A New Brunswick family is lacing up their boots for a journey that will take them across the country without ever having to leave their home and they are inviting other Canadians to join them on their journey.
Suffering from a case of COVID-19 cabin fever, in early January, Riverview’s Sarah Hughes challenged her family of 12 to a walking challenge she has called “Coast to Coast”
“I was trying to come up with a way to promote getting outside, being active, getting off those devices and just spending some quality time outside,” said Hughes.
The goal is for her family to collectively walk enough kilometres to get them from one end of the country to the other over the next few months. Their plan is to track their journey on their phones or smartwatches and walk virtually from Parlee Beach in Shediac, N.B., to English Bay Beach in Vancouver, which is more than 5,000 kilometres away.
Hughes’ brother Ben Ricker was on board from the onset.
“I usually play a lot of sports and haven’t been able to do that, it’s all gotten shut down, so really all I have is to get out and walk,” he said.
In just 10 days, Hughes says the family has already logged enough kilometres on their devices — more than 500 — to make it from Riverview to Quebec.
“People just email in every day how far they have gone and I find on Google maps where approximately that is,” she said.
Her 71-year-old father, Gaius Ricker, is also taking part in the cross-country trek. But he said he has a few rules for the road.
“I said I don’t want to hear any whining,” said Ricker.
Nor does he want to hear even a whisper of complaints about the long journey, nor the scenery.
“I said you can start complaining when we get to the Rockies if you want about the hills,” he joked.
Hughes says she has no idea when their journey will be complete and said it is more about the journey than the destination.
She said being outside in nature is also helping to open up conversations among family members about the stresses of life amid a pandemic.
“If you want to know what your kids are thinking or want to know what is going on in their lives, just get them outside,” she said.
She said people across the country are invited to join in their journey as a means of getting through the pandemic one step at a time.