Name: Miles from nowhere
ISBN: 9780803266278

Miles from nowhere

A well-loved, classic tale of adventure, a book you'll find yourself recommending again and again This is the story of Barbara and Larry Savage's sometimes dangerous, often zany, but ultimately rewarding 23,000 miles global bicycle odyssey, which took them through 25 countries in two years. Miles From Nowhere is an adventure not to be missed! Along the way, these near-neophyte cyclists encountered warm-hearted strangers eager to share food and shelter, bicycle-hating drivers who shoved them off the road, various wild animals (including a roof ape and an attack camel), sacred cows, rock-throwing Egyptians, overprotective Thai policeman, motherly New Zealanders, meteorological disasters, bodily indignities, and great personal joys. The stress of traveling together constantly for two years tested and ultimately strengthened the young couple's relationship. Author Barbara Savage died from head injuries suffered in a cycling accident while she was training for a triathlon competition. This book stands as a tribute to her physical courage, spiritual strength, and loving, good-humored encounter with the world.

What Hacker News says

wglbJul 2018

With respect to smack dab in the middle of nowhere, I think this is a matter of relative scale. For reference, I grew up six miles outside of Conrad Montana, which isn't all that "close" to anything. However, my cousins thought nothing of hopping in the car to drive to the middle of Utah to check out a dog that someone was giving away. Or take a little further east to the town of Jordan, Montana where there is no railroad and the biggest events are the high school football games. My friend works at the University in Missoula, and complains that in driving back east, after an 8 hour drive he is still in Montana.

And Montana isn't even the biggest state. There are counties in Texas that are too small to have courthouses, so they share them with neighbors. That are not really walking distance. Check out the book "Miles from Nowhere". It tells of two census takers who ran out of gas and were lost for days in a county in populous Oregon.

My definition of remote is likely different from yours. I would define it as no internet access other than satellite, no roads connecting the rest of the country, no waterway access. I would be hard pressed to find somewhere in Europe that is smack dab in the middle of nowhere.

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wglbApr 2015

May I recommend "Miles from Nowhere" http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Miles-from-Nowhere,.... Turns out that a county in Texas has fewer folks per square mile.

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techiferousMar 2012

True. And yes, please keep thinking of alternatives to brute force. :)

I recently read a fascinating book called "Miles from Nowhere" which described life in the least populated counties in the U.S. One recurring theme is that counties with almost no one living in them are subject to being taken over by groups with their own agenda. For example, a county with only 150 people in it might be the target of a group of libertarians. 800 libertarians may agree to move there to set up a libertarian government. The point the book made was that virtually uninhabited is very different than uninhabited, and that there are still people there who have wishes, dreams and rights of their own.

So what you are describing is actually an act of force. Overtaking Nauru for your own purposes is a unilateral destruction of someone's home. Imagine for some odd reason the entire population of China decided to buy out and relocate to your city and turn it into a Chinese culture and economy. You may have nothing against the Chinese or Chinese culture, but you may wish to simply keep your home city as is.

Democracy is often thought of as peaceful, but it can often be a vehicle for the majority to disregard the legitimate needs of the minority.

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