Originally Posted by
Newspaperguy
I remember reading about The Cyclemates when I was in high school. They had a fairly large group and, as I recall, they did at least three tours across the U.S. in the late 1960s and early 1970s. From the book, I was amazed at the organization they had. It seems each one had a specific task. This made the entire tour go quite smoothly.
They did at least three trips, always with 7-9th graders, often with groups of 15 or so. The lady who took them was named Fran Call. I recently came across her name on the internet when she retired. I emailed her and told her she was one of my heroes. She graciously wrote back and thanked me. Now I'm a 6th grade teacher and I'm trying to organize a tour with former students - 7-9th graders. I'm not going to go all the way across the U. S. though - I'm hoping for 2 weeks.
Another hero is John Seigal Boettner (author of "Hey Mom, Can I Ride My Bike Across America?"). He has taken two groups of kids across the country.
I like to think I would have gone as a junior high student if there had been an adult leader around at the time.