By bike and by foot, Americans discover their country – and themselves
Doug StruckErin Dietrich, a Minnesotan who decided to walk across the country after thinking about it for 15 years, with her husband, Chris Rea, on day 132 of their journey in Kiowa, Colorado.
August 13, 2021
- By Doug Struck Correspondent
ON THE ROAD IN THE U.S.
Crossings please the soul. Large or small, they mark an accomplishment: the “t” crossed, the to-do item marked off, the dots connected. The dots may be two huge blue oceans.
“You look at a U.S. map, and you see water on one side, and water on the other side,” says Jarad Schofer, a high school math teacher who walked from Santa Monica, California, to Virginia Beach, Virginia, this year. “You think, to cross it would be incredible.”
As the pandemic has eased and cooped-up quarantine dreams have been unleashed, a small troop of wanderers is walking or bicycling from one side of this country to another. It is a grueling effort – enduring historic heat, grinding inclines, gas station food, and phone-distracted drivers.
WHY WE WROTE THIS
A large number of people are crossing the United States on foot and by bike. To some, it’s an act of liberation. To others, it fosters a sense of community after pandemic isolation. For all of them, traversing the country at a slow pace offers the reward of the landscape’s grandeur.
Most love it.
They say it fulfills something: a personal challenge, an escape from routine, a connection with others, an insight into themselves. They say they are finding what they sought on the road.
COURTESY OF JARAD SCHOFER“You look at a U.S. map, and you see water on one side, and water on the other side. … You think, to cross it would be incredible,” says Jarad Schofer, a high school math teacher, plunging into the ocean in Virginia after finishing a walk from California in 89 days
“It’s not about what you see, it’s all the people you meet,” says bicyclist Zach Wierzenski, stopped at a hostel in Virginia. “When you’re in trouble, somebody shows up. It’s literally magic. I have never experienced this kind of kindness before.”
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