Four Orillia teens, along with two local fathers, have returned home after cycling across the country this summer.
“Two of my friends' dads had the dream of cycling from Vancouver since they were 15,” explains Salomon Easton. “They are both in their ‘50s now.”
Easton, 17, was excited to spend the summer away from home on a bike, saying the experience was incredible.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he said. “Everywhere we went was always amazing.”
The friends Easton was with and made along the way during the seven-and-a-half weeks are what he will remember most from the trip.
“There were definitely times when it was tiring,” he said. “It was always enjoyable as well.”
The trip took the group through B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and eventually home through Ontario.
Keith Kervin was on the trip with his sonsTim, Elliot, and Peter. He says the 5,000-kilometre journey was amazing.
“The biggest thing was the kindness and generosity of the people we met along the way,” he said. "There were people who gave us a place to stay, money, food, and water.”
Kervin says the trip taught him the importance of being kind to strangers.
“You never know what kind of an effect that is going to have on other people,” he said. “Sometimes just someone being kind made our day.”
Kervin, 52, says including his sons in the trip was truly special.
“To watch them succeed, grow, and experience all of Canada and its beautiful people was amazing,” he said.
Tim Tigchelaar says the trip was a lifetime achievement.
“We are all pretty proud that we accomplished the kilometres,” he said. “We almost did two kilometres of vertical elevation, and one million pedal strokes each.”
Tigchelaar says the trip gave the group a new appreciation for their home in Orillia.
“As beautiful as B.C. is, it has nothing on our home,” he said. “This is a place where we’ve found a sense of home, our occupations, and when we come back to our home we see the colours, the vistas, and all these things that we've passed over for some time.”
Next on the agenda for the group is another cycling trip, next time to P.E.I. or through Europe.
