Background.

We were in Colombia in November ('17) and Ben said, "I’m going to do the Arizona Trail by bike in January ('18). Do you want to come?"

It just so happened that I did want to ride a bike the 800-miles across Arizona, from Utah to the Mexico border. So I replied, "Can we make a creative project out of it?"  

About a month of planning and we had that project. While focusing on the possibilities borne out of community and adventure, we would capture content along the way, interview the people we met, and create a multimedia essay about the experience. 

Interviews.

Short and sweet, I crafted a list of 12 questions that we used to prime conversations. Over the course of 800-miles, we interviewed 9 people, had conversations with many more, and constantly sought out what ties people together. Our final interview was a sun-drenched and caffeine-buzzed chat about life, identity, and travel with Taylor Lancaster (@tenderliving) and Erick Cedeno (the bicycle nomad), at the bicycle nomad cafe in Phoenix, AZ. 

Content.

A digestible, 4-chapter reflection of our findings on community, adventure, and discovery were written. Additionally, I created, edited, and curated images, videos, and audio to supplement the text. All content was captured or derived from Sony AR7II, GoPro Hero5, Notebooks, Voice memos via Iphone 6.

Excerpt from chapter 3; Learning:

"I can’t pedal anymore and I’m barely able to walk. My left achilles has become, well, as lame as it is, it’s become my Achilles Heel. Swollen, fat, and hot to the touch, it feels like it’s going to snap at any moment. It doesn’t help that the road we’re rambling rubber revolutions down is washboard gravel, rutted deep, flat and slow. This - this right here - is mile after mile on the road from hell.

We’re less than 120 miles from the end of the Arizona Trail when I break it to Ben: I can’t go any further, I’m actually afraid that my achilles will break in half. I can see disappointment cloud his face, and also concern. The gravel road that we’re on is at least 15 miles from the nearest town, and over the last 5 hours of travel we’ve only seen two or three souls out here. For an hour or so I walk when it’s flat and coast when I can. Ben keeps pace. Rounding the next corner, and then the next, leads to a run-in with a biker (read motorcycle, not bicycle) who’s pulled over in a shady pullout. He’s leaning against his bike drinking cans of Budweiser. We’re chatting options with him and he’s offering us beers when the sound of gravel crunching crescendos from around the corner, just before a white dodge ram comes hurtling around it. This is it, the only option, so we flag it down, ask the question, load my bike in the truck bed, and I hop in the cab and leave Ben peddling in the dust. My new ever-so-kind hosts graciously offer me Gatorade, and for the next 2 hours I embark on a new adventure: I’m now on a date with two 50+ year-old ex-cops from Tucson who love to geocache. Since leaving the Arizona/Utah border, this is the 5th time one of us has stuck out a thumb, and it’s the 5th time we’ve been picked up."

Identity.

Clean, sharp, and layered, featuring pastel-based brights - each indicative of Arizona - I had a pretty strong idea of what we wanted the end result to look and function like. To start, we sketched a couple of wireframes, then set the identity and started filling in the gaps. The hand-drawn AZT "next chapter" logo and favicon were used to soften and balance the other, polished web visuals.

My Partner in Miles.

Neither this experience nor this subsequent piece of work would be possible without Ben Petersen, who planned the travel logistics, kept us on track, and built the website based on my needy creative direction. He's a great partner in adventure and a better friend. If you have any programming or web building needs, are looking for a sturdy bench, or if you want to know about Colombia, Romania, or mathematics, you should reach out to him here.