Maine to Phoenix

By Chris Douglass

Hi All,

Chris Douglass here. This motorcycle trip is pretty much what started the whole Small World Treks thing. Over the course of six days I rode 3,300 miles and stopped to talk with everyone I could. Some of them I filmed and of those a few made it into the video on this page. I asked them all questions about life, what they did for a living, what was important to them and what their plans were for the future. Almost every single one of them told me they wished they could do something like I was doing, a cross country motorcycle trip, but they all had reasons they couldn’t. A job, a family, a strict budget, hemorrhoids… When I told them the entire trip was only going to take six days and cost about $400 (slightly more if you factor in Preparation H and a donut seat) they would laugh and say something along the lines of “It’s great you’re doing this while you’re young, before it’s too late.” Too late? When will it ever be too late to drop 400 bucks and take off for six days? How much does it cost to go on a cruise? A lot more than four bills! What was stopping these people from doing something they’ve always dreamed of (besides hemorrhoids?)

Seven months later I still haven’t come up with an answer. The best I can figure is that we’ve been told too many times that adventure just isn’t in the cards for everyday folk like you and I. It’s reserved for the people we read about in books and magazines, or watch on TV and Indiana Jones movies, not mere mortals like us. Well I’m not buying it.

After settling in Denver and working a “real job” for a while, my mind kept drifting back to sleeping under the stars on the side of the road and digging through my backpack in search of nickels and dimes to pay for a tank of gas and I realized how much happier I was those six days than during the six months that followed. I had had an adventure and I had felt alive. Now I was sitting in a cubicle trying to sell loans to people about to have their homes foreclosed and feeling more miserable than ever! Something wasn’t right. We’re all striving for happiness, right? So why do we purposely make ourselves miserable every day? Why do we put off happiness until retirement?

Long story short, I decided another adventure was in order. It was time I steered my life in the direction I wanted to go, not the direction I was told to go by everyone else. When I tell people I’m about to walk 2,500 miles with almost no money, no sponsors and no guarantee of success they say I’m crazy. When I consider the alternative, I know I’d be crazy not to go.

The world is smaller than you think, people. Go explore it!

***the above note from Chris was written for www.smallworldtreks.net

Here's a highlights video we put together of Chris' most recent adventure, a cross country motorcycle trek from Maine to Phoenix, AZ. We put in a few of our favorite tunes, so make sure your speakers are cranked!

Maine to Phoenix - Funny bloopers are a click away