CURRENT MISSION

To be overcome with happiness and excitement at least once a day.

ABOUT ME

I am intensely connected with the visual world, and love to smell things, but if I could have only one sense I would keep touch. I am the happiest when my muscles are sore. I love meeting new people, and I love traveling alone or with others. I used to work for the national park service as a volunteer coordinator. I touch the earth.

PHILOSOPHY

The grass is always greener where there are no fences.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I love to spread the good news about CouchSurfing. I have stayed everywhere from churches to squatter houses, and the best part is to watch a closed mind open.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

On my ride from Vancouver to Tijuana, I stopped in Berkeley, CA to stay with a friend. I had to leave his apartment earlier than expected because his anxious mother was coming into town. After packing up my gear in my saddlebags, I started wandering around the bay area looking for a good park to sleep in with the hobos. Walking down the street, I find a used camping gear store, and decide to take a look. I went in there and started talking with a cashier about what I needed (more stove fuel) and why (bike trip). After paying for my stuff he walks outside and starts looking at my bike, asking me a bunch of intelligent questions. I knew something was up. Turns out, he made the same trip with his girlfriend earlier that year, ran out of money by the time they got to San Fransisco, and decided just to set up shop, get jobs, an apartment, the whole deal. After learning that I planned to sleep in a park, he insisted that I come spend some time at their place. Two of the best days of my trip.
Thanks Devon and Amanda!

Interests

The Moon and it's relationship to everything else in the universe. Backpacking and conservation corps, thinking about riding my bicycle while riding my bicycle, playing percussion with no "real" instruments, speaking native languages in foreign countries.

• dogs
• cooking
• vegetarian
• walking
• shopping
• news
• traveling
• cycling
• backpacking
• camping
• skiing
• teaching
• languages
• mathematics
• medicine
• science
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Aesop Rock, The Shins, Sun Ra, Dezarie.
Wes Anderson, Documentaries with beautiful landscapes.
Don DeLillo, Dave Eggers, Pojar and MacKinnon, Kurt Vonnegut, Ryszard Kapuscinski, Robert Kaplan. (Just to name a few.)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

"I've seen a blind man with a dog screaming 'Someday I'll see it all!' then he sat down with his hammer and saw." Name that quote?

Teach, Learn, Share

I have lots of experiential knowledge about bicycle maintenance, and backcountry gear/methods/safety/medicine. I have a fairly good grip on the taxonomy and field ID of flora and fauna in Washington, Arizona, and Michigan. Other than that, I love to cook (vegetarian), and to tutor people (of all ages) in math and science.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Costa Rica, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama

Countries I’ve Lived In

Mexico, United States

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