Sally Fenner 
Pedaling into the Unknown 

Grief was gnawing at me, trapping my body in a cycle of pain with no offer of relief, making me restless and not letting me go. I desired liberosis, to care less about things. I desperately sought inner and outer liberation. I was having sleepless nights. My soul knew the solution, but my body was not listening until the moment came when I just longed to leave. I wished to free myself from this situation, wipe it from my being, and surround myself with the wilderness. The wilderness was my church, where I went to heal my hurt. It understood me. Bathed in nature, I rid my mind of unpleasant thoughts and eased myself of the injustices that had incapacitated me, depriving me of peace. The only energy I had left in me, I used to leave, just go and be free. The wilderness enabled me to breathe once more, to really breathe, and when you own your own breath, no one can steal your peace! And so the adventure began, mountain biking from Canada to Mexico off-road, climbing a total elevation higher than Mt. Everest and escaping predators — for my honeymoon!