Charles R. Scott, BAā90, and his childrenāSho, age 12, and Saya, age 6āare cycling the Lewis and Clark Trail this summer. While theyāll journey the first 1,500 miles by car in order to complete their adventure during the school break, theyāll ride bikes and carry about 100 pounds of gear through the Rocky Mountains for the remaining 1,700 miles. This isnāt the first such trip the New York family has taken.
Scottās first trip, riding 2,500 miles across Japan with Sho when his son was 8 years old, is chronicled in Rising Son: A Father and Sonās Bike Adventure Across Japan, released in February by Third Wheel Press.
āI just wanted to take a two-month sabbatical from work and do something crazy with my son,ā Scott says about the first trip. āI wanted to slow down time. But I kept a journal, and after a few weeks, I was writing more and more and realized I was writing the book Iād always wanted to write.ā
Writer and family adventurer is Scottās new career. āI worked at Intel for 14 years,ā he says, āand I could have continued and lived the corporate executive lifestyle, but I wanted to do something more interesting while my children were young. What I realized as I was watching my children grow is how brief that phase is when they need you and want to be with youāthat period when you can have a dramatic impact on their lives.ā
Since that first cycling trip, Scott has included his daughter, Saya, who rides a trailer bicycle. (A trailer bicycle is not a tandem, but has its own gears and chain to allow the adult to do most of the pedaling). She completed their tour around the circumference of Iceland when she was just 4 years old. Last summerās bicycle trip took them through Europe. Scottās wife, Eiko, works for the United Nations and joins them when she can. Each trip also includes a charitable component and scientific projects that engage the children. Afterward, Scott and his children do presentations at schools and for other groups.
āOne of the rhetorical questions Iāll ask after presentations is, āCan a 6-year-old girl pedal over the Rocky Mountains?āā Scott says. āIf a 6-year-old girl can pedal over the Rocky Mountains, then what else can she do?
āKids can do a lot more than most adults think. They are resilient and remarkable in the things they can do, and even if youāre 6 years old, you can have an impact on the world.ā
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