Pedal bicycles from the Portland, Ore., area to Los Angeles?
Sure.
Make the 20-day trip with a guy you met face-to-face only about two weeks prior?
No problem.
Forgo hotels to camp out with people you don’t know?
Of course.
That’s pretty much how it went for ben adam Climer (he intentionally keeps his first and middle names lowercase) and Tyler Mostul, volunteers with DOOR (Discovering Opportunities for Outreach and Reflection), a Mennonite Mission Network service-learning program. They rode about 1,300 miles in 20 days from Woodburn, Ore., to their assignments in Hollywood.
Taking off on Aug. 8 and arriving Aug. 28, the two 20-somethings journeyed down the California coast along Highway 101 and Highway 1, braving steep inclines along mountainous roads with zooming cars and no guardrails.
Why?
It’s about living simpler.
“I was thinking to myself about the ways that we travel,” said Climer, who had the idea for the trip. “A lot of times, it’s by plane or by car, and it’s expensive, though the bike trip wasn’t very cheap. It was a combination of my environmentalism and wanting to do something slower so I could reflect on the experience.”
Climer has been dedicating himself to Christ in this way avoiding the potential trappings of financial privilege, from his family upbringing in favor of relating to and serving those with fewer means. He’s also passionate about conserving the environment. He’s done similar acts, such as living in a Dodge Ram during a school year at Seattle Pacific University to avoid wasting money on an expensive apartment. He walked shoeless for a year to appreciate the natural ground and because it’s “better for your feet;” and during one summer working in Portland, he slept at friends’ houses and outdoors to avoid burning 60 miles of gas daily driving to and from home in nearby Woodburn.
“Since I’ve started to shift my perspective, the past five years of my life have been the best,” he said.
For Mostul, the trip was his start down the path of living simpler.
“I’m beginning to see the value of doing things that are more environmentally friendly or going against the grain of the privilege I’ve grown up with. It is a spiritual discipline for me,” he said. “When you do that, you see and appreciate things differently.”
DOOR offers a variety of urban service experiences for groups and individuals. Climer and Mostul are serving through Dwell, DOOR’s yearlong service program that invites young adults to explore urban ministry and witness God at work in the city.
Climer is serving at GettLove and Mostul is at People Assisting the Homeless (PATH).
Both said they were drawn to DOOR because of its appeal to college graduates who want to serve those of fewer resources. Like a lot of young adults who are in the process of discovering their life’s calling, the trip was more adventure than spiritual journey, though both of them cited “more patience” as a virtue gained so far.
“To my knowledge, ben adam and Tyler are the first to launch their Dwell year in this fashion,” said Matthew Schmitt, DOOR Hollywood city director. “My first reaction was a concern for their safety, followed by, for lack of a better term, jealousy toward the idea of this great adventure they would have together.”
Mostul initially e-mailed Climer to carpool to Hollywood, but then agreed to the cycling idea.
“I bought a bike for this trip like three months before we left,” Mostul said, laughing. “I started to ride as much as I could and that was the extent of it.”
Mostul hurt his knee while training, a fitting start to a journey that would test their endurance, raise their empathy for those with fewer resources, and heighten their appreciation of California’s beautiful coast and for people overall.
They met characters like “Joe” who “scared the heck” out of them as he rode fearlessly (or carelessly) near autos traveling 60 miles per hour, but who had a genuine enthusiasm for bikes and life.
“We had dinner with the French couple that was riding from Vancouver, B.C., to Mexico …” Mostul wrote. “They had spent some time volunteering, working in microfinance in South America, and now in France. We met Slav, who was riding with an insane amount of gear – 200 pounds. He led bike tours for a living, where they visited organic farms and taught people about sustainable living and farming … The last night before San Francisco, there was about 10 of us that went out to dinner and ate s’mores to celebrate our accomplishments. It was a great time!”
The two guys who had only recently met had bonded.
“What we kind of saw was that by riding, we were eliminating walls that separate us from other people,” Climer said. “There were no walls of the car or walls from staying in hotels. I just want to promote that people not be afraid to try different things. I just think that the old ways of doing stuff are really failing us.”
Schmitt said their devotion to living simply “points to the idea that our young people are viewing this as more than just a ‘year of service.’ It’s a prayerful exploration into a new way of living and building community.”
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Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact Andrew Clouse at andrewc@mmnworld.net, 574-523-3024 or 866-866-2872, ext. 23024.
