biking | gearheadz | hiking/backpacking | mobile work/life | music | providence | travelblogs | world conscience
Here are some of our favorite sites of late.
Web Favorites
biking
14degrees.org
A man on recumbent bike and skateboard traveling the world for a good cause.
downtheroad.org
In March 2002, a couple from Prescott, Arizona, left everything behind and started a bike tour that in seven years should take them through seven continents. They've written two books on their journeys to date.
familyonbikes.org
A family of four from Boise, Idaho biking from Alaska to the tip of South America in Argentina. What an awesome way to teach kids about this world.
heinzstucke.com
The man who has visited every county in this world by bike! And at age 70 is still going strong.
pathlesspedaled.com
A couple who will are traveling the U.S. by bike. Beautiful photos. Great blogging about simplifying their life so it fits on two bikes (i.e., getting rid of stuff).
travellingtwo.com
A Canadian couple who biked around the world for two and a half years. Nicely organized site with beautiful photos--great information about health on the road, dealing with dogs while cycling, financing a trip, and more. In 2009, they finished the bike trip and moved to Amsterdam where they're looking to live and work for a while.
worldbiking.info
Eric and Amaya biked through Africa not only for the adventure but for charity (CAMFED). They started their trip in 2006, took a break from Africa in 2007, went back to Africa in 2008 and finished in early 2009. Detailed info on routes and roads, food and lodging, locals, visas, and money of the countries through which they have traveled. They're now biking through Central and South America.
gearheadz
sierratradingpost.com
Great gear and outdoor clothing deals. Oh, and free express shipping if you find the riddle in the print catalogs!
tarptent.com
Love our tarp tent! We have the Rainshadow 2 and it fits two people and two 50 lb dogs with plenty of space.
ursack.com
We love our ursacks too. So far, no bear problems when backpacking in Colorado. The ursacks were put to the test when we hiked the Wind River Range. Again, no bears....
hiking/backpacking
14ers.com
Great site for all your 14er hiking needs! We've climbed 12 of the 52, a couple more than once. We quit climbing them because they're too crowded. Now we usually climb 13ers because you have the mountain all to yourself. To paraphrase one of our WFR classmates: A mountain is a mountain--there are plenty mountains under 14,000 that are just as spectacular!
andrewskurka.com
Skurka is a professional backpacker who's well-known in backpacking/hiking circles for the records he's set: (1) hiking the Great Western Loop ( 6,875-miles ) in 208 days, and (2) hiking the Sea-to-Sea Route ( 7,778-miles--1400 in snowshoes! ). Like Tapon (see below), Skurka makes a living by backpacking/hiking and then writing and speaking about his adventures.
backpackinglight.com
No more 50 lb packs for us (okay, we never had 50 lb packs but you get the idea). All sorts of great information about shedding weight from your pack.
francistapon.com
Tapon was the first person to yo-yo the Continental Divide Trail. As a professional hiker, he pretty much makes a living by long-distance hiking/backpacking, and writing and speaking about his hikes. Can't wait to hear about his upcoming travels in Africa!
lnt.org (Leave No Trace)
A nonprofit international center for outdoor ethics that aims to educate people to enjoy the outdoors responsibly.
trailcooking.com
No more dirty dishes! Awesome site with all sorts of recipes, info about gear (cozies) and dehydrating food, links to DIY gear sites, lightweight backpacking, and more.
traildivas.com
A site by Sarbar of freezerbag cooking fame for whom else but Trail Divas! Nice resource for women hikers.
mobile work/life
goingslowly.com
Follow Tara and Tyler's adventures: Working while traveling by bike through Africa and Europe. Great tips on gear, searchable immunization database organized by country, great prose, beautiful pics, and now audio recordings of life on the road! Oh, and check out How We Did It.
ramonacreel.com
Ramona and Matt make their mobile home/office in a custom retro Airstream along with their traveling companions, Azi and Crowley. Great advice on organizing everything, full-time rving for the under 40 crowd, life as DINKs, and a whole lot more! Also check out Matt's web dev company crowandazi.com.
rvoutoftheratrace.com
Dan and Jenn have been fulltiming in a 33' RV since 2007. Kawi, the cat joined them in 2009. They live the sweet life—spending summers in Colorado and winters where it's a whole lot warmer.
technomadia.com
From Orion, Chris and Cheri run TwoStepsBeyond, a technology consulting company. They've been on the road together since 2007 and are the founders of Camp Nomadia at Burning Man. Great info on technology, living the nomadic life in a 17' Oliver, the cost of a technomadic lifestyle, and travels with KiKi.
music
Pandora.com
You select an artist, genre, or song that you like and Pandora creates a 'radio station' for you based on the qualities of your selection. You can specify which songs you like and which you don't, or ask that a song not be played for a month. Pandora has a pretty good selection of artists and genres.
KEXP.org
Julie used to listen to this when it was just the local Seattle public radio station, KCMU. It has since expanded to the Web and has a following all over the world. Julie loves 'The Morning Show' with John Richards—c'mon gotta love a DJ who plays Motorhead, Kim Wilde, De La Soul, Ministry, the Go-Gos, the Ting Tings, McKlusky, DJ Shadow, and Los Campesinos all in the same set!
Six Degrees Traveler
A two-hour broadcast that showcases really interesting music mixes from mashups of Prince tunes to Banco de Gaio to Cheb i Sabbah. Found in iTunes Radio under Electronica.
Folk Alley
A nice mix of all sorts of folk music: Celtic, Bluegrass, African and much more. Found in iTunes Radio under Americana.
Apna Radio
Bhangra, bhangra, and more bhangra. Search for this in RealPlayer Radio.
Radio Darvish
Traditional Persian music. Check for this under International in iTunes Radio.
African Music Radio
Exactly that... Check for this under International in iTunes Radio.
providence
Information for simplifying your life.
The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.
- Henry David Thoreau
8 Essential Strategies to Saying "No"
Read:
- How to simplify your life. Tiki Kustnmacher with Lothar J. Seiwert. McGraw-Hill, 2004.
- The four agreements. Don Miguel Ruiz. Amber-Allen Publishing, 2001.
- The heart of understanding. Thich Nhat Hanh. Parallax Press, 1988.
- Your money or your life. Vicki Robin, Joe Dominguez, and Monique Tilford. Penguin Books, 2008.
travelblogs
aroundcolorado.com
Colorado trip and trail reports with incredible photos. Read the reports and be sure to view the slide shows. We recently hiked to Tuhare Lakes--our camera battery died so you'll just have to check out the slide show from aroundcolorado.com (no way we could top Jesse Speer's photos anyway).
bumfuzzle.com
Pat and Ali Schulte, worked hard and saved their earnings. [ If only we'd had foresight when living in the Seattle area...] The Schulte's have been traveling since 2003 when they bought a catamaran and with no sailing experience started a great adventure. This summer they ended their trip in a 1958 VW bus are now starting a grand new adventure.
groundtruthtrekking.org
Erin and Higg hiked, packrafted, and skied from Seattle to the Aleutian Islands. The trek took just over a year. We really enjoyed listening to their podcasts and watching their videocasts. And now we're enjoying reading their book: A Long Trek Home.
rosiearoundtheworld.co.uk
On her 57th birthday, Rosie started her run around the world. She completed it in 2008 at 62 and on crutches due to stress fractures in her legs. Read an interview of Rosie.
vwvagabonds.com
These folks started out in a VW van traveling through Mexico, Central and South America, and Africa. They moved on to traveling by bicycle. This is a great site with an incredible amount of information for folks who want to travel by bike or VW van. Also good tips on living frugally.
world conscience
Watch:
- An Inconvenient Truth
Learn about the current climate crisis. Don't believe in global warming? The scientific facts presented in this movie just might sway your view. - Cidade de Deus (City of God)
Based on a true story, this film follows the life of a boy growing up in the favelas west of Rio de Janeiro. Must see.
- God Grew Tired of Us
Follow the journey of a group of Lost Boys of Sudan from the refugee camp they've called home for years to the cities of the United States. Talk about culture shock! Beautiful film.
amfar.org
We lost Mikey X in 2005 at age 51 to AIDS. There are now around 1.1 million people in the U.S. infected with HIV/AIDS and 33 million people infected worldwide.
enoughproject.org
A project to end genocide and crimes against humanity.
Terracycle.net
A
company turning trash into items such as rain barrels, corkboards, and more. It all started with worm poop.
The Story of Stuff
The real story about how you get all of your stuff.
wecansolveit.com
We need clean energy NOW!
