Two days ago, we noticed this sign on the side of Highway 50, between Austin and Eureka.
A few miles later (after a huge climb), another one appeared. Who could it be? Our guardian angel? A random stranger? Not quite. Guessing that he was not too far ahead, we pushed on to catch up to him. After a few miles, we saw the familiar blue dot on the horizon topped with a Croatian flag - it was none other than our good roadside-made friend Zdenko.
We first 'met' Zdenko at the top of Carson Pass in the Sierra Nevadas, noting his peculiar recumbent bike, but we didn't stop to talk. The next day, we ran into him and offered to refill his water bottles in exchange for some great conversation about his trip. We discovered that we were headed down the same route and joked that we might run into each other again. Little did we know, we couldn't have been more right.
Our first time talking to Zdenko ft. his awesome recumbent bike
Over the next few days, we camped at the same parks, swam at the same pools, and even cooked dinner together a few times! We didn't bike together, but we always ended up at the same places. Over several encounters, we grew closer through our shared time on Hwy 50 and he became one of the defining parts of our experience on the "Loneliest Road" in America. After the several flats we suffered between Fallon and Middlegate and our incompetence in patching them on the side of the road, Zdenko spent the evening with me (Brian), showing me the ropes in repairing tubes the "ol' fashion way" (It involves superglue and cutting up old tubes). He even went to the grocery store with us and bought a whole watermelon, which we all shared during breakfast in Eureka. We share empathy with each other in the fact that we're pretty much following the same route all the way up to Salt Lake City. We came to learn a lot about our new friend.
The most appreciated watermelon slices of all time
Zdenko is 25 years old and is proud to have grown up in Croatia. He's a traveler, an adventurer, always looking for somewhere new to explore. He loves watermelon and ice cream, making others laugh, and laughing at my (Brad's) driver's license picture. More importantly, he is reflective and open; we learned about his biggest fears, his eventful childhood, and his idea of a meaningful life. He is appreciative; he made it known that he enjoyed our company, cooking with us, and sharing in our experiences on the road. He is also very determined yet flexible. He quit his job to bike through America and will do whatever it takes to complete that journey, yet his plan for where to go each day is often decided the night before based on recommendations and research.
We truly loved and appreciated Zdenko's seemingly endless supply of jokes, wisdom, and generosity. It's amazing how close you can get to someone in less than a week while on the road; he is a true friend to each of us. He invited us to bike across Croatia in the future, and some of us are seriously considering it. We hope to catch up to him on the road, but our day of teaching has put us behind him. If we don't see Zdenko again on this trip, I am confident that we will stay in touch and that we will take a piece of him across America on this incredible ride.
~ Brian & Brad