mtb_addict

Actually, now I thinkabout it. I saw this documentary of this guy traveling from place to place homelessly in a huge backpack without any money. He had no trouble with food. He asked (beg) people for money and food. He never went hungry...people were so generous. Actually, I recall he got so much food he frequently had to throw them away. One time, he was given a huge bag of donuts and kollachy, and he just tossed most of it away because he didn't want to walk around with the extra weight. But this was in cities. I doubt people out in the rural area are as generous.

indyfabz

Ba-blam!

This thread is amazing, right down to the notion that the U.S. and Canada comprise the world.

alan s 

jefnvk

Well this (predictably) went downhill in a hurry.

As for the dog, the thought of it running alongside a bike for 10k miles never occurred to me, I also assumed it was a lap dog that woudl ride in a basket of some sort.

rosefarts

I forgot to add, If it wasn't for a blog, YouTube, or whatever, would you still want to do it?

Kedosto

Cyclist0108

I have a daughter. Fortunately, she has no interest in writing about my life story. My wife was offered a job at NYU about 20 years ago. Does that count?

downhillmaster

downhillmaster

Bikesplendor

She is looking for them to apply (her word). She might have some filters there.

She never asked for advice, or interference, she asked if anyone wanted to come along.

You don't have to conclude that she doesn't know what she's doing or that you know better than she does.

I cannot tell you how much serious trouble and interference my own father brought me because he thought he knew better than me what I should do with my life, especially in my twenties. What a disaster.

Maybe there is a wisdom in youth that you old pharts have lost track of.

And maybe you've also lost track of your own limited knowledge and understanding of other people's, including the OP's, lives and needs, and true paths in life. And lost track of your own not-knowing.

"Trust me, you know what you're doing."

Just consider the source of that quote and that idea. (5:31-5:49)


It was an invitation (see the title of her thread), not a plea for advice, and not a plea for your supposed higher knowledge or intelligence, or supposed wisdom or understanding of and interference with her and her life. And she is an adult.

To the OP: your life is yours, not theirs; and you know yourself at least ten thousand times better than they do.

livedarklions

I just spoke with her dog. Muffintop is not enthusiastic about the prospect.

downhillmaster

downhillmaster

indyfabz

As I noted before, I once spent nearly 4 months on the road. Three months of that was with a group of 13 people. The remaining time I was riding solo. This summer will mark the 20th anniversary of that time of my life. The following spring and summer I took two extended trips of about 7 weeks each, including one in a foreign country. Since then, my tours have been limited to a maximum of 2 weeks.

I sometimes wonder whether I would want to/could do what I did back in 1999 or even the following year. Putting aside things like financial issues (I was not destitute during my time off from the working world, which helped a lot.), I am not sure I would want to live like that again for so long. At times, bike touring can be messy, buggy, hot, humid, cold, wet, frustrating, expensive, tiring, injurious and monotonous. Sometimes all in one day. Imagine living for an extended period of time, potentially in all sorts of conditions, without most of the everyday things you are surrounded with now. And I am not simply talking about material possessions. Imagine, for example, wandering around and unfamiliar grocery store nearly everyday hunting for dinner and breakfast items. For some reason, that sticks out in my mind when I am on the road. I suspect that's because I am the sort of person who, during my "everyday life," shops for groceries nearly every day at places I know well.

At the end of a one or two week trip I always feel glad to be done, but part of me thinks that feeling comes from the fact that I accomplished what I had set out to do. I wonder whether, if the planned trip had been longer, I would still be happy to be out on the road and if so, how long would might be too long.

Trakhak

bakerjw

" Maybe there is a wisdom in youth that you old pharts have lost track of. "
That made me chuckle. Wisdom and youth rarely make a good combination. Sometimes though, people have to learn the hard way. I know that I did back when I knew everything.

Milton Keynes

Mynd you, mřřse bites Kan be pretti nasti...

Milton Keynes

I didn't say she shouldn't do it, I said she shouldn't do it with zero money and without some sort of a plan. I for one would love to just take off on a bike and tour the country for a year or so, but I'd have at least a little bit of a plan in case I ran into trouble.

indyfabz

Are you sure about that? See my post #89 above, where I tried to add something of substance to this thread.

jefnvk

Agreed. At some point, it stops being touring and simply becomes being a hobo. To me a tour is about a specific goal, not an open ended lifestyle. That's not to say planning to travel to every NP on a bike tour can't be a goal, or that a goal can't take a considerable amount of time to complete, but if it simply is open ended with no goal or anything beyond the end of the tour in sight, it isn't really touring anymore.

indyfabz

I have to wonder whether some people who have never spent a significant (or any) amount of time on the road living out of bags attached to their bikes have romanticized notion of what it can be like. Any given day can be absolutely wonderful. Any given day can also be absolutely not wonderful. Having little money and no plan can exacerbate the not wonderful days.

I ask people to think about a day ride from the house gone bad. For example, you get caught in a storm and have to change a flat in a cold rain. By the end of the ride, you are wet, dirty and tired. At least when the ride is over, you have your house to warm you, your shower to clean up in, and your fridge to raid for food. Now imagine that instead of the creature comforts of your familiar surroundings, you instead pull into town to find the only place to get food is closed because it's a Sunday or it has limited hours, and the only place to bed down for the night is a mosquito-infested city park with scuzzy (or no) bathroom. You haven't had access to a place to wash clothes for a couple of days so tomorrow you will have to choose between the smelly kit from yesterday and the damp kit from today because conditions are such that it's not likely to dry overnight. And maybe that city park is used for drug sales.

And I'm not making that last part up. When I rode across the country with a small group we camped in a city park in tiny Ione, WA. On several occasions, the same vehicle pulled into the park and idled. A few minutes later, a different vehicle would pull along side the first, facing in the opposite direction. The exchange was made and both would drive off, with the customer leaving first. When I passed through there the following year I camped at a location outside of town that had been constructed by some water authority. I was all alone and pretty isolated as there were no residences around. At some point at night some drunk local decided to hang out. Fortunately, they left me alone, but I could hear them talking about my presence. Made me a bit nervous.

Even when I rode the GAP--a very popular trail--during a week long tour across PA there was an issue. One of the Adirondack shelters had a used condom in it. That evening a "Trail Angle" rode by a stopped to talk to me. I mentioned the condom in the other shelter.. He told me the local kids like to use them for sex, even during the day.

jefnvk

Even tossing the bikes aside, having even just lived outdoors with only a tent for any length of time. You mentioned one of my biggest reasons why I prefer cheap hotels/hostels to any sort of camping while touring, minor things you don't even think of like stuff not drying overnight just wears on you day after day. At one point in Iceland I was wearing sandals with thick wool socks. My biking shoes had gotten drenched in a sudden downpour the day before, and the lush grass we were camping on soaked my boots through. It was about 40F that morning, so wet shoes really weren't an option. After four days of already dealing with wind and weather and elements, I was pretty much over it at that point.

On the positive, sandals actually worked out surprisingly well, I just wish I would have gotten a pic of the absurdity of the scene

downhillmaster

bakerjw

Just to add to what Indyfabz stated. Oftentimes if you roll into a small town looking like a transient, the locale LEOs will treat you like one.

Several years ago, one of my good friends walked across the country raising money for cancer research. Long days on dusty roads don't always make you look the best. He was pulled over many many times just for looking like a vagrant. Several times, once the deputy or sheriff confirmed his story, he was taken home, fed, clothes got washed and slept in a good bed. The fact was though, that he had a plan for the entire time with daily goals each day. It was well planned out.

Milton Keynes

Yes, providing I had nearly unlimited funds to do it with. Which means it'll never happen.