Many people fantasize about taking a few years off to hit the road and experience “ the real” America.

For some of those people, it’s a journey they spend most of their adult lives waiting for.

And when they do it—if they do it—it’s usually from the comfort of a large, expensive motor home.

And it’s almost certainly never on a yellow five-seated custom-designed bicycle.

But that’s exactly the way the Harrison family of Mt. Vernon, Ky., set out on their journey across the U.S.

On Aug. 1, Bill and Amarins Harrison, along with their three young daughters, got on long canary-colored bike and started peddling their way through the mountains of Kentucky and ended up in the Florida Keys.

After some time in the Keys, they turned around and headed north, always keeping in mind their ultimate destination--Alaska.

“This time next year, we better be there or we’re in big trouble,” Bill Harrison said last week in front of his camp at Manatee Springs State Park.

Harrison said he and his family, which includes 2-year-old Robin, 4-year-old Jasmine and 6-year-old Cheyenne, arrived at the park on Sunday with plans to stay a couple of days before resuming their tour.

He said they spent most of their time swimming and enjoying the natural beauty of the park—something he said people are forgetting to do because of modern conveniences like TV, air conditioning and automobiles.

Harrison said part of the reason for the trip was to remind people, through example, about the American ability to dream big.

“ We think what made America great is peoples’ willingness to take chances and risks.  We think people have lost that.”

And he said he and his family have met a lot of great people on the way, which is another reason the family is making the trip—to meet and establish ties with people from every kind of racial, cultural and ethnic background.

Harrison said he believes meeting diverse groups of people is important for the development of his children.

Despite all the positives, Harrison said the trip has not been easy.

He said the journey, which will end up being about 7,000 miles, took about seven months to plan.  Some of that time was set aside for training.

“ We trained for two months on a 12-mile route—two days on, one day off.”

And although he admitted to covering more ground when the family reached the relatively flat landscape of Florida—about 30 to 60 miles a day—that’s also when the family’s bike started giving them trouble.  He said they’ve had to repair numerous flats, broken rims and spokes.

After leaving Florida, Harrison said the family would make its way toward California and then up the West Coast toward Alaska.  

For more information on the Harrison family’s journey or to monitor their progress, visit their website at www.pedouins.org.