Joy Ride: A Bike Odyssey from Alaska to Argentina

by Kristen Jokinen, Cheryl Strayed (Introduction)

Overview

Explorers Kristen and Ville Jokinen met and fell in love while scuba diving in Vietnam. Ville then left his native Finland to join Kristen in Oregon and together they embarked on a life-changing two-year cycling adventure covering 18,000 miles from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Ushuaia, Argentina. Despite never having cycled further than around the block, they persevered unrelenting, punishing rain and wind, altitude sickness, dog attacks, bike accidents, and countless flat tires to cycle between the ends of the earth. Kristen and Ville believe that kindness connects us to our shared humanity. They held babies, attended quinceañeras, drank pulque, played soccer, and visited schools. People in Mexico, Central America, and South America invited them into their hearts and homes, allowed them to camp in their fields and farms, and acted as personal tour guides. Kristen and Ville are love on wheels, and who doesn’t need a little more love in their lives?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780998825755
Publisher:	Hawthorne Books & Literary Arts, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/02/2023
Pages:	290
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Venturing from the farm to the great unknown, Kristen set out to experience the world as a hungry, young nomad with nothing but a backpack and a solid pair of shoes. Traveling light and always on the move, she found time to study and learn new skills along the way, at one time working as a wild land firefighter, a teacher, a real estate agent, and eventually an international speaker and author.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 17 Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth

I guzzled a bunch more water trying to compensate, filling my belly until it bulged. Sometime within the next half an hour of riding, I finally felt the urge to pee. I left Ville to hold my bike on the shoulder of the road and skittered into the bushes in an overgrown vacant lot and squatted to pee. Only the tiniest amount came out, followed by a burning fire. In my young life I suffered through a handful of bladder infections, so painful it had always ended in emergency room visits followed by the maximum amount of antibiotics allowable. I knew this fire was a bladder infection. We were in the middle of nowhere in the mountains between the border and a village called Chancuva with no clue where to find a doctor. This brought instant anxiety and tears to my eyes. I pulled up my pants, waddled back to Ville, and told him the grim news. He suggested we ride until we found somewhere to pull over and get cold water and electrolytes. With my burning fire, I climbed back in the saddle and kept pedaling south until we came to a roadside tienda and makeshift restaurant, specializing in bagged chips and soda.

Ville told the sweet, smiling lady behind the counter that we needed water and electrolytes. I went to find her toilet, basically a hole in the ground with a ratty half-used toilet paper roll next to it. And still the fire. The tears burned my eyes. I couldn’t hold them back. As I walked back out to Ville, I was in so much pain I could not hide my tears. The woman looked really concerned. Ville explained my predicament and she immediately took charge of the situation. She doused paper towels in cold water and made me sit down in a chair and put them on my stomach. She ordered Ville to get onto the back of a motorbike with her portly, prepubescent son, who looked barely old enough to walk, let alone drive a motorbike. Ville kissed me, climbed aboard, and they zoomed off in a black plume of smoke.

Unable to talk over the deafening roar of the strained motorbike engine, Ville said he clung to the back of the bike as it bumped off the pavement onto a dirt road, bounced and weaved around potholes for another mile before they turned into a dead-end street. The son drove the motorbike right onto the front porch of a block-building without a door surrounded by a mishmash of wood and concrete houses and buildings. Inside, a bookshelf against the back wall was littered with pill bottles and labeled medical boxes. A young man popped out from behind a curtain and stood inquisitively behind the counter as Ville and the son attempted to explain the situation and my symptoms. A young wife then appeared from the back of the shack, which Ville noticed was possibly their house, with a young baby on her hip and toddler in tow. Through broken Spanish and sign language, the young man gave them a package of pills for pain and another package for infection. Ville profusely thanked the young couple and turned to go.

“Wait, wait, Gringo. Can I ask, what are you doing here?” the young man curiously asked in Spanish, implying both El Salvador and the middle of nowhere.

“My wife and I are traveling by bicycle from Alaska to Argentina. About ten months and 12,000 kilometers so far to get here.” Having given the same response so many times, Ville had perfected his responses to any question about our ride.

“Do you like El Salvador?” the husband asked, a common question for us.

“Oh yes! We love El Salvador. People are very friendly,” Ville said.

“What do you think of the food here?” the husband asked, the second-most-common question we were asked.

“The food is very tasty. I really like the pupusas,” Ville added.

The young man pauses, looking inquisitively at Ville. “How old are you?”

“Thirty-six.”

“Where are your kids?” the young man asked, genuinely confused. This was quite a common question since we crossed the Mexican border. In Latin American culture, family is important, and children are the lifeblood of the family. By the time a Latina is in her twenties, it is very common to have at least one child.

“We don’t have any kids,” Ville responded with an awkward smile.

The young man looked shocked. Then his face softened. He glanced over at his wife, the look of pity swept across their faces. The young man bent down, pulled out a small box from below the plywood counter, placed it on the countertop, and slid it towards Ville.

“Es un regalo,” he said. Ville looked down at the gift and the bright red name across the package: VIAGRA.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

 

PART I             Alaska, Canada, United States

Chapter 1           The Top of the World

Chapter 2           Bear Floss

Chapter 3           Blind Luck

Chapter 4           Bumble Bee and Vole

Chapter 5           Floating Shorts

Chapter 6           Gargantuan Burgers

Chapter 7           Wild Country

Chapter 8           Afraid of Nothing

Chapter 9           Chris Pratt

Chapter 10         Looney Tunes

Chapter 11         Waterlogged

 

PART II            Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica

Chapter 12         ¡Hola, Gringo!

Chapter 13         Blue Agave

Chapter 14         Sleeping in Sex Motels

Chapter 15         Dancing with the Devil

Chapter 16         Ville Rides Naked

Chapter 17         Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth

 

PART III          Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia

Chapter 18         A Mosquito Almost Ends It All

Chapter 19         Energy Juice

Chapter 20         2 Fast 2 Furious

Chapter 21         Joy Ride

Chapter 22         Filet of Guinea Pig

Chapter 23         Altitude Sickness

Chapter 24         Ninja Kicks

 

 

PART IV          Argentina, Chile

Chapter 25         Desert Blues

Chapter 26         Outcrazy the Crazies

Chapter 27         Proceed with Caution

Chapter 28         El Fin del Mundo

 

Interview with Kristen Jokinen

Acknowledgments