Community of Travelers

There is an entire community of long term travelers traveling about I'm now proud to be a member of. This is a picture of Patrick and Wallie at Capitol Reefs. I met both of these guys at Capitol Reefs. Wallie is from Germany and Patrick is from Florida. They are both riding the same BMW bike.

It's been fun to meet all the people camping at the National Parks. There is a small but amazing group of people that take months or even years off from their jobs to travel the world. I'm impressed, inspired and totally intrigued!

But where are the solo women travelers? I'm on the lookout for even a solo women camper but I have spotted one yet.

Every long term traveler I meet has a unique story. The travelers I've met aren't independently wealthy. They have a true passion for traveling. I love asking lots of questions, seeing pictures of their trips and finding out how they have funded their travels. So far there is one thing everyone has in common, no kids, no mortgage.

At Capitol Reefs, Wallie a German doctor riding a BMW Dakar camped at our site. Wallie is 5 months into a 6 month bike tour around the world. He rode through Germany into Russia and had then had his bike flown to Alaska.

I came into the Zion campgrounds and guess what I saw? The same bike as Wallie parked at one of the campsites with 2 other bikes. I asked the guy at the site if the bike belonged to a German doctor that had ridden from Russsia. He said yes. But when the owner of the bike walked up it wasn't Wallie but his friend Hans. Funny I assumed there could only be one German riding a BMW Dakar around Utah. The other 2 bikes belonged to a really cool couple from Sweden. They are 2 months into a year long trip. The Sweds had their bikes flown to South America and ridden north.

At Zion I also met an Australian couple. Guy and Lisa are traveling around the world for 2 years. They had amazing pictures from South America.

I'm totally blown away by the idea of riding a bike around the world. I had never heard of that until now nor had the idea that people did that even cross my mind. For me, there is nothing better than being exposed to a foreign and unique concept. It's time to read Ted Simon's book Jupiter's Travels.