It’s been awhile since we checked in on Eric Hites, better known to most folks as Fat Guy Across America.
Last May, he shuttered his GoFundMe campaign — which, at that point, had raised an easy five figures — citing harassment and insults toward GoFundMe as the reason. At the time, he still had a prominent PayPal donation link on his Facebook page and seemed to be hobbling his way across America, if at a snail’s pace.
Curious what Eric has been up to these days, we took a peek at his Facebook page. Gone are the links to donate on PayPal, as well as references to the GoFundMe campaign. Also gone: the ability to make a post on his page.
His GoFundMe campaign is, at this particular moment in time, not found.
The GOMI thread dedicated to Mr Fat Guy is still going, up to a whopping 1362 pages.
The fat guy on a bike (or rather, not on a bike) says he’s trying to avoid Facebook these days because politics or something. Surely it has nothing to do with the fact that his “trolls” constantly question whether or not he’ll ever get around to riding again.
It is telling that he is no longer seeking donations. Rumor has it that GoFundMe has issued a ton of refunds already, but we were unable to confirm with any actual donors. If you donated to Fat Guy and got a refund, please get in touch.
It’s been quite the ride for Eric and his supporters. Some of his cheerleaders have, amazingly, hung on and continue to enable support him on his non-journey.
He swears up and down that he’ll get on the road again soon. Apparently winter temperatures are too hot for him.
In his defense, we have had a few 70-degree days in the South (he last rode through Texas before he did not ride back to Indiana). However, I don’t see how that’s worse than 100-degree days in summer.
I digress. It’s unclear what 2017 will hold for Fat Guy Across America, but we do know that there’s no way he’s going to say out loud that he’s given up. Hey, he might even restart his GoFundMe campaign! Safe to say, my cat will probably get more exercise than him this year just from running back and forth through my house like a maniac at 3am for absolutely no reason. Bless them both.