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Touring from Michigan to Florida

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Touring from Michigan to Florida

Old 03-22-15, 08:48 PM
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Dramignophyte
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Touring from Michigan to Florida

Hi! My names Erik and I'm a 25 year old male. It's a bit late notice, but I have been trying to find a touring partner to go from Michigan to Florida. I have found it difficult to find anyone at all who can take two months or so of their life off and also want to go on a serious adventure. I have only gone on a week long tour as my longest before now. I'm really only worried about being robbed, or else I would probably rather go alone, everything else is just an adventure waiting to happen! I plan to leave the first month of may and would be happy to change the route to meet up with a partner who's ready to go! It will be mostly camping with some money in the budget for the occasional motel room. I'm running a quality mountain bike and a child bike trailer for all of my gear; I don't hit the 75 miles a day road bikes seem to average on tours. The time can be moved around a bit too. I'm moving to Florida and I want to have an adventure first. Let me know, I'm getting pretty desperate to find a partner, or I'm worried my family just wont let me go.
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Old 03-23-15, 08:33 AM
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Just go alone. If you would prefer to go alone anyways, dont take someone who you dont know well and that could negatively impact your trip just because of the very very slim chance of a robbery. As you said, how many times in your life are you going to have the opportunity to do something like this in your lifetime? Why not do it exactly how you want to do it?

I was in a situation like yours about four years ago. I was living in Korea and wanted to ride my bike across Asia but noooooooooone could take a year off to go with me. Lots of people said they "wanted" to but no one actually did anything about it. So, I went alone and had a blast. Over the course of an entire year in Asia I had exactly one time when I was in fear of being robbed and it turned out to be a curious camel sniffing my tent in the middle of the night in western China rather than my imagined wandering nomadic burglar. Thats still one of my favorite stories from the whole trip! I did have a bike pump stolen from me in Lhasa, Tibet but that was my own fault for not being smart enough to remove it when I locked up my bike.

Just ride and have fun!
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Old 03-23-15, 08:34 AM
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By the way, I am currently living in East Lansing MI. Where are you at?
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Old 03-23-15, 05:40 PM
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I'll be in Marquette Michigan soon. Right now I'm in Minneapolis. I wouldn't mind company, but I think it could be pretty awesome with over a month of alone time, but it is a little intimidating.
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Old 03-23-15, 06:52 PM
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Originally Posted by zeppinger
Just go alone. If you would prefer to go alone anyways, dont take someone who you dont know well and that could negatively impact your trip just because of the very very slim chance of a robbery.
+1. The stranger you met to go with you could turn out to be a "Craig's List Killer," rob you, chop you up into bite-sized morsels and cook you suing his (or her) Trangia stove.
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Old 03-24-15, 02:33 PM
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Originally Posted by indyfabz
+1. The stranger you met to go with you could turn out to be a "Craig's List Killer," rob you, chop you up into bite-sized morsels and cook you suing his (or her) Trangia stove.
I didnt mean to imply that the riding partner would be a wacko. However, I have been on tours where my riding partner and myself were not good matches in important aspects such as pace, miles per day, budget, etc... which negatively impacted both of our rides. Why do that to yourself if what you really want to do is tour alone?
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Old 03-24-15, 04:46 PM
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I think it would be a lot of fun to tour alone but my family is not a fan of the idea and I wouldn't mind having someone along for the trip to help push things along and provide safety in numbers. The general "it's unlikely to be robbed" helps some though. Ideally, I would like to have a partner just for general safety I guess.
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