Roadschooling: One Family’s Journey

When I became an Amazon Affiliate a couple of months ago, I did not know that one of my dreams would come true. I love to read! Most of my life you could find me reading several books a week, often more than one at a time. Then motherhood hit and those opportunities to sit down and read a good book became distant memories. One of my dreams in life was to be presented with an advance copy of a book and have the privilege of being one of the very first readers. When I received just such a request in my inbox a few weeks back I was thrilled. Nancy Sathre-Vogel was offering me a chance to read and review her yet to be released book “Changing Gears: A Family Odyssey to the End of the World.”

Maybe you have heard of the Vogel family. I myself had heard some vague discussions about them, without really knowing who they were or what they were really doing. In fact, what I had heard was that some home-schooling family was traveling the America’s on their bikes. I didn’t know however what that meant or what it entailed until I read the book.

As it turns out, when they began this journey they were not home-schoolers, actually, both parents had been public school teachers. They had a love for cycling and a love for travel. In the past they had made several shorter such trips, such as touring the western part of the United States and Mexico for a year. But, that was nothing compared to the journey they chose to embark on in 2008. After much research, planning and preparing they put all of their belongings into storage, rented their home and flew to Alaska to begin what would be a world record journey.

This family includes John the father, Nancy the mom and their twin boys, Daryl and Davey who were 10 years old when the journey began. They started their cycling adventure in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Perhaps you’ve heard of Prudhoe Bay before. It is at the end of the road so to speak, the Alaskan ice road that is, also known as the Dalton Highway, found on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. It is often mentioned on the television show ‘Ice Road Truckers‘ on the History channel. So they set off on a sunny day. Their destination, Ushuaia, Argentina, the other end of the road on the southern tip of South America. They would be travelling the Dalton Highway, then the Alaskan Highway through Canada, through the United States, Mexico and all told 15 countries.

It is one of those stories that I dare say most home-school families dream of, touring the world with their children. Although, I am pretty sure I would prefer to do so from the luxury of a nice cushy RV. The Vogel’s, however chose to pedal all 17, 300 miles for 1018 days through 15 countries.

It is a compelling story to say the least. As you can imagine it was not an easy journey. They were met with severe weather of just about every kind. They faced hunger and dehydration. They struggled over steep climbs taller than the highest of the Rockies as they crossed the Andes mountains. They were chased by a bear in Alaska. The bikes kept breaking and at one time one of the bikes was nearly stolen. So the fact that they completed the journey is a true testament to their strong-willed nature. Even though Nancy will let you know in the book when she felt like giving up.

The book is written by Nancy from her own perspective. Occasionally, she shares some of Davey and Daryl’s journal entries and one from John. To say that this almost 50 year old mom (she turned 50 while on the trip) never wanted to give up would just be plain wrong. She, as most mothers would, had many fears for her children. She worried about their safety and their health. She herself faced tremendous physical struggles as did the boys. Not that they weren’t able to face and deal with those struggles, but, that they were able for find all the resources they needed was astounding.

What I liked about the book: 
I loved that in the book we see the boys coming of age, so to speak. You can see the strength that they exhibited through their mother’s eyes. You can see the pride she has as she realizes that they are stronger than she can imagine and they are able to do far more than she ever thought. I liked seeing these two young men given the opportunity to show that boys in our society are coddled for far too long and that they can do much more than we give them credit for. I enjoyed reading about the cultural differences as they traveled from town to town, and country to country.

What I wish were different about the book:
I wish there had been a clearer explanation of why one boy rode a tandem bike with dad for the journey and the other rode a single. I would also like to know why they didn’t switch off regularly. I would like to have heard more details about the time they spent in  towns for more than a few days.

What I didn’t like about the book:
The writing gets slow at times and bogged down in rode life details in some places and speeds through what I felt were important details in other places, making for an uneven read. I would have liked to have gotten a better sense of who John is. I found myself frustrated at references to the ‘good Lord’ one minute and then the ‘god’s’ or ‘fate’ in another minute. She also took her son’s to the Galapago’s Island’s with the express intention of teaching them Darwin’s theory of evolution. As a Christian who believes in the sovereign God as the Creator of the world, I could only cringe as I read these parts. There were not many, but there were times when Nancy’s frustration led to language that I would not use and did not care to read. 

So, what would you do if you were not afraid? That’s what Nancy asked herself, and look what she accomplished.

The book is available both on the families website as well as on Amazon.com, for $16.99 in Paperback.
Paper Back:              For Kindle:
   
  Disclosure:  
Renee Brown is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

I received an advance copy of this book for the purposes of this review, however I am not receiving any paid compensation for my review. All opinions are my own and I am not receiving any other compensation from the author or publisher of this book.