Who Knew Couch Surfing Was So Cool?

I officially joined Couch Surfing (www.couchsurfing.org). I'm not sure how much we'll be relying on the hospitality of strangers on the bike trip, but I figured it couldn't hurt to start looking. Come to find out, Couch Surfing is much more than a simple forum for finding a couch to sleep on or for offering up an extra couch to a weary traveler...

It's like a mixture of Meetup.com, Facebook, Craigslist and Hostelworld. You have a profile and friends, and there are groups, subgroups and message boards. So far I've joined the Pioneer Valley group as well as the Austin group, and two of its sub groups : BIKE AUSTIN! and Austin Music Exchange. I was surprised to see that many of the posts to the community boards were really recent, and all had replies. People would say things like, "As you all know I'm moving to Panama," or "Thank you to everyone for the support over the past months." They all had so much love for each other, but had probably all met through Couch Surfing.

From the post below not only did I learn that I have summer "bike-in movies" to look forward to when I move to Austin, but I also clicked on this link, www.atxbs.com which takes you to the site for Austin Texas Bike Stuff. I quickly joined and now have a whole new resource for bike events, advocacy and advice at my fingertips, all Austin-related.

Random Couch Surfing Post:
Meet at the Lamar Pedestrian Bridge tomorrow night to bike to Givens Park, play some games, and then to a "secret" location to have the first summer bike-in movie! Detailed flyer at this link; http://www.atxbs.com/ anyone want to go? Melissa