Tad: Sometimes. In Mexico, a bull on the side of the road chased me. In Baja California I couldn't find a place to sleep. It was almost dark, and I had to put my tent up in a culvert next to the road. Once some drunk fellows called me names and drove their car close to me. Those times were scary. But most of the time there is no reason to be scared. Wonderful people help me before things get scary. Once when I was sick a doctor gave me a free exam. When I was riding my bike in the mountains and was almost out of water, some workers gave me their bottled water to drink. Things work out.
Tad: This one is easy. Yes I do, every day. The most tired I got was in Belize. I had a fever. It was raining hard and the road was muddy. My bags were wet and heavy. I had to carry my bike through thigh-deep creeks that went over the road. That was hard. I often take breaks. Almost every hour. Some people think I must be half super-hero to go so far on a bike. But I'm just a regular guy who started biking and just kept going.
Tad: I have slept in lots of places. I slept in a fancy hotel, and in a not-fancy hotel where lots of cockroaches lived. I slept inside a tree, in schools, in restaurants, in a police fortress, and even in a jail. (People said I would be safe there.) I have stayed with hundreds of families. One family I stayed with in Mexico spoke Mayan. The grandma was 120 years old. She made us some tasty tortillas for dinner!
Tad: I was a school teacher before this trip, and I saved some money by not spending much then. But I didn't save all of the money for this trip. Our website costs money, our camera costs money, and it costs money to eat. Many people have given money so PeaceBike can go on. The whole trip isn't paid for yet. I think people that learn about PeaceBike will want to help the journey continue.
Tad: Frank and I rode together from Champoeg State Park in Oregon to California. (Then Frank went back to Canada. He did more school visits and told people about PeaceBike.) I rode on through Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. I got on a bus and went to Panama City. Then I got on a plane for Quito, Ecuador so I could be there when Frank flew in from Canada. Now we will ride through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and to Buenos Aires, Argentina. PeaceBike will bike in parts of New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Asia, the Middle East, East Africa, Europe, and back across North America. You probably read that answer fast, but it will take us about three years to do it. How old will you be when we finish in 2002? I will be 28 and Frank will be 41 years old. PeaceBike will have traveled about 40,000 kilometers.
Tad: Now it's my turn to ask you some more questions:
What do you think would happen if every person in the world got to know ten other people from ten other countries?
What can you do to live more peacefully with your family?
What can you do to live more peacefully with your friends?
What can you do to live more peacefully with your neighbors?
While you work on making peace, we will be too, pedal by pedal around the world. LET'S BUILD PEACE TOGETHER!