Seeing the world: Canton cyclist completes barefoot trip through Central America

CANTON − Daniel James' love of adventure has taken him to far-off vistas.

But more than seeing new places, his experiences also have taught him that the world is a good place, filled with good people.

He's visited 13 countries, courtesy of his bicycle. During his latest outing, James departed from Texas and cycled through several countries in Central America — barefoot.

James, 28, who was home-schooled and entered college at 15 while still in high school, said he caught the adventure bug shortly after graduating from GlenOak High School in 2014.

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In 2015, at just 18, James chose to visit Australia for his first overseas trip because it was an English-speaking country.

"I lived and worked in Australia for a year," he said. "I got a work visa there and I found jobs just working on some different farms; an avocado farm, a banana farm and a blueberry farm. And after that experience, I just got the travel bug and wanted to continue seeing the world."

He earned a bachelor's degree in English from Kent state University, specializing in English as a second language.

"I graduated in 2022 after a teaching abroad session in Florence, Italy. I chose that degree as a way to teach English abroad and continue traveling while I worked," he said.

After Australia, James returned home in 2016 and embarked on his first cycling trip: a coast-to-coast trek from Maine to Washington state.

"After that trip, I ended up getting a job and had to work and save up money for a little while," he said. "And then my next trip I did was I went back to Australia, and this time with my bike. I rode across South Australia coast to coast, and then New Zealand."

James said that in all of his travels, he's never had a negative or dangerous encounter.

"So many people would just invite me into their homes, or they'd be curious about the trip and ask where I was going or how long I had been riding," he recalled. "They would invite me in for dinner or give me a free meal or something."

Daniel James: 'They had never seen a foreigner'

For his most recent outing through Central America, James decided to ride without shoes.

"I started in Columbia and rode through Ecuador and Peru in the Amazon jungle; I didn't take any shoes with me," he said. "It kind of started when I was kid. I would play in the woods behind my house barefoot, and I like to play sports barefoot. When I was living and working in Australia, a lot of people go barefoot there, too. It's just part of the culture, I guess. They'll go in restaurants and grocery stores, barefoot. It's just really normal there. After I lived there a year, it just kind of stuck, and then I was like, 'I can do this trip barefoot.'"

He encountered the most difficulty in Colombia.

"The biggest thing I struggled with was how hot the road would be," he said. "It would get unbearably hot. I'd have to keep walking but I found out that after a few weeks, my feet got just got really hard on the bottoms."

James averaged 40 to 50 miles a day on his hybrid bike, in one instance, riding 125 miles in a single day.

An inaccurate road map in Guatemala led James to one of his most interesting encounters.

"When I actually got on (the road), it was muddy and it was hard to make any progress because the road was in such bad condition," he said. "I ended up pushing to the top of this mountain, and when I got to the top, there was this native Guatemalan tribe which was really great."

James is fluent in Spanish but he said they couldn't communicate because the tribe spoke indigenous languages.

"The elder of the village (indicated) they had never seen a foreigner before," he said. "But they became really friendly with me but they were definitely on edge when I first got there; they were just staring at me. They didn't do anything mean to me. I never felt like I was in danger."

During his visit, a huge rainstorm hit, prompting him to ask permission to stay the night.

"They were pretty unsure about letting me stay, but eventually they did," he said. "They made me dinner, and it was a really cool experience."

'I found that some of the poorest people were the happiest, most inviting people'

James' itinerary also included Mexico and El Salvador, with the trip ending in Panama. He said he passed through large, prosperous cities in Mexico, and places that had no running water or electricity, like the village of an indigenous tribe whose toilet was a hole in the ground.

In Honduras, he encountered a refugee camp occupied by more than 1,000 people from around the world.

"They had worked their way up through Central America with the goal of eventually ending up in the U.S. or Mexico, but I believe most of them were headed to the U.S." he said.

James said he was struck by the depth of hospitality he encountered in some of the most desperate places.

"What I found in my travels is from the poorest people in little tiny villages in Mexico or Guatemala, whatever country I found myself in, I found that some of the poorest people were the happiest, most inviting people," he said. "They didn't have any money, they didn't have a nice home or expensive things, but they wanted to share what little they had with me. It gave them so much joy to do that, to be able to help a traveler."

James said his ultimate goal is to cycle across all of the continents. Three down, four to go.

"I've done North America, South America and Australia," he said. "For the next trip, it's probably going to be Europe or Africa."

Once worried, now fellow travelers

His parents, Robert "Bob" and Mary James, initially were worried about his travels.

"When I left on my first trip, they thought it was crazy and they were pretty nervous about it," Daniel James said, laughing. "Now that I've done it so many times, they're supportive of it. They understand that it's something I love to do. We keep in contact when I'm on the road and they usually meet me at some point of the trip for a week or so."

Bob James said he's learned to stop worrying when his son takes to the road.

"I can tell you that when he first started, he was 18 and I was obviously very nervous about all of his trips to the point where I had to know where he was every day," he said. "If I didn't hear from him for a couple of days, I got anxious. Now, I'm at the point where I embrace his eagerness to meet people from different countries. We certainly still pray for him."

Mary James said she and her son are a lot alike.

"We both want to see the world," she said. "We've done some hiking and camping together. He's very determined."

But even she admits to being scared after dropping him off in Lubec, Maine, the northeastern-most part of the U.S., because of the frigid weather. They reconnected in Cape Flattery, Washington, the northwestern-most spot in the U.S.

"I get a little scared, but I love to hear about his interactions with people," Mary James said. "He loves people; they just take to him. But he also likes to be alone."

Bob James said that when they were raising their six children, they couldn't afford to travel. But they have since been to Peru, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico. Mary James and her son also have visited Florence, Italy.

"I've been to Peru three times, and my wife has been there twice. She's also been to Australia," he said. "When I lost my job, I went with him into the Amazon for seven days, with just two Peruvian guides. It was a blast. I wanna go back."

Bob James said traveling has broadened his son.

"It definitely has helped him appreciate things in life that, unfortunately, people in the U.S. take for granted," he said. "When he's invited to a family's house overnight, some of them have houses the size of our basement with leaky roofs and four or five kids. But they let him take the kids' beds and share what they have to eat. It really has helped him to appreciate different cultures."

James' mother said he has planned a trip to Madagascar with his brother.

"They've been planning it for years," she said. "But eventually, he wants to settle down and have a family."

Daniel James, whose travels have gained him 10,000 Instagram followers (@barefeetdan) and on Facebook (Barefeet Dan), advises others not to put off pursuing their dreams.

"You're never gonna be 100% prepared," he said. "You won't have all the answers and you don't know exactly how things are going to go. You're never gonna be in the perfect financial situation, so eventually at some point, you're just gonna have to go for it."

Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com.

On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

Daniel James' cycling log:

Here's a look at Daniel James' trips:

Trip 1: Maine to Washington State; 77 days; 5,200 miles (Finished in June 2016)

Trip 2: Crossing Australia and New Zealand; 71 days; 4,650 miles (Finished in June 2017)

Trip 3: Crossing South America and the Amazon jungle; 148 days; 3,200 miles (Finished in April 2019)

Trip 4: Mexico to Canton Ohio; 32 days; 2,100 miles (Finished in March 2020)

Trip 5: Texas to Panama Canal, 213 days; 3,290 miles (Finished in October 2023) (7 countries crossed)

Total: 541 days riding and 18,440 miles ridden. (20,000-plus miles, including training and preparation for rides.)

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Daniel James of Canton cycles barefoot through Central America