When I was a 20-something, I had to get across country to start grad school and decided to make it a summer-long solo journey on my bicycle. I had a blast, pedaled about 2500 miles in 10 weeks and met some great people. As many of you, I continue to ride for recreation and in support of various causes to this day.Now two 20-somethings have done a more modern version: one of them riding (or whatever you call it) on a Segway (the other in a sag wagon, as we call the support vehicle that trails behind) going from Seattle to Boston.They did a film which you can watch on YouTube here.

What they (as did I) find incredible is how friendly people were that they meet along the way. The 10 mph guys (which is about how fast both a Segway and a bike travels) meet up with Llama farmers in Wyoming, bikers (the kind with tattoos) and plenty of people who offered their homes and a meal, almost getting arrested in Illinois and then getting a Segway escort by the Chicago Police. They try out Philly cheesesteaks, drive through torrential rains, have their backer pull out of the project somewhere in Ohio, and appear on stage with Michael Moore.

The 90 minute film is a hoot. It also shows you how when you slow things down, you get to see more and meet more people. I still have many memories from my cross-country trip, including getting a ticket for riding on the freeway outside of Seattle, having my wheel respoked in about an hour by a 16-year old in an Oregon bike shop, riding across the Golden Gate Bridge, sleeping on the beach on Vancouver Island and trying unsuccessfully stay in the Petaluma jail because I had tasted too much wine and didn’t want to ride any further (the cops told me to pitch my tent in a nearby park).