DAY 105 | Russia | How To Move The Stars | A bicycle ride around the world

How To Move The Stars is the day by day retelling of a bicycle ride around the world. Start from the beginning to get the whole story. 

My adventure was a modern day epic, a solo, self-supported bicycle ride spanning 38,000 miles across six continents. There were moments I barely survived, and times I cried tears of joy, but mostly, this is a story about the thousands of people I met along the way.  I moved through their cultures, and dramatic landscapes. I ate their food and slept on their land. I was constantly arriving to the open arms of strangers who were excited to help me achieve a feat that few could imagine. I did this for years, immersing myself in the world and meeting the people who live here. The story I returned with is a snapshot of humanity, captured in a lived experience. Thank you for joining me on my journey.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
May 29th, 2013. A good lunch.
The small Russian towns today felt friendly and inviting.
People are riding bikes and walking on the sidewalks.
Shops are busy. The vibrance was welcome change
from the last few countries in Eastern Europe.
The vitality obviously came fromRussia's higher standard of

(00:21):
living. A sure indication of the richer
economy was that the grass on the side of the road was being
mowed by maintenance crew instead of gathered for animal
feed. Throughout the morning I
followed the coast of the Azov Sea past fields of grapes and
patches of poppies growing wild on the roadside.
A man on a motorcycle took an interest in me and pulled over

(00:43):
to talk. He didn't speak English, but
that is slowly becoming less of a barrier.
Without actively trying, I've been developing new habits of
communication. I'm now much more animated in my
speech. I never used to talk with my
hands, but now I fail about descriptively.
My facial expressions are also more exaggerated as I try to

(01:03):
make the emotions behind them easier to read without exactly
understanding the man's question.
I pointed behind me and said Portugal and then pointed ahead
and said China. I tried to tell him I've been
going for 100 days by pointing at the sun and holding up my
right index finger and pumping my left vest twice but I don't
think he understood. The man offered to buy me lunch

(01:26):
so I followed him down the road for 10 minutes while he slowly
drove ahead. We arrived at a cafeteria style
restaurant with pre made plates of food lined up for us to
choose from. I followed my friend's lead and
filled my tray with a fish fillet, vegetable soup, egg
salad, cake, and grape juice. We sat at a small table which

(01:47):
became so full with our food that when I bumped my plate, the
glass of grape juice fell into the man's tray and pulled
beneath the dishes. I was embarrassed, but the man
seemed unfazed. He tossed A napkin to the puddle
and went back to eating. I tried to have a conversation
while we ate, but I really struggled to communicate.
Soon we were both sitting in silence and I was racing to keep

(02:09):
up with the pace he was eating. My tendency is to stretch out my
meals while I rest and watch theclouds drift by.
Lunch with this man was over in 5 minutes.
Before leaving the restaurant, Itried filling my water bottles
in the sink, but my friend didn't like that idea.
Instead, he bought a couple bottles of spring water for me.

(02:30):
I still haven't broken my habit of getting water from sinks.
I've decided that the risk of getting sick is acceptable.
To avoid purchasing so many plastic bottles, I'm just going
to do my best to find clean water sources and trust in my
iron stomach. Outside of the restaurant.
I took a picture with the man and told him I would post it on

(02:50):
my blog. He gave me a smartphone to type
in my website, hammockearring.com, a word I
made-up to fit alongside mountaineering and canyoneering,
but with hammocks. I looked at his phone, but the
keyboard that popped up had no NR or I, so I was unable to show
him. I shrugged my shoulders and
handed back the phone by fittinginto our whole awkward

(03:13):
interaction. I thanked him for the meal, then
went on my way. Tonight I've hit him myself by
sagging my hammock into a small ditch.
If I peek my head up, I can see across the farm field stretching
out to the horizon. Long strands of grass fill in
the space around me. The light is fading from the
day, but not yet. The heat and stars are beginning

(03:35):
to appear through the gaps in the leaves above me.