CURRENT MISSION

Currently I'm in the middle of the "52 Adventures" project. Every week I am trying something new or outside my comfort zone and writing about it at my blog https://gooutsidetoday.com.

ABOUT ME

I am an American expat who has lived in Toronto, Canada since 2004. I live near the middle of the city with my partner of 28 years, our 21 year old son, and two lazy cats.

I love to travel to put myself into situations where I don't know what is going to happen. I love to travel by bicycle for the same reason. You never know who you'll meet, what stories you'll hear or what new things you'll learn.

When I travel I really like to meet people from where I am visiting and to find out what they love about where they live. I know for me, in my own town these things are quite different from the common tourist attractions here in Toronto

For the past several years I have been learning Hindi and am finally getting to the point where I can speak it reasonably well. In December I'll be making my fourth trip to India - this time traveling some by bicycle. I'm very excited about this prospect as you can imagine.

My partner, Sage, is a professional storyteller. You can see her work at http://www.tyrtle.com. We often travel together.

Before we moved to Canada we lived several different lives in different places. After our son was born we left our life in a small city (Bethlehem, PA) for a yurt in the Ozarks. A couple years after that we moved to a small Ozarks town. After that I took a couple consulting jobs that took us to Michigan, New York, and Albuquerque. Fed up with the conservative turn that things were taking in the US we left for Canada in 2004. We now live hundreds of feet above the city in a high rise apartment. What a different life from a yurt in the middle of the woods.

In 2010 I traveled by bike from Toronto to Montreal with the Friends for Life Bike Rally (http://www.bikerally.org) to raise money for the Toronto People with AIDS foundation. In 2011 I did it again but to raise more money, I went from Toronto to Quebec City. More than half my stops between Montreal and Quebec City were with (fantastic) couchsurfing hosts.

In July of 2012 my 13 year old son and I completed a new sort of charity ride we created. The project, 500 kindnesses, sought to raise 500 "pledges of kindness" On July 1, 2012 we rode a tandem bike from Toronto - considered to be some one of the rudest, most selfish cities in Canada to New York City which many consider to be the rudest and most selfish city in the states. I don't believe either to be the case and we hope to prove this to ourselves along the way. Our route was somewhat circuitous, taking us first from Toronto to Ottawa, Ontario then Montreal. From there we turned directly toward NYC.

PHILOSOPHY

Tread lightly, say "yes, and...". While I'm an agnostic and have no idea what the nature of existence is, there's a good chance we only get one lifetime here. Don't do things you'll regret, and by the same token, be sure to do all the things you'll regret having passed up later.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've tried it several times with numerous hosts on several different trips now. It made an amazing bike trip even more amazing for the wonderful and interesting people I've met.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

As a guest I tend to be quiet (quiet as in not loud, not quiet as in not talkative) and tend not to stay up terribly late. When my hosts are around I like to share stories with them. I have found that the sorts of people who participate in CS also often have a sense of adventure that leads to some really interesting stories.

We haven't hosted before (my partner isn't quite as adventurous as I am yet) but would love to show someone around my city given the opportunity.

Interests

Cycling, unschooling, intentional communities, carfree urban design, urban agriculture

Music, Movies, and Books

All sorts of music from jazz to dance to bhangra to hip hop. There's little well-made music I dislike. I have a special place in my heart for covers that do something new and interesting with the original song.

Favourite movies include:
After Hours, Noises Off, The Last Supper, The Corporation, The End of Suburbia, The Beach, Food Inc

Lots of different books - better to just start here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3495397

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

For two years I lived with my family in a yurt with no electricity and running water in the Missouri Ozarks.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Canada, India, Netherlands, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, United States

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