The day before arriving in Teslin, the adventure gods decided to host a meeting of wanderers next to the Alaska Highway.
It all started when a German who was cycling down to Ushuaia stopped to chat to us.
“I heard about you from another biker who passed me going north a month ago,” he said with a bright smile pulling up next to the horses.
We spent about 10 minutes chatting and sharing stories from the road when another adventurer, using a different mode of transportation pulled over.
His name was Ivan Lobo and he was riding a heavy BMW motorcycle which looked like it had been ridden hard—as it had.
“Are you the crazy Brazilian horseman,” the bearded man said in Portuguese after pushing the visor on his helmet up.
“Yes, sir,” I responded before we shared a strong hug only two souls who call the same country home, and find themselves far from that home, can share.
Ivan had heard about me in a rest stop a few kilometers north. He was excited to see me.
“We are crazy my friend, we make the world turn,” he said excitedly.
Ivan had already ridden from Brazil to Alaska and was now heading down to the Nevada desert for the Burning Man festival.
A Brazilian traveling on horseback, a German with a yellow bicycle, and another Brazilian on a heavy motorcycle—sounds like the beginning of a good joke—spent an hour laughing and sharing stories on the side of the Alaska Highway. Cars drove by slowly, drivers peering, confused as to what the hell was happening at that moment.
Magic! That’s what. Three souls who for some reason were meant to meet right then and there. All three, thousands of kilometers from home. All wandering. None lost.
It’s a moment I will never forget.
After saying goodbye to my new friends I continued south. What I didn’t know was that Ivan would proceed to the Teslin restaurant, gas station and motel, and tell everyone present about my story.
“Are you the Brazilian horseman who has crossed the Americas,” a Mexican couple in a colorful Volkswagen van asked a few hours later.
They pulled over when I answered yes. And in a few minutes more travelers joined. A Brazilian couple who was riding up to Alaska on a single motorcycle, an elderly Brazilian on another BMW motorcycle, another Mexican couple.
“You are a legend in Teslin thanks to Ivan,” the Mexican motorcyclist said while we all laughed.
We contemplated the reason why we all choose to live great adventures on the side of that highway.
“It doesn’t cost anything to dream. It’s free. Anyone can do it,” the elderly Brazilian motorcyclist who had already ridden his motorcycle through nearly all of the countries in the Americas said.
We all agreed. Our dreams had brought us here.