Traveling Hardaway

The View From Hollywood  Whats up everyone! It’s been a second since I last posted a little story, but that’s ok because I have been using my time efficiently. I am still currently living and making memories in Mexico. My visa will be expiring soon so I will be cruising up the country to the ‘ol USA to see what the next six months have in store. Life is fluid and always changing. I’m excited to see what crazy places and people are in store for me! I hope that everyone has been settling in to the new year! Here is a freshie! A new story from 2020.  My buddy Doug rolled up to my place right on schedule at 6:45am and we loaded up my my board and backpack and hit the road. Lets take a minute here to explain this character —Doug— that I have been chilling with since late October. Doug is a super rad ex-pat that has been venturing into Mexico to explore and surf this tropical paradise for the last 16 years and has been living in Barra de Navidad (the pueblo that has also be...

December 2019 Ok I need to open by saying its very, very rare for things to go as planned in Mexico —especially on the coast. Living in a place where none of your local friends have cell-phones and you can walk into any store or restaurant sin camiseta and no one bats an eye; its no wonder that punctuality and plans are more fluid.  Only guy in the water wearing zinc I was suppose to meet my friend Chopper (a local surf and skim-boarding legend) at my house bright and early to load up our boards and head up the coast to catch some olas. I woke up slipped on my board shorts and waited for a half hour until I ran out of patience then headed to the local coffee shop “La Bruja” (la jefa of this rad little tienda is Allison — a groovy, loca, ex-pat surfer who hooks up the free coffee in exchange for some celeb shifts behind the espresso machine).   After about my second cup of coffee I spotted Chopper walking down the street shoeless and surfboard in your hand, “Pe...

Heyo friends! New year same ol' Caleb --well not so much. I like to think that everyday I learn from my experiences and travels to become a better version of myself. Being on the road some six-months of the year isn't always sunshine and rainbows --occasionally the lessons are tough. This is a short but important one.  Embracing a new form of life (or a new form of travel) isn’t always the easiest and no matter who you are there is adjustment period. We as humans, are creatures of habit (among other things). Stagnation is often the enemy of growth —the enemy of a life of happiness. Sadly this does not mean that change is not an easy thing. I had only been living off my bike for three days and was already 300+ miles from where I had been previously been calling home —Grand Junction, CO. It is truly remarkable how much you will learn about yourself peddling 9 hours of the day. In those first three days of riding I crossed two state borders and two mountain ranges. Leav...

Some of my most memorable experiences happened in the weeks leading up to my 21st birthday. One of the greatest and most unique adventures I have ever embarked on was a hitching hiking trip from Western Colorado to Seward Alaska. While most college students head to the beach for Spring Break, my best friend, Nash, and I decided to avoid the crowds and head north. Our official spring break only lasted one week, but being the studious and respectable gentlemen that we were, we decided that we had earned our selfs at least an extra week. The plan was incredibly simple, we bought ourselves uninsured one-way flights from Anchorage Alaska back to Denver Colorado —all we had to do was hitch the some 3300 miles to Alaska in two weeks to catch our flights home.  Off the Coast in Alaska - Resurrection Bay  Fast forward a couple thousand miles and we found ourselves in Fort Saint John, British Columbia. The snow banks on the sides of the road were at least five feet tall forci...

Everyday I strive to learn and understand more of this life that I was gifted. And the only thing that I have come to a definitive answer on is that things, simply put, just work out. The mental state that I choose is sometimes my only constant, since life is full of uncertainty. You, me, and the next person can’t say for sure what will happen tomorrow – we only have right now; we only the happiness that we choose. After college, I knew I wanted a grand adventure but I couldn’t seem to find someone willing to commit to freedom the same way I wanted to. Many plans were made and broken in the months following my graduation. Eventually I came to the realization that if I wanted to experience the world the way I needed to, I would have to take control of my own destiny. And I would have to risk it alone. So I did what any sane human being would do: I loaded up my 90s model Nishiki Cascade Ridge mountain bike and started riding, solo, to Canada. The goal was to ride my bike daily, ...

Whats up everyone. I'm still not dead. If you are finding yourself with nothing to do on this fine afternoon you should give this little short story a go. Merry Christmas everyone.  Yo solo tengo veinte-tres años, but during this short amount of time I have been able to collect many stories in a variety of cultures. I’m not quite sure what ignited the flame, but the last five years of my life I have had a burning desire to experience the world. I don't know what qualifies one as a “world-traveler,” and frankly I don’t really care. I cannot recall one trip in my life that I would classify as glamorous. Instead I make do with what I’ve got and try to enjoy every moment presented to me. This story takes place in an exciting chapter in my life: post-college. After graduating, there were endless opportunities, so I did what any normal 21-year-old with an English degree would do — I found myself a job at a local liquor store. Working full-time slangin’ alcohol and living out...