Quality father-daughter time: Bredouws bike to Mexican border

Minnie Bredouw was 11 years old and in the sixth grade when her dad came up to her one day and proposed that father and daughter bike the West Coast, from Washington State to the Mexican border. Jim had just completed the trip with a bike touring group, and he wanted to repeat the journey with his oldest daughter. “I think we should do this some day,” Jim said.

At first, it must have sounded like a pipe dream, but by the time Minnie was in middle school, the trip began to take shape. And on July 24, 2004, the dream became a reality when Minnie, now 17, and Jim set out on what would be a 1,658-mile bicycle trip that concluded when the pair reached the fence that separates Mexico and the United States, on Aug. 21.

This is not only a story of physical will and perseverance. It’s also one about a loving relationship between father and daughter that was enhanced when the two of them spent four weeks riding the roads through Washington, Oregon and California.

Minnie wondered if she and her dad would become “sick of each other” when they first set out. She also thought about her many friends who would be having a good time partying back home on Orcas, and who thought she was crazy to trade all that fun for four grueling weeks with her dad, riding between 50 and 90 miles a day, then all but collapsing into their respective beds around 6 or 7 p.m. But when all was said and done, Minnie feels she made the right choice.

Jim feels the same way, explaining that being with Minnie is what made the trip so special. “We have similar characteristics and so much in common. There’s not a better person I could do this with,” Jim Bredouw said.

That’s not to say that all was peaches and cream. On one occasion, Minnie nearly dropped from exhaustion after a ride that gained nearly 7,000 foot in altitude. On another, Minnie found herself within a few feet of a truck that plowed into a car, sending glass and parts of the vehicle flying to the left and right of her. Jim admitted that he spent the first few days of the trip worrying constantly about his daughter’s safety. It was only after he got a talking-to from Minnie that he felt it best to relax and enjoy the rest of the journey.

The key was living in the present and taking things one pedal at a time. “If you think of the enormity of the trip,” he said, “you’d just shut down.” Minnie agreed with that assessment, saying it was a matter of “just getting on a bike and moving your legs for seven hours (a day).”

Jim and his wife Anne have two other children, Miel, a high school sophomore, and Henri, a seventh grader. Jim would like to be able to go on a special adventure alone with each of his other two kids some day. But it won’t be a marathon bike trip. It will be something else that’s yet to be determined.

As for Minnie and her dad, however, the biking continued after they got back to Orcas. Minnie, a member of the Orcas soccer team last fall, opted instead to continue riding a bike with her dad, and last Thursday, Sept. 2, the pair rode up to the top of Mt. Constitution and back.

Jim now says that his goal is to take another such trip with his daughter, even after she reaches 30.

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