With no cell phone or Internet, one could become fully immersed in the surrounding world. Along the way, people would repeatedly ask us why. Why would two girls take to the road on their bikes? After nearly 40 years, I offer my answer through these poems and photographs. The photographs of our journey were taken by Shin-ichi Kumanomido, a St. Louis architect who quit his job to pursue his own dream of becoming a photographer. He learned about our trip through a mutual friend and together we merged our dreams. The poems accompanying the photos are my own.