December 5, 2025

"He walked through the Darién Gap between Panama and Colombia... Later, he reached the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia — the midway point of his walk...."

"In the winter, he said, the strait does not entirely freeze over. 'It is this massive body of crushed ice and seawater…you’re literally climbing over the ice to make any short distance,' he said. He met a fellow adventurer in Alaska who traversed the strait with him. 'No one believed we were going to make it,' Bushby said. 'As it turned out, we managed to nail it on the first go, which no one expected, least of all us.' Once Bushby arrived in Russia, he hit another hurdle: he was detained for entering the country at an incorrect border. He spent 57 days in detention, he said, and faced a trial, until authorities agreed to let him continue his walk. 'It was just a whole series of miracles,' Bushby said...."

42 comments:

RideSpaceMountain said...

The Russians have tighter immigration controls in the Chukotka Okrug than we do on a Southern border 5x smaller.

Really makes you think...

bagoh20 said...

That's the best thing you could come up with on how to spend 27 years? Sheese! Get over yourself. There is stuff to do. Other people could use some help.

Wince said...

The Camel cigarette guy had a hole in his shoe from walking just a mile.

FredSays said...

I’d love to see his map. …after you walk through Alaska, turn left.

Tom T. said...

In the 19th century, this would have been remarkable, but in the modern world it just feels lonely and contrived.

Old and slow said...

I knew immediately that he had to be British. It was confirmed in the first sentence. I love that the plan started as a bet in the pub.

Chris said...

Wait, you mean you can't just walk across the border that isn't a checkpoint? Huh.

Randomizer said...

“The plan was to do something pretty extraordinary,” he said.

It is extraordinary, but nobody cares. The people who met him along the way, might remember him as a minor character in their story.

The article didn't seem to mention that he has social media, a Youtube channel or blog. That seems like a missed opportunity.

Jamie said...

I've shared the story here of the handsome French hitchhiker my husband (boyfriend at the time) picked up outside Seattle and brought all the way down to Sacramento, where he stayed with us at our apartment for a couple of weeks* while we showed him the sights of Northern California (Sacramento was a great place to live but a pretty crummy one to visit - it's close to lots of fun, interesting, or beautiful places, but really isn't one itself - no offense to anyone who really loves it). He had landed in New York, headed north to Canada, and hitched his way across Canada to Seattle, planning to keep hitching down to Patagonia. He made it, too. Not exactly the same as WALKING, but still an ambitious, if pointless, adventure.

*Some commenter here repeatedly taunted me about this episode, implying that I had been cuckolding my boyfriend with this guy. F that commenter, for the record.

Howard said...

Yes, what a waste of human potential. Everybody should be a loyal worker bee drone so we can have 857 flavors of smartphone Jack stands for one low price. Dreams are for LOSERS

Bob Boyd said...

Inspiring.

Wilbur said...

Tom T. said...
In the 19th century, this would have been remarkable, but in the modern world it just feels lonely and contrived.
----------------------------------------------------------------
This sums it up for me, too.

Eva Marie said...

He has a tiktok account started last year with 350,000 subscribers. His life choices are not a criticism of your life choices.

John henry said...

George Kennan, not the diplomat, strolled across Siberia in 1864 to map the telegraph line. He wrote a book "Tent Life in Siberia" that is pretty interesting.

John Henry

Quaestor said...

"It is extraordinary, but nobody cares."

Inspired by Forrest Gump's run, no doubt.

Kai Akker said...

"Now finally I can go back to my job sorting mail at the post office. I really missed it."

Bob Boyd said...

Over the years I've noticed a lot of commenters here are anti-adventure.

Old and slow said...

Why all the negativity? Just an automatic reaction in many people it seems. He's not making any demands on anyone, he's just weird.

Eva Marie said...

Bushby joined the British Army at 16, serving with the Parachute Regiment for 11 years He is thinking about a teaching career..

Birches said...

I want to know why he needed to reenter Russia and why he walked from Los Angeles to DC. How did he get to LA?

Quaestor said...

Bipolar manic obsession. Bushby's walk checks all the bullet points.

Aggie said...

There's still plenty of adventure out there. The only thing we've lost is the abandonment of comforts.

Ice Nine said...

>bagoh20 said...
That's the best thing you could come up with on how to spend 27 years? Sheese! Get over yourself. There is stuff to do. Other people could use some help.<

Sheesh, indeed; what an incredibly obtuse comment.

What he came up with as a goal is a hell of a lot more than what millions of people have come up with.
"There is stuff to do" - you ridiculously say to a guy who has walked around the world! As if he hasn't done "stuff," a whole hell of a lot of stuff.
So what, he is singularly obliged to help other people and his amazing trek has somehow robbed other people of some help?

Really, what an extraordinarily unimaginative guy! Why, he could have spent the last 27 yrs in a cubicle farm!

Jamie said...

[shrug] I've fine a lot of pointless things in my life - as my husband and I embark on what we are provisionally calling "a non-working nomad life," the little cooler we're travelling around with contains, among other things, the second half of a batch of homemade puff pastry that I pointlessly made earlier this year. Not nearly as adventurous as this guy's project, and it only took a day, but it pleased me to spend my time thusly.

To each his own!

hanuman_prodigious_leaper said...

did he crossed USA South border during Obama Biden Harris regime??

Phaedrus said...

More like this please.

I’m usually pretty good about coming across stuff like this and surprised I had zero idea this was taking place. Then again, back when he started, things weren’t anywhere as connected as they are now but you’d have thunk by 2015 or so this would have started hitting the interweb socials and maybe grabbing some headlines. Might have and just got overlooked.

This is fantastic and Godspeed for the final stretch of his journey. Robert Pirsig would be proud!

hawkeyedjb said...

Such negativity. Do what you wanna do - it's not harming anybody. What could be more American - even for a Brit.

Same story in the comments at WaPo - what a buncha whiny twits. It only took 15 comments to get to the obligatory "Trump is Bad."

William said...

Sadly he forgot to turn the lights off before leaving. When he returned his home had been foreclosed upon by the power company. Before you leave always remember to turn the lights off.

PM said...

He's gonna get a shoe deal

Joe Bar said...

Wow, the comments here! There are lots of other people with compulsions that actually harm others. This guy hurt nobody.

narciso said...

Its an jntriguing exercise but Russians are not amused

Kevin said...

"He walked through the Darién Gap between Panama and Colombia."

Impressive.

But when will he travel through the seven levels of the candy cane forest, past the sea of twirly-swirly gumdrops, and then walk through the Lincoln Tunnel?

Ann Althouse said...

I can see feeling that the highest calling is to walk the face of the earth.

Howard said...

Jules: I'm just going to walk the Earth.
Vincent: What'chou mean, "walk the Earth"?
Jules: You know, like Caine in Kung Fu: walk from place to place, meet people, get into adventures.
Vincent: And how long do you intend to walk the earth?
Jules: Until God puts me where he wants me to be.
Vincent: And what if he don't do that?
Jules: If it takes forever, then I'll walk forever.

PM said...

Like Caine.

James K said...

From South America to England? So he didn't swim across the Atlantic, what's the big deal?

I guess his final leg will be to swim the English Channel?

James K said...

"Like Caine." You mean like Cain?

"And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth."

Iman said...

Run, Forrest, ruuunnnn!

Kevin said...

I can see feeling that the highest calling is to walk the face of the earth.

Jules: I'm just going to walk the Earth. ... You know, like Caine in Kung Fu. Walk from place to place, meet people, get into adventures.

Vincent: And how long do you intend to walk the earth?

Jules: Until God puts me where he wants me to be.

Rusty said...

27 years, huh? So. He's not in a hurry. Probably has other hobbies that keep him busy.

gspencer said...

When he comes to the English Channel, what's the plan? Getting across the Bering Straight was novel for sure, but not possible for the Channel. If he takes the train but continuously walks up and down the aisle, will that count? Hmmm, first-world people with time of their hands want to know.

james said...

Remember Arthur Blessitt? Carried a cross through every country.

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