ANDY: I loved your quote about your journey: “traveling could be more than pre defined tourist destinations.”   How much of your travels are planned and how much is ad-hoc “wandering” (for lack of a better word).

Tim: It is safe to say that most of our trip is made up as we go because we never know what is going to come our way in the course of the day.  We usually have an idea of which direction we are going and even occasionally know the roads we will be riding but traveling on a bicycle is different than most other forms of travel.  On a bike we can not control what is going to happen compared to driving or public transportation.  We must be flexible because there’s always the unexpected like getting lost, sick, headwinds, home invites, and free beer.  Usually, when we set off for the day, we do not know where we will sleep that night.  We have all the camping gear to meet whatever situation arises like treating water from creeks and cooking our own food.    It is the not knowing and not having control that turns a vacation into an adventure.  A bicycle tour is always an adventure.

ANDY: It is very empowering to hear that you’ve transformed your passion for biking into a bike-based business (quite literally).  With all of the books, Podcasts, and even plans for a DVD, it all must be very exciting.  Do you ever have days where you don’t feel like cycling?  What do you do on the road to “take a break?”

TIM: Most people assume this is an exciting life because of the interesting places, people, and media attention.  While it is true there are some very exciting times there are also long hours riding in the sun and the peacefulness of just staring at our camp fire.  It is a very simplistic life.  We generally only bike 4 or 5 days a week and the rest of the time is spent sightseeing, relaxing, and working on the computer finishing various projects like you mentioned above.   So, when we feel like riding we ride and when we feel like taking a break we stop.  It slows our progress but stimulates our minds.

ANDY: Has there been a place that was particularly inspirational?  Why?  (this could be a place that was deeply “spiritual”, or a place that you had a eureka and realised why you were on the journey.  sometimes also called a peak experience. Be sure to paint us a full picture here…feelings/sights/sounds…)

TIM: It would be hard to pinpoint one place as inspirational.  It is really the collection of places or, rather the ongoing experience of traveling through so many countries, cultures, and religions, that has changed us.  It was never like a light bulb suddenly turned on but more like after so many years on the road we looked up one day and noticed a bright light of new ideas, new thinking and looking at the world, and a whole new way of life for ourselves.  It started slow and unnoticeable and turned into a big sensation before we ever knew it started.

The only pinpoint answer for a “Eureka” moment was in Baralochi, Argentina when we decided to convert our then temporary trip into a permanent international nomadic lifestyle by investing our remaining travel funds into our self published book and relaying on that income to meet our travel expenses to support us indefinitely.   This moment, and all the background buildup to it, is described in full detail in our second book, “Down The Road in South America”.  see http://downtheroad.org/Publishing/

ANDY: You once said your goal was a continent a year.  How are you progressing on that lofty but worthwhile achievement?

TIM: A continent a year?  I probably said that a while back because I do not recall it.   It sounds like something I said in the first few years of this trip because it took about three years to get past the new and naive stage of travel.  This statement can be added to a long list of mis-predictions I have made about our trip.   I am clearly eating those “a continent a year” words today.  Looking at the math; we have been on the road well over seven years now and have only visited four continents. (Asia, Australia, North, and South America) All these years of travel have taught me one thing about goal setting that I keep repeating to myself, “Our goal is to not have a goal.”  This is a level of enlightenment that I have not completely achieved but I keep working on it.

We plan and hope to be fortunate enough to visit all continents and countries in due time.  Obviously a hand full of countries are currently impossible to visit because of wars and other problems but we still hold out that given enough time, maybe decades, things will clear up and we can visit someday.  This may raise some eyebrows but I always think about the generation that would have told you it would be impossible to visit Germany or Japan.  Also, Antarctica, Greenland, and the North Pole are not especially bike friendly places so I doubt if we visit unless we win the lottery or some other unforeseen opportunity arises.

ANDY: And by the way – this is such a powerful paragraph.  Wonderful!
After reading this you may be looking at your own life and thinking of ways you can live out your dreams.  Dreams are individual so there is no specific advice I can give, no blue print to success, no ten steps for achieving your life’s goal.  The solution is as individual as the dream.  I can only suggest that there are probably creative ways, often unimagined out of the box ways, to turn your dreams into reality.  Patients, creativity, and guts are the tools that will take you anywhere you want to go.

TIM: I wrote this (in our Finances section http://www.downtheroad.org/money/Finances.htm) because so many people write us hoping we can tell them that one little secret that will show them the way or untangle one of their philosophical problems concerning life.  I am simply unable to do this for them.  We often feel like Forrest Gump who is running because it is fun and feels good but there is a group of people running behind him thinking he knows “the meaning of life” and if he would only give it up all their lives would instantly be better.  I really wish I could help people with cosmic advise but that would be above my pay grade.  We are simply drifting on our own journey trying to find our own solutions and everyone else will need to do the same.

Cindie and I at Monarch Pass

Cindie updating her Twitter feed on the road.

Rattled at Cindie as we rode by it.

On a more positive note, and proof that I can share my computer at least a little, Cindie has a new Twitter account and is in the process of moving her daily journal to it.  The big advantage for Cindie using Twitter is that she can update from our cell phone when we are off the grid and in between internet access points.  She is updating her Twitter feed with detailed events once or twice a day which serves to remind me of all the crazy stuff that continuously goes on during our travels.  You can be one of the early subscribers to what is bound to be a huge following please see

http://twitter.com/DownTheRoadORG Also we typed up a short email interview that will appear (in Greek) in the Makedonia newspaper www.makthes.gr.  We wrote this in our tent while crossing the Rockies and it was only lightly edited to save time.

Email Interview: Questions and Answers with Greek Journalist

1. Would you change your life for a lot of money and a big house?

We already gave up a lot of money and the opportunity to buy a bigger house to take this trip so these material things can not tempt us again.  Before we left we both had good jobs and could have bought  many nice things but instead we chose to  travel the rest of our lives.  Because we can always go back to our old lifestyle of money and material possessions we choose a nomadic life on our bicycles everyday.  A big house and income only requires a bike ride to the nearest airport, slap down the credit card, and a flight home to Arizona but we will never go back.  Seeing the world is the biggest house and freedom is the greatest wealth.

2. What keeps you going?

The opportunity to continuously see new things, meet new people, and to learn and grow everyday is what keeps us moving down the road.

3. Have you ever been to Greece?

Cindie has been to Greece but not on a bike and Tim has not been anywhere in Europe.  It doesn’t really count as visiting a beautiful place like Greece until we have ridden a bike across it.  Bicycle Touring is such a deeper level of travel end immersion into the culture.  We would love to visit Greece and the rest of Europe some day and plan to, maybe several times, before this trip is over.  The biggest obstacle to a European/Greek tour is the sinking US dollar and the strong Euro.  Our day will come and we promise to visit.  Any suggestions?

4. When do you get to write your books? On the road?

We do most of our writing during bad weather while we are confined to our tent with the computer on battery power.  The editing and other work involved with publishing our books is mostly done while we are on 2 – 3 month breaks about every 18 months of travel.  Tim made a short video describing how we work on our books linked to below.
http://www.revver.com/video/1449032/where-do-you-work-and-write-as-you-bicycle-tour-abroad-or-travel-overseas-while-working-on-the-road/

5. Do you have any other plans?

We plan to continue touring the world for the next 20+ years on bicycles then we will see what happens.  When we are to old to travel on bicycles we will buy an old RV (caravan) and travel around North America the easy way.  Tim made a video from a radio interview where this question is also answered
http://www.revver.com/video/1434441/retiring-from-many-years-of-travel-and-bicycle-touring/

6. Do you miss your friends or family?

Yes, but we never lived close to our families before we left.  Now we get to visit more often and for longer periods of time.  Our circle of friends has expanded to many parts of the world and they are all loved, missed, and revisited in due time.

7. Would you settle down one day?

We can not picture living in one place and setting down roots right now but eventually we will grow too old to travel and return to our (now rented) house in the mountains of Arizona, USA

8.Did you change as persons during your travel?

Obviously, traveling this many years 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.

9. Has anyone tried to follow you on your trips?

Many thousands of people follow our trip every day on our web site www.DownTheRoad.org and a few have rode with us for a few days to a few weeks at a time.  Most of the time it is just the two of us.  All are welcome to ride and camp with us but it is a hard life and few stick around.

10. As a couple do you stick to each other because of what you’ve seen and done together?

This trip with all the good, bad, and crazy experiences has drawn us closer as a couple.  We have gone through it all together and survived because we are committed to each other.   We have learned to work together as a team  to overcome  the endless challenges that  we face.

Well, that is it for now.  Keep checking Cindie’s Twitter feed to see what happened to her computer.
Tim Travis

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Kanab, Utah, our first town, many old westerns were filmed here.

The Greyhound dog parade.

Red Canyon, check out the great bike path to the left.

Bryce Canyon	Views like this are along the trail.
Cindie enjoying the view on Navajo loop trail.	The pines get really tall in Bryce.
Thor’s hammer.	A stunning view through the door to Bryce.

The wall of windows.

Tim at camp, check out my little chair, I love it because it keeps me out of the dirt.	Mountain lion print near our campsite, Yikes, it about gave me a heart attack.
Through the canyons on the way to Hite, on Lake Powel. Lizard on a rock, in Hanksville.	We liked this campsite. View from the Ranger station at Hite.

View from the ranger station at Hite.

Our camp near Natural Bridges.

Looking at Natural Bridges, with Bear Ears in the background.

Looking back through the road cut through the hogback, a tough way to go in a wagon.

MP3 Audio:
http://www.prescottyellowpages.com/Video/MP3/KNAU_Flagstaff_Arizona.MP3

Also we recently appeared in our home town newspaper.  The Daily Courier, Prescott Arizona, USA http://downtheroad.org/Publishing/Media/Prescott_Arizona_Bicycling_Couple_Recounts_Adventures.htm by Ken Hedler

I had a detailed newsletter written about the emotional experience with visiting our (rented) house and longtime friends in our hometown in Prescott, Arizona, USA but Cindie’s 6 months old computer crashed and it was lost.  Other than my letter we lost all of our email contacts, Cindie’s Utah journal and ongoing correspondence.  If you were waiting for an email from us we probably lost it and we ask you to please write again.  This is especially true for the film studio prospects and several future public appearances in the works including Colgate University in New York.  We still have all comments left on the Latest News Blog and our web content. We backed up our tax and bookkeeping files so those weren’t lost. Cindie is happy about that. So this is something we can recover from but it is the lost email that is the most frustrating.

We will keep working on Cindie’s computer and try to retrieve her  Utah journal.

Tim Travis
www.DownTheRoad.org