By JODI SOKOLOWSKI
Buffalo Law Journal

From sea to shining sea.

That's the path lawyer John Spitzmiller and his wife, Amy, just traveled, cycling 3,843 miles from San Francisco to Portsmouth, N.H.

They persevered through steep climbs and brutal winds and rain. They enjoyed awe-inspiring vistas. And they raised about $17,000 for an area nonprofit and a private girls' school.

"During the very hard days of the ride," John said, "the people who (supported us) were the wind at our backs and the umbrellas over our heads."

The beneficiaries of their trip are Child & Family Services of Erie County, which John has been connected to for 30 years, and Nardin Academy, from which Amy recently retired.

Chief Development Officer Susan Siwiec said Child & Family Services' portion of the money will go toward preventing family violence and educating troubled youths; Nardin's share will go toward a financial-aid fund, said Kathleen Naughton, associate vice president for institutional advancement.

John, a Phillips Lytle LLP partner, and Amy, now executive assistant to James H. Cummings Foundation Inc. Executive Director William Joyce, didn't need to convince their respective employers to give them a seven-week sabbatical.

After securing pledges of donations, they shipped their bikes, readied by Tom's Pro Bike in Lancaster, to San Francisco, where they enjoyed some sightseeing before pedaling off into the sunrise.

They started June 1, dipping their bicycles' back wheels in the Pacific Ocean, and completed their trip July 22 - again, ceremoniously touching their front wheels in the ocean, this time on the Atlantic coast. They rode through 12 states - California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont and New Hampshire.

More than 30 cyclists from around the country and world, from Australia to Germany, accompanied the Spitzmillers either the entire way or on legs of the journey. And the terrain was not always flat. One cyclist calculated, using a GPS device, that the group ascended a total of 120,000 feet, or nearly 23 miles.

Averaging 80 miles a day, and hitting 100 or more some days, the cyclists were assisted by America By Bicycle, which followed them with a support-and-gear wagon and helped transport their luggage between stops.

"This is a way to see America like people wouldn't understand," John said. "When you're in a car, you're paying attention to traffic, but on a bike you see things kind of in slow motion. It was really an incredible way to see the country."

When they were climbing the Nevada mountains, Amy, inspired by "purple mountains' majesty," burst out singing "America the Beautiful." The sight of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah brought John to a halt.

"I had to get off my bike and just stand there. I just wanted to experience it without dissecting it. I just wanted to absorb them," he said.

Every sense was stimulated, John said, recalling both the fragrance of evergreens in the mountains and the much-less-pleasant odor of cattle farms in Kansas.

"You don't have windows to roll up or air conditioning to put on," he joked.

There were some tough legs: hundreds of miles on the Interstate, the unforgiving rolling hills of Missouri and the most miles - 121 - in one day, June 22, which just happened to be the couple's 40th anniversary.

The long-distance ride gave the Spitzmillers - John turned 62 June 17 and Amy turned 61 July 7 - time to reflect on their lives thus far.

"You go tens of miles just absorbed in your own thoughts, and tend to focus on the things that are really important in your life," John said.

While work is important, and he's slowly transitioning back into his work at the firm with more confidence than when he left, he said he now realizes it's more important to nurture relationships rather than focus on paperwork.

"It was certainly a way to come into contact with yourself," he said. "You'd be amazed at what you can do."

The Spitzmillers kept a blog of their experiences, accessible at http://johnamyspitz.blogspot.com.