As a 13-year-old studying in India, Tad Beckwith took inspiration from his social studies teacher, Mr. Pleasance, who taught from stories - tales from his own bike trips around the world with his wife and two kids. Tad never forgot those stories, and 12 years later in 1999, as an elementary school teacher in Oregon, Tad decided to leave the four walls of the classroom, but invited his students to join him virtually on a bike journey to promote understanding and peace across cultures. A brand-new internet allowed Tad to share not only with his own students, but with thousands of students and families along his route and beyond.
He put out a call for a riding companion and Canadian Frank Pollari joined him. Together they helped connect hundreds of international pen pals and spoke to thousands of students about how they could be peacemakers in the world. Tad was also joined by friend and long-distance cyclist Shauna Curry, and in India by his younger sister Penny. These four PeaceBike Expedition Team Members lived an unforgettable adventure, and shared a message of friendship and cross-cultural understanding, while experiencing daily generosity and kindness of hosts and new friends.
Ride along with them in this commemorative collection of their journals ...
- Wake to the nighttime rustle of an escaped armadillo near your tent
- Munch fresh cookies from a bike-top solar oven
- Sing with kids in village India and the jungles of Ecuador, and jam on the harmonica with musicians in New Zealand
- Ride along with 200 cyclists in Quito or push into the wind along a lonely desert highway in Peru
- Stay curious and open to the gifts of the day: a stay in a 5-star hotel, or - when the locals recommended it for safety - in the town jail
- Help a child write a letter to a new friend, a classroom share their pledge of peace, or a farmer hoe her potatoes
... and discover the generous, humbling kindness of humanity around every turn.
[Color photos included.]
