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I got rid of everything I owned and spent 1.5 years biking around the US. I lived at a whitewater rafting company for 3 weeks, was hosted at music festivals, ta

by cmos 6y ago

I got rid of everything I owned and spent 1.5 years biking around the US. I lived at a whitewater rafting company for 3 weeks, was hosted at music festivals, taken in by hundreds of people and lived in yellowstone for a month in their hiker/biker campsites for $2/day. I was working part time the whole time for a small mobile hardware startup. It was amazing!! The toughest part was being alone the whole time, though in solitude I relived my life from the earliest moments, going through each grade in school, unwrapping memories and figuring out the rough bits as I pedaled.

jarbus 6y ago
How did you go about asking people to take you in? Surely hundreds of people didn't offer some stranger to stay with them?
- cmos 6y ago
  Never asked.. people just offered. I attribute this to being on a bicycle, disheveled, loaded with my gear, biking through towns that don't normally see a biker. I would sometimes ask if people knew a nice quiet place to camp, which resulted in either them inviting me over OR the local epic camping spot. Sometimes my meal was paid for by someone in the cafe. Park Rangers brought me extra food, at campsites fellow campers would invite me over for dinner. One day on the Natchez Trace I got the trifecta: breakfast, lunch + dinner all provided for by people. When people see someone on an adventure they often want to hear stories. They also want to tell you their stories, and often need someone just to listen to them, be there for a nonjudgemental cry or help navigate a big life decision or just as a sounding board. As a traveller passing through they feel a certain freedom to open up, knowing I'll be gone the next day. One old guy texted me months later saying "2 months not smoking!", another fellow I biked with for a day texted me "my wife is pregnant!" after he talked about whether he wanted kids or not for a day. Also, everyone has a broken computer at their home or small business, and need help getting something working. So in some cases that was an entry point. I often offered to help them and get things in order, sometimes making lifetime friendships. If I was a musician I would have been busking. check out adventurecycling.org !!

by cmos 6y ago

jarbus 6y ago

How did you go about asking people to take you in? Surely hundreds of people didn't offer some stranger to stay with them?

cmos 6y ago
Never asked.. people just offered. I attribute this to being on a bicycle, disheveled, loaded with my gear, biking through towns that don't normally see a biker. I would sometimes ask if people knew a nice quiet place to camp, which resulted in either them inviting me over OR the local epic camping spot. Sometimes my meal was paid for by someone in the cafe. Park Rangers brought me extra food, at campsites fellow campers would invite me over for dinner. One day on the Natchez Trace I got the trifecta: breakfast, lunch + dinner all provided for by people. When people see someone on an adventure they often want to hear stories. They also want to tell you their stories, and often need someone just to listen to them, be there for a nonjudgemental cry or help navigate a big life decision or just as a sounding board. As a traveller passing through they feel a certain freedom to open up, knowing I'll be gone the next day. One old guy texted me months later saying "2 months not smoking!", another fellow I biked with for a day texted me "my wife is pregnant!" after he talked about whether he wanted kids or not for a day. Also, everyone has a broken computer at their home or small business, and need help getting something working. So in some cases that was an entry point. I often offered to help them and get things in order, sometimes making lifetime friendships. If I was a musician I would have been busking. check out adventurecycling.org !!