elijah's key word for this trip is perseverance.
And then in the completing of the trip, which I can already anticipate, since we are past the Rockies, you always have a reference point in your own experience. In the future you will always have this encounter with the people and the country of North America, which will have so much more depth than I would have had without this trip.
Dad: Anything else?
Avram: People ask if the trip has changed me in any way. I don't think I will know until it's over. But while the trip is underway, I feel like it's a very real experience. It's something that really addresses you in every aspect of who you are. The beauty of the wilderness, and the danger of the storms, and the hospitality of the people, and the endurance required by the travel, the actual physical pedaling of the bike.
It's probably humbling more than anything, just because you're up against so large a task, so large a journey.
(later) It's not the petty things we could be doing, drinking sodas, watching videos. It's being a personal athlete -- and athlete for the whole person.
(in response to his mother) It's a hard trip, a silent trip -- ascetic. You don't ever know where you will be at night. You ride for hours with no talk, no music.
It is one of the best times in my life. The best time would have more people in it. You are always physically tired, so every day is a challenge.
Dad: What was your reason for going on the bike ride?
Elijah: To do something memorable and difficult.
Dad: What is your reason now?
Elijah: To grow in character.
Dad: Please explain.
Elijah: Like Avram said, being on the road is a humbling experience, because for you, you have something -- only so many miles you can ride -- you are faced with your limitations. But you discover that what you thought were your limitations are smaller, closer. You find you can go way beyond what you thought you could do previously.
It's a great way to discover yourself. It's been said humility is the truth about yourself. And you find you grow by pushing yourself to do things that are difficult. Physical discipline is a wonderful analogy to trying to live a virtuous life. Like Aristotle said, you become what you do. By persevering you become -- what do you call someone who perseveres -- stronger.
Dad: Are you glad you did it?
Elijah: There are no regrets.
Dad: Anything else?
Elijah: It is not as hard as I thought it would be. People are friendly. I've been really surprised by how nice people are. . . . I feel like I'm growing up because of this ride. It's a big confidence builder. You find you can do what you thought you could not do.
The author and web master is their father Dwite Brown.
The URL of this page is case sensitive: http://www.psln.com/brown/pilgrimi.html