I met Bernie in Yuma, Arizona back in 2005. Bernie was finishing up a mule-ride across the United States from Orient, NC to San Diego, CA. He was camped at a local stockyard for a few days and I would see his teepee off the side of the road.
Turned out Bernie was in need of a pickup to haul said mule back to NC when he completed his journey and I happened to be having my "going-out-of-the-horse-business-and pre-retirment" sale. I spent some time talking with him and he is quite an interesting fellow. When he was getting things together to buy the truck I had offered to drive him to the bank, registry, etc. He turned me down stating that after spending so much time moving only as fast as the mule would go, he didn't want to get out of that mode. Seems it took him some time to get slowed down to that point when he started.
Bernie is what I guess you would call an adventurer, or maybe a bit crazy. But if you have ever thought about chucking it all, and setting off on horse (mule) or boat and leave the ratrace behind you may enjoy the read. Bernie is currently on another journey from Saskatchawan to Mexico. He logs his travels and posts through the following website.
It's no "extreme" sport or adventure/survival race....but it is an adventure, and that can turn into survival.
Thought some of you might enjoy the stories.
http://www.riverearth.com/journeys.html