Dutchman biking 'pole to pole'

Aart Huijg used to be an economist in his hometown of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. While he loved the math, he hated the lifestyle, stuck behind a desk eight hours a day.

So he hopped on a bike and decided to complete an adventure in a big, big way. He's biking from the North Pole to the South Pole - well, as close as one can get on a bicycle. Huijg actually started near Prudhoe Bay and will finish his trip at the southernmost tip of South America.

Last week, Huijg stopped in Columbia Falls, three months into his journey and with a long way left to go. He expects to finish the 30,000-kilometer trip (18,600 miles) on Dec. 31, 2012.

"My trip is about remoteness," he said.

Most of the biking he'll do through the U.S. will be on dirt roads. A GPS unit guides the way - the maps he has don't even show many of the roads he'll take.

Huijg rides about 60 miles a day and then camps. He's not afraid to ring someone's doorbell and ask if it's OK to camp in their yard.

So far, so good. He spent the night at a Columbia Falls home, and when he was in the North Fork, he stayed with artist Peter Moore.

The trip has been trying at times. There were three weeks of rain, and he went a week without a shower. All told, the journey will take 500 days and cross 18 countries, including 3,000 miles through the Amazon basin. His final destination is Ushuaia, the capital city of Tierra del Fuego Province, in Argentina.

En route, Huijg stops and interviews what he calls "authentic personalities," people who have carved out their own grounded niche in life. He then shoots a video of a day in their life.

Huijg keeps in touch with friends through Facebook, and he has his own Web site - www.today-you-can.com - where viewers can track his progress.

This isn't his first long-distance international bike ride. Huijg completed long distance trips in the past through Russia and Iran.