Teenager Spends 527 Days Biking From Alaska To Argentina
Many people who enjoy biking love the feeling of being on the open road. They might even try new routes on occasion to keep things interesting.
For a teenager named Liam Garner, the open road was more than a trip through the woods in his local area. He decided to get on his bike and travel from Alaska to Argentina.
It took 527 days for Garner to make the trip. In that time, he traveled more than 20,000 miles and biked through 14 countries. He also had quite a few adventures along the way.
The trip, inspired by the book, “To Shake the Sleeping Self,” started at the northernmost point in the United States accessible by road. He left that area, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, on August 1, 2021.
Along the way, Garner posted videos and pictures on Instagram to chronicle his adventures. When leaving Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, he said: “At 17 years old, I’m going to be the youngest person to ever do it. It’s gonna be the hardest and probably best thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
When he first started discussing his upcoming trip, his mother wasn’t very happy. It wasn’t long before she got on board and was a big supporter.
He also spoke about his parents had inspired him to make the trip because they were from Mexico. He had been to Mexico many times when he was younger but he didn’t have a chance to experience the culture.
When speaking with CNN, Garner said: “So crossing the entire country on a bike and reconnecting with my culture and staying with my family and learning the language in the place my family is from was so deeply important to me.”
It took him 4 1/2 months to get through Mexico.
While in Mexico, he was robbed for the first time on his trek. He would be robbed four more times before it was over.
Because of the stress and the heat, he almost took a bus home when he got to Central America. Garner decided to push through. Cooler weather was available once he reached Guatemala and El Salvador.
He shared on Instagram that it took him ten months to reach Panama, the halfway point on his journey.
When he was in Columbia, he fell off his bike and landed on his head. He blacked out, and it took him a few hours before he could speak.
Garner was hospitalized for a month with 40 stitches and plastic surgery to fix his ear. He then got back on his bike and started on his way south.
As he reached the final leg of his journey to Argentina, he reached his goal on January 10, 2023. He wrote about remembering the first day he was in the Arctic Circle and had a year and a half in front of him.
He went on to say: “Now I’m here, surrounded by the mountains of the end of the world, and the kid looking down that dirt road to Fairbanks, so full of ambition, feels farther away than that first pedal stroke ever could. Nothing is more important than hope.”
After he reached the end of the journey, his partner, Chloe, joined him. They are going to be backpacking home again to Southern California.
He considers it a blessing to be with the one he loves at this point.
They will have many experiences together and will be able to explore the spaces on their way north.
