FOTOFAX FEBRUARY-MARCH, 1982
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LARRY DOBBERFUHL, C & S 3 Maintenance Engineer, rode his
bicycle from coast to coast before reporting to work at the
Brevard Plant.
Touring the U.S.A. by Bike
Larry Dobberfuhl had dreamed-
of riding a bicycle from coast to
coast since he was a small boy.
When the chance came to make
the dream come true, he did it.
“My whole family — sister,
brothers, all—rode across Wis
consin on bicycles when I was
pretty young,” says Larry. “So I
knew you can do serious travel
ing on a bike. But I don’t know ex
actly when I got the idea of riding
across the United States. It was
just something I sort of always
wanted to do.”
He talked about the cross
country trip to college friends
while attending the University of
Wisconsin. As graduation drew
near, he realized that the long
ride was becoming a now-or-
never decision —Larry had ac
cepted a job offer from DuPont,
and he was engaged to be mar
ried. One of his friends wanted
the trip as much as Larry. They
decided: “We’re going!”
Down the Oregon coast,
through the Cascade Mountains
and into the desert, they rode
across Idaho and Montana into
Yellowstone Park.
“When we backpacked in the
Tetons, it was the first day it
didn’t rain,” Larry remembers.
They took a bus to Seattle,
Washington, and started riding. It
was May, 1980. Mount St. Helens
blew her top, and the two riders
spent their first night on the road
covered with volcanic ash.
Wyoming was flat; they made
good time to Colorado and the
Rockies. It’s slow pedalling up to
12,000 feet, but coasting down
the other side was different: “We
started down cautiously,” says
Larry, “But in a little while we
'were passing cars!” In t'wo hours,
they were down to 5,000 feet,
ready for a visit with friends on
the Colorado plains. After a two
day rest there, they made their
best day’s distance: 150 miles.
The riders were following the
“Bikecentennial Trail”, a trans
continental route laid out in 1976
for bicycle touring—not neces
sarily the shortest distance, but
rather the best for bikers to see
the country.
Heat was no problem until Kan
sas, where it hit 113° one day. As
they travelled Eastward, the tem
perature went down but the hu
midity climbed. The most diffi
cult mountains were the Czarks,
where the riders spent July 4th at
the “Seventh Annual Czark
Mountain Bluegrass Festival”.
Then they pedalled through Mis
souri into Illinois, where they
converted their bikes from 10 to
18 speed machines to go across
Chio and Kentucky, into Virginia.
The riders took the “long way”
through Virginia, travelling a part
of the Biue Ridge Parkway and
making a stop at Monticello.
Then, on the 60th day, they-
reached Jamestown and the At
lantic Ccean.
It was time to take the train
back to Wisconsin, to marry
Audrey.
Every day, his post card to her
had reported his menu: bread,
peanut butter, jelly; a box of cere
al. Most of the $800 cost of the
Seen And Heard
Bob Toole got a surprise gift
from Nev Fuleihan at his 25
year anniversary dinner—a
large picture of Bob’s tractor,
manifold deep in mud and wa
ter, photo courtesy of Don
Cheek. ★ More people seem
to be taking a serious interest
in photography: Don Messer
sold a picture of one of Jim
Barton’s colts to a magazine,
Ronnie Lovelace bought Stan
Scarborough’s studio lighting
equipment, and Dick Phillips is
looking forward to better
weather to use the new camera
he and Joyce picked out for
Christmas. Sounds like the fu
ture could bring a DERA Dark
room Club! ★ Friends of Jim
Hoots brought him ham hocks
and pinto beans for his birth
day—Steve Thomas bought
some onions and joined the
party. ★ MAJOR EVENTS:
On Christmas Day, a baby boy
for Gudger and Kathy Mer-
riil—Travis Dean; baby boy
Gary was born 12/27 to Zora
Young of Finishing. In January,
there was Adam Joel Ballard,
for Joe Earl and Elaine; Betty
and Jerry Fietcher had Abbie
LaRue; and it was a little girl,
Brooke, for Larry Owen and
Betty. Ronnie and Joyce Bed-
dingfield have a new boy, Zack,
born in February. Sometimes
the news gets to us late! Ida
Sharpe became Mrs. Nathaniel
Ellens last November! More re
cently, congratulations and
best wishes to Robert and
Judy Conner, married in Janu
ary; David and Jennifer Dono-
frio in February, and John
Brown and Sheila, late March
★ If you’ve noticed that large
wading bird in DERA Lake this
winter, retiree Tom Hallowell,
the bird expert, confirms that
it’s a Great Blue Heron
★ Speaking of flying, Darwin
Jones is using his hard won in
structor rating—Ken Dick and
Delos (“Looper”) Hooper re
cently soloed. Jim Henderson
says there are a lot of plant
pilots; he may do a story some
day ★ FOTOFONE was dead
for a couple of weeks while the
editor was out with the flu—
the folks ih Medical have been
working extra hard this Spring,
and we appreciate it!
“/ won’t let it bite me again!” said Yvonne Collins as she
destroyed her charge card in this symbolic fashion.
trip was for food, with only one
restaurant meal included.
They paid only about $10 in
camping fees, sleeping in parks
and on lawns. They carried a tent,
sleeping bags and a camp stove
with them.
“We met a lot of nice people
who not only gave us a place to
sleep, but also gave us a meal
and did some laundry for us,”
Larry says. “But most of the time
it was peanut butter and jelly.”
Things are different now: Larry
is a homeowner, husband and
father. Usually he rushes home in
the family car. But sometimes
when the weather’s nice you may
see him pedalling the 15 moun
tain miles to work or home, as
though it’s just a ride around the
block.
After you’ve hiked 4,500 miles
“from sea to shining sea”, 30
miles a day must not seem like
very far to ride.