Chasing Dawn: An Adventure of Three Fathers and Four Teenagers Bicycling Across America

Charlie had a moment somewhere in Wyoming, saying, "Dad, this trip has been amazing. Life-changing. I feel totally transformed. Can I go home now?"

Over the summer of 2017, three dads and their four teenagers bicycled over 4000 miles from Seattle to Yarmouth, Maine. This is their adventure.

If we want our kids to possess humility, perseverance, wonder, awe, problem-solving, and gratitude, then we should create an adventure that requires us to persevere through something difficult, solve real problems out in the world, and be filled with awe and wonder and splendid sights. And we should accomplish this by ourselves, in unfamiliar and often challenging parts of the country, far from help.

One of the primary reasons we took the trip was to seek adventure to embrace the unknown, to set out to experience new parts of the country, and to encounter new people. But another big reason was that we wanted to give our kids an opportunity to further their development toward adulthood.

Shawn Hunter has, at various times, been a day-care wrangler in Colorado, a teacher in Korea, a plucky entrepreneur, and a best-selling author of books that are completely unlike this one. Through his writing, he would like you to think he is an adventurous swashbuckler of a man, daring and clever. But in reality, he spends most days terrified of his daughter s bunny rabbit, planning the next family meal, and pondering what to do about his growing number of incomplete projects. He lives with his far-more-competent and beautiful wife Amy, and their three children, in Maine.

jon holloway is a true Sagittarius who loves the call of the open road. At the age of nine, he turned a cave into a darkroom and processed his first roll of film. He now shares the beauty and community of the world through photography. He earned his MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design and teaches at Lander University. He lives on a farm in South Carolina comprised of 10,000 trees, two creeks, three dogs, two fish, two horses, nine hens, two cats, one kid named Annie, and a beautiful wife.