text: Not long after they’d first met, Tim Stevens ’81 went for a walk with his future wife Deborah in her hometown of Reading, Pennsylvania.
  “We were walking in a park, and we saw a couple running together,” said Stevens, who was at the time an avid distance runner and had already discovered a lifelong love of bicycling.
  “She said ‘Take a look at that. That will never be us!’ And it’s true. I never have been able to get her out on a bike.”
  But Stevens – a history major and philosophy minor at SJU who served as a Chinese linguist in the U.S. Army before going on to a long and varied career that included eight years in the cybersecurity field prior to his retirement last July – has continued to pursue cycling.
  Over the years, he’s mounted a number of long-distance rides, primarily along the East Coast.
  “You really have to be in the moment when you’re biking,” he said. “Especially when you’re out on a high-speed road. There’s not a lot of room for error, and that keeps you focused. It’s nice to not have a lot of time for distractions, and to take a break from the churn of all those things that affect us most in the daily world.”
  Stevens’ latest journey might have been his most ambitious yet – a month-and-a-half long trek of almost 1,800 miles that began in Delaware at the beginning of September and concluded at the southernmost point of the U.S. in Key West, Florida.
  Along the way, he dodged direct contact with Hurricanes Helene and Milton, but saw the aftereffects and helped with clean-up.
  “One change I did have to make was staying an extra day in St. Augustine (Florida) when Helene was coming through because of the impact in the Tampa area,” he said. “(His friend) Chris Birks had agreed to ride the last segment with me from Tampa to Key West, and he came and got me because the train I was going to take from Orlando to Tampa was cancelled.
  “He lives in Indian Rocks Beach (near Tampa) and that area got hit pretty hard (by Helene). Fortunately, he and his wife’s place didn’t get seriously damaged. But we spent a few days tearing out walls and cabinets for folks there. Then he and I started off for Key West. When Milton came through, we spent an extra day in Key Largo. But we were south of the (storm) cone, so we were in good shape.”
  Stevens’ trip was made in honor of the late Jimmy Buffett, a songwriter whose work has meant a lot to him over the years.
  The avid Parrothead departed on Sept. 1 – the one-year anniversary of Buffett’s passing. His point of departure was chosen because it was the site of a concert by the Buffett tribute band Changes in Latitudes, and he continued referencing Buffett lyrics in a blog he kept chronicling his journey.
  “There’s a huge history there,” he said. “I was introduced to Jimmy Buffett by a cousin who was hitchhiking from Portland, Oregon, to New York to take part in the Bicentennial celebrations in 1976. He stopped at our home in Minnesota and spent some time with our family. He got me my first Buffett album and I fell in love immediately. I’ve been listening to his music ever since.”
  The trip came to an end in Key West, where Buffett developed many of the themes that ran through his music over the years. Deborah – now his wife of 35 years – flew down to meet him and do some sightseeing.
  “That was amazing, just in terms of beauty, history and cultural relevance,” he said.
  Stevens already has his eye on additional trips if his health permits. They include a journey from Albany, New York, to Maine (covering the lone portion of the East Coast he has yet to travel), a bike ride from his cousin’s home (yes, the one who introduced him to Jimmy Buffett all those years ago) to Minneapolis, and a trip from the headwaters of the Mississippi at Lake Itasca to New Orleans.
  “These trips are just a fabulous chance to meet new people and interact with them where they live,” he said. “It’s a chance to see wonderful places and experience so many new things.”