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Conquering the Appalachians With The Help Of A Teen

A Lesson On Positive Attitude From A 13-Year-Old

The power of a teen.

Any other year and my list would have been, taught 90 students about sentence structure, read The Outsiders, went through the process of writing a persuasive essay, and prepped for the CMTs.

This year, I've taken the year off from teaching 7th grade English and my list is slightly different. We've ridden through the desert in Arizona and New Mexico, rode up and over the Rocky Mountains, through the Texas and Oklahoma flat cow country, biked a bridge across the Gulf of Mexico, found back country farm roads to enjoy in Georgia, and have made it to the beautiful Appalachian Mountains.

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Tennessee is our 16th state out of 50 and none have reminded us of home quite like these foothills of the Appalachians. Small, quaint towns with good people ready to open up and engage you in good conversation. When we ride 75 to 85 mile days, we don't have time to make many stops besides water fill-ups and bathroom breaks.

But we've decided to put the brakes on just a bit, and take that mileage back down to where we planned. And nothing... nothing gives us more motivation to keep going than finding a little place on the side of the road, filled with locals to chat with- and having the time to enjoy the conversation!

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Friday morning, we left Carson and Lindsay, a couple we met while stopping in Carson's bicycle shop, Pace Cycles, in the cool town of Marshall, just 20 miles Northwest of Asheville, NC. We left them, their dog, Sylvie, their horse, Blaze, and their beautiful house perched on the top of a hill (yes, a tough climb at the end of a day but so worth it).

We knew we were in for a tough day, climbing up and over the mountains to get into Tennessee, and the anticipation of the climb got the better of me.

I had been fretting the Appalachians since we started. Though we'd made it through the Rockies, we heard there's nothing like the steep grades we'll be climbing in the Appalachians. And here we were.

Before we got too far, I let my worrying take hold and made Adam stop at Momma's Kitchen just outside of Marshall. We settled in for our second breakfast and some hot chocolate to work through my worried thoughts. Though we were only there for thirty minutes, that's all I needed to get the motivation to continue on.

While a mom was paying for breakfast, her skinny, blond-haired, 13 year-old son looked at us and asked where we were touring from. Turns out he was a skateboarder and cyclist who was going to work for Carson this summer as his apprentice at the bike shop. We talked to the pair about the upcoming climb and that we heard it was a doozy, and it was his reaction that made the difference.

He rolled his eyes, mouthed, "It's not that bad," and shook his head, then continued sipping his juice. His reaction made me realize this is not as bad as I have made it out to be in my mind. I mean, I've made it almost 4,000 miles across the country! I shouldn't be so worried about whether or not I can do this.

Regardless of whether or not this 13 year-old has ever made the trip by bike, his no-fear attitude relaxed me and I settled back to enjoy the rest of our conversation and breakfast with a new outlook on the day. The interaction with this young man brought me back to working with 7th graders. So often, they made me take a step back and re-analyze my thinking. Here, I was reminded of how much I loved being a 7th grade English teacher.

A teen-ager's mind is so powerful and they have a lot to teach you if you take the time to listen. When we got back on our bikes, I was a new person. Earlier, I was lagging behind Adam, huffing and puffing. Now, I was ready for the challenge.

Christy and Adam are currently in North Carolina. To find out more, check out their blog at http://giveabike.blogspot.com/ or their Facebook Page at https:/ /www.facebook.com/giveabike. To see where they are, you can check out this map at Track My Tour. Christy will be writing occasional stories for Patch as she and her husband make their way through the U.S.

Madison Patch is proud to be the Connecticut sponsor for Adam and Christy's trip. If you'd like to sponsor their trip, visit this page on their website.

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