Five years was a long time ago.

Five years ago, George W. Bush was still the president of the United States. Five years ago, Michael Phelps became a household name after winning eight gold medals at the Beijing Summer Olympics. Five years ago, Miley Cyrus was still a 15-year-old little snot already getting into trouble for risqué photographs. And yes, five years ago, Myspace was still a thing.

Five years ago, C.J. Boyd began the greatest journey of his life.

In March 2008, the California musician took his solo project on tour, and there is still no end in sight.

Boyd has consecutively toured for over five years, living without a home and getting by with the limited income he receives from playing shows.

“I definitely wanted to go for a long time, but I didn’t have any idea how long it would last,” Boyd said. “For the first couple of years, I kept thinking, ‘This could end at any time,’ and then it just didn’t.”

The bassist said the longest time he stayed in one place was no more than a week or two, perpetually traveling to play shows across the U.S. and Europe.

The places Boyd finds to sleep vary, whether it’s staying at friends’ homes, venues he performs at or sleeping in the back of his “Jambulance,” an old ambulance converted to run on vegetable oil that he has used to tour for most of the past five years.

Boyd said he saved up enough money to get his initial tour started and cushion his finances in case things didn’t go as planned. Such was the case when the “Jambulance” broke down this year, leaving the musician scrambling to find ways to carry on.

“I’m in the middle of figuring out how to continue touring without it,” Boyd said. “There’s just no guarantees.”

Yet, Boyd has always found a way to continue what he calls the “Infinitour” and has often found strange places to play shows while doing it.

Over the past five years, Boyd has played under bridges, inside massive fishing boats in Germany, countless churches and even a lightship off the coast of England.

“It’s nice to bring music to places that don’t usually have it,” Boyd said. “Especially when people get a space where music is the whole point of them being there. That’s hard to achieve at a bar where you’re trying to listen to music over people talking about bullshit on TV.”

Boyd began making music at the age of 14, when he first learned bass after hearing John Paul Jones play the instrument in Led Zeppelin.

“I just started hearing bass everywhere,” Boyd said. “I was always thinking about it and wanted to play it.”

It was during his time at the University of Puget Sound when Boyd first began keeping a notebook full of contact information for people who could book his shows from city to city.

“It’s a full-time occupation,” Boyd said. “Most of the work is not playing the music, but booking shows, figuring out routes and contacting venues and promoters. Most bands figure that kind of stuff out before they go on tour, but I’m doing that everyday in addition to making new music.”

Boyd still manages to release new music while on the road and said that recording each album while traveling has been its own experiment, citing that his last album Visions & Revisions was recorded at over 12 locations.

“My stuff is pretty dense, so it takes a long time to make a record,” Boyd said. “I use a loop pedal when I play live, but when I record I don’t, so I have to sit there and record every single track, even if it means 30 of those tracks are just drums.”

The majority of his shows over the past five years have been performed solo, but lately he has been touring with different projects he is involved with.

Boyd just finished a seven-week tour with Kurva Choir and will go on a three-month tour with his band Cairo in the summer.

“I like having the road to myself sometimes, but other times it’s nice to share it with some folks too,” he said.

But whether it’s just Boyd and his bass or an entire band performing at his side, the relentless vagabond never fails to find a project to tour with.

“There’s people who call it ‘The Forever Tour,’” Boyd said. “My life is focused on immediate goals, getting through this week, this month, this year and if you ask me what I’ll be doing in a year, I’ll probably be touring.”

Boyd said he plans to still be on the road when the Cairo tour comes to an end in January 2014. But for right now, it’s just about getting to the next city and playing another show.

“I do it because I love it,” Boyd said. “There’s really nothing more compelling to me than playing music.”

C.J. Boyd is playing a show at Thee Death Tower in Champaign this Friday starting at 10:30 p.m. with Jeremiah Fisher, Dr. Responsible and Thee Orbie Dangerdogs. Message the admin of the Facebook event for the address.