arriving soon.

13 Years

A journey on two wheels in search of a life well lived

Three years after earning a master's degree in structural engineering from Stanford University and landing the career I'd spent my life pursuing, I could no longer answer for myself why I was doing what I was doing. Despite checking every box of my prescribed American life, I felt lost and haunted by opportunities sacrificed in pursuit of a career that left me unfulfilled. In a leap of faith, I walked away from the career that had been, in many ways, my entire identity and set off on a 2,700-mile bikepacking journey from Canada to Mexico along the Western Wildlands Route with my dog, Vali, and friend Mazy.

Over sixty-five days, Vali, Mazy, and I traversed some of the most remote landscapes in the American West, from the mountains of Montana to the deserts of Arizona. Yet, the journey was never really about the ride—it was for exploring what makes a life well lived and starting my life anew. While American society encourages us to delay living until retirement, Vali’s urgency for a life filled with joy, adventure, and connection taught me something different. Inspired by her thirteen-year lifespan, I came to see time not as something to save, but as a finite currency to be intentionally invested in meaningful work, relationships, and experiences now before life quietly passes by.