Tarck Across America.

Ok. I’m graduating this summer. after 6.5 years. I think most people here know I’m ready to leave portland… Girlfriend left me and job lets me work remote.

The plan is: See america. Take my time, work most days of the week anywhere with the internet, ride bike most days of week, visit tarckers over the course of a year or two or three… I don’t know… Ultimately, I’d keep doing this until I find a reason not to.

1.) where go first.
2.) who’s coming with me?
3.) is this fucking stupid or realistic?
4.) get me into 15" MBP hard cases
5.) When is a good time of the year to leave?
6.) what parts of the country do I visit during what time of the year?
7.) How prepared do I need to be? (money, equipment, sleeping stuffs.)

4.)


and blemish models:

8.) Please point me to someone who’s already travelling by bike and working at the same time.
9.) What camera do I bring? I was thinking, sell my 1DsII and all those lenses, keep most of the money for travelling, and buy a Powershot G series. like a G9 or something.

10.) What are some things that might be worth bringing along but don’t seem obvious? ex: National parks pass, emergency bracelet, Crocs, stamps… I don’t know…
11.) Does ATT have good 3G service in your city?

I’m thinking about stopping in the south and cleaning up some oil, while I’m at it.

Come to SF.

Yeah, I’m almost positive SF is the plan for 1st or 2nd main stop.

There or Seattle

come on… you just had to jack my thread title :frowning:

(mine was in off topic tho)

SLC

if everyone on tarck is touring who will post?

I will post when I am around wifi (iPod touch) or around a friends computer or at a public library. Problem with public library, is leaving all my gear outside, even if it is locked, thevies could steal stuff in bags and that are attached but not locked… water bottles/pump/sleeping bag/pad

[quote=aerobear]come on… you just had to jack my thread title :frowning:
(mine was in off topic tho)[/quote]

But I mean, seriously. I find very little tarckiness in driving somewhere. I needed to re appropriate the usage.

SLC definitely sometime after California. What about touring the south in the winter? anyone have experience? Hanging in Reno or Vegas for a bit and then moving on? Utah is pretty mellow in the winter, right?

I view, “touring” as a means of getting from one place to another. I see it similarly to a vacation where someone leaves a life that they intend to return to. I will definitely be touring in a sense, but when I leave I’ll be closing most of my life in portland. How I expect everything to stay afloat is by working about 8 hours a day 5-7 days a week from the computer. Travelling won’t happen every day, but possibly on the weekends when I need to jump cities or wi-fi hotspots.

What I’m trying to determine is if living this way can actually be as cost efficient as imagine it can be.

Assuming that you’re not paying for an apartment or big storage unit while you’re traveling, then it could definitely be pretty cost-efficient. I’ve read a few stories of people (with mobile jobs/incomes like yours) looking at their rents/mortgages and realizing they could be traveling Europe with the same money. So they sold their stuff and started traveling.

Worth a shot man, no better time to do it than right after school. Post-school, roots grow faster than you’d think.

iknorite? good thing she left me because had we recovered from that one we’d be for sure getting hitched.

Any of those dudes you can get me in contact with? I want to interview

Heh, I guess we’ll call that lucky then?

I can’t really cite anyone specific, the only off-hand example I can think of is Tim Ferriss who’s basically made a living off of selling a similar idea. Some of the people/examples I was thinking of may even be from his book. I like some of his ideas but he reeks of motivational speaker, and I think his book can be dangerous in the wrong hands.

I got the sense that these were people spending decent amounts of time in one place (2-4 weeks), then hopping a train to go somewhere new. One of them was a travel writer, the other was a call-in tech support guy. The bike angle is a new wrinkle.

sell me cannon lenses/trade for bike shit?

[quote=Sandbagcat]I view, “touring” as a means of getting from one place to another. I see it similarly to a vacation where someone leaves a life that they intend to return to. I will definitely be touring in a sense, but when I leave I’ll be closing most of my life in portland. How I expect everything to stay afloat is by working about 8 hours a day 5-7 days a week from the computer. Travelling won’t happen every day, but possibly on the weekends when I need to jump cities or wi-fi hotspots.

What I’m trying to determine is if living this way can actually be as cost efficient as imagine it can be.[/quote]
This book, you need to read it: http://www.amazon.com/Computing-Across-America-Bicycle-High-Tech/dp/0938734180

None of it is available yet. For sure no sooner than Sept 5th.
Letting go of the canon equipment will hurt me emotionally, selling it will be the best choice.

I have like 6k in this mess.
1DsII
85mm f1.2
50 mm f1.4
17-40mm f4
Speedlights,
580 exII
430 exii

The wide angle makes a nice walkaround zoom on a crop sensor. The 85 is the fussiest lens I’ve ever worked with. Easily the most beautiful.