NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — What did you do on your summer vacation?
For three high school seniors and their teacher, it’s been a busy couple of weeks.
It started by dipping their back bicycle wheels in the Pacific Ocean at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge and ended with their front tires in the Atlantic Ocean at Brighton Beach in Brooklyn.
“We just biked from San Francisco cross country to New York City,” said 18-year-old Dasha Yurkavich.
The group, from the School of the Arts in San Francisco, spent 52 days freewheeling the continental U.S.
“It’s life changing,” she said.
Now what?
“I’m just excited to sleep in for 10 hours a couple of days in a row,” says fellow biker Julian Jordan.
Even in the middle of a global pandemic and in the middle of the most prominent political divide, the group managed to have fun everywhere they went.
They say they did it to inspire hope.
“I did it to empower woman and to show them that they can do incredible things, and that this is our time to step up,” said teacher Andy Padlo.
He notes that the lessons they learned along is that we’re all not that different.
“We’re opened to listening, you know,” he said. “We can have a conversation. Whereas on the news, or the internet, we can’t have those conversations.”
There was great kindness from strangers. Others tried to run them off the road.
“If you want something, just do it,” said Emmet Forde. “Don’t wait for a handout, don’t want for someone to tell you to do it. That’s kind of my biggest takeaway.”
“This quarantine is not a time to just sit inside,” said Dasha. “Keep living. Get out there.”