Inspirational video of Mark Beaumont giving a presentation on his record setting globe circumnavigation bicycle adventure! 194 days and 17 hours-18,296 miles. He discusses how he chased down his dreams from start to finish. Watch this video! It is a must see.

Video: Mark Beaumont Talks on Risky Business

You can also visit his website HERE

Tonight was awesome because Dave Stimac from Nature’s Way Woodworking gave me a private lesson on turning birdseye maple on a lathe. The project tonight was to make pulltabs for the zippers on my backpack and jacket. It was his idea for me to take something special from the homeland around with me on the trek. I think it is a great idea and was honored to get a chance to work with the birdseye master himself. Here are some shots from this evening. I need to go back this week to finish the project up so I can take them on the walk in four weeks. Its just around the corner!

I recently received a gift from my brother Calvin in the form of a brand new Canon G11 camera! It is going to be an awesome tool for the trek! Thanks a ton brother! Tonight we tested the camera out with our good friend Jeff Frennette who gave us a quick lesson on how to use it. We also used a couple of his remote flashes to make a few images.  I am excited to use this camera to record the trip. Its seriously impressive for how small it is! Thanks again Calvin and Jeff!

Cannon G11

Here are some shots of an afternoon walkabout with two of my best friends, Matt and Hannah Abbotts on Baldy lookout near the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula where we live.  I really like these photos and wanted to share them. Thanks to Hannah for taking the shots! Next time maybe we will remember to take a group photo and include her!

The Abbotts and I go back a long time. They are good people.  I suggest that you check out their website about their adventures at www.asuperioradventure.com .

This is what I love to call home.

Matt and Samuel.  Photo by Hannah.

This afternoon, Grant (dog) and I drove to the South end of the Baraga Plains to where the North Country Trail runs along the Sturgeon River.  It is less than 30 minutes of gravel roads from my driveway and is one my favorite places to run. This local section is maintained by the Peter Wolf Chapter. About 8 years ago,  I worked with this chapter to organize and build a 35ft wooden bridge for my Eagle Project which is located on the section I ran today.  So naturally I have to go back now and then to check on it and make sure its still stands. It still works just dandy.

Grant and I also stopped at the Oren Krumm Memorial Shelter which was the first shelter to be built on the Northern Michigan section of the N.C.T. It is a good place to spend a night out of the weather and to remember Oren Krumm. He was a fellow Boy Scout and Pelkie kid. He will always be missed dearly by many.

Here are some iphone camera shots of the run.. Sorry in advance for the low quality!

The foot bridge Eagle Project.

Oren Krumm Memorial Shelter on the  Sturgeon River.

Tibbets Falls, Strugeon River. (terrible photo!).

Grant.

I apologize for the lack of updates lately. I have been working my way through a few difficulties. And now its time to tell you about them.

First and most importantly. The trek is on schedule.  No matter what, I will start walking on January 1st. There is no doubt of this.  It is getting down to the wire and show time is just around the corner. The excitement as well as the pressure is building rapidly. Not a hour of my day goes by without me thinking about the journey ahead.  Every night I fall asleep dreaming of walking thousands of miles through landscape I have never seen before. And every morning I wake up to thoughts of all the things I must get done before I even get to the first trail. This will truly be incredible journey of adventure and personal growth that I can hardly wait any longer to begin.

The largest difficulty that I have encountered so far is the complete lack of work hours at my current job. My plan from the start of this project was to work for this company this season for 6 months. It was agreed that I would earn more than enough to cover my budget for the entire trip. The season even started out well with working 18-22 hour days regularly. It sounds crazy but I was actually super pumped about the job. I was swinging sledge hammers, putting in fence, digging holes, planting trees and installing sod. I was quickly working towards my goal on my own which made me happy.

Then the work simply ran out. This left almost the entire work crew at home not working, which included myself. This is only to be blamed on the terrible economy that Michigan currently has. None the less, this threw me for a loop. I had never  been in a situation in construction like this before.  All of a sudden my plan turned around 180 degrees. I went from having the perfect plan to earn my own way to fund the trek to having nothing. So I then turned to the one thing I could do. Carpentry. I pulled out my tools and start doing odd jobs on my own again. It has been almost three months now and I am still doing carpentry jobs on my own. It is going pretty well. I am not earning as much money as the other job simply because I cannot work 22 hours a day on occupied homes.  However, working by myself sure has its perks. It can be very rewarding and creative.

The current plan is to keep working on my own and to continue trek preparation as planned. The job situation is only a speed bump in the road. Even though I want everything to go as I plan them, this is simply not reality and I have to work around the obstacles as the appear.

I have been cutting down my budget to stretch my funds as far as possible. I have eliminated all hotel stays and most restaurant dining. Instead, I will rely on the many friends I have around the country for a warm shower and home cooked meal while I am in towns buying supplies for the trail.

In addition to the  attempt to out maneuver the funding obstacle by working for myself, I have also sold my tv, stereo, surfboards, snowboard, boots, brewing equipment, climbing gear, wetsuits, helmets, goggles, athletic clothing,  even flannel shirts and all backpacking gear such as stoves and backpacks that I am not taking on the trek. The only things I have left besides the gear for the trek are  my truck, tools and mountain bike. Hopefully the bike will the sell this week. I plan to sell the truck after I don’t need it for work any more.  Finally, at almost 25 years old, I have moved back in with my parents to eliminate the costs of groceries and renting an apartment for the next four months.

I believe I am doing everything I can think of to help make this trek happen. I also believe my plan to be completely feasible and I fully intended to make it happen come this January.  But ideas are more than welcome so shoot me an email if you have any!

Now it is time to sleep. I have another patio to build in the morning. More soon.

Good Night.

-Samuel

Hello everyone, I want to invited you all to sign into the new guestbook! Just your name and where your from  would be awesome  But there is also the option to write paragraph if you feel like it.  It will be interesting to see where everyone is from! So check it out on the “Support” dropdown menu or click HERE. To creat a new entry, click on “New Entry” located under the Guestbook title on the page.  Thanks!

-Samuel

This week I purchased a new sleeping pad called the NeoAir by Therm-A-Rest. I have to say that I was already pretty excited about the pad before I got it just by reading reviews…But now that I have one to use, it is simply amazing. The pad weighs 13oz and is 2.5in thick when inflated. When deflated and rolled up, its the size of roughly the size of a 1 liter  pop bottle.  The company also claims that it is three times warmer than any other non-insulated air mattresses on the market. This is due to a heat reflective layer built into the pad.

My favorite feature about this pad is that it is thick enough for me to sleep on my side comfortable without my shoulder or hip hitting the ground.  For some odd reason I can only sleep on my side so having this comfort makes sleeping on hard ground a whole heck of lot more enjoyable.   I am also working on some homemade pillow designs. I’ll update you with that little comfort item as well as soon as I get a few more materials.

When I started this project I counted on my summer reclamation job to fully fund the $20,000 needed for the All-In Trek.  However as of today, the Trek is only 25 % funded. This is due to the fact that the company that I work for has not been winning enough bids to to keep all of its employees busy.  I have been working 2 days a week if I am lucky for over a month now. I have been told that in past years, there has been “too much” work; requiring the crews to work  90+ days straight from sun up to sundown. We are all wishing that this year was the same. It would relieve me of a lot of stress!  The devastated Michigan economy and stiff competition is to blame for this lack of work. I do not blame my company at all.  We are on all the same team and are just trying to make money. I know the boss is working hard to get us all work. After all, the more we work, the more he makes.

That said.. My launch date of January 1st, is coming mighty quick. I have been sending sponsorship proposals to companies of all sorts. So far I have received one gear sponsor: ULA Equipment. I am super psyched about using their backpacks through out the journey. However this trek also requires actual cash for food and transportation expenses.  For now, my plan is to fill in the days I  am not working at my reclamation job with odd job carpentry work. I am taking advantage of every opportunity available to help achieve my goal next year. I am even selling everything I own: mountain bike, road bike, bmx bike, climbing gear, surf boards, wetsuits,  scuba gear and pick up truck. I’ll have you know, that  it is not ANY fun to sell my toys/hobbies but I know it will be worth it many times over when I’m done with the trek next year.

I knew that this wasn’t going to easy from the start and I feel that things will turn around soon.  If you have any work available of almost any sort or other funding ideas; please email me at samuel@theinitiativesite.com.

My friend Greg Maino owner of Juskuz Photography has recently had four of his images of my friends and I published in SBC Surf Magazine- Volume 4 Issue 1.  Greg just gave me a copy of the issue last week. I am really excited that both Lake Superior surfing and Greg are getting some attention. It is really good clean fun with friends. We sure do enjoy the hell out of it.

Here is the front cover so if you see it in the store rack, check it out.

Greg sent a dozen images to SBC Surf and these are the four that were published. Our friend Mike Dziobak is in the lower left image and the others are of me.  And yes, I agree..The beautiful, mint condition, 1986 Toyota van was the greatest vehicle I  have ever owned!   Friends, Matt and Hannah Abbotts are now the new proud owners.