By Cindy Mullet
Ranger-Review Staff Writer
Checking the weather forecast and seeing what direction the wind is blowing have become habit for the Ziemer family as they start and end each day.
Jerry and Jessica Ziemer with their sons, 12-year-old Aden and 10-year-old Ashby, left Florence, Ore., May 6 and are cycling across the United States to Portland, Maine, Jessica said. The Ziemers have lived in Hana on the island of Maui for 10 years and are moving to Oregon. During this transition time they decided they wanted to “journey big.”
“We have been blessed with adventurous spirits and good health,” Jessica wrote in a blog,www.journeybig.com. “Through travel and sport, Jess and Jerry have adopted a ‘live big’ attitude that is being passed down to the boys.”
Last summer they hiked 140 miles of the Pacific Coast Trail and considered backpacking along the Appalachian Trail this summer but opted for the more “luxurious” cycling trip, she said.
The “luxury” part comes in that they have access to showers most nights, grocery stores at least once a day and can sleep in beds on occasion, Jerry explained, adding, “It’s not like backpacking.
Jerry is the only one of the four with bicycle touring experience. Aden’s longest ride before this trip was one and a half miles. They had planned for more training time, but between moving and working, that didn’t happen so they limited their mileage the first few days of their ride and called that training, Jerry said.
When they backpacked, their motto seemed to be “five at five,” Jessica said, explaining that no matter what time they started or how much distance they planned to cover, at 5 p.m. they always had five miles left to go before reaching their camping spot for the night. On this trip, the motto is “twenty-five at five.” At 5 p.m. they always have 25 miles to go.
Even the day they only rode 19 miles, they didn’t get there until 7 p.m., Aden commented adding, at the beginning, they rode 20 to 30 miles a day. Now they are riding around 70.
All of the last five days, except one, were 70-mile days, Jerry said. Favorable winds made that possible.
Before starting the cycling tour, Jessica said she had never paid attention to wind direction. Now she is very aware of it. One day in Oregon they had an amazing tail wind that made her feel like she was riding an electric bike.
Tail winds are nice, but coasting along at 15 miles an hour with no effort can get boring too, Jerry added, noting that he sometimes finds himself pedaling just to prevent boredom.
One day with a good tail wind Aden hit his high speed of 42 miles an hour. “That was a pretty good day,” he said.
Jerry is the one who “rallies the troops” in the morning, Jessica said. That took almost three hours at the beginning. Now they have it down to two and a half hours. They try to start riding by 8 a.m. and 12-hour days with seven and a half to eight hours of riding are not unusual.
When they started the trip, Jessica thought they would be tightly bunched together as they rode, but quickly discovered that wasn’t happening. The boys’ loads aren’t as heavy as those Jerry and Jessica carry and both boys can outride them. Often Aden goes ahead and then sits and reads a book until they catch up, she said.
Since Jessica doesn’t like downhills, she often stays back to takes photos of the others and then follows at her own slower pace, she added, noting they all carry walkie-talkies and that helps relieve stress when they get separated.
If they have to ride on the interstate, they do get into formation, with Jessica in front, the two boys in the middle and Jerry at the end. He pulls a trailer which is a little wider than the bikes are so motorized vehicles move over and give them all a little extra space. When the shoulder is tight, he sometimes rides a little into the road to help encourage vehicles to move over more, he said.
Their big adventure has had its ups and downs, joys, tears and screams of frustration, Jessica said. A few times she has wanted to let the others go ahead, throw her bike over a bridge and then tell them she didn’t know what happened to it.
Emotions get magnified, Jerry added. In 10 minutes someone can go from a super high to a super low.
“What am I going to do about it?” Jessica asked. “If I’m angry or sad, what options do I have?”
Not pedaling isn’t going to work. Whoever is having a bad day or hour, just has to keep going, she added.
One of their bad hours came in Yellowstone National Park. They had set up their tent and then pedaled to a restaurant for supper. While they were eating, it started raining and then the rain turned to heavy snow. When they rode back to their campsite, they discovered their tent had collapsed under the weight of the snow. They were able to splice the tent poles back together but had a pretty wet, miserable, cold time in the dark before they got it back up, Jerry related.
Highlights of their trip have been all the generous people they’ve met along the way, Jessica said. They camp a lot of nights but have also spent nights with hosts from Warm Showers, a website which connects cyclists and people willing to give them a place to stay for the night and a warm shower. That generosity is something they hope to return when they finish their tour and move into their new home.
When they decided to do their “Journey Big” they wanted their experience to be a big adventure for them but also to benefit other people. After researching non-profits, they chose St. Jude Children’s Hospital and have been raising money for it along the way. Some people who hear of their effort, donate directly to St. Jude’s through its event page. Others, like a woman at the swimming pool in Glendive who stopped to talk to them and learned what they were doing, give them money directly and they send that to St. Jude’s, Jessica said.
“This is not a vacation. It is an adventure,” Jessica wrote in a blog entry, adding, “This trip is reminding me to be better at being me. That there is a lot to improve on. To try harder. To keep going. And as clear as day, it has blasted me in the face that I am one lucky human.”
Reach Cindy Mullet at
crmullet@midrivers.com