An Oak Harbor veteran and his family have an active summer planned – a very active summer. Clark Schroeder, his wife Annemarie and their children, Hannah, 16, Emily, 15, Ella, 13, and Noah, 11, are planning to bicycle from Yorktown, Va., to Oak Harbor.
You read it right – the Schroeder family, along with newly retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Dan Halvorson and his family, of Fort Worth, Texas, will be making the 4,000 mile trip by bike.
“We thought it would be a neat opportunity to do something big together as a family,” Clark said as they gathered together in their Oak Harbor home to discuss their trip. “We’ve been planning and saving for this trip for five years.”
According to Clark the idea came from Halvorson, whom they met many years ago when Halvorson was stationed at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Halvorson rode his bike across the country about 10 years ago. That time, Halvorson’s wife, Lesli, followed along with a camper, acting as a support system.
This time, the Schroeders and the Halvorsons (who also have four children, ranging in age from 8 to 14), will be self-supporting. The group will be riding six tandem bicycles and will have bike trailers loaded with camping supplies. The families plan to pedal five to six days a week, with an average daily goal of 50 miles. Sundays will be a day of rest. They anticipate the trip will take 90 days. Clark said they have four main purposes for doing it.
“One, to strengthen relationships and develop teamwork; two, to develop character through discipleship; three, to plan and accomplish dreams; and four, to share Christ across America,” he said.
The family hasn’t done any specific training for their upcoming adventure. Clark and Annemarie have each participated in the Seattle to Portland bicycle event in the past, and the kids are very involved in the swim team.
“We’re super-competitive,” said oldest daughter Hannah. “We’re used to training and we’ve trained for triathlons before, so we’ve gone on long bike rides.”
Both Clark and Annemarie are taking a leave of absence from their jobs. Annemarie works at the Hallmark store in town and Clark works for Delex Systems, a defense contractor on base. Their employers have been very supportive they said, and so have the children’s teachers.
“The kids are leaving school a couple of weeks early,” said Annemarie. “The teachers have been very willing to help them finish everything up.”
Spending time together as a family is at the top of all the priority lists, but there are a few worries.
“I worry about the inattentive driver,” Clark said. “We have done everything we possibly could to prepare for this, but you can’t control the people who are driving. So, yeah, safety for the kids is always a big concern.”
According to the Schroeders, there will be interesting conversations along the road as well. Everyone has been assigned different topics to research and bring up for discussion, like servant leadership, for example.
“I’m looking forward to our discussions,” said Clark.
The group will set out from Virginia on May 30 and hope to arrive in Oak Harbor on Aug. 25. Those interested can follow their progress on Facebook/Christ Across America.
