By Selwyn Duke

It was supposed to be a chance for adventure and the trip of a lifetime, the kind you tell your grandkids about. But Jay Austin and Lauren Geoghegan (shown) will never have kids. Their around-the-world bike tour ended abruptly this summer at the hands of Islamic State jihadis — just, ironically, about three months after Austin wrote in a blog that “evil is a make-believe concept.”

Austin and Geoghegan, both 29, were certainly of a mind. The pair met in 2012 in Washington, D.C., where Austin worked at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Geoghegan had a job in Georgetown University’s admissions office. The two came from opposite ends of the country — Austin hailed from New Jersey while Geoghegan was a Southern California native — but they shared a love of travel.

Austin’s tastes ran riskier than Geoghegan’s, but his adventurous spirit rubbed off on her. The two decided to quit their jobs and embark upon a ‘round-the-world bike trip, which began in July 2017 at Africa’s southernmost tip. It was a risky endeavor, and their blog details some close calls they had along the way to and through Europe. But then came that fateful day.

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