They expected snow, lightning, heat, and wind while bicycling cross country. That happened. They did not expect a car collision, a broken arm, or Hurricane Sandy. That happened, too. For thirty-two years, Marianne Worth Rudd dreamed about cycling cross country, almost as long as she’s known her husband, Terry. She thought the bike trip was about getting to the Atlantic. She discovered she was mistaken about both. Pedal Pushers Coast-to-Coast is her story of their 2012 cycling quest from the Pacific to the Atlantic, chronicling the challenges, joys, and surprises of their 4500-mile, twelve-week bicycle journey. Personal quirks became quirkier. Pain and grief unexpectedly seized the trip mid-way with a car collision and broken arm for Terry, but three months later, their quest resumed- on a snowy October day in northern Minnesota. From once coast to another, Marianne (Mari) and Terry experienced not only the changing terrain and state borders, but an elation far more gratifying than just reaching destinations—they discovered the curiosity and kindness of strangers, and the lasting impact. From simple gifts of root beer and oranges on a hot day, to shelter from a lightning storm and random invitations countrywide for meals and lodging, strangers offered unexpected generosity and care throughout their travels. Pedal Pushers Coast-to-Coast chronicles a transcontinental cycling adventure marked by challenge, resilience, and hope, and illustrates the outpouring of kindness and generosity from strangers across the continent.
They expected snow, lightning, heat, and wind while bicycling cross country. That happened. They did not expect a car collision, a broken arm, or Hurricane Sandy. That happened, too. For thirty-two years, Marianne Worth Rudd dreamed about cycling cross country, almost as long as she’s known her husband, Terry. She thought the bike trip was about getting to the Atlantic. She discovered she was mistaken about both. Pedal Pushers Coast-to-Coast is her story of their 2012 cycling quest from the Pacific to the Atlantic, chronicling the challenges, joys, and surprises of their 4500-mile, twelve-week bicycle journey. Personal quirks became quirkier. Pain and grief unexpectedly seized the trip mid-way with a car collision and broken arm for Terry, but three months later, their quest resumed- on a snowy October day in northern Minnesota. From once coast to another, Marianne (Mari) and Terry experienced not only the changing terrain and state borders, but an elation far more gratifying than just reaching destinations—they discovered the curiosity and kindness of strangers, and the lasting impact. From simple gifts of root beer and oranges on a hot day, to shelter from a lightning storm and random invitations countrywide for meals and lodging, strangers offered unexpected generosity and care throughout their travels. Pedal Pushers Coast-to-Coast chronicles a transcontinental cycling adventure marked by challenge, resilience, and hope, and illustrates the outpouring of kindness and generosity from strangers across the continent.
Marianne Broadbent is a leadership and executive search consultant who works every day with women and men making career decisions and life choices. Her multiple careers, from high school teacher to global business executive, have been experienced alongside raising four children in a ‘guilt free environment’ and sustaining long term relationships. She provides sharp and informed insights through working with organisations and teams to build and sustain great talent. She shares her personal experiences of taking career risks, making multiple choices and managing a ‘blended life’ in our new modern paradigm where careers aren’t as linear as they once were, and diversity and risks are required to achieve success. She complements this with the thoughts and words of 24 executives who willingly provide their personal and career perspectives on their own trade-offs and ‘getting on with it’.
Gaylon Finklea Hecker and Marianne Odom began the interviews for this book in 1981 and devoted a professional lifetime to collecting the memories of accomplished Texans to determine what, if anything, about growing up in the Lone Star State prepared them for success. The resulting forty-seven oral history interviews begin with tales from the early 1900s, when Texas was an agrarian state, and continue through the growth of major cities and the country’s race to the moon. Interviewees recalled life in former slave colonies; on gigantic ranches, tiny farms, and sharecropper fields; and in one-horse towns and big-city neighborhoods, with relatable stories as diverse as the state’s geography. The oldest interviewees witnessed women earning the right to vote and weathered the Great Depression. Many remembered two world wars, while others recalled the Texas City explosion of 1947 and the tornado that devastated Waco in 1953. They witnessed the advent of television and the nightly news, which helped many come to terms with the assassination of a president that took place too close to home. Their absorbing reflections are stories of good and bad, hope and despair, poverty and wealth, depression and inspiration, which would have been different if lived anywhere but Texas.
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