Inspiring. Educational. Exhilarating. Grueling. Important. Life-learning. Global Travelers. Who fits these descriptions? Family on Bikes! The Vogel family just returned from a multi-year odyssey spanning the Americas - mom, dad, and two boys. They took EVERYTHING they needed, on their bikes. They learned along the way  - much more than we can imagine. And all because they took a chance and explored where the road led. Talk about life learning, from real experiences. About being IN cultures, instead of reading about them. Of physically doing something that most people would not even consider. Yes, I am so very impressed with their Very Long Journey, and elated to share it with our Wandering Educators.

 

 

Swimming in Jungle Stream: With the intense heat of the Yucatan peninsula, it was great to be able to jump in a stream to cool off 

 

 

We sat down to chat with Nancy Sathre-Vogel, mom of Family on Bikes, about their journey - and integrating back into life at home. Here's what she had to say...

 

 

WE: Please tell us about Family on Bikes...

NSV: We are a family who went for a bike ride. On the longest road in the world.
But that’s just part of the story.

21 years ago I boarded a plane with a man I didn’t know and flew to Pakistan to spend the next year cycling through some of the toughest cycling conditions on earth with him. Six months later we got engaged while trekking in the Himalayas. Six months after that we got married.

John and I spent a couple years teaching in Albuquerque, then moved to Egypt to teach in an international school.  Then Ethiopia. And Taiwan and Malaysia. We continued to ride our bikes in remote parts of the world.

Our twin boys were born while we lived in Ethiopia and they spent their first seven years in various countries – they crossed the Atlantic five times before their second birthday.

In 2006 – when the boys were in third grade – John and I decided we wanted to escape the rat race. We wanted to jump off the hamster wheel and take our sons out to see their country – on bicycles.

We spent the next year pedaling America’s highways. The boys rode behind their father on a bicycle built for three, while I cycled beside them on my own bike. It was a year of discovery, freedom and magic.

By the time we got back home all four of us knew we wanted to continue on, so we decided to ride the longest road in the world – the Pan American Highway from Alaska to Argentina.

In 2008 we flew to Alaska to start our journey in Prudhoe Bay on the shores of the Arctic Ocean and spent the next three years cycling south. Until we couldn’t ride south any more. Well, maybe we could have, but it would have been cold and wet.

 

 

All Packed Up: In Prudhoe Bay, Alaska - ready to hit the road! 

 

Grand Teton National Park 

 

 

WE: What was the genesis of the plans for your journey?

NSV: The genesis of our journey? I suppose it goes back to the day I popped out of my mother’s belly and became an independent type.

Oh wait – you’re not talking about the journey of life are you?

Our family bike travels go back to a beautiful spring day in 2006 when my husband came home from school and muttered something about quitting his job, buying a bicycle built for three, and heading out to explore.

I thought the man was nuts.

I mean – we’re parents. With kids. You know – those little living things running around? Parents – with kids – just don’t quit their jobs and head out to explore. On bikes. They just don’t.

Within a few weeks I realized that nutcase of a man I call my husband was serious. I figured I needed to do some serious thinking too.

And the most amazing thing happened.

I started to realize that maybe – just maybe – it wasn’t HIM who was crazy. Maybe it was ME.

Every morning I woke up early and dropped the kids off at daycare. Then I spent all day at school with other people’s kids. By the time I got home I was exhausted, but I still needed to fix a quick dinner, take the boys to soccer practice, wash the dishes, throw the clothes in washer, clean up the house – and then collapse into bed exhausted.

I did it because it’s just the way life was. It never occurred to me to question it because… well, that’s just what parents did.

But was that really the life I wanted? Did I really want to spend the bulk of my time with other people’s kids and not have time with my own? Is that really what life is all about?

Three months later we were on the road – and we’ve never looked back since.

 

Fruit Stalls - in Mexico we started finding fruit stalls - we stocked up on fruit whenever we passed them. Here, one of the orange vendors tries to convince Davy he should be taking bee pollen every day. 

 

Rainy Season has Started 

 

A River Hike - Some friends took us out to "hike" along a river. As it turned out, we mostly floated down the whole river and had a blast! The boys refer to this as their favorite day of the journey. 

 

 

WE: How did your family plan for an extended bike trip?

NSV: For the first year, we didn’t plan at all – it was a spur-of-the-moment thing. We just abandoned our house for the year and took off.

We could do that for a year, but not for three years. In the year between the two family bike rides, we were single-mindedly focused on making the PanAm journey happen. Nearly every thought and action for the whole year was devoted to preparation.

The funny thing is that very, very little of that prep work was geared toward the bike ride itself – it was all spent on figuring out how to make our lives mobile. We needed to fix up the house and get it ready for renters. Everything needed to be packed up and stashed in our barn. We had to figure out the mail thing and the bill-paying thing and transport thing. And all the while, try to maintain some semblance of normality for the boys. It was a crazy year!

 

Honduras! 

 

Arriving in Cartagena. After 5 days on the boat, we were ready to reach land! 

 

Filtering Water. The only source of water up north was streams or rivers. We filtered all we needed. 

 

 

WE:Travel is so important, especially for kids! What do you say to parents that are just thinking about traveling with kids?

NSV: They say travel is the best education a kid can have – and I truly believe that. When you visit historical sites you learn history by osmosis. You see science in action by visiting national parks. Hands-on learning at its best.
But the most valuable part of travel, as far as I’m concerned, is being exposed to people from all walks of life. When we live in one place, we tend to get to know a very narrow band of people – after all, they are the people living in that same place. When you travel, you see the rest.

I believe that most of our world’s problems could be solved if we could simply understand that that person over there is a real person – not just a Muslim or a communist or a Nazi. He’s a father, brother, son, friend, neighbor, and community member with people who love him just as much as we love our fathers, brothers, sons, friends, and neighbors.

If we can see people as people just like us, we can work out our differences and live together – and that’s what travel teaches kids.

 

Typical Village, Columbia

 

School in Choluteca. The boys attended classes at the same school Nancy taught at as a Peace Corps Volunteer back in the 1980's. 

 

 

WE: Do you feel like you were able to experience cultures deeply, as you went along, or were you traveling too quickly for that?

NSV: That’s always a tough issue – we want to experience cultures deeply, yet we want to see them all. How do we find a balance?

The reason I started bike touring 25 years ago was a train trip I took through India – I wanted so badly to get into the many small villages I saw flashing past outside the train window. On my bike, I could get there and get to know the people in those villages – and I loved that.

But then I wanted even more – I wanted to truly immerse myself into the cultures I was seeing. So I moved overseas and lived the expat life for many years. That was great and wonderful and I learned a lot about the people I was living with. But it became just normal life – it wasn’t exciting and new and fresh every day.

Eventually I went back to bike touring so I could get the variety I loved, and sacrificed some of that deep immersion.

There is no right or wrong – we all go through phases and want different things out of life at different times. I have a friend who cycled the length of the Americas in 125 days – the same distance we did in three years. His experience was totally different from ours. Not better or worse – just different.
I think we need to figure out the balance and decide what works for us – right now. At this point, we are in Idaho so our sons can immerse deeply in their own culture – they’ve only lived in the USA for two years so this is a way for them to learn more about their own country and culture. How long will we stay? I have no idea.

 

Sheep herd. We got trapped by this herd of 5000 sheep. It took a while for them to pass.

 

 

WE: Now that you're back, how are you decompressing from such long-term travel? Do you itch to get back out?

NSV: The reentry has been tough. Way more tough than I expected.

The hardest part for us was that 6-week mark – for the previous three years six weeks was the longest we stayed in any one place. Our bodies and brains were telling us it was time to move on – and we were trying to tell them to shut up!

Just last week we managed to buy a small house that we’ll be fixing up and making “home” – that will help a lot. So far, we’ve been in a small apartment camping on the floor while trying to find a place to live. Now that we have the house, I think we’ll feel more settled.

 

Windy Patagonia. Patagonia is famous for its high winds. We were fortunate in that we didn't experience the high winds very often at all - and when we did they were mostly tailwinds. 

 

 

WE: What were the most important lessons you all learned on this journey?

NSV: People are all the same – it doesn’t matter what wrapper someone comes in, underneath it all we’re all the same. No matter what color their skin, language they speak, god they worship, currency they spend, or clothes they wear – they are all just like you and me.

The world is not a scary place – too many people fear what’s over the border. In the USA, we’re scared of Mexicans. In Mexico, they’re scared of Central Americans. In Colombia, we were warned of Ecuadorians and in Ecuador people warned us of Peruvians. It’s natural for people to fear the unknown but really – the world is not to be feared.

Nothing big will come easily – we spent three years working toward our goal of Ushuaia, Argentina. We took many detours and took a lot of time off – but we knew where we were going. Every day, it was there in the back of our minds – we were going to Ushuaia. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t instant gratification. It didn’t fall in our laps. We worked for that victory – just as you need to work for any victory you want.

 

Gaucho barn. When rain suddenly overtook us, we looked for shelter. As it happened, we asked a full-fledged gaucho and he brought us to his barn. We spent the night beneath sheep skins hanging from the rafters. 

 

Helping Out in Pimampiro. We stayed in Pimampiro for a month while Davy healed from his surgery. We were privileged to help put a new roof on a home. 

 

 

WE: How did the boys feel about their education on the road?

NSV: They loved it! To them, it felt like they weren’t in school at all – except for the few hours spent working through math lessons or writing reports. They learned just by passing through areas, but they weren’t even aware they were learning.

Now that they are back in Idaho and are in school half-time, they realize more and more how effective their education on the road was. They read about things and think, “I already know that.” They didn’t know they were learning, but they were!

 

WE MADE IT!!!! There are no words to describe that moment. We did it- after nearly 3 years and 17,300 miles through 15 countries. We did it! 

 

 

WE: Thanks so very much, Nancy. I am so very impressed with your family's journey, and am looking forward to reading more (and also seeing what you do next!). 

 

For more information, and to read more of their journey, please see:

http://www.familyonbikes.org/

 

 

 

All photos courtesy and copyright Family on Bikes.