The Blush Family’s Bitcoin Bus Tour: Dash Across America
A family of four have decided to test the limits of cryptocurrencies by dashing across America in their Bitcoin Bus, spending only cryptocurrency along the way.
John Bush, Catherine Bleish, their two children, and their two dogs have endeavored to take on the challenge of traveling across the U.S. with the intention of educating and informing the people they meet on cryptocurrencies and how to use them.
They intend to focus on bitcoin, ethereum, and dash, and will also teach people about the value of peer-to-peer technologies and decentralized social organization in their new Bitcoin Bus home.
Not Their First Venture
This, however, is not the first time the Blush Family have undertaken a bitcoin-only trip. In fact, it’s their fourth.
Back in 2014, they were inspired by the then-editor of Bitcoin Magazine, Ruben Alexander, who asked them to try a trip they were taking – the Porcupine Freedom Festival in New Hampshire – to use bitcoin only.
Speaking to CCN.com, the family said that they put the entire bitcoin ecosystem to the test.
It was a powerful experience that introduced us to better technologies like Airbitz directory vs. CoinMap.org and better companies like CheapAir vs. Expedia. There were some hard times when the technology failed, but we were able to help multiple companies improve their bitcoin experience for the user.
With three cross-country trips utilizing bitcoin over 2014 and 2015, the entire family managed to travel more than 14,000 miles in their bitcoin van over a nine-week period visiting 26 states with only a few mishaps on their first trip.
Now, as they embark on their 2016 bitcoin tour across America, the family have decided to make an entire advocacy lifestyle out of it and plan on hitting all 50 states on their Bitcoin Bus. This time, though, they will not just be using bitcoin on their travels. They have also added the dash cryptocurrency.
Problems Along the Way
Even though bitcoin is still a relatively new currency, it has grown exponentially over the last few years. So-much-so, that the entire Blush family can travel utilizing the digital currency for their day-to-day needs. Of course, that’s not to say that problems don’t arise along the way too.
For the Blush family, they have so far encountered one problem.
They said:
We were standing in Whole Foods in Sedona with hot breakfast buffet meals in-hand and the Airbitz server was apparently down, and both gyft and egifter were down. In addition to all three of those gift card services being down, our WageCan card also failed to load our bitcoin that we had sent the day before.
Luckily, they had a PayPal card that they were able to use when they sell bitcoin to a friend, which enabled them to undertake a very gray hack to buy bitcoins.
They added:
Compared to our first trip this one has been incredibly smooth, a true testament to the exponential growth the bitcoin ecosystem is experiencing.
States Visited
Even though the U.S. is considered the most bitcoin-friendly country with around with 396 bitcoin ATMs, according to bitcoin ATM tracking site, CoinATMRadar.com, there are some states that make the use of bitcoin difficult.
According to the family, they said that West Texas was a barren area while New Mexico was barren in the small towns.
They added:
Thankfully, we have our WageCan card and we are in a converted school bus so we can cook meals on the road.
The family is planning on visiting states from Austin, Texas to Forest Lakes, Arizona, taking part in the crypto-friendly event, Jackalope Freedom Festival. From there they will visit bitcoin communities in San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Denver, Kansas City, and Dallas.
Featured image from the Blush Family.
