Trish Karter feels very grateful.

A week after concluding her 15-day, 1,500-mile bike ride from Atlanta to Boston on behalf of the homeless, Karter is much more cognizant of her blessings. The roof over her head, the family she loves, the work she enjoys--and her redoubled commitment to help homeless families throughout the U.S.

Karter, CEO of Dancing Deer Baking Co., didn't raise as much money as she had hoped she would during her pilgrimage. The national press was busy elsewhere--assessing President Obama's first 100 days, covering the swine flu threat and simply reporting on the dismal, rainy weather that Karter encountered. So the news reports that might have triggered more donations didn't materialize. (Check out her website's press section to see the tremendous amount of press Karter did receive.)

Somehow, she says, she doesn't feel disappointed. Donations seem less important than the lessons she learned, the people she met, the physical obstacles she conquered and the incredible challenges she and her team overcame during her 15-day sojourn from homeless shelter to homeless shelter--15 shelters in all. "Those things were so powerful, and those people were so wonderful. They made everything else pale in comparison," she says.

Karter says she's still trying to digest and make sense of her experience. But she's clear about having no regrets. "This is a concrete example of how I walk the talk," she says, referring to her commitment to being "a double bottom-line company." Says Karter, "The first bottom line is making money. The second bottom line is making a positive impact on the world."

Each day on the road took Karter to what she described as "the very edge" of her capabilities. Yet, she says, "I didn't have to construct my positive attitude. I got an incredible energy rush every evening when I would be at the shelter. The last day of the ride, I rode hard and long and fast--125 miles--and I outpaced myself. Positive energy carried me through.

"I don't know I could have squeezed much more into a 24-hour period," Karter says. At that point, material things "fall away and the qualities of life and the relationships with people and fundamental connections--those things become more important."

Karter has been fighting homelessness since 2002, when Dancing Deer started its Sweet Home product line, which donates 35 percent of retail sales to scholarships that help homeless mothers in Massachusetts continue their education. She's visited many Boston homeless shelters, and was well aware of the statistics and the demographics of the homeless. But this trip brought it home even more clearly, she says.

"When you spend two weeks of your life getting from one homeless shelter to another, and your entire focus is interacting with a new group of people in different settings--that took it out of the realm of statistics and demographics and put it into very personal realm of understanding, passion and . . . firsthandedness," Karter says.

"I've never taken for granted any of my advantages and gifts," Karter muses. But what she saw during her travels, "takes that gratefulness to another level."