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Freeport residents bicycle from Oregon to Florida (PHOTO GALLERY)
FREEPORT — Some people called them crazy and others admired their determination, but few were without opinions when they learned Brandin and Deb Shost were going to ride their bicycles across the United States.
The Freeport couple decided to make the trek this spring. They spent a few months training before they caught a plane to Portland, Ore., and started riding back east June 18.
“It’s been a long time since she and I had done something together,” Brandin said.
“So we rode our bicycles,” Deb finished with a laugh.
See a gallery of photographs taken by Brandin and Deb Shost during their trip »
The Shosts, who are both teachers, aren’t avid bike riders, but they discovered on a similar trip 16 years ago that they enjoyed the challenges and rewards of bicycling across the country.
“You’re going so much slower than a car that you’re aware of the surroundings,” Deb said.
They made that first trip on their first “vacation” together about a year after they were married. They lived in New Hampshire at the time, so they pedaled 4,000 miles from Seattle through parts of Canada back to their New England home. They wanted to take another trip but they had two small children, so they waited until this summer for their second adventure.
In all, the couple traveled through nine states — Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. They began each morning by mapping out their route for the day, making an effort to stop in small towns to meet the locals.
“We found people were very, very friendly throughout the whole trip,” Brandin said. “It was just an uplifting experience ... to see human kindness was still there.”
A restaurant owner gave them a free meal. A family opened their home to them for a night. A doctor treated Brandin for dehydration at no charge.
After 37 days, 3,137 miles and 10 flat tires, they arrived home with just enough time to prepare for the upcoming school year.
“If you have some sort of dream or something you want to do ... put it in your life plan somewhere,” Deb said.
Before they left for the trip, the couple started a blog, which they tried to update daily with photographs and information on their progress. Brandin mentioned the blog to his students, and rarely missed an educational opportunity when writing. He incorporated math, geography, history and science in the posts.
Brandin and Deb hope to incorporate parts of the journey into their curriculum this year. Deb, who teaches third grade at Maude Sanders Elementary in DeFuniak Springs, might show pictures of some of the places while she teaches the students about the different regions of the country.
The bicycle trip also shows what people can do when they put their minds to it. The Shosts might have felt like giving up on the days that 40 mph winds literally stopped them in their tracks, or when the temperature soared into the triple digits, but they didn’t.
“People just thought it was too big for anybody to possibly do,” Brandin said.
The Shosts said they weren’t sure what they would do next summer, but eventually they’d like to bicycle the perimeter of the U.S. from California to New England.
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