Questions by Paul Broekman

In the two months we’ve been cycling we have met a lot of people who have clearly been intrigued by our lumious cycle tops. These display our route overlaid on a map of their country.

They have been a great prompt for a conversation starter and when we’ve explained we are cycling the whole country we get comments such as ‘no way’, ‘wow that’s so cool’, ‘are you guys for real?’, ‘holy moly’ and the odd blaspamous exclamation. When they realise the reason for our journey they are incredulous of us all and Alison especially. Many know a family member or friend with Parkinsons.

The follow up questions come thick and fast: ‘are you on ebikes’, ‘do you have a support car’, ‘how many miles each day’, ‘where did you start’, ‘when do you expect to finish’. Normal sorts of questions you might say.

There have been some odd ones as well….
‘So are you finished yet’ (er no we are in South Dakota)
‘Do you do this every year’ (definately not)
‘So where y’all from’ (Cheltenham Uk), ‘What degree parallel is that’ (🙈)
‘Aren’t you a bit young to be doing this’

People are always friendly and we invariably part with them instructing us to ‘be safe out there’, presumably a reference to the other drivers we may encounter. We are still amazed though, how respectful 99% of drivers have been. However the rights of way at a crossroads, with ‘Stop’ signs on each corner, are still just as baffling now as they were when we started so we continue to take no chances.