After working in New York at the same comfortable job for eight years, Bernard Lopez suddenly quit, broke the lease he had signed on a new apartment, withdrew all his retirement savings, and set out to travel across the United States by bicycle.

One of the questions he heard over and over, after the initial reaction of “Are you crazy?”, was “Are you doing this to raise money for charity?”

If Bernard had said yes, most people would have nodded their heads, their curiosity at least partially satisfied. It’s usually acceptable, if not always completely understood, to do something unconventional when it benefits other people.

But Bernard wasn’t raising money for charity.