The brother of a long-time friend of mine is on an amazing adventure; he’s riding a pedicab on route that nearly circles the continental US. His route took him through Baton Rouge, LA, recently, and he was featured in a local ABC news report:
Sean started out his trip from New York in the enormous Thai-style rickshaw you see pictured below, but found it wasn’t quite up to the trip and ended up being replaced by a more modern pedicab about a 1,000 miles into the trek. I’m sure he misses the built-in sunshade, but won’t miss the extra weight; the old one weighed about 700lbs and had only 3 gears! His knees will thank him in twenty years or so.
When asked why he’s doing this, it seems there are a lot of things motivating him; from his FAQ:
Q. Why are you doing this, what is your cause?
A. My cause is because.
My buddy John (Sean’s brother) says he’s doing it to avoid work. “Because” seems to be a better motivation, so we’ll stick with that. And what he said in the interview about the importance of having an adventure rings true to the romantic in me. I wish I’d had the gumption to do something like this in the years before wifejobkidshousemortgagecarsstuff, because I sure don’t see anything like it happening in my future.
Sean is now in the Gulf states region, and his planned route will take him…
… west across TX, NM, and AZ up to Vegas then over to Cali. Up Cali and try to go as north as possible depending on the terrain then head east thru Montana (one of the states I’m really looking forward to riding thru, Big Sky!!) Head into the Dakotas, stop off at my brothers in Sioux Falls. Then hit up my home state of Iowa try to meet up with Ragbri. Hang with my folks for a week or so. And then haul butt to NYC.”
His original plan was to hook up with RAGBRAI 2010, but considering he also planned to be in New Orleans by Christmas, RAGBRAI 2011 might be a more attainable goal! It’s cool that he’s planning a stopover in Sioux Falls; should be a big party at John’s place!