17,300 miles is the distance from Los Angeles, California to New York, New York — seven times. It is about 5,000 miles less than the entire circumference of the Earth. It is a number I had only seen on the odometer in my car.
But for Nancy Sathre-Vogel, her husband, and twin 10-year-old boys, Daryl and Davy, 17,300 miles was the distance they cycled from Alaska to Argentina. Yes, on bikes. For three years, the family pedaled and explored the rich history, vibrant culture and diverse landscapes of the Americas, completing a journey that most people could only conceive in a dream.
The (un)planned long distance bike trip
You might be asking if one wakes up one fine morning and decides to bike several thousands of miles to the southernmost tip of South America. Yes. And no. For the Vogels, the trip was a hybrid of planning and spontaneity.
“Traveling on a bike was always an integral part of our lives,” said Nancy. She and John had met on a bike trip in Pakistan. They shared their passion for cycling with their sons, who eagerly picked up the hobby. The family took many two, three and four-day biking and camping trips throughout the U.S.
Because biking was such a frequent and beloved pasttime for the family, the cycling aspect of the journey was nothing extreme. Extreme came home one day and made a proposal.
“My husband, John, came home after work and really wanted to take a year off to bike and travel with the boys and me. At first I thought he was absolutely crazy and I kept on saying that is not what parents do,” said Nancy.
But her initial skepticism turned into acceptance and support when she realized that this seemingly ‘foolish’ endeavor would be an amazing learning experience for Daryl and Davy.
The itinerary for cycling the Americas
The Vogels spent 2006 to 2007, when Daryl and Davy were just 8, cycling through the U.S. and Mexico. After riding 9,300 miles, they knew they wanted more. As in 8,000 miles more.
To satisfy their appetite for biking and adventure, the family conceived another excursion, a 17,300-mile ride from Alaska to Argentina. After coming back from their North American trip, the family went back home to Idaho and spent the boys’ fourth grade year devising the Pan-American journey.
“We spent the next year intensely planning and cramming for the trip,” Nancy said. “Nearly every waking thought and action was something related to moving or getting ready to go.”
Although south was the proposed direction, the route itself was not entirely planned out. Starting in Alaska, the family progressed through the Western US, Central America and Western South America, traveling through several notable landmarks such as Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Canyon, Macchu Pichu in Peru and the Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina, to name a few.
Very few. With a general idea of the route in mind, the family gathered as many maps as they could and talked to locals along the way.
The family also decided to try to obtain a Guinness World Record for Daryl and Davy for being the youngest individuals to cycle the Americas. While this goal provided more structure for the route (start and stop points, not being able to use ferries), the family still just followed their hearts and interests when it came to choosing their path.
Schooling the kids en route
With the route largely in place, another matter was the boys’ education. While it would quite possibly be every child’s dream to take off three years from school, Nancy and her husband wanted to make sure the Daryl and Davy were keeping up with school while cycling. John and Nancy are both teachers so they worked out a system for homeschooling. The boys would do math problems almost every night while other subjects would be incorporated into travel.
John is a high school math teacher, so he was able to concentrate on that area. It wasn’t done every day, but on easier cycling days, which was 50% of the time, the boys had more math assigned.
“The rest of the schooling was built into the adventure and we took advantage of where we were,” Nancy explained. For example, when the family was at the Panama Canal, Nancy and John prepared the sites they were going to visit, had the boys ask and answer questions and write a report. While this was not the format for every lesson, the world really did become their classroom.
Financing and Justifying a Bike Sabbatical
Even with what most would consider a very quixotic adventure, Nancy and John had to address very real concerns when planning the trip, one of which was finances.
“We were in a very unique situation, being older parents, we had about 20 years of savings for us to access,” she said. The family was also able to rent out their home during the trip, which provided an additional income. Everyone’s situation is different, so it is important to budget according to your individual needs and situation, Nancy says.
The family budgeted around $1500 a month for everyday expenses such as food and accommodations, which included stays at hotels, hostels and campgrounds. Sometimes the family was even able to stay with locals. They also allotted an additional $500 a month for excursions or ‘just in case’ money. Some months that money wasn’t spent at all, while others it was used in a day.
Another, perhaps harsher, reality that the family faced was public criticism.
“Especially when you are parents, there is more pressure to do what is expected,” Nancy said. “People said some very mean things on our blog, but we felt we were giving our kids the best experience they ever had.”
The family didn’t let the criticism bring them or slow them down. In fact, Nancy revealed that the judgment allowed her to become a stronger voice for family adventure travel.
Establishing a stationary home life
Now with thousands of miles of cycling under their belt, the family is taking a hiatus from longer trips.
“At this point we are not planning anything major,” said Nancy. “We are looking to give Daryl and Davy as many varied experiences as possible, and the experience that they haven’t had so far is being part of a community for a longer period of time.” Nancy, John, and the boys, now 13, plan on settling in Idaho for a more ‘classic experience’.
Whether you are amazed, intrigued or motivated to organize your own trip by the Vogel’s experience, Nancy is optimistic that any family can succeed at such a feat.
“Don’t be afraid, the physical aspect of biking is not that hard. Kids are capable of doing more than we think they are, so don’t underestimate them or yourself.”
For more inspiration and further detailed information on the ins and outs of long distance biking, check out the family’s Family on Bikes site
Also, for more tips on biking with the family, check out Nancy’s suggestions.
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I poured my heart and soul into this!!! Hope you people enjoy! =)
Wow, this is wonderful! You are so lucky to have gotten this opportunity. You looked absolutely gorgeous at the show and the red carpet. Thanks for sharing this, it really made me smile. I used to have the biggest crush on Joe Jonas.. hahah!
Amazing trip!
I hope that my story will inspire and enrich your lives; even if it doesn’t touch you as much as it has touched me. I hope that this will be passed on and that people will take a few minutes just to read what I had to say and try to be in the mind of these children. Try to change your day and see your house, your possessions, your income, and those many great things that you possess and find a way to share them with others. We all need a wakeup call sometimes, a message to straighten us out and look at the life we were given. I hope to go back next year to repeat the experience all over again and try to change myself even more, I love those children and I love their compassion and selflessness. Words can’t fully express what I felt or what I witnessed but my words are clear, these people see the world much differently than us, they treat possessions differently and they know how to work as a community.
This is about when my family and I took a trip down to Central Florida for our Family Vacation.
Hope you enjoy!
This was a vacation that taught me a lot about how my religion is organzied and gave me more appreciation for it.
I will never forget the time I spent in Germany.
I hope you guys enjoyed my story!
Best luck.
South Africa is this amazing country that not only is beautiful for its animals and scenery but for its people and for its ability to overcome the greatest oppression: apartheid, the discrimination of the majority. I am so glad I was given the gift of traveling to South Africa. It is an experience I will never forget!
It was a great trip!
I hope everyone who takes the time to read The Awakening enjoys learning about my bus ride to reality.
My typed essay about my vacation in Vietnam. It seem poorly written or should I say typed :\
Bryan Gray Europe Tour.
My vacation to Panama became suprisingly meaningful, contrary to what I had initially expected.
Thank you
This was a fun and yet difficult project i truely have enjoyed sharing my vaction with you.
Mahalo,
Have you ever been to Maine? What did you like best?
This is such an amazing story and essay!!
Their were many more memories from this trip that impacted me as much as the ones that were included, but I just didnt have enough room. So, I shortened it and tried to write the best description of the trip without exceeding the word limit. But the trip was, indeed, as remarkable as I said it was.
Washington is a really nice place. It has many museums and historical places. it also has very delicious foods. Chinatown was my favorite place to eat.
Thank you for this scholarship opportunity!
IB York was a great experience, and a great opportunity to explore new ideas and innovations
So now I head to college without my classmates but i will always have this wonderful experience.
🙂
This is one of my many travel adventure stories from my trip to Europe in the beginning of the summer. Besides Prague, I traveled to Berlin, Munuch, and Nuremberg in Germany, Innsbruck in Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and France. My favorite place was Switzerland, but my favorite story was the one I shared. I hope you enoy reading it as much as i enjoyed experiencing it!
I want everyone to be able to expericence something like I did.:) Everyone desevers happines!
I hope you enjoyed my travel blog and I hope you plan to take your mom to the Peaks of Otter Lodge for the best brunch you will ever eat. For more information click on this link:
http://www.peaksofotter.com/
Finished product. I love PERU!
This eye-opening opportunity has shaped my conviction toward making change and developing the community. It is a great pleasure to meet all those Leadership Award Honorees and other49 ANNpower fellows from 24 states in the U.S. I will continue to make change and build a dynamic community, excursively to ethnic, social, political gender aspects of advantage, as my milestone to become a great leader!
This eye-opening opportunity marks the culmination of my junior year. I am so glad to meet all those wonderful women leaders from all around the world and 49 other ANNpower fellows from other 24 states. I will continue to explore the world and make change with eagerness and confident, and overcoming disadvantage exclusively toward the milestone of a great leader!
I hope everyone enjoys my trip to Catalina and Ensenada!
This trip was the best trip regarding family time. It is unforgettable.
To see more photography from the trip, check out my photojournal: http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Photojournal-of-My-Grecian-Travels/213497035367351.
What a testimony!! Thanks for posting. You don't know how impactful this is. Let Jesus keep using you for His glory. 😉
I was saved in August of 2009. I was in my parents's room and we all prayed for m, becuase I was tired of not having a desire for God. There I gave my life to Him and let Him be my Lord. I already excepted Him as Savior, but though it was a license to sin. Thatt day, though I wanted to repent of my sin and let God lead me. Lord and Savior go hand-in-hand. My life is changed. Now I have convictions and am learning so much about seeking God, because He is seeking me. It's awesome to live in the security and hope of knowing I will see Him one day in heaven. I am so glad He lives in me, because my goodness outside of Him is nothing. I don't know what I would do without Him.
Jesus used that park to bring you and your dad back together. How beautiful 🙂
Each place I go, I leave a peice of myself. And everyplace I go leaves a peice of itself in me. The people I have met along the way have changed me in the deepest way. Their lives have touched mine and I can never return to life as was usual. Likewise, my life has touched many along the way. It is my hope that nobody I meet along the way may return to life as was their usual. This is how each thead pulls coth and fabric together as we the people of the world cover it like a quilt. We must double stitch each peice so not to fall apart or leave holes. We need one another.
To whoever reading this, I am the person wearing blue shirt and white shorts, sligtly leaning on the panda bear statue.
My essay that talks about my experience traveling to Lima, Peru aims toward encouraging others who are not too familiar with it to visit and appreciate the fun life changing experience they're gauranteed to get.
What a great contest! Hope to see lots of terrific teen travel stories here!
It was difficult for me to type a 600 word blog about an amazing experience I had in the month of July. It was also difficult for me to choose certain pictures from the ones that I have chosen, so I uploaded the pictures of my time at NeiHu elementary school. I really wished that I could have used more sightseeing photos, but unfortunately, those were too big to upload.
This trip was amazing and it also tested who I am becoming as a person. Seeing the woman in Central Park living out her dream, to the woman selling fruit throughout the day; New York is made of dreamers and hardworking people. I loved it. Hope I get the chance to go back.
This was an amazing experience! I am so grateful for everything it taught me!!
From research, I believe the ice cream shop was called Eisdiele Eddy. More information about the exchange program can be found at http://www.aatg.org/study-trip-faq as well as at the bottom of the page at http://www.aatg.org/NGE-awards.
These Picutures are both of my own creation (one being an acrylic painting). When I took this picture at the western wall in Israel, the man in the photo was crying his heart out wearing a tattered down bath robe, I thought it would make for an intersting picture. So it did, it also inspired to me to create a painting in which I showed the world what I believe he really is. A man who is down on his luck but seems to still find peace in his life.
My sophomore year of high school I went to Donner Pass in California with a group called The Woods Project (www.thewoodsproject.org) . I had to apply to go , I was really anxious and scared that I wasn’t going to get. When I got my acceptance letter I was excited. I was also nervous because I had never been away from home for more than a week and The Woods project was going to last for two weeks. I had chosen to go to Donner Pass because I wanted to experience something new. I was going to go backpacking for one week and hiking the other. I had never gone backpacking before. When I told my friends that I was going backpacking they started to laugh because I am the smallest girl in my whole school and they didn’t think I was going to make it. Getting that response from my friends made me super scared of going to the trip. I thought I was going to die while backpacking!
My dad went to go drop me off at the airport and then he left. I was already scared and freaking out at the fact that he had just left me there and I did not know anybody! . I got in the plane to California and I was already regretting going on the trip. I was going to be with complete strangers for two weeks! When we got to California we all got split .There were three groups going to different places, one to Yosemite, another to Marine Headlines and then mine, to Donner Pass. I got in a van and that’s where I met the people who I was going to spend two weeks with. We were in that van for hours! When we finally got to our cabin we had to go up a hill to get to the door.
The first cabin we stayed in was named Clair Tappan Lodge. It was really nice . It was made out of wood, had a pool table, personal chef, jacuzzi and hot water in the showers. I loved it there! Too bad it only lasted for two days then it was time to go backpacking. They gave us our backpacking materials. I tried on the backpack and almost fell over. My backpacking week had started. We went up and down mountains, through rivers and lakes, and I thought we were never going to set up our tents. When it started to get dark we finally started cooking. The food we had was not good at all. We couldn’t bring a lot of food because of the bears and other animals. My second day of backpacking went better than the first. Everybody in my group started to know each other better and soon we became really close. We would sing while backpacking to make time pass faster and at night we didn’t want to sleep because we would play games. While backpacking I got to experience many things I hadn’t before. Even though I was the smallest girl going backpacking I was always the leader of the line because of my stamina.
When our backpacking week ended it was time to hike. I had gotten the hardest part of the trip over with so I knew hiking was going to be a piece of cake. We would hike in the morning and hanged out at night. It was the best experience I had ever had! When it was time to go back home I didn’t want to because I knew I would miss my friends.
To watch my video go to : http://youtu.be/FLd7W71EnyU
My experience as a first time camper.
i hope i win