​"An Australian, an Ecuadorian and an American..." go on a Walkabout of America

29 May 2017 (Columbus, Ohio) - Three university students from the University of Utah are bootstrapping their way across America, attempting the longest ride-share to date, from New York to San Francisco, aka The Walkabout. Their plan is to vlog about the rich diversity of modern America by telling the stories of the drivers and the people they meet along the way.

Danny Ruales, from Equador, enlisted Josiah Purss, an Australian and Ryan Bliss, an American to go on this epic journey because he wanted to get out and do something crazy and irrational and fun. 

“A few months ago, I was sitting in my office at the University of Utah trying to come up with a way to break a world record,” says Danny, the youngest of the three amigos. “After a few hours of struggling to come up with an idea, it finally hit me. I love to travel so I thought of a way to incorporate that into me wanting to break a world record, unfortunately, most current travel world records were nearly impossible to beat." 

"While browsing the internet for travel ideas I came across a woman who held the record for the longest Uber trip, she had taken an Uber from her place in Virginia all the way to her boyfriend's house in Brooklyn. Once I saw that I knew I wanted to break it, but I didn't just want to barely break it, I wanted to blow it out of the water. After asking two of my friends if they wanted to join me and where we could travel to, they suggested this crazy idea, 'Let's Uber across the entire country!' and just like that we had our world record breaking idea.”

Josiah, otherwise known as the Wandering Roo on Instagram and YouTube, says, “We are also doing it because we want to tell stories of the people we meet along the way. We have met some of the most incredible people. Today, our driver was from Afghanistan, a story that we are telling in The Walkabout 5 // XYZ. He came to the US on political asylum after he had worked with the US army in Afghanistan, and the Taliban had burnt down his house. His wife and child are still stuck there.” Josiah, ever the story teller, has built an Instrgram following of over 30,000 based on his travel photographs, but now is exploring vlogging, using this medium. The vlogs tell the story of their journey and who they meet, and Josiah eventually plans to turn them into a documentary, inspired by the work of Casey Neistat, whom they sought out and met in New York.

Ryan is the founder and CEO of Hashtaggy, an app that connects university students to real-life sports and social activities via social media. He is the operational manager for the trip, ensuring that progress is made effectively and without incident. Josiah and Danny have been volunteering time to work with Ryan on Hashtaggy and the basis of the ideas for the execution of this journey were conceived from their plans to market the app.

The trio have set up a Kickstarter campaign to fund their venture, which to date has raised two-thirds of the funds, mainly supported by family and their friends. One of the campaign donors is Captain Nick Stewart, USMC, who Josiah met randomly at the Abraham Lincoln Memorial in Washington, when Nick had just proposed to his girlfriend and they didn't have a photographer to commemorate the occasion. Josiah spontaneously offered to photograph them; a story told in their fourth vlog, The Walkabout 4 // Taming a Dragon.

They are seeking sponsorship and attention for their journey and campaign. Currently in Pittsburgh, Pensylvania, Danny, Ryan and Josiah are making their way to Columbus, Ohio.

References:

• Kickstarter Campaign: Ubering across America
• The Walkabout 1 // Start of an Epic Journey
• The Walkabout 2 // Searching for Casey Neistat
• The Walkabout 3 // Boat Racing in Hurricanes
• The Walkabout 4 // Taming a Dragon
• The Walkabout 5 // The Taliban Burnt My House Down

Social Media

• Josiah's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/wandering_roo/
• Danny's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/soccerkidda...
• Ryan's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ryanisbliss/

MEDIA CONTACT: 

Josiah Purss
Call (+1) 801 882 6766
josiahpurss@gmail.com