Okay, here's a proposition for you

Please shoot holes in this idea.

I pack up my bicycle and begin trekking around the country, living from savings. Along the way I draft up and refine a bunch of presentations, about the geography, the history, and the politics I encounter along the road, as well as the technology I use for the trip.

As I pass from area to area, I call ahead to various school districts and contact the teachers of various subjects directly, and propose that I show up at their classroom and give a guest presentation on what I've seen. With practice, I can develop a stable of presentations for age groups ranging from middle school to community college, on various subjects.

I solicit no payment for the practice. ... the point is, to enjoy spreading my enthusiasm, compiling what I see, and testing whether I enjoy teaching enough to do it for a living.

Addendum, with some additional background:

The teaching idea came to me a little while ago while I was trying to figure out what was "missing" from a standalone bike adventure. Riding all over the place and seeing neat things and people is fun, but it does not MAKE anything. It does not CONTRIBUTE. To be happy I need to feed my urge to document, create, and build.

If I was developing a bunch of lectures, presentations, slide shows, et cetera, challenging my brain to find ways to communicate what I saw, then I would be more fully engaged during the journey. Plus I could accumulate a lot of material to, at some point, create my own curriculum for teaching. Or, lead people on similar tours. Or just tell a lot of stories.

It would also justify and leverage my knowledge of technology and modern communication methods.

It's true, it would not make me any money at all, but then again, when I began considering a long range bike tour, it was never meant to earn income. As far as I know, no one on earth is able to make money as a bike tourer. There are a handful of people who supplement their savings with donations and remote contract work, but they don't rise above the break-even point. There are others who have investments back home to fuel their travels, but I don't have anything like that, nor would I expect my potential travel companion(s) to.

The thing is, living in a sketchy part of Oakland with a housemate, and working where I do in Cupertino, I am able to save a ludicrous amount of money. My back-of-the-envelope calculations say that by the end of the year, I'd have enough to quit my job and go bicycling around the world for two entire years.

But is that what I would actually want? I don't know. I doubt it, actually.

So right now I'm looking at alternate ideas. Riding around the US for a few seasons, booking presentations? Quite compelling.

There are also other approaches/variations that I haven't even thought of yet, I'm sure...

Arthur C Clarke round 2: Wormholes, Plot Holes, And You

This batch was not, on balance, as gripping as the first batch. But I'm still game for more.

The Awakening, 1942

He skips from before the beginning of an Orson Scott Card series to after the end. A decent bit of writing but you can't help feeling cheated by it.

Whacky, 1942

This could be a teaser for a beloved Douglas Adams series. Short, tangled, and kaleidoscopic. It doesn't even seem to have a narrative. And then, on further thought, that seems appropriate.

Loophole, 1946

Perfectly titled, and a nice twist of an ending. Arthur makes nice use of correspondence as a framing device. I'd comment on it further but I would spoil the surprise.

Inheritance, 1947

The pilot's daring escape was worth reading, and I would have rather ended the story with yet another daring escape, but instead Arthur went off on a supernatural tangent. I'm tempted to spoil this one because it's not my cup of tea. It also shows, I think, that in his early years as a writer Clarke was not particularly wedded to science fiction and would happily play around in a universe of myths and unexplained miracles.