February 26
Lessons Learned – Don’t Worry, Be Flexible
It was dicey from the start – my friend and I were going to bike “the golden
circle” from Haines to Skagway and do it in about six days. We blithely hopped
up to Haines and unloaded our bikes from the small plane cargo area and pedaled
off into the sunset, putting in about 36 miles on our first adventurous day. It was
beautiful and sunny, the road smooth and level. We were women, hear us roar!!
Falling asleep that night by a little brook off to the side of the road was
pleasant and I slept well. The next morning we awoke to very gray skies and a
few rain drops. In addition, I found that I could barely crawl out of the tent and
realized I was still so tired from my biking blitzkrieg the previous day.
My bike looked pretty awful to me at that point. We packed up and pedaled
our sway slowly towards the border, and my brain and body was trying to figure
out just what was going on and how was I going to actually make it up to Haines
Junction.
Hobbling into the Canadian customs station was a mix of shame and
happiness – at least I could sit down and pull myself together. My friend was in
pretty much the same boat and we sat in the customs station trying to figure
things out. All of the planning, goals, and possibilities looked pretty far off.
Time to change the game plan. I’d been praying for strength, and more strength,
apparently to no avail but now it looked like at least some of our prayers were
answered in a most unlikely way.
A tour bus pulled into the customs office and the driver mentioned he was
going up to Haines Junction to pick up a load of tourists. He offered to let us –
and our bikes – hitch a ride with him and it took us only a second to happily
accept his offer. As we drove off we were so relieved and happy, and had a good
laugh over our trip plans being upended, and before we knew it, we were
deposited at the big sign announcing “Welcome to Haines Junction.”
This trip has remained strongly in my memory all these years later and it
reminds me to be more realistic about my abilities, think about the “what ifs”, and
understand that being flexible and realistic is what really makes us successful
and winners. I try to remember to this day to not worry and be flexible whenever
I can so that I can meet obstacles, challenges, and situations more easily.