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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how to Move the Stars by Jacob Lemansky chapter 6 Croatia april 25th 2013 into Croatia i arrived at Croatia this morning a border station was there the first one that has actually been checking documents i handed over my passport with only the stamp from Portugal the agent flipped through the pages then asked where my stamp for Slovenia was i shrugged and explained that there was no one to give me a stamp where I entered i thought back to 4 days ago when the police ushered me off the highway and possibly around the border station the woman informed me that without the stamp I’d been in Slovenia illegally my face revealed my shock i wondered what sort of trouble I’d gotten myself into she went to speak with her supervisor while I stood in the cool morning air a few minutes later she returned with my passport stamped into Croatia i thanked her but didn’t ask for more details either she was incorrect in thinking I needed a stamp or she is doing me a favor i entered Croatia into an area of such steep hills that I was forced to get off and push small villages and homes scattered themselves around the rolling land and forests tightly filled in the spaces between nearly every home had a garden and frequently someone was working the soil and pulling the weeds as I slowly passed they would stop whatever they were doing and watch me until I was out of sight all day long I felt like people were staring at me this is a new phenomenon in Western Europe people rarely gave me a second look and that’s what I preferred the extra attention I get as I’ve traveled east makes me uncomfortable i try to shrink away from the farmer’s gaze but I have nowhere to hide and no way to blend in i simply keep my eyes forward and stay moving tonight I am camping near the Dava River i wanted to be close to the water but the area is full of litter from picnicers and dumping i’m repulsed to have trash and view of where I’m camping seeing even one piece is the difference between sleeping in nature and sleeping with garbage i followed a tractor path away from the river and now I’m set up in a row of trees at the edge of a farm field within sight of a few scattered houses but soon I’ll be hidden by the night already the full moon is rising into a deep purple [Music] sky april 26 2013 crossing Croatia i’ve heard that Croatia is famously beautiful but the people saying that were not talking about this part all day there was hardly a hill in sight i pedled past fields of dirt sprouting wheat and yellow rape seed a dozen small farm tractors passed me every hour the towns were little more than small brick homes with only one or two rooms and weathered wooden barns lined up along the road a surprising number of people were sitting idally on their porches frequently the doors to their homes were opened and I could see how bare they were inside many people didn’t even have electricity without a TV the elderly and unemployed settled on watching the traffic and drifting clouds and me i hope I added something interesting to their day maybe I’ll be a topic of conversation at their dinner table tonight the front yards in the small communities were completely neglected and overgrown i thought the tall grass made the place look rund down but my opinion changed when later in the day I saw a man going down a row of houses cutting the knee high lawns with a scythe while a second guy stuffed the clippings so tightly into their small green jalapi that the grass was hanging out of the windows i realized that the unckemp lawns were a practice of resourcefulness not laziness across 80 miles today I saw only planted fields not a single acre was spared for pasture but the animal was still needed to eat the grass was tall because the people in those homes were poor and using every asset they had even selling their front yards in the morning I stopped at a bar to fill my water from Portugal to here I’ve been in a dozen rural bars and I’ve rarely seen a woman inside this place was no exception i arrived at 10:00 a.m and saw a dozen men drinking and smoking cigarettes one of them came outside to look at my bike he said something to me that I couldn’t understand i asked if he spoke English and replied with what I took was a no we both stood for a moment staring at my bike then he shook my hand and walked back inside this is typically how my conversations have been going we listen to each other speak but understand none of the words to avoid frustrating someone who doesn’t want to be bothered I don’t talk with anyone who doesn’t try to talk to me first i simply smile as an invitation to approach after a week of this I’ve recognized a larger benefit to this strategy who I end up interacting with as a self- selecting population of the friendliest and most curious people throughout the day I tried to take a break in patches of shade each time I was engulfed by a swarm of mosquitoes unable to rest my only option was to keep going back into the searing heat as evening approached I ducked into patches of forest in search of a place to sleep but in every attempt I was forced to retreat as the mosquitoes descended i searched for 2 hours before finding a place to stop in the park near the town of Gorj Prej the only thing here is a gazebo with a couple of old card tables and one working chair i haven’t sat in a chair in a few days and I kind of miss them my hammock is hanging between two of the gazebo pillars i feel exposed to be so close to town but the swarms of mosquitoes that have tortured me all day will now be guarding me tonight i hear hundreds of them humming on the other side of my bug mesh so many that I don’t expect anyone will be coming around this was a tough day for me the physical challenge of pedaling for 9 hours was matched by the mental challenge of pedaling for 9 hours across flat farm fields that’s a long time to both exercise and meditate and both were hard to do in my body and my mind I’m still developing the resilience I will need to take me to the end of this [Music] journey april 27th 2013 roadside statues my mood was better today the scenery improved the towns were bigger and with less mosquitoes I was able to rest to avoid the midday heat I took a nap in the shade of a closed gas station after another hour of biking I stopped to give my butter a rest yesterday was particularly long and without hills I didn’t even stand up today my sitbones are protesting there are high-tech seats and padded shorts to deal with this problem but I’ve worn out cushioned seats and I don’t want to rely on special pants instead I’m taking on the problem directly by using a hard leather saddle over thousands of miles the leather will stretch to conform to my body while at the same time my bones will densify and grow to match the contours of the saddle eventually I will reach a pain-free equilibrium but that hasn’t happened yet throughout the day I saw overtly Catholic statues standing in farm fields between towns my visits to many churches across Europe has led me understand that Catholics are fixated on the death of Jesus and these pieces were no exception he’s always nailed to a cross or held in the arms of a woman as he lay dying his body was depicted as emaciated close to death or already dead the murder seemed to be the rallying point for the whole religion i wonder if Catholicism would have existed if Jesus had lived out his life he wouldn’t be a martyr if he had died for our sins of old age the statues were made of form concrete with a painted finish capturing the human form and stone is ambitious and these artists were far from mastered the faces were especially uncanny with bright yellow skin no eyebrows and wide white eyes that stared into the distance with a look of perpetual surprise there were 11 statues across 70 m today and each one made me laugh tonight I’m in the town of Batina camping in a park near the Serbian border a men’s soccer game was in progress when I got here so I sat on the sideline with two other fans and cheered after everyone left I laid my sleeping bag on the soft grass next to the field my plan now is to watch the stars until I can no longer keep my eyes open [Music]