During the Summer of 2016, Karl Brandstaetter, one of our Sustainability Assistants, embarked on a 41 day, 2700 mile epic journey with two friends.  Since many we’ve talked to can barely fathom the idea of such an adventure, we sat down with Karl to ask him a few questions about his experiences.

Sustainability Office:  What was the mission or goal of the trip and how did it came about?

Karl Brandstaetter:  The original idea was to raise awareness about some issue, we weren’t sure how to approach this idea at first.  Eventually the thought of taking a big trip like this might help us gain attention and raise awareness over this issue.  After discussing a few different issues, climate change was the topic all of us cared about and was important enough to us to dedicate this trip to.  41 days.

SO:  What was your least enjoyable or most difficult part of the trip?

KB:  Biking through Nevada with a limited supply of water and even less opportunities to refill was the hardest part of the trip.  We had to bike through the night to avoid the heat and ended up traveled 170 miles in 24 hours to get to the next city.   As for least enjoyable, when we were in Yosemite a bus ran me off the side of the road.  The bus was riding along the white line and there was no shoulder, so I had to go off onto the gravel area and hold on for dear life to avoid crashing.  Miraculously, I managed not to crash.

SO:  What was your most enjoyable or most fulfilling part of the trip?

KB:  The climb up into Yosemite National Park on the Tioga Pass.  The climb was a total of 3,000 feet over 12 miles for a final elevation of 9,943 feet.  The climb was difficult, so it was really cool to accomplish it, but it was even better knowing we’d have a downhill ride through the rest of the park so reaching the top made it exciting.  Yosemite is just a beautiful park.  Another highlight on this trip was the opportunity to lie under the giant sequoias and take in their size was a great experience.  Everyone should take an opportunity to see the size of these trees with their own eyes because pictures don’t do it justice.

SO:  What city or other location did you enjoy stopping at the most?

KB:  Curt Gowdy State Park in Wyoming was not a planned stop, but we stumbled across it and met two different people that fed us and gave us drinks.  One of the guys had previously done a bike trip like this and saw us on the side of the road, so he stopped to meet us.  He was really excited to meet people doing a bike trip a little more on the fly since he put more time into planning it and respected we were going more with the flow.

SO:  What essential items did you bring with you?  Was there anything you regret not bringing with you?

KB:  Everything I brought with me I used at some point.  Sometimes I wished we had a soccer ball to play with, but that wouldn’t have really worked to bring with!  Konrad’s bike towed a trailer since his bike didn’t allow for a different kind of rack.  We had a tent and some cooking equipment we carried as communal items, but mostly we carried our own items, such as water.  Deciding on the amount of water to carry with us was a fine balance.  I would try to carry just enough water to get us to our next stop, but not too much to slow us down or make us less efficient.

SO:  Any especially meaningful conversations or moments?

KB:  When we were going up Tioga Pass, a guy literally ran after us to catch us to offer some food and water.  Several people we ran into and talked to ended up offering picking up our food tab, other kinds of help, and words of encouragement for us.  People in pretty much every state we crossed were willing to lend a hand along the way and were really gracious about helping us out, and we were always willing to accept offers of food!

A great example of this care and consideration occurred on the first day.  After a minor bike crash, the first house we went to cooked us a meal and a place to set up camp.  Having this experience on the first day really set the tone for the rest of the gracious experiences we had.

I also met a guy in Iowa named Zimm who stopped us and told me that he had a hard time seeing me on the side of the road and offered his reflective vest to me to wear.  I wore that every day the rest of the trip and was really thankful to have that to keep us safe.  The vest ended up being a lifesaver and an item that I didn’t originally expect I’d need to bring with me.

SO:  What you took away from this trip? Do you feel you fulfilled your mission?

KB:  Looking back, I think raising awareness about climate change was harder than we participated and in that aspect, we might not have really fulfilled our mission.  We didn’t always come into contact with people besides those at necessary stops for food and water.  Even though the bike trip ended, I still plan to work to advocate and raise awareness for climate change.  I think it is important to just keep trying to make a difference and continue this fight every day.

Another takeaway is that there are a lot of really good people out there willing to help each other out.  I think we tend to forget that and focus on being too individualistic, but this was a good reminder to put in a little effort to really try to help people out and help other species and the planet.  I think facing problems we face, like climate change, with an open mind and attitude will help us find ways to work together to solve these problems.