Australian Man Cycles through Monticello

It was a sight to see last Friday, a sixtyish man on a very strange looking bicycle, going down the road in Monticello.

Local resident Jerry Goldin was walking his dog, “Happy” and nodded approval of the Tillman House as a good place to get breakfast, then went a step further and suggested to Gary Higgins he might want to stop in at the newspaper after he ate.

Mr. Higgins, a 61-year-old retiree from Sydney, Australia accepted his invitation and a delightful visit ensued. Mr. Higgins is a touring cyclist, and his stop in Monticello was not really by design, but not by accident either. See, Mr. Higgins has no set route or travelogue.

He is traveling from Toronto, Canada, to Savannah, Ga., but the route can vary by the day.

He is limited by his visa, which is just good for three months, he said. He made a cross country trip before, from Los Angeles to Miami, but had a longer visa. This time, he explained, he has a one-and-a-quarter granddaughter at home, and can’t be away too long.

Mr. Higgins said he had met only one other touring cyclist on this journey, and that was somewhere near Milwaukee, Wis. So, when he left The News office we sent him to see Robert and Betty Jean Jordan, local residents who spend some of their spare time as touring cyclists. The Jordan’s tried to connect Mr. Higgins with local resident Kelly DeGarmo, a native of Australia, but their schedules didn’t mesh.

Of course, Mr. Higgins does not have much of a schedule. He had visited Stone Mountain Thursday after hearing about it in Atlanta Wednesday. Then, he looked at his map and headed southeast, which took him through Monticello.

On the front of his bicycle are two maps. One is of Australia. He said he has seen pretty much all of Australia, touring first by Harley Davidson, then more on his bicycle.
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His hand drawn map of the United States shows his first route through the country, and he is marking this route as he goes. He anticipates coming back in about two years and making a transcontinental ride through middle America, from the middle of the east coast to the middle of the west coast.

He said the bicycle is the only way to travel. He said the design of the bike makes it painless to ride, never tiring. He said riding a funny bike leaves him open to everybody. He meets people and talks with them all along the way. He said it is much different from being in the car.

He said he sees, and often talks with, farmers, homemakers, utility workers, just anyone who happens to be out as he is passing by. And, because he has no set schedule he can spend some time socializing when he chooses. His only schedule is to be at the airport at a set day three months from when he got off the plane nearly 1,000 miles away.

Mr. Higgins said he has had his bicycle eight years, and will never part with it. He says it is never out of his sight. If he stays in a motel it is in the room with him; if he camps, it is chained just outside the tent.

Mr. Higgins said he started cycling about 10 years ago, taking weekend trips and such. In 2001 he shipped his Harley to Los Angeles, and rode up the western coast and across to Montana. He said the freight was high on shipping his Harley, but the bicycle rides for free.

Mr. Higgins says he is a lucky man. He turned his business over to his son who looks after things and assures Mr. Higgins of some income. The son gets the mail and pays the bills back home. But, there’s little maintenance required there, he said. He lives in a flat on the harbor and closes the door when he leaves, then returns three months later to find it as he left it. He said he rides daily, before breakfast. It’s no hardship, he said, and if he gets hot, he just jumps in the water.

Traveling as he does costs little, he said. There is no fuel cost. He must buy food, but he would do that whether he was home or abroad. Accommodations can be high occasionally, but he camps often which offsets the cost of a hotel or motel room.

Mr. Higgins said he hasn’t owned a television in 10 years, and asked what has he missed that would have changed his daily life? He says he does not read the paper, except for his local paper. He referred to the news as depressing and said he saw no need.

He travels about 60-70 miles most days, with 100 being about the maximum.

The main drawback to his way of travel is the traffic, he said. A couple of times he has thought of quitting because of the danger involved. He said he sees in his mirror cars and trucks coming up on him at 60 mph. He said they never slow down. When they get to him, they swerve into the other lane with no regards to whether there is oncoming traffic. It can be scary, he aid. He worries he could cause an accident.

He said getting into and out of any big city is a headache. While visiting Atlanta he stayed in the suburbs with someone he had met a previous trip, and took Marta into the city.

His children express concern about not hearing from him and “what if something happens?” He said he checks in with them, via internet, about every two weeks. He does try to plan his trip a little by weather, obviously this trip starting in the north in the heat of summer, and ending in the south presumably when cooler fall temperatures will prevail. He said he certainly noticed the heat and humidity of the south in late September.

Mr. Higgins did not say what day he was flying home, but it’s sure to be soon. Hopefully he’ll take back fond memories of his morning in Monticello.