Fall Scenes
Do you ever dream of giving up your day job and traveling the world on your bike?
Touring New Zeland and the U.S. by bike has been part of my day dreams for the last few years. I’m hoping to make those dreams a reality sometime in 2012. 
With that in mind, bike touring, consumer wants and simplicity have been on my mind lately and the following article is a thoughtful piece about those very topics.
Enjoy peeps…
What I Have Learned on The Road by Tim Travis
Obviously, traveling this many years (7 1/2 so far) is having profound affects on us but not in ways many would think. These changes are not static but instead happening slowly, as we experience more of the world and constantly reevaluate our values. Peering deep into ourselves is the true journey instead of the superficial line we draw on a map.
When we were on temporary trips the simplicity and freedom of a bike tour was a vacation from our regular lives of working, and surviving the rat race. Looking back at the years leading up to our departure we wonder how we juggled all the complexities of modern life. There were bills to mail, cars to fix, schedules to keep, bosses to impress, and a million other things to get done before the end of the day, month, or year. We used to say, “There aren’t enough hours in a day to do all the things that need to get done.” Now we have far less things to worry about and feel like we have all day to see what will come our way. After several years of living a simple life on bikes with our possessions being limited to what can be carried we have evolved into a very simplistic yet open minded way of looking at life. Everything is beautiful in its own basic way and the great weight of worry and stress has been lifted from our shoulders. We are free to explore, learn, and drift.
Before this trip we needlessly complicated the world around us by over analyzing everything until we found faults and became angry. Traveling has caused us to make peace with our surroundings. For example, in our own country, instead of seeing good and bad politicians and political parties we see a democracy and a healthy debate. Instead of seeing National Parks that need infrastructure upgrades we see pristine mountains. Obviously if everyone were like us nothing would get done but we have never wanted everyone to be like us. This is our dream and our reality; we have made it as painless as possible.
Another big change we have noticed is our growing freedom from “want.” During the years on the road, visiting rich and poor alike, the idea of “I want” will never be the same. We used to walk through stores and fight the urge to buy all the things we thought we wanted with that little piece of plastic in our pocket that promised immediate gratification. It was stressful to want something, ponder the consequences, and use restraint to deny the purchase or, give in to our desires and buy it and often feel guilty later. So many people in this world live on a fraction of what citizens of developed countries consider the bare essentials and yet find far more happiness in their lives. The most content people we have met in our travels all have a clear sense of the difference between want and need. After riding in their countries and staying in their houses we have learned to open our minds to new perspectives.
The answer is not to make or borrow more money in order to have more possessions because acquiring material things will never satisfy wanting more. There will always be something else to want. The secret to happiness is to be content with what you have and not want things you can not afford. It is much more fulfilling to feel fortunate when your work has earned enough to cover all your real needs and have something left over for extras. It is a shift in perception from agonizing over wanting something like a new TV to being excited when the household’s finances have gone so well that you can have something extra. The TV is no longer wanted every time it is passed in the store but rather an unexpected reward for a job well done.
This many years on the road have taught Cindie and me to throw away the big list of things we would like to own and be content with what we have. We now find happiness in the simple pleasures of life and don’t seek our identities in the things we own. It sounds so simple and idealistic but the results have been monumental.
You can experience the places we have been to with thousands of pictures, Cindie’s daily journal, videos, and learn how our future travels unfold by visiting our web site wwww.DownTheRoad.org
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I really enjoyed reading this. I could never go on a long bike tour because of my three cats, but I appreciate their story.
@Dottie – it’s a really cool story. I can’t wait to bike across the U.S. I can handle being dirty and dealing with mean drivers, but I’ll miss my kittens like crazy. I’m hoping my mom will foster them when we take off on our journey. But it’s still a few years out.
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