Family of four treks through county

Two Missouri parents are taking their two toddlers on an extreme summer adventure this year. Jackson County was an early stop on their 4,400-mile bicycle trek.
On Monday, a cave tour of Florida Caverns State Park in Marianna was the big event of the day for Kate and Stuart Murr, their daughter Jane, 4, and son Brady, 3.
They’re documenting it all with cameras and camcorders, and the children are having a ball, their mother says.
From Springfield, Mo., the family drove down to St. Augustine to start their journey April 21. They’re headed for Oregon and are currently following the southern tier of a route recommended by the Adventure Cycling Association. Later, they’ll embark upon a section of the old Lewis and Clark route.
They’re giving themselves four months to make the trip, which can normally take as little as eight weeks. They have to be back home in time for Jane to start kindergarten in August; but other than that, there’s nothing pushing them to finish in a hurry. Their pace is leisurely, their goals are simple.
Murr said her family is doing this not only for the pure adventure of it, but to put in practice some things they believe.
A family that practices “living green,” they’ve got solar panels attached to their bikes so they can capture the energy of the sun and use it to charge up their cell phones, cameras and computers.
They have a GPS device as well, which tracks their journey for people who watch their Website and Facebook page for updates. Their Website is www.murrbike.com; their Facebook page is murrsacrossamerica.
Kate Murr said the trip satisfies their yen for family togetherness, fitness and getting out into the great outdoors to appreciate Mother Nature’s gifts.
“It’s kind of an odd thing to do, I guess,” Kate said. “But we want to raise awareness for family engagement and health, and the environment. It’s important to us to see families playing together outside. Our children’s generation is the first that’s not expected to live as long as their parents, due to obesity and diabetes, so a solution to that is playing outside. This is something we can do to be part of the solution.”
Kate said their children are absorbing knowledge in ways that might not have been possible without this trip. What they learn, she hopes, will stay with them a lifetime.
“The kids just know we’re having a great big adventure,” she said. “But they’re also having a great educational experience. We went to see the caves today, and we were in Tallahassee a few days ago and saw the (junior museum). We’ve seen alligators, bats, bugs and birds. We’ve only stayed in one motel so far, we’re trying to camp as much as possible.”
Despite the many hours on the road, the family also tries to stay connected with others.
“We have a social network, and sometimes we’ve stayed with friends or friends of friends, or camped out in people’s yards who have invited us from time to time, just people we’ve met on our own as we’ve come through their communities,” she said.
Kate said that, in Marianna, a stranger bought them lunch as a gesture of support for their quest.
“That’s another thing we’re trying to show our kids, that you can cross cultures of all kinds and find that most people are basically good, gracious, and kind,” she said.
Kate tows the family’s supplies, like camping gear and clothing, about 100 pounds worth of gear.
Her husband Stuart tows the children in a two-person pull-behind designed for children The children and the tow cycle weigh about 100 pounds together.
Young Jane plans to collect badges from every state they travel through – which will be 15, by her dad’s count. She picked up her first one at Florida Caverns State Park.
The family’s adventure is supported in spirit by the Board of Parks in their Missouri community, and by many people who follow them online.