A Trip to Remember

It was planned to just be a fun adventure for them on Spring Break. It would end up seeing them bike over 500 miles on a journey that would turn out to be a memory of a lifetime.

It was April 1974, when a group of 10 boys, ranging in age from 15 to 16 years old, set out from their homes in Dearborn, Michigan, on their bikes, to make their way to Niagara Falls.

“We had an itch to do something fun on Spring Break,” said John Williams, a member of the group who now lives in Chelsea.

The group of friends was made up of Chris Peterson, Ken Willemse, Gordie Kosch, Jim Proctor, Gary Ivinskas, Richie Shefferly, Chris Breest, Steve Meyer, Dennis DeWulf and John Williams.They were all sophomores in high school on spring break with no cell phones, computers or GPS to guide them, but rather just a helpful map and desire to get their as a group on their bicycles.

Now 51 years later they reunited to remember their trip of a lifetime. Of the 10 boys, nine are still alive and eight were able to gather at Camp Woodbury in Dexter to reunite after all these years, some coming from Florida and Colorado and all over Michigan. The reunion was a chance to reconnect, tell stories, laugh and just remember the adventurous time they all had that spring.  

The Journey in ‘74

“Each day there was something new, whether it was meeting people, having bike issues or having a dog run out after us as we went by,” Williams said of the trip that saw them cycling 275 miles each way with three days to get there, two days in Niagara and then three days to get back home.

Breest said they all lived near each other and already had “little” adventures on their bikes when they would cycle from home to Camp Dearborn in Milford, which was at least an 80 mile trek there and back. He said they started planning the big trip and as part of that they had to convince their parents to let them go. To do this they put together an actual presentation for their parents with details such as a call list and how they would communicate with them through stops at pay phones to update them where they were and how they were doing.

For the 10 of them, their parents said yes and they helped them in some ways get prepared and ready. Whether it was supplying them with a sleeping bag that was from World War II or providing a small butane cooking burner from the Dearborn Inn that’s now described with a smile as a “family heirloom,” their parents supplied some things that were needed for such a trip. They all had about $50 each in their pockets, which they look back now with a laugh because they said they ended up running out of money sometime on the way back.

“We just mapped it out and took off across the Ambassador Bridge and traveled through Canada,” Williams said.

They camped in Provincial Parks, cow pastures, behind a church, and stayed in a youth hostel in Niagara Falls.

At one point, being soaking wet from rain and snow, they met a couple that owned and operated a party store who took them in for the night to help them get dry, feed them and provide a place for them to sleep for the night, which was on their porch. One night a farmer supplied them with wood for a warm camp fire. Another encounter had them seeking help with a bike fix from a bike shop owner who spoke Hungarian and little English.

They all made it to Niagara and enjoyed themselves, and after two days they set out for the journey back. They remember on the way back racing down Michigan Avenue through Detroit as they pedaled their way home.

The Reunion

The group started planning a 50^th reunion, but it turned into a 51^st reunion. This past week they gathered at Camp Woodbury, just outside of Dexter. Regretfully, not all of them could be there. Gordie Kosch passed away a few years ago and Jim Proctor was unable to make the trip.

When I met them they were having breakfast and reminiscing about different stories with many laughs exchanged. The cooking burner or family heirloom also made an appearance after all of these years.

Sometimes when they tell people this story, a reaction is, were you guys crazy? 

They weren’t. They were a group of friends looking for an adventure. Not necessarily the destination, which was fun, but the journey itself made it so memorable.

 For some of them, the reunion was the first time in decades they had seen each other again. As they stood as a group for a photo, Breest summed up their feelings quite well in a message he made about the reunion.

“51 years ago, a group of 10, 15-year-old neighborhood friends, rode their bikes from Detroit to Niagara Falls, New York, during Easter Break. Only two pictures exist of the adventure. So many years later most of us meet up for the first time to relive a coming of age adventure experience that means more to us now than it did then. Thank you all so much for a lifelong memory that would start a life of adventure I could not have imagined.”