On May 21, 2011, Loren Ketcherside set off from his home in San Louis Obispo, Calif., for a 22-month, 14,000-mile road trip across the country with nothing more than his bike, a backpack and a trailer carrying his belongings.
Today, Ketcherside, 25, is in Baton Rouge, about 280 days into his trip through 49 states, preparing to travel to New Orleans to witness Mardi Gras firsthand.
He travels nearly 1,000 miles per month on the side of interstates, sleeping in campsites or couch surfing, as he is currently doing with an LSU student.
His life is not glamorous. Because he is funding the trip himself and has no source of income, he eats mostly oatmeal and sometimes forgoes meals if he isn’t biking that day.
Tavis Hans, owner of Mid City Bikes on Government Street, said he sees anywhere from 10 to 30 bikers each year who make cross-country journeys.
Hans, who made a bike trip himself from Austin to Baton Rouge, said these long-distance trips are as safe as riding down the street and safer than riding in cities because there is less traffic.
In order to prepare for his trip, Ketcherside said he gave away many of his possessions, quit his two jobs and sold his prized motorcycle.
“The logistics of it turned out to be far more complicated than I thought,” he said.
Ketcherside, who never learned how to drive a car, used to bike to school in the fourth grade and planned to go on a cross-country bike tour from an early age.
“I wanted to keep going because I wanted the accomplishment. … I want to know that I did something that only a few people in history have even dared to accomplish,” Ketcherside said.
But Ketcherside doesn’t hide the fact that he is running from problems in his life.
His Facebook page, where he posts photos from his trip and stays in contact with friends and family, is titled “Project Runaway,” a nod to personal situations he aimed to escape by leaving his hometown.
In his nine months traveling the country, Ketcherside has experienced plenty of highs and lows, most notably equipment becoming defunct during travels.
“The reasons seem so intense in the heat of the moment when you push your bicycle over or you punch walls and you yell and scream,” Ketcherside said. “People call law enforcement or whatever because they think you need help because you’re stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and you’re crying in the bike lane. Times like that, I just realize that’s going to be like the most fail story ever, in my opinion. … I’m not in it to fail. If I made it three-quarters of the way, 90 percent of the way, 95 percent of the way, the further I get, the easier I think it is to make myself keep going.”
The trip’s high points have been camping in scenic locations, like a forest of redwoods and near the crystal-clear Crater Lake in Oregon, and watching the sunrises and sunsets in the Sierra Mountains.
Since his start date, Ketcherside said he trimmed the expected trip length down and now expects to finish in September, ending the journey in Boston. He hopes to fly home if he can gather the funds for a plane ticket. If not, he’ll take a bus.
Once he returns home, his first priority is to find a job. His second priority is getting his motorcycle back. Ketcherside said he’ll stay away from long-distance bike trips for a few years, but he doesn’t rule out biking short distances.
Ketcherside’s ultimate goal is to write a book about his experiences on the trip that will include pictures he has taken. He estimated that he’s taken nearly 10,000 photos.
Originally in it to escape his problems, Ketcherside said running away hasn’t solved his problems or provided the answers he was looking for.
“It’s torture, it really is. It’s self-imposed torture,” Ketcherside said. “I know, to the core of my being, if I’ve ever known anything for sure, that I won’t regret having done this tour when I’m done. Right now, if you were to offer me the option of going back a year in time … I’m not too sure I’d commit to doing it. But once I’m done and have that under my belt, I can’t imagine regretting having done it.”
 
 
 
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Contact Kevin Thibodeaux at [email protected]