CURRENT MISSION

We're a couple on a motorcycle roadtrip from Portland to Montreal by way of San Fran, Las Vegas, Austin, New Orleans, Chicago, New York, and Boston!

ABOUT ME

If you asked Alain, he'd just say, "We're dope."

I'm not nearly as succinct as he is, so I'd probably say something along the lines of us being creative, snarky, genuine, occasionally too spontaneous for our own good, occasionally too cerebral for our own good, intelligent, possibly even interesting, definitely interested, slightly weather-beaten and or road-dirty, appreciative of natural wonders and unnatural wonders alike, and also being really short and really tall at the same time. (It helps to have two of us.)

We're definitely not jerks, so with our powers combined, I think we could get along with just about anybody. Unless that anybody happens to be a real grinch. We love people and puppies and art and sexy dive bars.

Alain designs websites on the road (how he manages to focus enough to do this, I don't know) and used to play bass in a couple metal bands back in Victoria. He also worked at a super fly coffee shop and is about coffee how other people are about wine, or cigars, or pedigreed dogs. He was vegan for 12 years prior to this trip and took a (pretty necessary) hiatus while we've been on the road so he could try some weird things that he'll never have ever again!

He also came to Portland to study drawing comics at a little DIY school, which lead to us meeting! Our hunt for reference photos/research for some of his upcoming comic projects have lead us into a few rather interesting adventures (ask him about 'visiting' Monsanto's HQ, ha.)

As for me, I'm aiming to parlay my illustration degree into a tattoo apprenticeship once we hit Montreal! I've been drawing all my life and now that college is a few years behind me, I'm way too excited to start inflicting beautiful artwork on others :) I was just starting to get rolling with the mostly vegan/gluten-free lifestyle before we left on this trip, but again, that's been put way on hiatus!

I grew up in my parents' juice bar in Washington State and spent another couple years working at a juice bar/smoothie cart in Portland, so I've been trying to juice it up on the trip as much as possible. Bring me your ginger and kale!

We also love to cook healthy eats and are really missing our kitchen right now, so if you happen to magically have a kitchen, we'd totally dig on cooking with/for you! Or making smoothies!

visited 25 states (50%)Create your own visited map of The United States

PHILOSOPHY

Who booty is? Who booty is? Who booty, who booty, who--

In all seriousness though... we just try not to be too serious. We've just been taking this trip as it comes, and it's been nothing short of incredible. Being super flexible and open to new ideas has been our greatest ally.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We'd totally be down to host people one day when proper accommodations are in our possession (either in Montreal or maybe when we get back to Victoria BC later in the fall/next spring.) But for now, we're just traveling up a storm and looking forward to meeting some more wonderful amazing people on the road!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We had a fantastic first time surfing in Austin, Texas, and loved it so much that we did it again near Galveston and then in New Orleans for a week. We then stayed with two different hosts in Chicago, and most recently in New York City. The amount of kindness, graciousness and downright friendliness we've encountered from complete strangers has been stunning.

I would actually say it's outweighed our experiences staying with extended family on this trip... (Not surprised? Well, I was, actually!) I guess there's just something about the spirit of this site that brings open-minded, adventurous people together.

We're so stoked to have gotten such good travel tips and such generosity from folks, and we're looking forward to paying forward all the good karma one day not too far in the future. If you've hosted us, we'd love to host you one day!

Interests

Justin Timberlake, drawin' comics, cooking vegan gumbo, hiking, tent camping, motorcyclin', composing music, making terrible jokes, Miyazaki, making illegal u-turns, thrift shopping, drooling over gorgeous tattoos, wading in streams, hiding from raccoons, sweet illustrators, classic kids movies, awkward tan-lines, glitter and burlesque!!!

• dogs
• fish
• arts
• illustrations
• tattoos
• diy
• cooking
• wine
• coffee
• vegan
• flying
• gardening
• boating
• shopping
• thrifting
• comics
• movies
• traveling
• drawing
• music
• outdoor activities
• fishing
• hiking
• kayaking
• camping
• surfing
• snorkeling
• golf
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Alain:
Between the Buried and Me, Sufjan Stevens, Radiohead, Extra Life, Paul Simon, Buke and Gass, Animal Collective, The Postal Service, The Flaming Lips

Moebius, Paul Pope, Craig Thompson, Michael Duford, Fabio Moon, Gabriel Ba

Breaking Bad, The Holy Mountain (anything by Alejandro Jodorowsky) Michel Gondry (Science of Sleep, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Be Kind Rewind)

Kristen:
Beach House, Andrew Bird, Tears for Fears, Boards of Canada, The Cramps, The Knife, Bonobo, Macklemore, Blue Scholars, Fleet Foxes, Crystal Castles, Duran Duran, Cut Copy, Memory Tapes, Patrick Wolf, Depeche Mode, Alela Diane, Mariee Sioux, Franz Ferdinand

Neil Gaiman, Joseph Campbell, Charles Frazier, Anthony Bourdain, Dostoyevsky, Bulgakov, Garcia Marquez, Pynchon

Tomer Hanuka, James Jean, Sterling Hundley, Audrey Kawasaki, Alphonse Mucha, Aubrey Beardsley, J.C. Leyendecker

The Iron Giant, The Fall, Amelie, Moonrise Kingdom, CQ, Rushmore, Tekkonkinkreet, Sprited Away, Princess Mononoke, Life of Pi, Flight of the Conchords, The Mighty Boosh, Party Down, Snuffbox

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Driving down the Oregon and California coast on Highway 1 was pretty incredible, I think that was our favorite part of the trip so far... or maybe camping in the Avenue of the Giants. Or Death Valley? Hard to say, seriously.

We just drove through four hours of terrifying thunderstorms on the way to Austin that was horrifying and incredible at the same time. Golf-ball sized hail... the biggest we've ever seen!

And we drove through another tornado watch/thunderstorm from Alabama up the Natchez Trace in Tennessee the other night. Dang, we are turning into real storm chasers, completely by accident.

Seeing Beasts of the Southern Wild outdoors in the sculpture garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art was pretty phenomenal, and then we drove down to where it was filmed in the bayous the next day. Absolutely stunning, next time we're in NOLA we're gonna have to get ourselves on a boat.

We also were tipped off as to the location of a backyard pizza speakeasy. Woodfired pizza accompanied by a Balkan band and a bunch of punk kids was a definite night to remember.

And it wasn't on this current trip, but I visited my dad in Maui back in March and it totally blew my mind. We stayed right on the ocean in Lahaina and there were humpbacks visible from the shore all day, every day. Driving all the way around the island and seeing the bamboo forest, Black Sand Beach, Hana and the Seven Sacred Pools... it was incredible. And then kayaking/snorkeling from Olowalu and seeing mother + calf humpbacks, seals, turtles and so many fish up close. Pretty much changed my life.

Teach, Learn, Share

We can teach you how to:

Draw things (like people and faces!)
Make smoothies/juice
Cook some dope vegan scrambles (salty, savory tempeh!)
Play metal air-bass like a motherlicker

Countries I’ve Visited

United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, United States

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