Twenty Miles Per Cookie - what could encourage kids more than a cookie, during tough journeys? And what about those journeys? Inspiring. Educational. Exhilarating. Grueling. Important. Life-learning. Global Travelers. Who fits these descriptions? Family on Bikes! We've shared their Pan-Am Journey here on Wandering Educators  - but what about their first long-term bike ride as a family? Mom Nancy Sathre-Vogel has penned a memoir, Twenty Miles Per Cookie: 9,000 Miles of Kid-Powered Adventures. It details the joys and challenges of a year-long journey their family took, on bikes around North America. Take two teachers, two twins, and two bikes (one three-person bike, one solo bike), add in one Very Long Route, and you've got a journey of a lifetime.

More than that, this book is a pleasure to read - for although it details a journey most of us won't ever take, the life lessons can be extrapolated to any family. From cold, rain, muck, and headwinds, to the kindness of strangers and the extraordinary beauty of nature, the Vogel family kept on. Life lessons can be read here, without biking those 9,000 miles - keep your head down, don't complain, keep going, work together, learn together, don't push TOO hard, and enjoy the journey.

I was particularly interested in the nuts and bolts of a long-term bike journey - from flat tires to camping logistics, since that is something I've never done before. As well, the photos are an important part of the book - smiles and sleeping, mucky fields and generous strangers - all serve to make the journey come alive for the reader. This is a book to read, to cherish, to inspire dreams, and remind us that wherever we are, the journey is everything. Enjoy it!

We caught up with Nancy and asked about the book, inspiration, biking, choosing a route, and following your dreams. Here's what she had to say...

WE: Please tell us about your book, Twenty Miles per Cookie: 9000 miles of kid-powered adventures...

NSV: Twenty Miles per Cookie tells of our adventures and misadventures as we cycled around the USA and Mexico with our 8-year-old twin sons. Our journey wasn't always easy - in fact it was downright hard at times! - but it was always wonderful. Together as a family we cycled through 19 US states and 5 Mexican states and had more adventures in that year than most people do in a lifetime.

Vogel Family - camping in Baja

Crossing the river

WE: What inspired you to write this book?

NSV: My primary reason to write the book was to document our experiences for our sons. In addition, I hope that by telling the story others will realize everything is possible. If a family can cycle 9300 miles together (and later another 17,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina) then the sky is the limit.

WE: Why Biking? Had your family done any bike trips before?

NSV: Why the bike? Good question. Honestly, we never even considered any other means of transport. My husband and I had been avid bike tourists before we had kids and we always knew that if we took off for an extended tour with our children it would be on bikes.

We love traveling on bikes because of the lifestyle it affords. Because we aren't encased in glass and steel, we are more vulnerable - and that leads to meeting more people and having more unique experiences. We also get to see tiny villages that most people buzz right through. Through all of that, we get an understanding of the world that others miss as they travel from one city to the next.

Vogel family in Baja

Vogel family in New Mexico

WE: What led you to choose this particular route?

NSV: The seasons. And the fact that our enormous bicycle built for three was nearly impossible to transport. We took off from Boise, Idaho because that's where we were living and that's where the bike was. We cycled out of our driveway! From there we had the summer and fall in the northern part of the USA (Oregon, Washington) before needing to be south by the time winter came. As spring rolled around, we were back in the USA headed toward Grandma's house in Connecticut.

WE:  What were the most important thing you learned together as a family?

NSV: I think the most important thing we learned was that we could do anything. If we, together as a family, could pedal over passes and through deserts, if we could find places to sleep every night and enough food to eat, if we could manage to cycle 9300 miles, then we could do anything.

First pass

KATY Trail

WE: What were the biggest challenges you faced?

NSV: Getting out the door. There were so many reasons NOT to take our journey and so many hoops to jump through, just getting on the bikes that very first day was a huge challenge. Our society has raised us to want a certain lifestyle - and traveling on bikes isn't it. When we decided we didn't want that lifestyle it was almost like we were spitting in the face of our parents, our friends, our society - and that's not easy to do.

Leaving home

Redwoods

WE:  Were language and culture ever an issue, on your journey?

NSV: No. I speak Spanish from my Peace Corps days so when we got to Mexico my family relied on me. We never had any problems with language at all.

WE: Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

NSV: I think the message I'd like people to take away is to do it. Whatever your dream is, you CAN do it. It doesn't have to be biking around the world, but we all have a dream squirreled away deep down within. I want people to know it's OK to pull that dream out, dust it off, and live it.

Texas

Finish at Grandma's house

WE:   Thanks so very much, Nancy! I truly enjoyed reading your book, and highly recommend it to our Wandering Educators.

For more information, please see:

http://familyonbikes.org/store/twenty_learn.htm

All photos courtesy and copyright Nancy Sathre-Vogel