In order to get to the beach, you need to walk down a flight of stairs from the main street. So I left my bike at the top and went down to enjoy the lake. As I was sitting around on the beach, working on fixing my crazy stark biker tan (think farmers tan, plus gloves), I heard someone upstairs asking someone else whether they were on a bike tour. The man acknowledged that he was and that he was from Germany. I had a slight suspicion that there must have been some confusion about my bike and who it belonged too, but I looked up and saw someone with a bike, so I ignored it. Then my curiosity peaked, and I decided I would go up to my bike to make sure no one would be pretending it's theirs, and then ride off with it. I also wanted to get my maps to replan my route for tomorrow. As I got up there, the person wondering who was doing the touring realized they made a mistake and that I was the real person that was on a bike tour. The German man had to awkwardly acknowledge that my bike actually wasn't his... lol.
Rick Gunn, the man wondering who my bike belonged to, offered for me to stay at his place if I needed without hesitation. He said he had done touring in the past and needed to make up Karma for other people's hospitality. It turns out, Rick recently toured across the world, covering 33 countries in 3 years. We ran into each other as Rick was returning home to cook dinner for his friend's 60th birthday- so, with Rick's wonderful benevolence, I got a place to stay for the night, good food, and great company from lots of fellow bike tourers (one of Rick's friends just returned from biking across the country taking the southern route, and another is planning a tour in Maui with Rick).
Rick's story is pretty fascinating in terms of both the immensity of the journey, and the implications of doing something like this around the world. You can check out his website, including his great photo galleries, at (soulcycler.com). For various reasons, Rick decided he wanted to make sure he followed through on his dreams before it was too late, so he, a photographer for newspapers, decided he would follow through with his ambition to bike across the world. In the process, while transitioning between Europe's first world countries on eastward, he was overwhelmed by a sense of guilt for being a meer passerby through a plethora of dramatically impoverished and historically ravished areas. So he says he went through a period of transformation where he felt that his trip needed to have greater meaning beyond his personal, ego-oriented goals. A photographer, Rick documented his trip along the way and did a few news stories for newspapers back home while volunteering wherever he could. And thus he built up a collection of experiences and stories that he is still carrying and being shaped by today. Currently he organizes viewings and does talks on his experience, trying to expose people in the US to various issues, people, and places that he encountered on his journey. He says his goal is to make others aware of problems around the world. He hopes people's gaining a greater sense of a worldwide community may do something to alleviate the many problems he encountered. He may also have a book and a documentary coming soon.
I watched a part of his photo slideshow, and a really interesting person he met stands out to me. Rick volunteered with an organization in (Laos?) that worked to remove many of the leftover mines from US bombings during Vietnam in the region. He says communities are confined and cannot expand their farming as they grow because people get maimed by left over mines. There is a German ex-soldier who left the army to take on finding and removing these mines. I would love to hear what inspired that man to do what he does.
When Rick facebook friended me, it turns out we have a mutual friend- a biking-community friend that Jim Long, who I met in Wyoming and who took the great photos of my biking up Morton Pass, suggested to me. What's more, Rick personally knows Tim and Cindie Travis, the couple that's famous for planning to bike the world for the rest of their lives. They have the most visited touring site on the net, and I relied on it when I first started planning my trip (http://downtheroad.org/). So, as I come to an end on this trip, things seem to be coming full circle as well. What a great run-in to end the trip.
From Lake Tahoe! CALIFORNIA! Sacramento tomorrow (Rick and his buddies convinced me to take the more mountainous, but beautiful route to Sacramento through Luther Pass on highways 89 and 88).
If you're reading this Rick, thank you for your wonderful hospitality and your inspiration. I couldn't imagine a better end to my trip that both plants a seed for future adventures, and leaves me with fodder for thinking beyond this trip.
-Miroslav
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