Imagine loading up the family for a 7,000 mile trek from Kentucky to Alaska. but not in the mini-van. On a bicycle built for 5.

It's no ordinary summer vacation.

Imagine loading up the family for a 7,000 mile trek from Kentucky to Alaska. but not in the mini-van.  On a bicycle built for 5.

The Pedouin family is already on their way.

"I'm the first.  I run the show up here as the dad.  And then behind me is our middle daughter Jasmine and then the third one is our youngest daughter Robin, and then my wife is fourth.  And then Cheyenne, our 5, 6 year old brings up the caboose.

"I would like to be in the driver's seat but dad put me all the way in the back. humph," says Cheyenne.

"We are biking on a person quint from Mt. Vernon, Kentucky to Fairbanks, Alaska. and people ask why we're headed south. Because by the time we put the trip together we would be running into old man winter as we head through the midwest, so we decided to take a southern route to outrun cold weather," says Amarins, biking mom.

"We both have traveling sprits. so we always like to travel. But when you have kids you have to look at it from a different perspective. And I always wanted to take a bicycle trip and somehow I stumbled across a 5 person tandem bicycle, so I figured you know what, that would be the thing for us," says Bill, the father.

"Well, why? Because so many people shelve their dreams and we've had a dream of traveling. And we're just blue collar folk and uh, I had a small business doing home repair and remodeling and still keeping very busy despite the downturn in the economy.  And we just talked to a lot of people and they got old and never lived their dreams. and we love to do our dreams, and my wife loves to ride bikes and so we put it together, why don't we travel by bike. and we're going to fairbanks because I was there for 2 summers and enjoyed it and she wants to see what it is like," says Amarins.

"He has been to Alaska and I had always wanted to go.  And we just put these two peices together and said you know what, August 1st we're leaving," adds bill.

"It's great on the bike because, man, you can feel the wind in your hair. you feel when we go through the mist you can feel the mist on your skin. You feel sun shining down on you.  You hear the birds as you go by. You hear the mule hee hawing ask you go by the farms and you notice the bugs and the insects on the road.  You just feel alive.  All that nature is around you and you don't have the air conditioning blocking it out. And it's just radically different from being in a car. you can just taste it," says Cheyenne.

"We like the double takes.  We'll be watching people coming in the other lane in their car and they see us and just about break their neck looking back at us because they can't believe what they see. They're stunned, they can't believe it.  And I think the biggest part of the unbelief is that we have our family with us.  And we want to do this as a family and they've never seen this. They see a lot of cyclers but no families."

"I don't like mom in front of me because I can not see in front of her."

"And we've had an incredible amount of generosity from the people of Tennessee. I'm just a Kentucky boy and we've heard all these horror stories about the volunteer folk, but they have been abosolutely marvelous. They've given us food and a couple of dollars here and there, a place to stay, a bottle of water, power bars, you name it. they're just blessings.  So we want to challenge people to live their dreams. And no matter how old or young, or have kids or don't, get out there and give it a whirl," says dad Bill.

The family is averaging around 20 miles a day on the days they ride, and hope to reach Fairbanks next summer.

You can follow their adventure on their web site, www.pedouins.org.