I don’t know who reads these posts, but I thought I would let people who are looking for updates know that I have been doing my personal writing and blogging on my own site since I got home.  If you are interested in keeping track of my life and writings, you can find me at NathanaelRowe.com.

I will still be updating this site with any relevant information pertaining to the trip, like events in the news or possible book updates, but other than that, you now know where to find me.

Well I have been home for about 3 and half weeks now, and a lot has changed in that time.

The first things I did when I got home was I started to work out daily, and cut fast food out of my diet.  We both ate a lot of unhealthy food on the trip, and gained a bunch of weight, so I am trying to cut a few pounds.  My goal is to have lost 25 pounds by my sister’s wedding this December, I have already lost about 12.

I have also landed three different jobs, thats right 3.  I have 5 hours as a video/graphic producer at Parkcrest Christian Church, I am running a skate park at Westside Christian Church on Fridays, and I am a substitute teacher.

It is weird doing normal things like going to work, and not wearing the same clothes everyday.  I have become especially fond of making food at home, something that was never a habit before the trip.

We were featured in the Press Telegram again shortly after I got back, and are actually working on maybe getting a TV spot with a Christian Network.  I will let you guys know more about that if it comes to fruition.

As for the book, I have been slowly working on putting our story together.  Writing is complicated, and not one of my best skills, but I keep telling myself that my only goal is to write a bad book, and then hopefully I can give it to someone else who knows how to make it into a good book.

Lastly, Aaron Caluza and I have had a great time with our new podcast at RealLBC.com, so if your a local, you should tune in some time and tell us what you think.

I think that is it for now, but I will keep you all updated.

After over 6 months of traveling and living off of only what I could fit on my bike, I am finally home.  It feels so weird, but very very good.  I loved my travels, and wouldn’t trade it for anything, but I am pleased to be home with family and friends.  When I got home today, to my grandparents house, my grandparents had made my room up for me.  When I was living here before, I had all of their furniture, and even their decorations up, I basically just stayed in a fully furnished room that was not really my own.  So when I cam home today and walked into my room, I felt like I was one of the people on the home makeover shows.  There was the cut out of my newspaper article framed on top of my dresser, and many other pictures of mine up.  I kind of hate to admit this, but I teared up a little, cause this was the first time in over 6 months that I had my own place, besides that cursed tent of mine.  I didn’t think I would be so emotional about it, but I was, and I can’t tell you how good it feels to have a home.  Don’t get me wrong, so many of you guys opened your home to Ryan and I, and we did feel at home in so many different places, but this is such a calming thing, to know that I finally have my own place, even if it is just a room in my grandparents house.

Tomorrow I start the job search, and what will hopefully become a daily workout.  On top of that, I am starting a new local podcast with my buddy Aaron Caluza for all those people in the greater Long Beach area. It is called realLBC.com, and the first episode airs this Friday!

Cornerstone is a church I was looking forward to the whole trip, and so I am glad that I did finally make it today.  Their pastor, Francis Chan is an amazing communicator, and I enjoy listening to his sermons as a podcast.  He is always very challenging and very progressive, which often is more a look backwards than forwards.  I met with pastor Matt Moore, and I am pretty pleased with the final podcast.

 

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So Friday night I went from the Radfords in San Mateo, to my cousins in Monterey, and then Saturday morning I came down to San Luis Obispo, to hang out with my buddy Justin.

I also stopped by Calvary San Luis Obispo for an interview with Pastor Bryan Stupar.  I had a good time talking with Bryan, and it was great to hear about how they do church in a college town.

Tomorrow I go home and the trip will be over!  But I have one last stop on my way home.

 

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So I have not told many people this, but I think it is pretty interesting so I will go ahead and share.  Throughout the whole trip I had a reoccurring dream, not every night, but at least 2-3 times a week.  The dream would go like this, I would just somehow be home, and say I was in West Virginia that night, I would know that I made at least to West Virginia, but somehow went home straight from there.  So I thought I had to either start all over, or give up on my goal of all 50 states, of course this made me freak out in my dream.  Sometimes I would be talking to someone in my family, or a friend, and they would tell me, “Hey don’t worry you did 37 states,” or however many I had done so far, “That is pretty good.”  And I would argue with them and say, “No I have to go back, I have to finish.”  It was about this time every dream that I would wake up and be relieved to realize that I was actually still on the road, and I did not just teleport back home.

I tell you this dream, beacuse recently I had a similar one.  I dreamt that I was back home, but there was no freak out, I was hanging with family and friends and just excited to be home, and starting life again.  I again woke up in the middle of that dream, and this time instead of being relieved that I was still on the road, I was disappointed.  This is how I knew, the trip is over, and I am ready to go home.

With that said, I am finishing up visiting with my good buddy Dave Radford and his wife Angela.  From here I will see my cousin in Monterey, another friend in San Luis Obispo, and then home.  I have 2 more churches to visit on the way home and I am pretty excited about them both.  One is Calvary Chapel SLO, and the other is Cornerstone in Simi Valley.  I am actually visiting Cornerstone on my last day on the road, and I am pretty excited about that cause Francis Chan, the teaching pastor, is one of my favorite preachers.

Well Sunday I had the privilege of sharing my story with Creekside Christian Church.  It went really well, they even made a little intro video for me which I have added to this post.  If you want to watch me at the service just go to http://creeksidelife.com/media/.

 

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