GMA's Amazing Family: The Dodds

Feb. 22, 2002 -- What is amazing about the Dodd family is not who they are, but the extraordinary adventure they chose to go on together.

Up until last summer, Gary Dodd was working as a minister and Faith Dodd was employed at a doctor's office. They lived with their twin teenagers, Rebekah and Andrew, both 15, at a house in Nashville, Tenn.

But last summer, the Dodds did something unusual. They quit their jobs, pulled their children out of school and took a loan against their house. Together, the family set out to see America from the seats of their bicycles.

The plan is to criss-cross the country and hit all 48 contiguous states on their way to the family finish line in Portland, Maine, on the Fourth of July. The trip began in Seattle. But it really started with a casual family conversation.

"Andrew and Rebekah and I were driving home from church one evening and I was telling the kids that I needed to get in better shape, and before they graduated, [and] since they were twins, that I wanted to spend more time with them," Gary Dodd said. "I just said that and Rebekah just quipped, 'well, let's bike across America.'"

A Last Grab at Childhood

Instead of treating it as an offhand remark, the rest of the family seized on the idea.

"My thought was extremely random and for me just to say that I have no idea what hit me for me to say such a thing," Rebekah Dodd said. "But I'm glad I did."

The Dodd parents knew that time is a bandit when you have children. Before you know it, time with friends replaces time with family. Gary and Faith said they wanted one last grab at their children's childhoods, as their kids approached the end of high school.

"Well for me as a father, you know most dads are gone a lot, and so to have the opportunity to be with my kids 24/7 was a unique opportunity," Gary Dodd said. "I was really excited to have that much time with them for an extended period of time, before they left home."

Teenagers seem to have the energy to try anything, but Faith — who is in her 40s — took a deep breath when she heard the plan.

"Could this body do it?" Faith Dodd asked herself. "I wasn't sure if my body could bike across America. We weren't really into biking that much and we weren't sure that we had the physical conditioning to do it and that was going to be a big challenge."

Boot Camp Time

One of the first orders of business was starting on a fitness regime.

"We knew that part of the trip would be getting in shape," Gary Dodd said. "We weren't going to be ready to ride 60 to 70 miles a day on our own initially, we were going to have to build into it."

In the meantime, their plan was drawing some mixed reactions from their friends.

"We had many people very supportive of the trip. They would hear it and say 'oh, that seems like it would be a lot of fun,' " Faith Dodd said. "But then, we would have some people who would look at us as though we had lost our mind, and would call us crazy."

Her husband agreed.

"It was really scary to think about giving up our jobs and just taking off, without salary and just trying to do this on our own," Gary Dodd said.

Gary and Faith Dodd would take turns driving their RV while the rest of the family rode their bikes for practice. At night, the RV served as a place to also catch up on home schooling and plan the next day's route. Between the training and the school lessons, the family grew closer.

"It is a lot of time where you're in a small space in the RV and you're in each others face for the most part," Faith Dodd said. "And we know a whole lot more about each other, I think just after these first months than we did before we left."

Adventure Every Day

The Dodds are making their own video diary of the experience and taking hundreds of photographs. Andrew Dodd, meanwhile, is maintaining the family Web page. (www.bikeacrossamerica.org, see link in left column)

"The Internet has been great. We've been able to post journals and type e-mails to people, and people have been able to stay in contact with us," Andrew Dodd said. "It's just great to be able to share with them and show them pictures and do all kinds of neat stuff. I'm hoping to keep going and make it better the second half of the trip."

Meanwhile, his dad has been relishing his lack of contact.

"I haven't had to answer the phone. I haven't been on call," he said. "It's really been liberating just to be out and to do your own thing and to go your own way and just to have an adventure every day."

Faith Dodd has been similarly enjoying the thrills of the unknown.

"I look forward each day to getting up and thinking, 'what's the ride going to hold today?' " she said. At the same time, she is aware of the tolls the trip could take.

"We realize we're making some sacrifices," she said. "We might have to sell our home when we get back to help pay for the trip, but it's worth it and I would do it again in a heartbeat."