In early February we started down what turned out to be a long and winding road to build our customized Gunnar bikes.  Today we rolled out of the Birmingham Bicycle Company with ginormous grins.  Folks, the bikes are ready to roll! All but a couple of minor parts are installed.  And shoooey, they are purty!

Just like our actual journey, the road we traveled to get these bikes completed had some twists and turns, a big mountain to climb (or two), lots of speed bumps, a little bit of getting lost, some exploration of new territory, had a tumble (who has the bubble wrap?), we made some new friends, and we learned a lot. It was a pretty fantastic experience.

Along the way, we received a LOT of quality advice, assistance, and expertise from many different sources.  The most important of which was Mike from the Birmingham Bicycle Company.  We can’t really come up with enough superlatives to describe his effort on this project, but it boils down to this: It would not have been possible without him.  Combine all of Mike’s efforts with the mechanical abilities of Grant who built both our bikes from scratch, and Andrew who installed our wired parts in such a way they may never fail, and we feel our bikes are perfectly primed for our journey.

Georgia has recently commented that even though we haven’t yet begun the official trip, the journey that is this adventure started months ago.  We have already seen some new places, had some great experiences, made new friends, and have been inspired and humbled.  What a ride it’s already been!

It means to much to both of us that you are following along on our little trip.  Things are about to get exciting!  Are you ready?!

Mark, Georgia, Junebug and Biscuit