Boston not bust

“It’s an incredible time to spend together. We get to see the country. We get to face adversities and solve them using our shared resources.”

So says Sharon Lodge, 58, outside Waseca’s southern KwikTrip around 4 p.m. on the last Sunday in June. She and her son Caleb Pitcher, 21, have biked nearly 1,000 miles this month, and have a couple hundred to go.

Already today, she and Pitcher have had to cope with a flat tire. A Janesville area resident who stopped to see whether they needed any help has claimed to be jealous. “He said we are doing something other people think about, but never actually take the time to do,” Lodge recalls.

It’s all part of a plan the two of them have: Piece by piece, they are going to ride across nearly the entire country. Having started at Devil’s Tower National Monument in Wyoming, they are going to make it - eventually - all the way to Boston. During their 2021 ride, they made it across Wyoming and all the way to Boseman, Montana, roughly 600 miles. Circumstances forced them to skip 2022, but this year they got themselves back to Boseman and set out at the start of the month.

On the backs of their bike seats they have handmade signs proclaiming “Boston not Bust!”

Their message: They will do it in their own time, on their own terms, and without “busting” themselves.

Lodge, a teacher of fifth- and sixth-graders in Tennessee, has chosen a month-long bike ride as a way to decouple from the demands and expectations of the job and everyday life. “It’s a mind reset,” she says. “Once July comes along, it will be time to start getting ready for fall.”

She and Pitcher each have a typical two-wheeled bicycle with a bike-sized trailer hitched behind. In it they have “a very, very good” tent and camping supplies. Looped over the framework of one of the trailers are two spare bicycle tires.

Riding in Lodge’s trailer is a medium-sized black and white dog with soulful eyes. “We couldn’t leave  Shadow behind,” she comments. Despite the many people coming and going outside KwikTrip, Shadow has lain patiently in his bed allowing the occasional passerby to pet and admire him while barely reacting.

“When we come to a stop at the end of the day, though, he’s good to chase a ball or a stick with all kinds of enthusiasm,” says Lodge.

Their route sticks to two-lane roads like Hwy 14. They try to time their days so that they end up near a suitable community park or campground for the night. But sometimes, Lodge admits, they have little choice but to find a spot along the road.

Every fifth night or so, they treat themselves to a stay in a hotel.

“It’s everything we hoped for,” she says of this month’s ride. “We’re glad we have the chance to be out seeing the country and spending time together.” She adds that it’s a very pleasant feeling to pull into a campsite at about 7:30 in the evening, exhausted, but knowing how far they have come and all they have accomplished during the day.

Pressed for some stories about the not-so-good moments, Lodge recalls being caught in heavy hail during a thunderstorm in Wyoming. She mentions a tornado which passed too close for comfort, and remembers the time ambient electricity building for a lightning strike caused her hair to begin rising away from her head.

She is able to laugh about those moments now. “God has always provided,” she says. “We have never come up against any obstacles we couldn’t work together to solve.”

In the last days of the month, Lodge anticipates heading south to Mason City where she will rent a truck to haul their bicycles and equipment home. “We’re glad we got back on the road,” she says of this year’s ride. “It’s been everything we hope for, and more.”