Way back in 1994, I got my roommate assignment for my freshman year at Colorado State. Back in the days before everyone had an email address and mobile phone, my future roommate and I wrote letters to each other in the lead-up to move-in day and then talked on a… gasp… landline phone.
Luckily, even though our initial impressions of each other over the phone weren’t particularly stellar, we became good friends very quickly upon arrival at CSU. And we’ve stayed friends ever since. Jenny is truly an amazing woman, and even though she is tremendously busy with her own life, she always makes time for me when I visit the US. She has come along for a week or so on two of my three big US bike tours.
I don’t know that we could have predicted where our lives would lead back in 1994. I probably didn’t even think about it all that much. I remember making a list of life experiences I wanted to achieve, but that’s about it. I never wanted to have kids. I never thought I would get married. I just wanted to travel a lot, be outside as much as possible and squeeze a job in where I could. It hasn’t exactly turned out that way, but it’s been an interesting ride nevertheless!
Jenny was always more focused and knew what she wanted to do for a career. She wanted to get married and have kids and be outside a lot. It hasn’t exactly turned out that way. She’s had an awesome career and achieved so many amazing things. She is one of only four people in her position for the entire US in the federal government agency who employs her. But a suitable partner and the chance to have kiddos were elusive for a very long time. But it finally all came together and we are now ready to take Jenny’s daughter on her first-ever bike tour.
We started planning this ride in the first few months of Jenny’s pregnancy. It has morphed over time from our initial thoughts, as all good ideas do. But very soon we will be off for series of day rides with baby H in the Black Hills of South Dakota.