One of the most compelling on-the-road bike journals has rolled to a halt as Nevada photographer Rick Gunn completed his around the world bicycle trek this past weekend.
The Tahoe Daily Tribune has set some of his many photos to a slideshow, left, and music that it published online today.
The 44-year-old photographer started his journey at the Golden Gate Bridge in July 2005, returning 34 months later. Along the way he covered 25,811 miles on his 90-pound loaded bicycle, visited 33 countries, and camped out more than 800 times.
Journal
Most importantly, Gunn has been filing journal entries to the Tahoe Daily Tribune and the Nevada Appeal from his tour. In addition to the stunning photos, he has written interesting dispatches about the people, places and things along this route.
I first got a taste for his journal early in his trip when he was pedaling through Kentucky and described the "wildly variant population of canines curiously united in one over-arching intent - that was to peel the flesh from my shins like a ripe banana."
Later, in Australia, he wrote that a lack of funds forced him to dine on kangaroo-road-kill steaks. In Tasmania he reports how the lumber company clear-cuts the forests and burns and kills every plant and animal to feed the world's appetite for wood chips. In East Timor he writes about what's left of that war-torn country.
"Everything ..."
In all there are 55 journal entries that describe the best and worst of our world.
Arriving at the Golden Gate, Gunn told reporters, “I got everything out of this trip that I wanted to and then some. ...
“When you go on a trip like this, all your senses are heightened. I didn’t watch a lot of television, but I could spot an electrical outlet from 250 yards away. I could spot a water source from a mile away. You are reduced to the very basics. Everything becomes a resource.”
Gunn has been soliciting donations for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. His journal and photos are online at Rick Gunn photography (warning: it's a huge website and I stopped the download.).
