ABOUT

In January '09 my dog Cooper and I were sitting around nursing a bottle of Jameson, talking about what we were going to do in our current situation.  I was making less than what my rent was, I was burnt out on work, and living in the city.  I was sick and tired of running the rat race of life, living the status quo lifestyle.  We needed to get out of the concreat jungle that we were living in and get out in nature.  I wanted to see what this great nation was made of.  I have been to every state in a car but what do you really see on the interstates?  We have tried to get around the city on a bike with a trailer and Coop didn't want anything to do with that idea.  So I thought how could we get about with all the gear needed to survive a year or more on the road, and have Cooper be comfortable and be able to run and ride with ease.  So it came to me to get a Rickshaw or a Pedicab.  This way we could store the nesseasary gear and Cooper could ride in style.  After looking on Craigslist for the ride needed we found a guy down in BK who had a fleet of these things just collecting rust in his yard.  I went down picked out a couple and took them to a bike shop not to far away to get the nessesary work done to get these things road trip worthy.  During the 10 months before we took off we spent time working on the ride and getting the gear needed for this trip.  I planned out our route, the weather being the major factor in the direction we would be going.  We didn't want to ride in the extream heat or cold.  So I figured that during the fall it would be down the east coast, winter across the south, spring into summer up the west and summer into fall accross the north to NYC.

One week prior to us leaving on this epic journey we became voluntarily homeless and unemployed.  On that Saturday we rode from the house we no longer lived in, out in Jamaica Queens with the curb lined with all out unnecessary belongings, what I carry is all we own nothing more nothing less.  We went down to Brooklyn to cross over the BK bridge. We then made our way to the west side of Manhattan and rode the west side bike lane all the way up to Washington Heights.  This is the hood that I started off in 5 years before, and it was where I spent my final week, while getting the rest of my last minute gear and spending time with my old roommates and friends.  The day before our departure date we took off.  We were so ready to get out on the road we could wait one more day.  We loaded up everything in my friends truck and went across the George Washington Bridge into NJ.  They dropped me off at a strip mall and we said our goodbyes and good lucks and hit the road.

From that first day we have done over 3,500 miles gone thru 13 different states, experienced two daylight savings time changes, and gone thru two time zone changes.  We have camped in 7ºF a couple nights in FL.  We have been in a tropical storm in Nags Head NC. We have watched the leaves change, we have played in the snow in Mobile AL.  We have experienced all sorts of things, met thousands upon thousands of people, and have had a blast.

We are now in Austin, TX.  We will be spending the summer in this great city waiting out the heat that is sure to kill us in the dessert out west.  We will be regrouping and reorganizing to get ready for the second year of this great adventure.