When fellow travel blogger Nancy Sathre-Vogel offered me an advance copy of her new book to review, I was pretty excited. She and her family have undertaken some truly inspirational trips together in their bikes. It’s the kind of stuff most of us can only imagine. Reading all about it helps with that imagination, though.

It seems that in the darkest of times, the goodness within humanity becomes the most evident. For the Vogel family – cycling for a year around the US and Mexico – those encounters with kindness came to represent their journey almost as much as their own personal growth.

Nancy and John had always been adventurers but this was the largest expedition they had planned with their children: eight-year-old twins Daryl and Davy. It was going to be a test of their emotional and physical stamina, a constant struggle against the elements and the unexpected, and a situation where success could only be achieved if the family stayed united. Ultimately, though, it was the strangers who selflessly offered their assistance who ensured the Vogel family completed their epic expedition on bike.

I love travel literature and in Nancy’s new book, Twenty Miles Per Cookie (available in paperback and for Kindle here), she retells the story of their trip and the thousands of miles they cycled. From the family home in Idaho, through the oppressive heat of the desert, past the shimmering coastlines, in blustering windstorms, amongst a foreign language, and always, always with two young children.

The book is written from Nancy’s perspective, her maternal concern always present in the stories. Emails from the children to their grandmother are included and the simplistic and innocent amazement at their discoveries and new experiences is a nice contrast to the subtle stress of their parents. But we only see John through the eyes of Nancy and there are times you wonder what he thinks about during those long hours of cycling, legs monotonously pumping at the pedals with the road stretching out ahead.

As Nancy puts it, the family became a “well-oiled machine”. And they needed to be. The essentials that most families take for granted – food, water, somewhere to sleep – are sometimes hard to find for the Vogels. Although there were many times when the generosity of passers-by saved the day, it was the strength of all four family members that saved the year.

Twenty Miles Per Cookie is much more about the evolution of this inner-strength than the destinations along the way. It’s an inspirational read not just for the distance covered, but for the way it was covered as a family. There are times when you try and imagine yourself in their situation and wonder how they managed to get to the end. There are other times when you wonder about the future and how this experience will have shaped the lives of the two eight-year-old boys.

As far as adventures go, this one will teach you about capability of people. The capability to achieve and the capability to help that achievement.

**For more information on Twenty Miles Per Cookie and how you can get copy, click here.

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