Cross-country bike ride inspires mom to face her fears
PHOTO BY STEVE STEINER
Leland Weeks arrives in Bartow at approximately 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24. He has just ridden his bicycle through the Church Street intersection on Broadway Avenue.
PHOTO BY STEVE STEINER
Gail Kauffman and her son, Leland Weeks, begin to embrace one another upon his arrival at Fort Blount Park, located on the corner of Broadway and Main. Weeks began his cross-country bicycle journey Sept. 12, starting in Portland, Ore.
PHOTO BY STEVE STEINER
Leland Weeks assembled his bike the day before he began his 32-day journey from Portland, Ore., to Bartow, where he was raised.
It was not quite 2:45 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 24, when Gail Marie Kauffman arose from her seat on the park bench in front of the Polk County Historical Center and crossed Broadway Avenue to the Fort Blount Park side of the corner of Main Street and Broadway. She wanted to be present when her son, Leland Weeks, rode up Broadway on his bicycle. His arrival would be the final stop of a 2,990 mile journey he had started Sept. 12 from Portland, Ore.
As if on cue, Weeks rode up at 3 p.m., shirtless and drenched in perspiration. He waved as he approached the intersection. As soon as he dismounted, Kauffman embraced her son. What did he want to do, she asked.
