Travel Grit

Thies Matzen and his wife Kicki Ericson have sailed Wanderer III — the same 30-foot wooden sloop that legendary cruising sailors Eric and Susan Hiscock wrote about — more than 150,000 bluewater miles, much of it in the Southern Ocean. This includes two years overwintering at South Georgia Island under brutal conditions and a voyage to Antarctica aboard the smallest traditionally planked wooden boat to ever sail there. Along the way they won the Blue Water Award from the Cruising Club of America, one of the most prestigious honors in offshore sailing. In this episode, Thies talks about life aboard one of the most storied small boats in sailing history, navigating by sextant and stars in the Southern Ocean, what the ancient Polynesian navigators taught him about finding your place in the world, and why a small boat keeps the world big.Guest: Thies Matzen — Sailor, shipwright, and offshore voyager who has spent decades aboard Wanderer III navigating the Southern Ocean by sextant and stars. Links: [Guest website] Chapters: People: Creators & Guests Thies Matzen - Guest Click here to view the episode transcript. For more stories of long riders, sailors, ramblers, adventurers, and dreamers finding their way, visit TravelGrit.com.

Sea G Rhydr bought her horse for a dollar. Then she rode him 5,000 miles across America.Sea started her voyage in Northern California in the fall of 2011 with two imperfect horses, a diamond hitch she'd learned the night before, and a canvas tablecloth painted with fairies and mushrooms for a ground cloth. Twenty-five months later she rode into Minot, Maine — bridle-less, flag in hand, walking pneumonia — to lead a parade honoring the long rider who had inspired her whole journey.It's a miracle she and her mounts completed her journey. Her pack pony colicked in the wilderness with no vet and no Banamine. A fistula on her horse's withers put the trip on hold for two and a half months. She survived six degrees in the Mojave with hand warmers stuffed in her socks and house wrap for insulation. She crossed the Mojave with a borrowed truck and a bucket on a rope thrown over a fence into a canal.In this conversation, Sea talks about forging an unbreakable bond with a horse nobody else wanted, the songs she sang to keep them both calm on a trail above a thousand-foot drop, and the one thing that turned the whole trip around when everything else stopped working: having the right story to tell.Guest: Sea G Rhydr — long rider and author who completed a 5,000-mile continuous saddle voyage from Northern California to Minot, Maine, finishing the first Mesannie Wilkins Memorial Ride.Q&A with Sea G Rhydr: Driving a Wagon Through AmericaLinks: FreeRangeRodeo.com / YouTube Hello NeighborChapters: People: Creators & Guests Sea G Rhydr - Guest Click here to view the episode transcript. For more stories of long riders, sailors, ramblers, adventurers, and dreamers finding their way, visit TravelGrit.com.

Long Rider Gin Szagola and her wild Snowy Mountain Brumby, Fable, became the first person and horse to cross Australia coast to coast with no support vehicle or chase crew—4,400 kilometers over eight months.In this conversation, Gin shares the complete story: training a recently wild horse in just 90 days, crossing 1,000 miles of Nullarbor desert with volunteer-organized supply caches, dealing with road trains at 80mph, camping roadside 85% of the time, and what it's really like to live with your horse 24/7.Before Australia, Gin walked across America at age 18—failed after 4 days, went home, then succeeded on her second attempt. She's now working in Western Australia and raising funds to bring Fable home to the United States.WHAT'S COVERED:- Training a wild brumby in 90 days (5:50)- Road trains and triple-length trucks (16:39)- The Nullarbor: 1,000 miles of desert (28:29)- Holes in a boat: Mental health on the road (46:02)- Living 24/7 with your horse (50:15)- Failed at 18, grateful for it now (1:02:31)- Bringing Fable home: $20,000 journey (1:09:57)- Why wild horses matter (1:19:26)More about Gin:Website: ginandfaith.comGoFundMe: Search "Help Bring Fable Home"Facebook: Gin and FableMore podcasts, articles and art for and by ramblers, roamers and free spirits at TravelGrit.comClick here to view the episode transcript. Click here to watch a video of this episode. Creators & Guests Gin Szagola - Guest

Reza Baluchi is attempting the impossible: running 21,000 miles across the world's oceans in a human-powered vessel called a hydropod — a 12-foot wheel he powers by running inside like a hamster wheel.Reza calls in from Taiwan at midnight, making final preparations for his fifth-generation hydropod. He plans to launch in December, heading south through the South China Sea, then west through the Red Sea and Mediterranean, before crossing the Atlantic back to America.This isn't his first attempt. The U.S. Coast Guard has stopped him multiple times, damaged one of his hydropods, arrested him, and sent him to a mental hospital. Now he's launching from Asia — beyond their jurisdiction.Born in Iran, Reza was tortured and imprisoned for 18 months before escaping as a young cyclist. He's since run 150,000 miles across continents. At 52, after being stopped, arrested, and told his dream is impossible, he's ready to push his hydropod into the Pacific and start running."If you have a dream, you must follow your dream. Dream no coming after you."For more stories of long riders, sailors, ramblers, adventurers, and dreamers finding their way, visit TravelGrit.com.Click here to watch a video of this episode. Click here to view the episode transcript. Creators & Guests Reza Baluchi - Guest