Wednesday 11/3/10 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
I’m writing this post from a coffee shop that’s two blocks from my apartment. I’m living in West Philadelphia now with my girlfriend. In the last two months, my contract finished with Invisible Children in Uganda, I moved back to the US (and was awed by the fall foliage—check out the pics), and I started writing a manuscript for a book about the bicycle trip.
For the next five months, I’ll work on the manuscript full-time, adding to and editing the writing I created throughout my ride. I have a Word document with about 300 pages of trip writing in it. I’m excited to have the chance to go through this writing and strengthen it. Often while writing during the trip, I found myself racing a dying computer battery or exhaustion at night in my tent. The content I put on the site was quickly created and posted before I had much of a chance to edit it. I’m hoping the finished manuscript will be a more accurate and polished representation of what I experienced on the trip than the writing on this site was.
So, three years after I set off from a New Jersey suburb by bike, I’m both sad and proud to end this chapter of my life. The trip didn’t follow the exact route I thought it would, but that’s completely fine by me: it pushed me, allowed me to listen, and helped—at least for a few years—to satiate my curiosity. It was a physical test, of course, but it was more challenging mentally and emotionally than I expected it to be. More nights than I revealed on this site I spent lonely and restless in my tent. I sobbed or collapsed, filled with self-doubt, on more than one occasion. I entertained dark thoughts on desolate stretches of road; I fought to quiet an ever racing mind. But the trip exposed a new world to me, one filled with good people and sacred scenery. It unmasked the “news” we receive from mass media for the nonsense I now know it to be. It taught me how to better control my thinking, to be a more conscious person. Perhaps more than anything else, though, the trip taught me that the world is still big, that people aren’t out to get us, and that we all want the same things in life: love, health, security, knowledge, opportunity.
Because the world isn’t a scary place, and because human-powered traveling is just so damn rewarding, I’m convinced this trip won’t be my last.
To those of you who encouraged me along the way with your comments, emails, and kindness: I’ll never be able to fully explain how much those small acts meant to me. Thank you.
More to come as life unfolds,
Andrew
Yay, I am looking forward to your book. Please finish soon
All the best, Fubek
By: fubek on November 4, 2010
at 12:00 am
Just left a football game .Cherokee playing CherryHill East.Did you attend East,I know you where in the area.I’m glad your back in the states I worried something bad would eventually take you down.You had one heck of a journey,can’t wait to read it, but I feel through your postings I was there.
Take care
Mike
By: Mike Thum on November 6, 2010
at 12:05 am
Andrew,
You are awesome in the dictionary sense of the word. Thanks for sharing this “Marco Polo like” unique adventure of your young life. You will never regret these three years and they will be limitless fuel to power the future important episodes of your decades on planet earth. God bless you and I’ll never delete your photos and blogs.
…Ted Steinmetz
By: Ted Steinmetz on November 10, 2010
at 4:20 am
Andrew,
I am still in awe of your bicycle odyssey. I feel like I have followed you on your trek–perhaps not for every turn of the cranks, but I always knew you were out there, and the emails faithfully appeared in my inbox. I can’t imagine the sense of accomplishment you have now that this part of your journey is over. You have done something very few people will ever do–you stopped talking and you went out and did it. You are an inspiration. Well done. Brenden McBride
By: Brenden McBride on November 10, 2010
at 9:57 pm
thanks for this blog
By: Chat on November 11, 2010
at 11:15 am
Nice twig! Good writing bro and awesome pics!!
By: Ronny on November 13, 2010
at 10:45 pm
Looking forward to following along. Andrew, you’re incredible.
By: Bryn on November 27, 2010
at 10:55 pm
Thank you, Andrew for your extraordinary memoir… and welcome home!
By: Shannon A C on December 9, 2010
at 2:18 am
Andrew, I’ve been reading this blog since you were making your way south through the states. Thanks for sharing this with us! Good luck on your future endeavors.
By: Brian on December 12, 2010
at 6:30 am
Andrew,
I just want to say that I am really proud of what you accomplished, and a little sad to see your trip end. Like many of the others who have left comments, I looked forward to your posts and felt that they allowed me to live your experiences vicariously, without having to leave home.
However, I am glad you’re back safe and sound. I’ll never forget telling one of my co-workers about your plans to ride through Mexico, etc, and he said in all seriousness, “Is he bringing a gun?” I laughed at the time, but it did make me worry just a little.
Hopefully, your experience will serve as a counterpoint to all the frightening news we hear every day. Calm down folks. You’re only getting the worst of the news. Ninety nine percent of what happens in other countries, every day, is fine, just as it is here. Ninety nine percent (and maybe more) of the people you meet in other countries are fine. You just need to get out and travel, and you will see that this is true; look carefully at those who warn you about traveling, and generally you will find that they have not travelled themselves.
Love,
Dad
By: Dad on January 3, 2011
at 3:35 am
thanks Dad!!
By: andrewedwardmorgan on January 4, 2011
at 6:32 pm
I guess my co-worker was onto something, since you apparently heeded his advice and brought a gun with you:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewmorgan/3213257842/
What I don’t understand is how you got through all those border crossings carrying that big thing.
Love,
Dad
By: Dad on January 6, 2011
at 3:12 am
By: andrewedwardmorgan on January 12, 2011
at 5:07 pm
I can’t wait to read the book!
I hope you are enjoying life stateside!!
By: Christa on February 25, 2011
at 10:13 pm
haven’t checked your site in years, obviously. thanks for inspiring more people than you know. can’t wait to hear more about the book…
By: Anonymous on December 9, 2011
at 3:52 am
“It taught me how to better control my thinking, to be a more conscious person. Perhaps more than anything else, though, the trip taught me that the world is still big, that people aren’t out to get us, and that we all want the same things in life: love, health, security, knowledge, opportunity”
Wow! – So profound and thoughtful
By: Anonymous on January 28, 2012
at 12:10 am