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I'm not going to do a private conversation, thanks anyway. Honestly, if you can't figure out where these towns are then you probably shouldn't cross the border. I mean, it's right across the river from where you intended to cross. Definitely just get yourself a passport and book a tour...

It's more difficult to get a Canadian passport than it is in the US. I think they have to get a relative to stand for them. Anyway, I believe in open borders. My mom crossed in 53. She didn't have a passport but she stayed, finally naturalizing in 1976.

Hypothetically and supposing you could row across on a moonless night, then maybe west of Rainy River from Pine Park. The biggest problem with crossing the river around there is that the US side is lined with homes. Lots easier to cross where you can walk and don't have to swim. Anyway, I used...

I'm working on the fourth book in my series "Travels as Peaceful Valley Walker" about my epic ride through eight countries and 48 US states. I just now got to the part about Ottawa where I had an invite from an STP friend. Nothing too special about the story but I haven't heard from Drengor...

I did a little bike trip last weekend to a private hot spring in the desert

A friend of mine hopped across two years ago. The trick is to get off the train before the first yard. She then hopped all the way across the country and walked back into the states. It's not that hard. I walked across back in the eighties myself. It's not like I had a plan, I just found a side...

I'm writing about that visit now. Thanks again brother!

For a long distance cyclist, every bike trail is the best. I've been on dozens and on most of the longest ones. The two most scenic are the Trail of the Couer d' Alenes and the trail from Key Largo to Key West but that's just an opinion. The Natchez Trace Parkway is a road not a trail but at the...

A friend and I did that ride. We started in Pittsburgh, rode to DC, NYC, Albany, Buffalo, Erie, then back to Pittsburgh. It was about 1600 miles and took us six weeks. At least 2/3 of that was on bike trail and we stealth camped almost every night. In this map, all the green stars are stealth camps.

Making progress on my next book, "Pipe Carrier" where I ride from St. Mary's, Georgia through Montreal to Minneapolis. It was part of a mostly penniless journey through eight countries and 48 US states. Three of the books are already published in a series called "Travels as Peaceful Valley...

I posted this as it was happening and recently revised it. Posting my revisions so I can compare: By morning the tidal waters were at the shore and I woke up in reverie at their murmur. I was one with the land and a free human but the ghost of John Smith still sailed on those waters four...

Sorry I never answered your question Dunedrifter. In my defense, I was still on the road then and with no service, only wifi. I started bike touring in 2016 and rode nonstop until the pandemic. I biked through 48 states and 8 countries. Even now, I'll never own another car but I'm finally...

This is good writing, maybe the best train writing I've ever read. Thanks for sharing it again. It might be long but you don't need to cut anything. Just put in sections at the natural divisions. Keep writing.

As somebody who rejected capitalism literally 40 years ago, I don't define myself within the terms of that system nor do I measure success and security in their terms. Sitting here without even enough money for a beer, I do feel successful. I've been back to the forests I planted and have...

After traveling, and I mean surrendering to the road, I was forever changed. I was kind of messed up when I started. I left to clear my head and got immediate results. With sanity, and after getting much older, I don't even know how to fit in anymore. I tried. I worked and saved and rented but...

In 86 I hitched into NYC and as soon as I got out of the car, a dreadlocked hippie on the sidewalk saw me and asked, "Did you know Shelly was here?" Her and I were rainbow famous by then, the kind of lovers who ate each other up. Well, Central Park was right there and as soon as the sun set, we...

I'm a full time bicyclist and lived in Silver City last year. There's a great bike co-op there which also has a repair for ownership type of program. Although they don't have a referral system like your program, I would literally send travelers there to drop my name in exchange for services. If...

I wrote a story about Littlefoot. Here it is: Soren was wearing Carhart jeans layered with soot, grease, and life. His guitar was covered in stickers and, resting on his shoulders above a torn shirt, was a harmonica strap in which he put different keys of harps depending on which song he was...

Marticus, thanks again. It's hard to find good criticism. The current version is much more effective with your suggestion. Yeah, the book is a non stop collection of fifteen minute interactions and it's a challenge to flesh them all out without being pedantic.

In a world where a homebum can't get credit anywhere, the only thing they have is dignity and this is usually measured in brotherhood. The life is so hard though that being a good brother is kind of rare and when someone is good, they are known for it. It's to their credit and worth mentioning...

Michigan City, Indiana

Pippy was only eight and a half pounds and loved bike riding. This is in Illinois on the way to Chicago

I biked there in 2018. The first night I camped in Key Largo at a Kiwanis park or something like that. The next night was just past Big Pine Key under a bridge. When I got to Key West the next morning, I didn't see anywhere to roll out so I cruised around Duval St and stuff then turned right...

Thanks Marticus With hundreds of pages, it's hard to catch everything like that so your input is really helpful. In the book, this transformation happens over and over. It's a thematic element even and well described elsewhere. There was a similar conflict in the last chapter and the man...

This excerpt is rough draft writing from my next book. I was biking from Key West to Montreal and here was almost to Jersey City. Ever get chased when you were out traveling? ------ It was solidly dark by then and when I saw a spot under the freeway bridge where I could rest a minute, I...

Some of you know the characters in this story, "A Great Night of Bad Music"

For example, this story is read and not told. There are innumerable nuances which I might have included if I was telling the story versus reading it. This is from my book "Full of the Blood of the Land"

I reckon I'm a storyteller and have the reverse issue. Extemporaneously, I can immerse an audience. The stories roll off my tongue and I find myself reliving the magic. I've published three books so far about what happened and so much of what happened was what I said. Unfortunately, the dialog...

I'm at the end of the road far out in the desert, southern Arizona, and it's pretty much wilderness from here, miles and miles of it. I live in an old dead bus, keep a month or two of food on hand, and when I do go to town it's on a bicycle. 35 miles round trip to Walmart. Although there's water...

It's still much the same and I would echo your advice only adding to remember why you're there. It's a prayer for peace and we gather to practice living in peace. Definitely remember that if you go and like Grass Roads said, plug in.

If it was me in your situation with a 90 pound dog, I would consider every option including just staying there and sucking it up - it doesn't sound like fun but it's still an option. Another option with a 90 pound dog, walk. It's slower but if your dog will pack, wilderness would be a lot easier...

The hardest parts for me were simply the tedious things like making and breaking camp every day. I was bikecore and pedaled all day, making camp wherever I was at the end of the day. I was used to all the hard stuff like climbing mountains and wind. And as regards people, I never had problems...

Arizona on my Surly LHT

I'm pedaling in from AZ or more likely pushing across on the Bradshaw Trail. Likely will be setting up for the winter there.

Looks like I'll make it to this one and I might have a thing or two about living from a bicycle to share. Pencil me in for an hour and learn how to live on two wheels.

I woke up far above Colorado Springs near Monument. I felt like I was in a new land and was welcomed to the region by magpies, a bird I hadn't seen anywhere north of there. The pass at the top of the South Platte River was indeed the entrance to the Southwest. It was a long ride downhill on...

I woke at a state natural area near Loveland, CO. It was an okay camp, a sleeping mat on a concrete pad next to a picnic table. I felt a little more secure than at the last site because there were no restrictions posted. I was discrete and slept well. I've mentioned before that it takes a lot...

Oops. Didn't see that this was posted. Stupid article though.

https://www.krdo.com/news/top-stories/website-says-colorado-springs-is-great-for-the-homeless/770498960

In my opinion, you're not doing it right if the homebums and tweakers can find you. Walk farther. Take a bus to the end of the line. Find better spots. That being said, I used to camp in this great spot in the desert near a park where I'd go in the morning to use a table and grill. A tweaker...

Mexico loves bicyclists. The roads are on average good and the "bicicleta" is part of the culture. It's easy to stealth camp in most of the country and much more accepted to have a campfire than in the US. Stop at the abarrotes in the afternoons and drink beer with the old men.

I met a woman who crossed all those borders with no ID. She would just ask in the border towns, where do people walk across, and she turned down any offers of guides. I didn't see any checkpoints in Central America but there are many in Mexico. I suppose if it was me in your shoes, I would throw...

My first trip was from Sioux City to Ft. Lauderdale. I was only sixteen but I'd met a couple girls from there (long story) and I was going to see them. That was 1981... Eventually I hitched to 48 states and nine provinces. The road will teach you. Five years of that. Thirty-five years later I...

When I left out of Minneapolis last August I had twenty bucks in my pocket. All the way to Houston I always had at least a dollar but never more than twenty. Spent about two hundred. Money comes and goes but it isn't really a big thing if you carry everything you need. I only had sixty bucks...

If you're still in MN, I'm setting out towards Sedona in the next two weeks.

About fifty pounds on the bike. It looks like a lot but I rode it ten thousand miles like that. On road and off. 2005 Trek 520

Thanks! I'll reach Ottawa tomorrow. Sorry for the late notice. I hope we can meet. I have no phone, only wifi, so message me here.

I'm well past RI now. I rode up to Freeport, Maine then across to Vermont. Heading to St. Albans, Ottawa, and Sault Ste Marie. Then Minneapolis

I woke from a rock solid sleep at my camp in a centuries old quarry now thickly forested, the ground mattressed in a thick layer of pine needles. I arose with the sun and, with the gift of an eagle feather, spread my wings to fly. I was immersed in beauty. There was nature itself but also the...

I woke up next to the tidal waters of the Bush River. I felt indigenous, one with the land and free but the ghost of John Smith still sailed on those waters here four hundred and ten years later. His landing, explorations, and the resulting exploitation resulted in a fragmented and owned land, a...