Sitting at a desk, watching life go by doesn’t actually inspire the phrase ‘living the dream’, but meeting people who are doing just that is exhilarating! Have you heard of Bixby and her human Mike Minnick? If you are lucky enough to be traveling along and you see a man riding a cargo bicycle, with a basket attached to the back, wherein a dog is riding, then you have encountered a duo, who is truly living their dream.
Sitting at a desk, watching life go by doesn’t actually inspire the phrase ‘living the dream’, but meeting people who are doing just that is exhilarating! Have you heard of Bixby and her human Mike Minnick? If you are lucky enough to be traveling along and you see a man riding a cargo bicycle, with a basket attached to the back, wherein a dog is riding, then you have encountered a duo, who is truly living their dream.
Years ago, Minnick was doing what most people do, work, sleep, buy things. He adopted a dog from the local shelter. But somewhere along the way he realized he wasn’t really enjoying his life.
He had dreams that he wasn’t reaching for, and then he was invited to the Burning Man Festival in Nevada, and he went with Bixby, his rescue dog. He decided then that he had to start living his life like an adventure.
Early on in their adventure, their truck broke down in the desert Ghost Town of Terlingua, the same Terlingua that is featured in Jerry Jeff Walker’s Viva Terlingua. This was an irony for Minnick, as that particular album was one of his favorite titles as a youth.
He and Bixby lived in Terlingua for a year and a half, as his adventures ripened through his experiences with interesting people, a beautiful place to live, and the lessons that one can live on far less than one would expect. Minnick had a dream, and worked towards it. Instead of repairing his vehicle, after meeting a man who was cycling across the country making a documentary, he purchased a bicycle and formed a goal. He wanted to peddle his way across the United States of America with his dog, and so his movement: Where’s Bixby.com came into being. His intention was to increase awareness of how great it is to acquire your best friend from the local animal shelter.
Minnick’s first cycling trip included a journey that spanned approximately six hundred miles. Once completed, Minnick’s confidence was such that he knew he could do it. Good days and bad, he traveled to the farthest point in America, taking pictures all the way and logging his journey on his webpage, wheresbixby.com.
The long journey began in Maine and winded through the states. Through it all Minnick and Bixby have met thousands of wonderful people, and have seen the true beauty of our incredible country. Minnick has written his blog in the voice of Bixby, and has logged each state they peddled through.
In his words, the three things that every person should do is: 1) Go see a Willy Nelson concert, 2) Sit on ‘the porch’ in Terlingua and watch the colors that the sunset casts on the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend National Park, 3) walk across the Brooklyn Bridge at night, and take in the wonder of the lit New York skyline across the harbor.
Minnick sings the praises of the common man throughout the country. He has encountered the kindest in humanity, and has enjoyed every bit of it. His travels across the country have lasted approximately two and a half years. They have visited shelters and have been welcomed into homes along the way.
However, he has also experienced some not so nice. A few months ago, after Minnick had arrived in San Diego, his bicycle was stolen while he was at Mission Beach. Local news media picked up the story, and a newscaster actually aided in the recovery of his bicycle. Then with the help of social media, followers on Facebook had spotted Bixby’s basket, and that too was returned to Minnick.
During the sentencing hearing of the man who stole Minnick’s bicycle, Minnick told him, that this wasn’t just a bike that he stole, but everything that he and Bixby had poured their lives into for the past 2 and half years. That he stole their transportation, their beds, their equipment and mementos that others had given them all across the country. That though they did nothing to him, he took away their ability to get around and left them stranded in a place where they knew no one and had nowhere to go. That being said, he told him that he wasn’t there to ask that they throw this man away. He’s 43 and still has a long life ahead of him. Quite the contrary, he told him that he really hopes that he finds the help he needs and that something positive happens from this bad act the way that a lot of positive things happened from his actions to them and ultimately wished him well.
Now, with the recovery of their transportation, and a rest, they are about to embark on another adventure. From San Diego, Minnick and Bixby made it to Alpine, and stopped in at The Alpine Sun.
This incredible duo is living the dream. They are living life as an adventure instead of drudgery.
Minnick and Bixby are an inspiration, and as we celebrate Christmas and a new year, we can all take a page out of Bixby’s book. “Dreams are like sticks, you gotta chase them.”
