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A tandem bike ride can look like a quirky travel story from the outside, until you realize it can also be a moving, three-month workshop in courage. We sit down with author and podcaster Teri M. Brown, who went from not riding a bicycle in decades to pedaling a tandem from Astoria, Oregon to Washington, D.C. in the summer of 2020. Along the way, she and her husband Bruce camped through COVID closures, climbed real mountains that flatland training cannot prepare you for, and learned the hard truth about packing light: you do not discover what you need at your kitchen table, you discover it on the road.

We talk about the practical side of planning a cross-country bike trip, including why rigid day-by-day itineraries fall apart fast, how to choose flexible stopping points, and what happens when the wind turns, the terrain changes, or the tires go flat. Teri shares the moment in Montana when everything felt broken, and the rule that carried her forward: don’t quit on a bad day. That idea lands far beyond travel, especially when you are hungry, tired, angry, or scared and tempted to make a permanent decision in a temporary state.

This conversation also goes deeper than cycling. Teri opens up about leaving an abusive relationship, rebuilding self-worth through doing something wildly outside her comfort zone, and turning that new confidence into a writing life that includes award-winning novels, a memoir, a children’s book, and multiple podcasts. We also dig into another purpose behind the ride: raising over $35,000 for Toys for Tots to help more kids receive bicycles, proving that adventure travel and service can belong in the same story.

If you like stories about resilient travel, minimalist packing, healing, and bold reinvention, you’ll want this one in your queue. Follow the podcast, share the episode with a friend who needs a push, and leave a quick review so more listeners can find us.

Teri's Website: http://www.terimbrown.com/

The Teri and Edith Show Podcast: https://podcastindex.org/podcast/7458726

Online For Authors Podcast: https://podcastindex.org/podcast/6718184

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"Wherever We May Roam: Finding Your Travel Style" - On Amazon

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Driving the full length of Africa sounds like a fantasy until you picture it the way Barry Maughan lived it: a Volkswagen Kombi bus, paper maps, no cell phones, no GPS, and a world where borders can close overnight. Barry spent decades as an international broadcast journalist focused on the African continent, and his memoir "Beneath the African Sun" captures the wild mix of history, work, and everyday survival that shaped him.

We talk through the chain of “happy accidents” that turned a simple roaming plan into a continent-spanning overland journey from Egypt toward South Africa, including the moment a Libya coup rewrote the route entirely. Barry shares what it was like to experience war-time Egypt, then stumble into an almost unbelievable Cairo welcome that unlocked once-in-a-lifetime access to culture, food, and the city itself. From there, it’s trains, boats, and improvisation to reach Ethiopia, where another stroke of timing lands him behind a microphone broadcasting news across Africa.

The practical side is just as gripping: crawling through mud where roads barely exist, carrying tools and fuel, and learning fast that “tomorrow” doesn’t always mean what you think it means. But the heart of the conversation is people, including a wordless moment between two mothers and two babies that says more than any translation app ever could. We also wrap with a real-world travel planning update on beating airline pricing with points and creative routing from Iceland back to Knoxville.

Subscribe, share this with a friend who dreams big trips, and leave a quick review so more travelers can find us. What’s the most ambitious journey you’d actually attempt?

Beneath The African Sun on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F32VZZ52

Download full-color PDFs of my book at prices below Amazon paperbacks. Visit my store at https://shop.jimsantosbooks.com

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jim@jimsantosbooks.com

"Wherever We May Roam: Finding Your Travel Style" - On Amazon

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They sold the farm, let go of the stuff, and pushed off the dock lines with a shared promise: sail around the world together. From their boat in French Polynesia, award-winning author and lifelong sailor Alison Gieschen joins us with her husband Dan to tell the full story behind their liveaboard sailing life on their 43-foot sailboat, Equus, including what it takes to keep moving when the dream gets expensive, exhausting, and genuinely scary.

We dig into the turning points that make a circumnavigation real: how Alison’s horsewoman roots and an early “out of nowhere” sailing vision turned into skills, how they met during a sailboat race, and why they decided to sell everything and commit. Then we go straight into the hard part, including their worst storm experience in the Gulf Stream, the damage that forced a turnaround, and the PTSD that lingered long after the repairs. Alison also shares the moment a trusted mentor helped reframe the fear, and why that single conversation kept them out there for eight years and counting.

We also talk about the quieter day-to-day realities that rarely make the highlight reels: staying close to kids and grandkids from far away, how minimalism changes your priorities, and how life at sea can create the focus to write books across memoir, children’s literature, and adult fiction. We wrap with their current route plans across the South Pacific, favorite stops like the Azores, and a practical travel-planning lesson from our own Europe prep about booking early when thousands of travelers hit the same ports and airports.

Subscribe for more conversations about long-term travel and real-world ways to make it happen, and if you found value here, share the episode and leave a quick review so more travelers can find us.

Alison's Website: https://alisongieschen.com/

Also check out: https://sailmates.org/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sailingequus

Download full-color PDFs of my book at prices below Amazon paperbacks. Visit my store at https://shop.jimsantosbooks.com

Subscribe to our Mailing List

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2292506/supporters/new
http://jimsantos.net
https://www.instagram.com/jimsantosblog
https://www.youtube.com/@jimsantos508
jim@jimsantosbooks.com

"Wherever We May Roam: Finding Your Travel Style" - On Amazon