Bike Against the Wind: A buddy's journey across the United States

This past Sunday, April 4, twenty-ten, Easter Sunday, Mark Vashro dunked the wheels of his bike in the Atlantic Ocean (well, it was really Boston Harbor right at Columbus Park in Boston) and set off to ride 4,000 miles across the United States. He's calling his journey, Bike Against the Wind and you can read all about it here.

I met Mark last fall at the Apollinaire Theatre in Chelsea while performing in The Wonderful World of Dissocia. It wasn't the greatest theatrical experience of my career, but meeting Mark was definitely one of the high points. He is a smart, intelligent, friendly, inquisitive person who is also a really nice guy to boot. Must be his Idaho upbringing. He and I would sit in the dressing room and talk about the world, and he and I kind of saw things in the same light, that what's currently happening in the the United States and the world at large is probably a long time coming, and in a certain regards it might even be for the better. Without getting into the philosophical details, I'll just leave it at that. Right now you either know what I'm saying or we're going to get into a big argument.

But eventually he told me about this trip--bicycling across the United States. I've known plenty of people who have wanted to do this. I know a few people who have through-hiked the Appalachian Trail. I know a few people who have gone on extended bike trips. Long-distance bike travel is not news to me.

But what was news to me was his reason.

He said he wanted to see for himself what was going on out there in the country. He wanted to talk to people and see why and how they ended up where they were. And if I remember correctly, he wanted to see how he fitted in to all this.

And he wants your story too. He's looking for content (I think it's just videos, though) about how you ended up where you live.

He's a filmmaker, so his bike helmet is fitted with this cool little rack for this cool little HD camera he has. And of course, it's the 21st century so he's updating his site, and you can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

As a social writer for Gather.com, I spend an inordinate amount of time surfing the Web looking for stories and keeping up on the news and current events. I really enjoy it, but it can get kind of depressing at times. Human beings do the weirdest, most illogical things at times. And as we all know, many times they are simply mean and destructive.

The thing is, there are a lot of really good things happening in this world. Uplifting, positive things that can restore our faith in human nature and hopefully ensure this world will hang on for a few more generations. I think Bike Against the Wind is one of those things.