An American doctor making a journey between two countries is finding friends along the way.
Dr. Craig Davis set out from Prince George in June, riding his bike to Juneau, Alaska on his Riding for Peace campaign.
His goal is to spread a message of peace, and to ask “how can we do better.”
“It went very well, I wasn’t really apprehensive about it, but you never know what to expect,” he said.
“I had heard that some Canadians have treated Americans coldly, been a little bit rude to them, but I didn’t find any of that, I found quite the opposite.”
He noted the people he’s come across so far have been friendly and warm.
“I spent the night with a lady and her son, they treated me to a dinner,” Davis said.
“I had a First Nations man put his top down on his convertible, and put Lucy, my bike in the back, and hauled us about 35 or 40 miles because I couldn’t ride a full 85 miles or so on one trip. One man stopped and gave me a bottle of water. Sometimes when I get too tired, I lay down and rest, a woman and her husband turned around on the road, came back and checked on me, they just wanted to make sure I was okay. It has been a wonderful experience.”
The goal for the ride was to listen, and Davis said people are willing to talk.
“Some people, when they found out I was American, they wanted to vent, quite understandable,” he said.
“They wanted to talk about politics, I’m much less interested in politics than I am understanding what we can do better.”
Davis said what resonated most with him was the need to do self-reflection.
In terms of the ride itself, Davis said there’s been some challenges there as well.
“There are always challenges,” he said.
“On the final day to Prince Rupert, I got rained on for about six hours, and that’s never pleasant. The last two hours are very hilly, and the rain was pretty heavy, and I just got soaked. I had these rubber shoe covers that I had tried for the first time, and they had worked until the rain got hard, there was nothing I could do to keep my feet dry.”
He said it’s also not always easy to find accommodations, but other than that, it’s been good so far.
Davis added he had to change his route a bit, after taking a flight from Prince Rupert to Whitehorse. He plans to leave there Monday morning, before eventually making it to Juneau.
You can follow his journey on the PeaceBridge Solutions Website.
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