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| Serving the South Coast of Oregon |
| Coos Bay to Cape Cod | |||||||||||
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| Pedaling with a purpose | |||||||||||
| By Susan Chambers, Staff Writer It was 1970 when Nick Furman, recently arrived from Cape Cod, Mass., ran down the beach to take his first icy dive in the Pacific at Sunset Bay. "What a shock," Furman remembered Thursday, sitting in a conference room at the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission office in Coos Bay. "The water was chilly! That was culture shock."
Furman and his teenage friends at the time had the idea that the water would be warm, the beaches full of bikini-clad beauties, surfers in the background - a typical California-style scene. "Sunset Bay was anything but that," he said. Thirty-four years later and well-traveled, the executive director of the Crab Commission harbors no illusions about the differences between the coasts. Furman's concerns now revolve around the interior part of the United States, particularly Lewis and Clark's route through Missouri, Iowa, both Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, Washington and, finally, Oregon - and seeing it from the seat of a bike. Furman plans to make a 4,300-mile bike ride to return to Cape Cod in June, July and August tracing the historical journey backward, then continuing on his own discovery tour to his childhood home on the Atlantic Coast. And he's doing it for both his personal satisfaction and to raise funds for the Women's Safety and Resource Center's planned housing and multiuse facility, Coddington Place. "I fly back and forth all the time," Furman said, noting that his job takes him frequently to Boston, Chicago and other cities around the globe. "I see it (Montana, North Dakota) from 30,000 feet. This time it'll be from 3 feet." Furman, obviously fit from his years of running and biking, and with a trace of a Massachusetts accent flavoring his words, paused, recalling the memory of looking at the topography from the airplane. "God, do I know what I'm doing? There's some god-forsaken country out there. Just straight roads. Am I crazy or what?" Furman knows the going won't be easy, but his goal is to make 100 miles a day. Some days will be more, some days will be less - such as when he's pedaling for miles uphill through the Rockies or when he runs into bad weather - he said, but he won't be alone. His wife, Kathy Low, will be driving the same route with their Toyota truck. She will carry most everything in the truck, enabling Furman to travel light. He plans to have a cell phone, water bottles, PowerBars, two-way radio, a camera and little else. "That way, I can cover more ground," he said. While Furman's out pedaling mile after mile, Low will be able to achieve some personal goals, too. A case manager at the women's shelter, she will visit other women's centers along the way, learning about their programs while sharing some of the successes from the Bay Area center's accomplishments. "Kathy does a phenomenal job working with clients. She's very supportive and encourages empowerment in the clients," said Judy Moody, executive director of the Resource Center. "She intends to take our INOKA - the 'It's Not OK Anymore' curriculum with her to share and find out what other services they provide." In fliers summarizing the Coos Bay to Cape Cod for Coddington Place effort, Furman lists as the reason he's doing it as, "Because at 50, my wife said that climbing Mount Everest was out of the question and that I'd better find another challenge closer to home ..." Yes, Furman admitted, he turned 50 last year and wanted to mark the occasion but he also wanted a vacation. This is a vacation? According to the hard-working, 14-year Crab Commission veteran, yes. "I wanted to figure out the meaning of life," he said, grinning. "Or, the meaning of being 50." For Furman, making the trip on a bike symbolizes a freedom that can't be experienced whizzing by the scenery and towns at 55-plus miles per hour. Remember that feeling of freedom from your first bike ride? Furman recalled.
He stoped and looked off into the distance. "My first bike was red," he continued. His dad put him on the seat, then gave him a push. A wobbly ride down the driveway resulted in a crash. "I knocked myself out," Furman said, "and they carried me back to the house. "I was still holding on to the (handlebar) grips." The other purpose for Furman's pedaling has to do with Low's work at the women's shelter. He hears about the issues she has to deal with and how the Resource Center is raising funds to build the facility, trying to help women and children deal with difficult times in their lives. "It's hard to put a dollar figure on the safety and security of these victims," Moody said of the mothers and children who are dealing with domestic abuse, drug and alcohol issues and homelessness. Coddington Place will "provide a space to assist women and children in healing these emotional, physical scars of domestic violence," she said. Furman said it's a cause he believes in. "I thought it'd be good to have a reason (for the ride)," he said. "This is the reason." And though momentum is building steadily prior to Furman's June 22 target date for dipping his wheel in the Pacific, he said the project kind of came together at the last minute. He and Low are paying for the trip solely with their own money; any funds raised through a Web site tracking his progress or from publicity go directly to the fund for Coddington Place. Furman said he's got a few speaking engagements lined up but that volunteers at the resource center are handling most of the fund-raising and promotion elements. "This thing's kinda taken on a life of its own," Furman said earlier. "I just wanted to go for a bike ride." |
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