The school year started Friday for teacher Joe Bowen as the 62-year-old Kentuckian began his cross-country bicycle tour.
Bowen is recreating a 14,000-mile bicycle tour he took in 1967 from Lompoc, California, to his home in Eastern Kentucky. This time, in addition to the usual camping and bike-travel gear, he's carrying a laptop computer to teach an online class about America to about 1,000 kids back home.
In his proposal to the Appalachian Heritage Alliance, one of his sponsors and the host of his webpage, Bowen said the educational links to geography, social studies, arts and humanities, history, math and science are “truly astounding.” It's true, after leaving Lompoc Bowen will visit a missile range, the Hearst Castle, Big Sur, the John Steinbeck Museum in Salinas, San Francisco and the Golden Gate bridge all in the first couple of weeks. See a road map of his itinerary here.
He's also joined by another bicycle tourist, Cliff Cantrell, 64, who is writing the blog — 2005 Cycle II — along the way. So far, it includes their sendoff from Lompoc, a local newspaper article about the trip, and their cross-country drive just to get to Lompoc.
In addition to instructing children back home, Bowen also will be spreading the word about the tourism and vacationing possibilities for Eastern Kentucky.
You can visit Bowen's “Rediscover America” webpage and follow his trip there as well.
Check in on other riders who have been featured in Biking Bis at the On the Road Bicycle Tour Blogs page.
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