Join us for an extraordinary journey as we explore the inspiring story of Michael J Buxton, a Vermont native driven by an innate sense of adventure. Discover how his transformative fatbiking expedition across all 48 states has challenged him to embrace the unknown, uncovering the wonders of the great outdoors. From planning the trip to overcoming challenges and encountering remarkable people along the way, Michael's journey is a testament to resilience, personal growth, and the joy of exploration. Tune in now to be inspired by Michael's audacious pursuit of adventure and personal development.
Bio
Michael J Buxton, a native of Vermont currently residing in Rutland, was born with an inherent sense of adventure. His desire to explore the world and experience its vastness has always fueled his spirit. About eight years ago, while searching for inspirational videos on hiking the Appalachian Trail, Michael stumbled upon YouTube and found himself captivated by thru-hikers' stories. Though he never embarked on the Appalachian Trail, the idea of challenging himself in the great outdoors stuck with him.
For the past five years, Michael meticulously planned a fatbiking trip, seeking a transformative change in his life and a chance to discover the wonders this country has to offer. Recently, he took the plunge and acquired his trusted bike, ready to venture beyond his comfort zone and embrace the unknown.
Timestamps
[1:48] Michael's journey into biking across the country
[4:13] Where was your first long bike journey?
[5:25] How do you plan your trips?
[6:20] What were the biggest challenges you faced?
[6:56] What is your daily routine like?
[8:15] What was the most standout feature in Florida?
[11:05] What was one of the best parts about Florida?
[12:33] Do you like to be in cities or suburbs?
[18:19] What is the craziest experience you had while traveling the United States on a bike?
[27:33] Why did you take the trip to the west coast?
[29:31] What are the biggest differences you've noticed between different parts of the USA?
[32:07] What is your favorite place among all the places you've visited in the USA?
[33:43] How do you handle social challenges while traveling?
[35:29] How can anyone start their own journey of exploration in life?
[36:33] How has your mindset changed after this massive journey?
[39:50] What resources do bikers and travelers have?
[44:13] Final plugs
Plugs
To follow along with Michael's remarkable fat bike journey, visit his
Patreon: https://patreon.com/fatbikeamerica
Donation page: https://fatbikeamerica.com/donate
Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/fatbikeamerica
Website: Fat Bike America - Bikepacking, Fat Bike, Adventure Seeker
Instagram: Fat Bike America 🇺🇸 (@fatbikeamerica) • Instagram photos and videos
To support our show, you can purchase our Energy Pods here:
Shop: Energy Pods – KG Food Company
Transcript
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Welcome to the Energize Explorer Enjoy Podcast where we bring you inspiring conversations
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about food, fitness and adventure fueled by the power of the energy pods.
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Let's do this!
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Get ready to embark on an epic adventure with Michael J. Bukston, a fearless adventurer
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from Vermont, with a burning desire to explore the world.
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Join us as we dive into his incredible journey of planning and finally setting off on
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a life-changing fat biking trip across the 48 states.
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From breathtaking landscapes to unexpected encounters, get ready to be inspired by Michael's
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relentless pursuit of the unknown.
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I was working at Home Depot and we had a sit-down meeting, all the same room, no masks, no plastic
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shields, no invisible, you know, fairytale stuff.
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And as we sat there, we all discussed the fact that everyone's got to wear a mask.
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Amongst the other people, and I raised my hand and I said, well, I'm overnight free team.
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There's no way I'm going to wear a mask while I'm working because I'm going to be breathing
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in my own CO2.
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I'm just going to get light-headed and pass that, pass out because I have a minor form of
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asthma.
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With that being said, they made a big thing about it, but as soon as night shift came, we took
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a quick, clean-head mask, we had little like, neck scarves.
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Then we had another meeting, six months in, CO announced that he's not going to demand it,
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but it's highly recommended that people get vaccinated.
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And I stood up amongst the crowd and I announced it right out loud and I said, two-week
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notice, I'm out of here.
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I gave my two-week notice.
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I took my income tax return and a bunch of money that I saved up, I sold a bunch of my stuff
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to, including my car and I bought the bike, I bought all the gear and I got on the road and
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just went for it.
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I teamed up with a guy in Florida, you know, a long-time friend and we rode together for
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a few hundred miles and everything was great.
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And then, yeah, I mean, I just during the beginning of 2019, Florida wasn't going along with
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the program.
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And it was probably the best travel time to take on because it was in that mediocre moment
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where, are we really dying or is this, you know, a plan to bend or is it the hopes is
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this is it that?
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And nobody really knew.
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So, I mean, it just seemed like Florida was the only state that was fully operational
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through the entire time.
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And we had an outstanding time.
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It was, it was an absolute incredible ability to go down to Key West where there's like,
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there's supposed to be thousands and thousands of people and there is something there and it
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just made it so much better because there's no one in the way that's known.
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It was absolutely awesome.
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Great way to see the city, the people, the places, the hotels, all that stuff.
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When you started this whole thing after the home depot stuff, I was there, did you go
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first to Florida or did you go straight to the West Coast?
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2020 to 2021, I rode all of Florida up to Astral North Carolina.
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That was the, that was my conditioning moment to decide whether or not I could really
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take on something and really just go for it and do it.
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This time around 2022 into 2023 and I just went for it.
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I packed the bags and just left.
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I got about 10 states, five states in and my friends at home, they all told me I'm not going
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to make it.
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I'm going to return home.
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This isn't something I do.
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So on so forth.
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When I got to 10 states, they're like, you're going to be back, no big deal.
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You know, we're not going to invest in this.
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You know, you'll be back.
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And then 15 and 20 states that I'm in now and they're all like, wow, you're really doing
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this.
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This is incredible.
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I can't believe you're doing this.
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Here, let me help you out a little bit with this and that.
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When you first started the journey, so there's two trips over here.
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So the first one or the second one, let's just use both of them.
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How did you plan it out or and do you have something, do you like going in tuition or do
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you have like a solid plan in your mind?
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I honestly just GPS it and wing it.
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I just take wherever the wind takes me, I guess is the best way to describe that.
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What do you pack usually?
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So I have a tent canopy and ground cover.
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I have a sleeping pad, a pillow, warm pants, warm shirt.
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I have a sleeping bag with a sleeping bag insert.
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I have a food bag and then I have bike lock, raincoat, shape kit, first aid kit, extra supplies.
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I have my tent frame in the frame bag and an extra flashlight.
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And my tools on the bottom bag and my backpack has all of my electronics.
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So if ever my bike is taken from me or someone steals it, at least I have my electronics.
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What were some of the biggest challenges or were the first big challenge that you faced
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when you took this journey?
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Biggest challenge was probably Florida, West Palm Beach to Key West.
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It took like almost a month to get to Key West.
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I was experiencing saddle sore, very, very, very much every like 20 miles I'm on the side
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of the road and I'm just laying on the road just holding my butt because I'm in so much
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pain.
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How do you, how do you manage your like daily routines?
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Like for example, I can't even comprehend all of this stuff.
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Like for example, how do you like start your like, what's a day like for you?
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The day is where I wake up around 7 or 8 a.m. I pack up the bike and I might pack up the
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bike.
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I might just lay in the tent for a minute, kind of regal that my thoughts post some things
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on social media, update my website and then pack up the tent, bike and all that, get everything
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wrong and rolling.
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And I'll be on the road.
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People like yourself who try and set schedules or calendar dates with me that I've met
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previously before and they're like, hey, you know, you never answer your phone.
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It's like, I'm on the road.
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I don't have a set schedule where I'm going to be or if I have Wi-Fi or service or anything
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to be able to sit down and actually communicate.
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So it'd be different if I'm sitting at home and sitting behind a desk and I have my daily
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routine of a 95 job but out here it's, you know, my time is every day.
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It's an adventure.
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Yeah, we're like, we're cogs in the system.
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You're no longer a cog in the system anymore.
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During your first trip, what was like once some of the really stand out features about whether
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it was the place or the people or the food or the environment?
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What were some things that stood out?
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Coral from Florida.
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I don't ever want to be around it again.
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What was that?
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It just gets everywhere.
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It's to the point where Florida is great but I'll never go back.
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It's the coral sand just isn't, it just gets everywhere.
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If you have shoes on, somehow, and you've never taken shoes off, but somehow, and you've
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shoes of waterproof, but yet somehow the sand got in there and it just is, uh, water
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nightmare.
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It was, uh, the water tastes like sulfur all the time.
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You can, it's so much to say that when I arrived, I was told that the air smells like sulfur
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and I was, no way.
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And I get down there and I travel around.
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I didn't smell it until I kind of left Florida and got into Mississippi and Arkansas, Louisiana.
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It's still in those areas and it's so strange that just drinking, uh, going to a restaurant,
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drinking a glass of Coca-Cola and you're like, whoa, where did you get your water from?
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Oh, from the tap.
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It's like, hmm, is it town water or sulfur?
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And oh, well, you know, there is a hint of sulfur in there because they blah, blah, blah.
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Yeah.
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So it's like, hmm, okay.
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But Florida, uh, so I get to Epcot and a friend of mine paid for me to go to Epcot.
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So I get to Epcot and the entire Disney area is nothing but like military security and
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there's no happiness.
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Everyone's wearing masks and it's, it was probably the most, uh, critical time for Disney World
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period that why would you even be open?
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There was no theme of happiness and then you get to the food area and everyone, there's
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like thousands of people all sitting on the ground and it's like, oh, wow, that's where
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everybody is.
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And the only reason they're, they're there is because they can sit down and take their masks
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off.
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So instead of, you know, strolling around Epcot and checking out all the locations, they're
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all in the food yard sitting down eating highly expensive food and drinking highly expensive
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food, uh, beverage and I mean, a cookie is like eight bucks and it's even a large, not
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even a large cookie.
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It's very small, but that was, that was a huge, huge thing that kind of really put things
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into, into, uh, standards.
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Were there some good things about it?
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Like some good highlights about your trip over there or was it all just like a chaos?
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And the keys, the keys were incredible.
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Was that?
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Uh, the ocean on both sides of the road, uh, the scenery, the, the, the people, the people
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in general, it, you know, I was told in the northeast that Florida, uh, Floridians aren't
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very nice people.
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I couldn't have met the, uh, a nice regard of people bar that went to every, every hotel,
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every establishment that we stopped at gas station.
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We had questions as they, as they do every day now, but Cal, uh, California, uh, Florida
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was just incredible.
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Well, that, that's, that's where, that's pretty awesome.
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I'm glad you had some good, anything else that was really interesting during that trip.
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Uh, Cal Country in Florida.
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I did not expect that.
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Was that?
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Growing up in Vermont, you're, you're kind of just given the idea that Vermont is the
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Cal Country of the world and that's where all the cattle comes from and blah, blah, blah.
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And then you travel outside of Vermont and you get to Florida of all places and you just
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see non-stop rolling hills of thousands of cattle, not just a few hundred.
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And uh, that was, that was a bit of a reality check for me.
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That's crazy.
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Um, do you prefer to have certain preferences in where you like to go?
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Do you like to be out and about in the countryside?
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Do you like to be closer to the city or suburbs?
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In between.
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I mean, I, I can survive pretty much anywhere.
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So let's see.
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When I was in Moab heading to Bryce, I stopped at a place called Hoover's restaurant or who's,
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who's, I think it was Hoover's, uh, who's yours?
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I think, I don't know, who's yours or who's, it was a restaurant that offered, uh, can't,
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they had campsites, they had, uh, hotels and then they had a tubing, uh, adventure.
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And I asked them if I had taken a recording of their restaurant if they would let me ride
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the tube down the, down the river and they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, totally.
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So I did a recording of their, uh, restaurant and then, uh, did the same thing as recording
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as I was coming down the, the, uh, river.
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And as I made my way down the river, I met a, a group of other guys that were from Las Vegas.
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And they told me that if I ever make it to Las Vegas, that, they'll hook me up.
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I just have to knock on their doors.
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So, you know, drinking beers and floating down the, the river and holding the GoPro camera
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and getting footage and taking pictures.
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And, I mean, just absolutely incredible time with these guys.
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Uh, Luis Polish is his name and his business is Alfa Landscapes in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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He builds in-ground pools and does landscaping in the Las Vegas area.
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When I got to Las Vegas, I reached out to him and he paid for me to have an entire week
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at a hotel in Las Vegas so that I can experience all of Las Vegas for an entire week.
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It was, it was absolutely insanely awesome.
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We, I would come out of my hotel room walking down the street and I met up with a group of guys
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and, you know, we're all talking, uh, just, you know, just chatting about adventures and
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traveling and all that.
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And, uh, this guy opens up a cooler and he says, "Hey, anybody want a beer?"
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And I said, "Yeah, I'll take a beer.
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How much are these?"
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He said, "No, no, give them away.
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Give them away.
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Here, have a beer.
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And so I, I take a beer and all the guys, they take, they take a beer and we start walking
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out of the street, drink a beer.
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And there's this event thing going on in one of the hotels that they were directing people
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into.
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So I got, I walked into the, towards the hotel and the doors opened up and there's a,
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there's a man standing there in front of a, a big cooler with a, uh, beer in his, in the,
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in the, in the, uh, setting in the ice.
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And he's handing beer, but he's only handing beer to people that, that live in the, the
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hotel.
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So the crowd that was ahead of me, I jumped into their crowds and the bartender hands me
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up beer and I walked into the, into the hotel and the guys were like, "How did you get yourself
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another beer?"
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And I said, I said, "I jumped into the crowd."
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So they, I looked like, uh, as part of the family.
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And they're like, "Man, we, we need to hang out with you all night."
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And I said, "Okay."
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So on the exit of the, of the, uh, the bar on the other side, the, uh, hotel on the other
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side, um, there's another bartender there with, with more beer being passed out.
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And I said, "Hey, I got this on the, on the entrance.
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Can I get a new one on the, on the exit?"
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He said, "Hey, sure.
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It just takes the empty, hands me a new one and then hands all the guys that I was with,
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beers as well."
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And they're all just smiling and laughing and they, they thought it was the most hilarious
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episode ever.
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Uh, we get down the street a little ways and I happen to grab a, a bottle, um, on one of
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the, the concrete pillars.
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And I, I don't know why I grabbed it.
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I just grabbed it.
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I was, and we just kept walking and they turned to me and they're like, "What, what
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did you pick up?"
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And I said, "I don't know."
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And I, I look at the bottle and it was a completely full bottle of red sub-on-yon.
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And I was like, "Jesus, you know, this is great."
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They're like, "Hey, you're gonna pop that?"
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And they said, "I don't have a, you know, polar for it."
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So, uh, corp, herch screws.
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So they said, uh, they said, "Oh, you know, maybe we'll find one."
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So as we keep, we kept going, uh, they all got a phone call from their girlfriends asking
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where they were and they all left.
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And then, uh, we got to, um, I got to the, the next bar and I met a man who was in Moab.
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He works at, was it Moab knows, Bryce, Bryce Canyon.
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He was at the bar in Bryce Canyon and he works at the MGM in Las Vegas and he invited me
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in.
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And I get, I show up to him and he gives me, uh, $250 coupons, one for just food and then one
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for just beer.
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Um, and it was on the house like he, he's like, "Hey, go in and explore.
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Have a great time."
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And I was like, "Oh, thank you."
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And off I went.
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Oh, that's crazy, man.
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So when you go on any of these, any of these crazy trips, man, uh, like, well, are there,
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what are some of the biggest challenges that you normally face?
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Is it weather or is it just like the social stuff or is it related to food or living or it's
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just a combination of all of the above?
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I haven't really had any really bad complications with food or water or any of that.
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Uh, I guess my biggest challenge of this entire trip was probably going through New Mexico.
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New Mexico was rather strange, uh, so I came in through, uh, from Amarillo, Texas, Cadillac
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Ranch into New Mexico, uh, Temecula and then from Temecula up to Concus Lake, C-O-N-C-A-H-A-S,
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Ooncus Lake and, from Concus Lake, uh, I was going to go to Bruton, which is actually,
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spelled "Return." Uh, but they pronounced it "Reton, R-A-T-O-N." And I was going to head north
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to the, to Bruton and then get in the caller out of that way.
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And when I got GPS said that I could take this route, so I took the route.
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I went north through, uh, Concus Lake to the dam and then I took this dirt road, uh, half way
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until I got a flat tire from a really large goat head and I couldn't fix it. I tried so hard
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to repair it and I just, I couldn't get it to, to, to sticks to, to, to continue on.
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And as I was fiddling with that, um, two trucks pull up and they said, uh, where are you from?
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I said, I'm from Vermont. They said, where are you going? I said, I'm trying to get to Bruton.
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And, uh, they said, on, uh, 450 square miles of private property, really.
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They're like, you didn't see the, uh, no trespassing sign on the way up?
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And I said, there is no sign. Oh, yeah, there's a sign. I said, no, no, there's no sign.
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So he looks at the bike and he looks at me and he says, uh, goes, let me call the, the ranch owner.
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So he calls the ranch owner and I can already hear the screaming over the phone, um, of how upset this guy is.
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And, uh, so they load the bike in the back of the truck. We get in the truck and I asked,
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they said, if I'm halfway through, just take me to the other end and drop me off and I'll continue on.
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You guys will never see me again. And they're like, no, no, we're going to take you all the way back to
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Conquer Slake, drop you off. So as we're riding in the truck back to Conquer Slake, he had told me that
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every truck is loaded with a gun. There's one in the, the glove and then there's one behind the seat.
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Um, and I am to put a message out to the entire world that if anyone comes on to fell ranch, uh,
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north of Conquer Slake, that you'll be basically putting the ground. So that was, that was,
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that was rhetorically, uh, mentioned to me, uh, in the fact that I have GPS on the bike is the reason
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why I'm being sent back to Conquer Slake. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. That was, that was probably the hardest,
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uh, challenge that I faced on, uh, and throughout this entire, entire, entirety of the journey.
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I mean, last day, it's homeless people that they weren't even nothing to, to that experience.
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The people in Compton weren't even, don't even begin to touch it. I just did. Getting threatened like
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that was, was, uh, pretty, pretty, uh, interesting. I was just going to say that's a little harsh, man.
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I mean, somebody who by mistake maybe just end up and with like a broken bike or something,
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that's, that's a little much, man. That's too much. Yeah. Do you figure out any idea why they were so
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strict about that stuff? Uh, so I rode back to Con, well, I, once I was in Conquer Slake, I stopped at the
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Army Corpse Facility and we were able to repair my tire and then I were into the Conquer Slake area,
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stopped at the local marketplace and I had briefly mentioned it to the man behind the register and he
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says, you know, it's funny. You bring that story up because I went to, I went to high school with the
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guy that owns Bell Ranch and, uh, there was a time where I had to go up to Rotone to visit family
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and then I was going to take a little stroll into Colorado and visit some Brawitz himself there and
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drive back to Conquer Slake and, and that'd be the end of it. He said, but when I got to into
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Bell Ranch property and started riding up through the owner of Bell Ranch,
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stopped me and asked me where I was going. This is, I'm headed to Rotone. I'm going to visit family
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and the man says that the owner and he says, uh, because it's, tell you what, you can go to Rotone
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when you're not going to come back the way you can't, the way you went, you're, you're going to go the
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other way. You don't ever step foot on my property again and he's like, really? We went to high school
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together. He's a, yep, I don't care. You're not going to come back on my property. So, ironically,
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uh, about, I guess a year or two later, um, the owner of Bell Ranch had told Conquer Slake,
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Fire Department and told him that three of his barns were on fire and Callell was inside and, uh,
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he's losing Callell and he's losing his barns. He needs help with the Fire Department. And,
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ironically, he, he was at the time chief of the fire station and he said, oh, excuse me, Mr.
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whoever of Bell Ranch, uh, you told me you don't want me on your property anymore. So, sorry,
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and hung up the phone. Oh, man, that's crazy. Holy moly. Jesus Christ, man.
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I mean, it's, it's kind of like, it's, it's a striking thing because you don't expect somebody to eat
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that crazy, man. Usually if somebody's like, who comes to your place by mistake, you would be
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polite about it and tell them, hey, don't show up again. And then the second question is, how's
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everybody ending up in that ranch just out of nowhere? Like, is it so easy to get in there?
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Well, the GPS tells you that you can go from Temecula all the way to Roton through Bell Ranch
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because Bell Ranch has a zip code. So if a, if a, if an area of Google Maps has a zip code,
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a road will travel through it. So how do you, how do you now, how do you stay extra precautions?
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Like cautious about all of this navigation now that you've sort of had a firsthand experience
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of this crazy thing? I ask ahead every, every location I get to, I ask ahead. If I come to a dirt road,
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I make sure, I make sure I stop into a local and say, hey, is this first city travel? Is this
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for people to travel on? And, and I go from this point to that point, I was in, it was here in California.
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I believe it was in Ventura. I came to a, there's a horse farm. And I believe it's in Ventura. And
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it's a huge, huge horse farm. And there's a road that says, do not trespass. This is not
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for city travel. You will be arrested and blah, blah, blah. So I'm looking at GDPS on my phone,
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and that's the only way to go. There's no other way, unless I want to climb this gigantic mountain
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to get up over one area and then travel down into another area and then come back to the same
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the end of the same road that I'm going to, that I would initially be on to get to the next location.
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And then I see two cyclists come down and I said, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa. Can I go on this road? And they're like,
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oh, yeah, no problem. I said, well, what about the sign? They're like, no, no. As long as you stay in the road,
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you're fine. The minute you get off the road and you get on these people's property, then that's a problem.
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So I said, okay, cool. So I stayed on the road and continued on, but I'm just glad that I asked,
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because otherwise I'd have been climbing three giant hills that I didn't want to climb and
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being at the top of the hill of where I would initially just been able to ride up that one single hill,
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and I'd be onto the next area to travel on. Oh, man, this is crazy. Yeah, I just, while you were talking
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about it, I just looked up online about Bel Ranch, and I just noticed, wow, this place is huge,
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it's crazy. Yeah, 150 square miles. That's absurd. That's huge. During your second trip,
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like first trip was because of the COVID stuff, what prompted you to sort of go for the second trip
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to the west? So I've never been out west, and I didn't want to pay for gas or electricity, so
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I decided the best way to experience America for what it is is to just get on the bike and go.
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Okay. And so that's what I did. I turned Vermont down to Florida, Florida to California, and now I'm
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going up to Washington, and then from Washington, I'm going to go Montana. I mean, Idaho, Montana,
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Wyoming, and then I'll do the northern tier of Colorado, like Denver,
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Boulder, Bale, Beaver Creek, all those areas, and then from there, I don't know, I don't know,
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I'm going to go east or if I'm going to go back north, I'm still in question of how the
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the travel is going to go from there. Hey, listeners, before we jump back into our fascinating
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our inspiring guest. What are some interesting themes you've noticed in these different places,
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all the way from Florida to California? How does the country change when it comes to whether it's
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the environment, whether it's the people, whether it's the culture? It's the news media, okay,
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so the news media on the east coast tells you stay home, don't travel, don't visit your neighbor,
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fear your, you know, the grocery store, all of that stay home, stay home, stay home. You get out here
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to the California, the West Coast, and you watch the news media in some areas, most areas, I should say,
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some areas are different, but most areas that I've watched the news have all said the same thing.
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Get out of your house, go explore, don't stay home, go visit your neighbor, take your neighbor to
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the theater, go do something, visit your farmer's market, support your local shop or whatever,
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and on the east coast it's fear mongering news, on the west coast it's go out and explore.
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Man, you're like all over the place now, how do you think about all of this stuff? What's your
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interpretation? Travel as much as possible, just go and explore. If you stay home and
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fear your neighbor, fear your shadow, all that stuff, it just develops into depression, it develops
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into social anxiety, I mean, it wants to live like that, I mean, I don't, that's why I left Vermont,
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I spent almost 40 years living my life, my entirety of my life in Vermont and never really experiencing
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America, except for a majority of the east coast and that's it, this adventure that I'm on,
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I'm not getting rides, I'm not hopping on an airplane, I'm not in a boat, I'm literally doing
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these miles, I'm not cheating anywhere, and like the ride that I took from Las Vegas to Phoenix,
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and then from halfway between Phoenix, back to Las Vegas, the miles that I get in a car,
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because I decided to take a detour, I don't count those miles, so the 4,300 miles that I've hit so far
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are the 4,300 miles that I conquered on my own, my tires show the wear and tear, my body shows the
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wear and tear, I was 285 pounds when I started this journey, I'm 220 pounds now. What was your favorite
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place among all of these places? I know it's kind of maybe like... Utah. Oh, well I was fast, why is that?
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Yeah, Moab, Utah, I'll retire there. Moab, Utah offers foil driving mountain biking, bike
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packing, if you want to, whitewater rafting, tubing, and it doesn't just stop there, you've got
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every restaurant in bar, police official, fire department, the entirety of the city are just awesome.
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The tourists are cool, the bike shops are amazing, the outfit are stores, just all
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every aspect that you think you'd have a problem, and there is none. I mean, Moab, Utah is just a
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phenomenal city that I highly recommend anyone to go and travel to, whether it be summer or winter,
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I haven't been there for winter so I don't really know for sure, but I mean, for what I experienced
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in the summertime, it's got a match, what's in the winter, and there's skiing and snowboarding in the winter
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time, so how could you not go wrong? I mean, it's just all-round, hiking, biking, running, you basically
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live in a city where you can just do anything and stay fit doing it. How do you handle social challenges?
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As in, I'm thinking in the lines of let's say if somebody wants to do something similar to what you're
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doing, like explore the world, you know? So when they go to a new place, whether it's a new city or a
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new state, how do they handle this sort of challenge? I look at traveling, especially now with this
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old journey is that I look at it as a means of kind of like a crocodile. A crocodile sits in the water
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and a crocodile is an opportunist. He's not a predator, he's an opportunist. He waits for
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items to come along and then he statues them and all that stuff, but for me, I'm an opportunist.
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When I enter a city, I just kind of sit and wait and hang around and when people notice the bike,
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they start asking questions about the bike. I hand them a business card or they take pictures of the
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bike itself with me in the picture and they're so intrigued about the story and they just love
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the journey and from the east coast to the west coast, I could sit at a gas station
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without any issue, without any problem. I'm not even holding a sign. No sign of, hey, I need money or any
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of that. By the time I leave the gas station, I'd have between $100 and $200 in my pocket from the people
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that have donated because they love the idea of what I'm doing. That's awesome, man. You're basically
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becoming a bit of a symbol here that is inspiring other people to take some initiative and do something.
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So, if I were to sort of distill everything that you're doing over here, what are some key lessons
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or key messages that you would like to share with everybody who's listening and how can they
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expand themselves, even if it's like a small step towards being more explorative or seeking some
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adventure? If you're overweight, if you're not healthy, the best route would be in my opinion is to
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get an electric bike and slowly start working your way with the electric bike or traveling around
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and stuff and then kind of work your way to a pedal assist bike and then work your way to an actual
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hardcore bike. Like, I have that isn't powered by gas or electricity and go for it from there.
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I love it. I'm a guy, I've never biked except for when I was a kid. I've never taken on an
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adventure. I've never really done anything to this extreme and if you have the the want and then
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you have the will, I mean anything's possible. So, what about your mental state when you were working
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versus right now after a lot of these miles and how is your personality evolved as well?
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I would have never thought myself to sleep in a tent and camp next to businesses or behind people's
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houses or taking showers and completely strangers homes or any of that. I would never even
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had to imagine that to be possible. There is a website called warmshowers.org and warm showers,
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you pay $30 as a lifetime member and then it's like $20 a year or something like that for the app.
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There right now, I've been in communication with them. They're updating their app and they're
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updating their website to be a little bit more advanced than what it's been for like the last 20 years.
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The website is offered to cyclist only. So, if you're on a skateboard or if you're a
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homeless man on the street or whatnot and you try and show up these super spouses without a bicycle
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or bikepacking gear, they will not allow you into their home and then they will actually
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report you to the warm showers company and then you'll they'll get banned from it. But so, it's only
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open for cyclist and I mean I stayed at when I got to Arizona is where I learned more about warm showers
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and how much of an awesome opportunity it is to join it and all through California for the most part,
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I stayed at probably 20 some on warm showers host one being in Santa Cruz being the best of them so far.
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It was a three-story house kind of like condominium type thing and gated entry and all that stuff
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and the owners weren't even there for the entire week that I was there because it was raining,
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they weren't there and an incredible time. I mean I was their first tenant to the warm showers out
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so I kind of set the scale a little high for the next guy that shows up in their female because
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it's a vacation home but it's also his daughter's home for when they get back from college
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from on the east coast so I went a little above and beyond I cleaned the refrigerator, I cleaned the
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dishwasher because something was wrong with it and it wasn't working so I cleaned the interior out
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all the dishes, organized the kitchen and then took the garbage out and did a bunch of other things
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and when he showed up from my departure he's like man you took the trash out I was like yeah it was
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kind of bored you know he's like this is incredible man I this is great I love that you're here and
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this oh man what a great time and you know but the just incredible meeting that kind of opportunity
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and knowing that there's that kind of opportunity out there for cyclists and bike packers and so on
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that there's a thriving community for people on two wheels.
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What other resources or tools are available for someone who would want to take a similar path?
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Fire station.
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Uh, interesting.
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Not so much, not so much out here in California because of because of the homeless population but
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a majority of the states in the US will offer you a place to stay whether it be inside the garage with
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the fire trucks or your own room like I had in Blumfield, New Mexico and the other one is if you're
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running out of water and you desperately need water stop out of fire station a fire station will donate
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you water and if they just cooked food sometimes they'll even invite you in to sit down and have
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breakfast they'll invite you in to have lunch they'll invite you in to have dinner sometimes not all
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the time but sometimes that's crazy man that's so awesome you know you're you're bringing a little
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bit of a humanity back in the human aspect here aren't you? We get told all the time when news
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and on media and we get do people get dehumanized all the time but it's always nice to see that
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there's compassion and but the a sense of adventure and this drives you give back.
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Middle America still exists.
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Middle America.
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Let me tell you that.
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Middle America still exists.
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Middle America is Americans who are patrons they they still stand for the country they still
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support the country they still believe in freedom and uh you know the the pledge of the the
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allegiance and all of that and if you are in need of a bed to sleep on in Middle America they are
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willing to help you out they are willing to give you a plate of food and if you request that you'd
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like to work they'll find something for you to do to get some work so either put some money in your
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pocket to go in by some water or some food and then you're off the next day or you're off the next
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week or you or you stick around I mean it's uh that's what Middle America is it's where people still
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believe in the Constitution they still support it they still love America and full on this is here
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it's available you just have to know about it to be able to seek it out.
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You know you inspired me to be more compassionate I know it sounds a little bit cliche but with
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every person I talk to on the podcast I learned something from them and I I will do my part and do
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as much as possible to help to the best of my abilities as well which brings me to a very
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interesting not interesting but to the very much close to the final question here is that how can
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people support you and find you. So I have a website fatbikeamerica.com, SAT, B-I-K-E-A-M-E-R-I-C-A.com.
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I am on YouTube but on YouTube I'm still stuck in Texas because anything west of Texas
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during the pandemic all fast food chains revamped their interiors there's a reason the doors were locked
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there's a reason why you weren't allowed to go inside it wasn't because you had to wear a mask or any
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of that garbage it was the fact that they were revamping the interiors of their restaurants so that they
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got rid of the power out but you cannot charge your equipment out of fast food restaurant anymore
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and use their wifi. Anything west of Texas anything east of Texas it still exists you can go to
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McDonald's you can plug in your phone you can use the wifi you can sit there have a meal drink soda
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and do your stuff and go on the anything west of Texas in the whole world changes. That's crazy man
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well definitely send you some traffic sends people and anybody who's listening please support this man
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and above all whenever you sell to see somebody who is on a journey who is compassionate a good human
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being always support them that's what keeps humanity alive that's what keeps our country and the
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people moving forward it connects us all together so I really appreciate it Michael thank you so
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much for being on this show we would be happy to do what we can to help you as well so thank you.
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I just real quick to mention I have a patreon I have Instagram I have Facebook a majority of my
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images go to my Instagram I have a coffee app and so on patreon I put my videos before I put
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them on YouTube and kind of like a way for people to view it before it goes live for the rest of the
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world and the same with my coffee app is I just put all my pictures on there pictures that no one's
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seen before like scenery and stuff price canions Ion all those locations and yeah slowly I'm updating
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my website to include a blog and that will basically tell the story like I've been telling on the
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podcast here and uh uh and you know I see it that by the way uh all of this uh the patreon and the
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coffee app everything will be included in the show notes and coffee by the way as I just found out
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in a second ago is k o dash fi coffee so um but yeah we'll include every single thing that you mentioned
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and all the links that are on your website as well will put it into the show notes please click
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them and help support michael's journey towards just like this inspire inspirational journey that is
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really helping touch the lives of many many people across the country we've been through a lot
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and this is the kind of inspiration we need in our lives thank you so much thank you
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we hope you enjoyed our captivating conversation with michael bucston get ready for our next episode where
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we'll be diving into the world of global health with an extraordinary guest doctor aliza done
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doctor done is an emergency medicine physician and medical toxicologist and she will be sharing her
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insights on addressing public health challenges and making a sustainable impact don't miss this
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inspiring conversation coming up next week
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thank you for listening to our podcast if you enjoyed today's episode please rate,
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review and subscribe to our energize explore, enjoy podcast on your favorite podcasting platform
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see you next week
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