Denton, meet Ari.
Three weeks ago, in Austin, I was volunteer working for the Yellow Bike Project community bike shop. They have an amazing new facility, and I had a great time working hard with great folks. One of the folks I met is Ari Gold, and when I asked him if he lived in Austin, he replied “No. I’m riding my bike around the world.”
Ari has a blog called BikeToAustralia where you can follow his travels, and I’ve already gone back and read the whole thing, and it’s fascinating. The following quote sums up the question most people ask him, why he’s riding around the world:
I want MEMORIES worth living for when all I have are memories. I want to experience other ways of life I greatly enjoy but barely know about. The museums, architecture, food, music, accents, clothing, belief systems, societies and interactions of people all fascinate me and excite my curiosity
I told Ari to look us up if he came through Denton, and he did exactly that. After a perilous trip through Dallas’ sprawl, he made it here, safe and sound. After staying at my house for the last couple nights, he’ll be moving on to work at the Ponder Acres organic farm just west of Denton.
If you’d like to get in touch with Ari to offer him work, hospitality, or conversation, you can reach him at bike2australia [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] uk. He takes Paypal through his blog to help fund his 5 year world tour, and frankly, he could use some nicer components on his ailing bicycle. I’ll be giving him some parts that I have, and hopefully he’ll leave Denton on a better ride than he arrived on.
Ari is a gracious, hard working houseguest, and I wouldn’t hesitate to give him shelter again.
I feel honored and delighted with Howards blog on me. My adventure excites and inspires me, irony, eh? My personal crises, unemployment and divorce, felt like I was being pushed to the edge of a cliff. I jumped into the abyss.
I saw emotional and financial depression in Las Vegas, where I lived, across the USA on national TV, and globally from friends who came from there to here for work. Why are all these people I care about, including myself, in pain?!
There’s more people on the planet than ever before. We are using natural resources in faster ways than ever before – neither Jesus nor Buddha owned an SUV. AND Global weather is changing. The icecaps are melting, rising water levels mean there is less land for housing, industry and farming. Plants and animals depend on specific kinds of weather to survive, they can’t live where they used to, move it or lose it, both are happening under our very eyes and feet.
A childhood memory came back to haunt me; when I was 7 – 8 years old a teacher said the mistakes made by people their age would have to be dealt with by people my age; me. What could I do about all this? There ARE answers out there, other ways of doing things, mostly old ways, a few new ways. I am joyfully searching for ways to survive. I am comforted knowing there are other scouts seeking a safe haven in our future; I am one of many.
[…] to all the volunteers who worked the valet and made it work so well! Best of luck to Ari, who is continuing his journey riding around the […]