Michael Washington

Wow is about all I can say. I saw him around SLO, and today saw him again and stopped to talk. His website says most of what he told me, and the pictures look current. He's waiting for the wind to change to start heading north to his workshop in Cape somewhere in south-central Oregon.

He doesn't have a stash of money that he lives off of. He can make $300 - $500 a week busking, and has many other skills. He was a dancer. He does smoke roll-your-own, but he's a hell of a lot tougher than I am.

I don't think he has a SLO address any more... He camps out every night (an easy thing to do here) in an undisclosed location. Here's the text from his main page, but you should see the pictures.

Car Free since 1961

• Biked 3/4 million miles
• Averages 70 miles a day
• Ridden from top of globe to bottom of globe 30K miles
• Biked across 6 of 7 continents with Africa next including:
• Biked across US 8 times (4 round trips - first TransAm 1961)
• Southernmost tip of S America, Patagonia to Ashland OR 16K miles, 2001/02
• Greenland bikeable perimeter 40%
• Australian outback.[1]
• Arctic Circle (with rode there from Laguna Beach) '87
• Antarctica '88 (from Arctic Circle)
• Russia (Leningrad to Istanbul Turkey) '82
• Europe 5 times from '68 to '98. N to S & E to W
• - India '68. '71, '74, '76 to see Yogi Ramsut Kumar China 83
• Made own shelter (modular to fits six people, weighs 6 lbs, houses bikes & gear, goes up in seconds with or w/o poles, storm proof, wind proof, water proof and camouflage - will show people how to construct until he creates package for sale
• Made own stove, knives, hatchet, survival tools (fire start kit, [shovel, hatchet, can opener, knife in one]), 7-1/2 gram truing stand that fits in palm of hand, invented shop stands, and most of all tools bike shop he owned
• Designed Blue Sky hitch for Burley and collects royalties
• Won Mt Shasta hill climb while out on tour 1987

Has patent on fully suspended one wheel trailer that holds 500 lbs:

• Turns into a boat
• Turns into a cart that will also carry bike
• Has spoilers that can act as brakes on fast downhills to slow it down and stabilizers in cross winds

[1] 1100 miles, 49 days, 48 rolls of film. Slept at nite in 90 degree heat vs. 110 avg day. Constant Wind. No roads. Flat. Used GPS to navigate and also find water. Planned it for several years including location of springs, some of which he hit that were dry. Nothing cold to drink for whole trip. Saw no one for 43 days, no shower either. Rode 8 to 36 miles in a day. One of 4 to do it solo. Packed 68 lbs water, 48 lbs dried fruit. Shot snakes, birds and lizards for food. Planned trip for two years.

Added by colin #442 on 2004-05-29. Last modified 2004-05-29 04:44. F0 License: Attribution
Location: World, United States, California, San Luis Obispo
Topics: anarcho- and neo-primitivism, bicycle touring, men, music, nomadism, primitive skills