80-year-old Japanese man rides a bicycle across the United States for 6,000 kilometers: He was pointed at with a gun and accidentally entered a US military base
2024-08-20
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The dream of an 80-year-old man named Ichikawa Eiichi from Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, is to travel around the United States by bike. From 2016 to 2019, he started from San Diego, California, and rode through 14 states in the northern United States in 6 sections, covering a journey of about 8,700 kilometers, and arrived in New York. Recently, he announced that he rode across the southern United States in about 90 days from March to June this year, starting from San Diego, California, and arriving in New York, completing a journey of about 6,000 kilometers. So far, he has finally realized his dream.
▲In June, Eiichi Ichikawa arrived at Times Square in New York
On March 14, Ichikawa rode a sports bike that he had ridden for more than ten years, carrying about 20 kilograms of luggage, including a tent, sleeping bag and spare clothes, from San Diego to New York. He rides at least 100 kilometers a day, starting at 7 a.m. and taking a 10-minute break every 50 minutes. The only navigation tool is a map, and whiskey is his companion at night.
Whenever he saw a store, he would buy all the ingredients for his three meals, often relying on simple foods such as instant noodles and bread with canned food, German sausages, etc. At night, in addition to sleeping in the prepared tent, he would occasionally stay in the warehouse of a private house or sleep in a station.
Ichikawa met many people during his trip, including "travel partners" who rode with their pet dogs, and a family that even took him in for more than a week. When he celebrated his 80th birthday during his trip, he received blessings from locals and was invited to community gatherings and weddings. A company employee also took him to visit a huge meat processing plant, where he witnessed 2,200 cows being slaughtered every day. He believes that meeting different people "is the true meaning of travel."
▲Eiichi Ichikawa on his journey
Of course, the journey was not all good memories. Ichikawa said that when he was riding through Alabama and resting on the side of the road, a man drove by, pointed a gun at him and asked "Where are you from?" Ichikawa saw the red dot of the laser sight flashing on his chest, and eventually the man left. The clerk at the gas station advised him to avoid dangerous areas, so he took a bus to a neighboring town for safety.
This was not the only incident on the road. Once, he took the wrong road according to the signs and entered the US Air Force base by mistake and was detained. He was surrounded by a large number of police and asked to sign documents. He spent 3 and a half hours explaining and was finally released. The US police took him back to town in a patrol car and took commemorative photos.
Ichikawa said that when he was a 21-year-old college student, he traveled around Japan and became fascinated with bicycle travel. He always dreamed of traveling around the United States one day. "I want to spread the beauty of bicycle travel." This trip finally brought his dream of many years to a successful conclusion.
Deng Shuyi, Red Star News reporter
Editor Zhang Li Responsible Editor Deng Feiguang
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