I was asked to contribute to the in-store newsletter at Urban Outfitters.  Here was the question:

What’s the funniest/worst thing that has ever happened to you while traveling?

One day when I was bike touring through Nicaragua, I was really thrashing it – moving ~20 mph with a fully loaded bike (carrying camping gear, clothes, tools). But I took a spill on some uneven pavement and flew off my bike. My knee started gushing blood from being dragged into the road. I should have stopped there, but my goal for that night was to make it to this forest that I heard had a campground. So I hopped back on my bike and kept moving.

I biked 20 miles to get to the forest, and then hiked down a muddy trail pulling my heavy bike along with me. As it turned dark, the mosquitoes started eating at gash on my knee that had started crisping up with dirt and sweat. I kept pushing on to find the campground, but after hiking for ~15 miles and not seeing anyone along the way, I gave up and pitched my tent in the dark. I didn’t have any food, and I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. I went to sleep hungry, sweaty, and bleeding – I was “off the grid” and no one knew where I was.

It was a lesson in not forcing it.