Novel ways to cross the country, the hard way

I thought that I'd seen most ways of doing it, either solo or in pairs, such as walking, cycling, roller skates/blades, kids scooter etc. Many times they have appeared to have very little to support them, especially water. Few of them had a support vehicle following to warn vehicles of what they are about to come across. Last week though while we were travelling North from Coober Pedy we came across a lone person headed South on a skateboard with both feet on it and using a pole to push him along. He had no backpack but at least was wearing a high visibility vest but was not making much headway. We figured that he must have a support vehicle somewhere and it was not much further North but parked. Maybe it was incapable of travelling at his slow pace. On going past him a glance in my mirror only showed a large "Caution" sign on the rear but if there was more it wasn't large enough to be seen at a useful distance or informative enough. Further North we saw a Police Troopy headed South and thought that maybe he was responding to someones complaint of a safety issue.

I know it's their "right" to travel the roads but surely there has to be a responsibility to do it in a safe manner and with a support vehicle or be sufficiently self reliant. Not often have I seen them at least be on the other side of the road looking directly at oncoming traffic. Then there's the depressing thought that on some days when there's a strong headwind that they could end up almost seeing where they started the day from. A month earlier while we were headed South that region had temperatures in the low 40's and the cyclists we saw would have fast been using up any water they had of their own.

I suppose that some do it for the bragging rights while others are supposedly raising money for charity. How many people actually stop and donate even if the road and other traffic provides an opportunity. I recently was reading about the charity events and it questioned how much was being actually raised when compared to the cost of doing it and wouldn't it be better to just donate it in the first place. I think that many people are becoming jaded by the endless charities cold calling and feel that too many donations are being soaked up in management costs.