Short video teaser from the trip

I threw this together in an hour from some of my hd footage from the trip, just because I hadn't touched the videos at all. Enjoy!

Unedited excerpt from the Photo Journal

Taken from the rough draft of the journal log itself, this excerpt will be used as an illustration to support a specific theme, as the book will be formated topically, as opposed to chronologically.

Feedback is more than welcome, especially criticisms and additional insights!

7/27/10

...My phone service was then shut off an hour later. This was a crushing blow, and I became suddenly aware again of how alone I was. I tried hitchhiking for two days after that, had no luck, and slept in a park and behind dumpsters. With a sense of mounting anxiety, I felt as if I was stranded, so I stood on the side of an intercity section of I-10 holding a sign, desperately begging for a ride East. I was moments away from an emotional meltdown, when a gorgeous young lady pulled up, told me she couldn’t drive me far, but asked if she could help at all. I was apprehensive, but decided to go for it. We put the bike in her tiny car and went to her apartment, where she fed me and let me shower.

She then told me that she had recently developed serious cancer, lost her job because of it, and
felt compelled to do any good deed possible. She also has a three year old son who is developmentally disabled, an ex-husband who left her, and a boyfriend who beat her.

If there was ever a heart that had never known the state of brokenness, I'm sure it would crumble at her story.

Here was an upbeat, outgoing, funny, and beautiful 27 year old woman, who was enduring pure pain, and somehow had the audacity to be positive and happy about life, for the sake of living life itself. She showed me that no matter how lost or hopeless life may seem, we always have the choice to be strong and the ability to be content.

After meeting her, it took every bone in my body not to embrace her, look deeply into her eyes, tell
her that she is amazing, beautiful, and loved, and kiss her passionately. I fell in love with her; six years
my senior, just as broke, and holding more baggage than I could ever possibly lift. I wanted to rescue that
damsel, take all of her distresses away in one fell swoop, and ride off into the sunset, but as night came around,
so did I.

I quickly snapped back into reality and left to sleep behind a dumpster in a medical plaza. The next day, her and I met up again and ran some errands. She went to obtain welfare assistance, and while there, I inquired about a discounted bus ticket home, and set plans in motion to leave the next day. We then picked her son up from his father's house and took him to a water playground where we had a blast together. As night began to fall, I grew fearful of yet another painful goodbye, as I had grown attached to her in only two days.

I contained my emotions though, forced myself to detach, and left her without hesitation; she became nothing but a dream to me, a cherished dream...

Home

This Summer I rode my bicycle across the country, and I returned via hitch-hiking and a greyhound bus. It took me 2 months to ride about 2,700 miles to the Pacific Coast (Tijuana, Mexico), and another month to get home. I did it alone, and without any reliable source of funds. I survived off of support from random people I met mostly, but I also received much needed help from my friends at home. There were still plenty of times that I had to dive dumpsters or go to homeless feedings, no complaints, it was free and well appreciated.

The trip is over, but I feel that this journey and adventurous lifestyle has only just begun.

This blog will remain an outlet in documenting my search for adventure, purpose, and meaning, and will also be the home page for a Photo Journal that I am self publishing, based on the experiences from this trip.

The stars at night, are big and bright...

Finally reached Texas. I'm staying at the Perozo's, whom i haven't seen in four years, in Houston. They've been amazing to me, as have countless loving and friendly people along the way in this adventure. Unfortunately, I don't have the time or computer to update this as often as I wanted to, and I actually have to jet right now!

adios!

oh, ...DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS

P.S.-Hitting 1000 miles tomorrow on my way to Austin!

First update on the road!

Alright, first off, I want to apologize for not updating this at all since I left, I'll explain why I haven't, and from now on, I should be updating as often as possible.

Less than a week before my set departure date, I had the extreme misfortune of being robbed of everything. The story is long and irrelevant, but to sum it up, my laptop (with all of my plans and my only way to update this blog), cell phone, camera, wallet, and $250 cash was stolen from me. This left me in an extremely desperate and depressed state for about a week after, but I refused to allow that to hinder this adventure.

I ended up departing thursday morning, 5/13/10, from Jacksonville Beach. My good friend Jacelyne drove me from Nick, Jordan, and Won Jun's house in Tamarac (where I was staying for a few days), to Miami to meet up with my Craigslist ride to Jax. With $40 for gas to Jax, I was starting the trip with absolutely no money, that is until Jacelyne handed me $200 that her Mom so graciously gave me for the trip.

I hadn't even left South Florida, yet the main theme of this experience was already revealing itself. I have a thousand reasons to justify why I'm doing this and why it's important, such as searching for means of self-sufficiency and learning more about myself, but I did not consider the one thing that is most beautiful and sometimes most rare in this world; Love.

This trip, this experience, this journey, this adventure, it is all about love, and how it reveals itself.

As someone who likes to call himself a friend of God, or a lover of Christ, I took a hypocritical move in blocking out the possibility of God's involvement in this trip. I wanted it to be about no one but me and how I despise the shortcomings of myself and this world. I wanted to reveal how cashed, desolate, empty, and devoid of warmth this country is, and although that may be the reality in many situations, I have found that there is hope, love, truth, and compassion, glimmering like a distant star in every situation.

So as a disclaimer, I will warn you that this has now become an observation into how God loves, how people love, and how simple it can be to love one another.
-I will not preach to you about how you need my God
-I will not subject you to some indoctrinating approach to my spirituality.
-I will simply exploit this adventure through written observation and pictures, and let you form your own opinions.
If you take anything from my experience, let it at least be the understanding, awareness, and properties of unconditional love. God or no God, your life will become a light when you love.

Alright, so here we go.

America is Cashed Megadventour 2010 Trailer

Thanks Alex Destefino, Jose Hernandez, Ryan Alexander, and Jesse Inman for helping me create this little vid!

Cashing America out in a week!

Crunch time has officially begun.

As my departure date approaches rapidly, I'm feeling more and more anxious, nervous, and apprehensive, yet I'm constantly reminding myself of the joy and peace that I found in the South Carolina ride.

In terms of preparation, I feel like I'm jumping off of a cliff with a duct-taped parachute, although my heart and mind are completely set on leaping regardless.

My cats, loves of my life, are going to a new home today, temporarily at least, I worked my last day at the job I've held for three years with the county, and I'm packing up everything I own, to be stored at a friend's house.

I've made necessary sacrifices and compromises in my life for this adventure, and I'm not holding any regrets in the matter, but each step towards this figurative ledge has me searching for affirmation in my purpose.

I've spoken to hundreds of people about the tour, and I've done my best to "promote" it, but instead of welcoming encouragement, I now feel like I put myself in a position of exploitation. I still can't believe I made business cards haha.

In terms of sponsorships, I haven't piqued any bike shop or business owner's interest, so I'm not expecting anymore than $200 and a sketchy bike for the trip, but that's fine, a huge point of this is self-sufficiency.

I've found that I thrive on the challenge of survival and the struggle of meager resources.

T-shirt presales have been awesome, I've had complete strangers order a shirt, and although I'm not making any money from them, the support itself has been incredibly encouraging. They should be printed by the end of the week, just in time for the Miami Critical Mass, and the Broward/Fort Lauderdale Critical Mass that I set up. The Sun-Sentinel is doing a story on the Mass, thanks to one of their bike-friendly writers, and I really look forward to the exposure (hopefully positive) that the South Florida bike community will receive from it. I'm pushing for a more positive outlook on Critical Mass, and one that doesn't involve tons of infuriated drivers and punk ass cyclists. I honestly want Critical Mass to be a profound opportunity to encourage cyclists to ride, ride more, enjoy riding, and involve others in riding.

Back to the tour; there are much more preparations to be made through this week, and although I'm about burnt out on entire thing, I cannot wait to see America for what it truly is.

I was thinking today, searching for some understanding and asking myself for more reasons as to why I'm doing this, and I think I nailed one:

I've never been west of Alabama in my entire life, and despite seeing images and movies and being aware of America's expanse, my mind is so locked in to a tiny perspective, in an ignorant state of awareness.

So here's the epiphany: I think that subconsciously, my brain is telling myself that this ride will materialize the Southern Tier. Haha, I think that by riding through personally uncharted territory, my mind is taking responsibility for the manifestation of Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Mexico, and even the Pacific Ocean. I know it sounds crazy, but maybe that's how the brain works (or at least mine).

So I'll accept that, yes, I will substantiate this Country.