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Goodbye One Road South

By Daniel Lins - 2010-01-30

Here we are. The trip is finished. This is the final One Road South update.

We biked the last few hundred kilometers to Lima in record time. We hung out together in Lima a bit, ate some celebratory cheeseburgers and toured town. Then we went our separate ways. Mike and Dan headed home the first week of September. Chris got a plane the second week. And I continued traveling on my own for a while. My solo adventures are chronicled at http://trustfalling.blogspot.com

Real time, January 30th, 2010. Here we are. We’re all home safely and soundly and profoundly changed.

Before the trip started, I was thinking we’d walk through the airport terminal together, returning to greet our families, side by side, like heros a western film, walking back from the gunfight of their lives.

But instead, we stepped home one at a time, relatively quietly. Without much fanfare. And I wonder why. It is clear that we were all deeply changed by this trip. Changes that we don’t even know how to describe in words, or how to relate to people other than each other. I think for each of us, it has been different.

For my own part, I remember being a little confused about my identity and personality upon returning to the good old USA… how I would FIT into society again. They call it "re-entry" or "reverse culture shock." Would I be the same guy I was before leaving? Or like a monk who walked with God, separate from the world? Or an adventure nut, crazy about the thrill of a life on the edge? Or like those dudes from Shackleton’s expedition to the South Pole, who were so bored by the mundanity of everyday life that many of them became alcoholics? I just didn’t know.

I remember being quiet. And hesitant to interact with people, whereas I had previously been super-extroverted and had a tendency to throw myself into people’s lives whether the liked me or not. I remember observing everything with a new lens. It was all the same old scenery, but my eyes were different. I remember sitting and listening to the radio, hitting "scan" over and over again; listening to Rap and enjoying it, listening to Hip Hop and appreciating the culture it represented, listening to Country and drinking in the stories. Scrolling through each radio station. Not judging. Just appreciating. Seeing it with new eyes, and recognizing the people it represented. Each new type of music was a window into a new culture. And it didn’t matter that they were all from one nation. They were different cultures. And I just wanted to know and appreciate everything about the people of my own country.

I didn’t deal with heavy culture shock or condemning the blatant materialism in the USA, like many people do. A lot seemed just the same as I had left it. In fact, most of my relationships picked up just where they had left off. The difference was me. And I didn’t know if it was permanent or temporary. I’m still figuring it out. One thing is certain. I am a global citizen now, and my eyes are open. My perspective is beyond the United States. This is my world.

I know the other guys are equally changed. We have all gone our separate ways, following life and careers and girls, as young men do. Below are summaries as well as a pic of each of us from our final day of the One Road South Journey.

Dan is a teacher now in a public school in north Philadelphia. One of the toughest jobs he’s had in his life, working with troubled youth. It’s good for him, and he’s learning a lot. I think he’s using some of his adaptation and perseverance skills from the trip.

Mike is engaged to his long-time sweetheart and will get married in May. He finally got a job as a researcher in a genetics / psychology research group working for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Chris went back to his old company (with a promotion) doing research on Solar Energy for an affiliate of the University of Delaware. He’s happy and getting back into his old habit of having many interests… motorcycles, sailing, making beer, and cooking.

I plan to go to seminary at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, starting fall 2010, where I’ll study to be a missionary pastor. Until then, I’m traveling the US, reading and studying a lot, working with some mission agencies, and catching up with my family.

Peace and Love,

Daniel Lins

Expedition Leader

One Road South

Over and Out.