Dearest Friends,
Welcome to my American Adventure website. My name is Matt Muller and this is a web journal in progress, recording an experiment in living-where I will attempt to rediscover our homeland, the United States of America, in this Digital Age of Information.
In short, I will ride across America from coast to coast and back again on a self-contained bicycle trip.
Cycling the blue highways of the Old Republic is like close reading the American saga, commercial free and unabridged, whereas driving is like speed reading the Cliff Notes version. I have found that while driving, a pile of stones overgrown with foliage is just an image that flickers by as fast as a channel surfer's attention span. It comes, goes, and gets lost in the rear view mirror's "Warning: Objects May Appear Closer Than They Appear." Yet cycling allows one to see everything. That same pile of stones neglected by the casual driver may actually be a piece of history.
Such was the case when I bike-packed the Isle of Skye and the North Central Highlands of Scotland. One cold, dark, wet summer morning of peddling over hill, through moor, and around sheep, I decided to rest my bike (a Raleigh M-60, I dubbed Sir Squeaks A Lot) against a rock wall. | | ![](m-scotland-(2)1-200.jpg) |
![](m-scotland-(6)2-200.jpg) | | From the distance I had thought it was yet another glacial boulder pile and tree grove. Cars whizzed by without a second thought. The rock wall was mossy, draped with the leafy boughs of a grandfather tree. Upon closer inspection I found that this site was a ruined chapel dedicated to St. Mary. |
Hemingway once wrote about forests without prickly, thicket-choked undergrowth. I saw his vision in Scotland when I cycled through the woodlands between Inverness and Castle Cawdor. | | ![](m-scotland-(2)2-200.jpg) |
![](m-scotland-(4)2-200.jpg) | | Glades of wild green blades of grass, fanned by the North Sea wind. I was so fascinated by the scenery that I took a picture of this Nordic eden. |
This is a similar question as to why I will ride across America. The answer to which may only be found through a long and arduous quest. This is not a rational action. This is not a planned vacation. Nor is it an attempt to ride beyond the sunset, climb the highest peak, or race from coast to coast. No records will be broken. The aim of this journey is to explore, discover and meet my fellow Americans. I will find what I'm looking for only after living deliberately, simply, and creatively. | | ![](m-scotland-(5)2-200.jpg) ![](m-scotland-(5)1-200.jpg)
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![](m-scotland-(1)3-200.jpg) | | I have created this website because I want to share my experiences in the American wilderness with my friends and family. I will post what I have seen and heard as often as possible. I want to go out and listen to America, and I want you to feel what I feel, see what I see and hear what I hear. |
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