Jedidiah JenkinsReseñas

This is a wonderful book that is not only about a bicycle journey from Oregon to Patagonia, but also a journey of spiritual, emotional, and physical growth. I loved following Jedidiah on all of these journeys, especially his self-reflections along the way. I highly recommend this book.

A 30-year decides to take a bike trip from Oregon to Patagonia with only what he can carry and a friend. This may sound like a sequel to Motorcycle Diaries, but it’s actually a modern-day adventure with millennials spending time on Intagram.

The drive for travel and adventure gets people moving in different ways. For this author it meant announcing to his friends and coworkers he was going to undertake this adventure - and following trough on it.

While many books of this genre are journeys to “find myself” it felt more as though this were a journey to just do something cool and instagram worthy. To enjoy doing it for sure, but that was more the drive. I felt I could very well empathize with the narrators sometimes controlling behavior and over planning, which can be a hinderance to just enjoying the moment.

Essays gives one a personal look at the authors thoughts and feelings. Subjects here, mimic many of those that impact all of us. Family, home, friendship, love death and others. Home struck a chord with me, his take on how our childhood homes become more special when we no longer live in them, memories of our lives lived within. Regrets about family members we didn't treat as well as we should have and taking the time in adulthood to recognize and correct our childhood blunders, missteps. Death brought his grandmother to the fore, his special relationship with her was one in which I could relate, since I had the same with mine.

This should have wide range appeal, because within there is something for most people. His writing flows well, conversational in tone, gives one much to ponder.

"I wonder how much of who we are comes down to doing what we know we're good at, and avoiding what makes us feel small."

"So much mental energy is spent maintaining self-worth."

I loved the title and the idea of the title. All our streams flow into ourselves and each other. Not the authors particular view, but my own.½

I didn't start out with high hopes after finding out the author took off on an international bike quest with virtually no preparation, but he surprised me. Much like the author's cycling skills, the book got progressively better as it went along and I'm sure this story will inspire even more people to seek out Patagonia. I especially appreciated the segments about crafting your own journey and not letting others impose their arbitrary restrictions on it as well as the instances of kindness by many strangers along the way. A story well worth reading on the plane (or even before) if you do find yourself headed to South America via Mexico.

In To Shake the Sleeping Self, author Jedidiah Jenkins and a guy he calls Weston embark from Oregon on a bicycle trip to Patagonia. I’ve done a lot of unguided bike-packing trips myself and was happy to climb aboard.

Both men start off without skill in bike maintenance and repair or knowledge of Spanish, deficits which help increase the chance for mishaps with their ensuing comic interest. Under such circumstances one does get educated forcefully about the bike’s needs. Not learning the language, though, sabotaged the best potential the trip might have had for greatness, at least for the author. Weston is someone lack of knowledge can hardly impede, a colorful fellow who is the source of most of what’s wild on the trip.

We come to learn there is a personal issue present as third traveler on the journey, which is really the reason this book exists. It has to do with the author’s upbringing and identity as a man. He is devoutly Christian (his parents were once famously so) and he is gay. His thoughts on these two identities are the debate about “self” referenced in the book’s title, but it could have been any personal issue, really. The problem for producing a significant book would remain the same—is he finding out something that makes a difference?

The answer here is, maybe, or sort of, but not all that clear. Readers continuing beyond where Jenkins reveals his sexuality may conclude, as I did, that the “shaking” is mostly a recap of thoughts he has had for years. If his bike trip made a difference it seems to have been a subtle difference, one that in the concluding pages symbolically suggests that he can have a life in which stepping away from his mother’s side (i.e. her version of Christian faith) to realize his own desires doesn’t mean he is abandoning her, even if she can’t go quite as far by his side. Anyway, it’s not articulated as something more definite. That lack of “eureka” breakthrough or confident, explicit conclusion makes the narrative feel more genuine and trustworthy. Of course, we then have to ask why this specific book is worth reading.

For me, the fact it’s a book about a bike trip was enough and I liked it for that. Jenkins proves a good-natured and chatty companion. But his spiritual journey, in this age and on this trip, did little more than make me wonder whether great spiritual traditions could have come into being if WIFI and Instagram had been created first.½

Jenkins is nearing 30 years old when he hears from a coworker about a similar big ride. He doesn't even own a bike, but decides that kind of big adventure will shake him out of his doldrums. Three years later, when he turns 30, he sets out. It takes him a year and a few months, but he completes his ride, without too many bus trips along the way.

Jenkins is an evangelical Christian and also gay. That's an uncomfortable combination. His doldrums are largely about that unresolved conflict just festering. Most of the book is his ruminations. Nothing gets resolved, but at least the questions get brought out more clearly on the table.

The book is an enjoyable read. He does give us some local stories along the way - run-ins with drug cartels in Mexico, Pizzaro in Peru, etc. Not much about bicycles here - Jenkins gets good advice at the start, and sets off on a brand new Long Haul Trucker. He never even mentions the saddle on the bike, which was presumably stock. We do hear a bit about learning to clip into pedals, so there is a bit of detail there.

I'm not Christian, I'm not gay, and I am not young. So for me this book was a bit difficult to relate to. It's mostly personal reflections. For sure there are enough travel tales that anybody contemplating a similar trip will find it useful. But I suspect 30ish readers will connect more than will the typical 60ish reader!