Journey to the end of life

It all started on a Christmas night ruined by COVID.

It was two years ago. Pascale Brochu, hit by the virus just in time for the holidays, was champing at the bit in quarantine.

“I’m not very good at doing anything!” », concedes with a laugh the 51-year-old mother and manager, who thrives on challenges.

On New Year’s Eve, she came out of her room masked. She sat in the corner, as if she were being punished. She observed from a distance her husband and their three teenagers exchanging gifts, before returning to isolate herself, reflecting on life and its setbacks, on the time that passes and does not return, on the empty nest that will be their home in a few years.

“I was really depressed!” »

Fourteen days later, Pascale came out of her room with a crazy idea: why don’t we go around the world by bike, as a family, for a year? Life is short… Who knows what it has in store for us? Why should we wait until retirement to realize our dreams?

At first, Alex James, Pascale’s husband, was a little skeptical about what his lover herself describes as “post-COVID delirium”. Then he said, “If the kids board, I’ll board!” »

The three teenagers – Rosalie, 19, Elliot, 17, and Henri, 14 – immediately said “yes!” ” with enthusiasm. To the great happiness of Pascale, who also saw this as an opportunity to mend ties that COVID had damaged.

“During the pandemic, we were forced to be together. But in fact, we each experienced our stress in silos. It didn’t create any links. It even distanced us a little because we couldn’t take it anymore! »

The whole family began to prepare for this big trip. Before the departure planned for July 2023, the parents resigned. “Not out of spite,” explains Pascale, who I know because our children are friends. “We both really loved our work. But we needed something else. »

They put their house up for rent. Teenagers have put their studies on hold. Far from school, they learn differently.

“It’s the school of life!” » says Henri, smirking, while I joined the BroJames (as they call themselves) by video call, in Luang Prabang, Laos.

Even though the family drives 80 km a day, Henri always finds time to learn new languages ​​– he has taken up Vietnamese, in anticipation of the next leg of their journey.

Elliot particularly enjoys discovering what a bus or train trip would make invisible. “When you’re on a bike, you explore every minute of the journey. You can see small towns and really meet people. »

Since July 2, the BroJames have cycled more than 6,000 km. After crossing Europe from Portugal to Turkey, they plan to travel through Southeast Asia in the coming months, before heading to North America. At the end of this trip, if all goes well, they will have cycled 20,000 km.

Pascale and Alex, who met while doing humanitarian aid in Africa, are not their first trip off the beaten track. With her entrepreneurial skills, Pascale naturally plays the role of project manager within the family. She is the one who plans travel and equipment maintenance, manages the budget tightly, takes care of supplies, watches over human resources, etc.

Alex is the designated travel scribe¹. He takes pleasure in contributing to a blog on the website crazyguyonabike.com, well known to seasoned cycle tourists.². While we often find stories of cyclists traveling with their young children, adventures with three teenagers conquering three continents are rarer and arouse marked interest.

The biggest challenge of traveling is neither the mileage nor the steep hills, but the family dynamic which is obviously not the same with young people taking part in every decision and needing their space – which is not the case. It’s not easy when you share a tent with your parents for a year!

To overcome this obstacle, the family has planned ways to give everyone time for themselves, even if it means separating along the way. After a few months with her parents, this is what the eldest, Rosalie, who is currently in Thailand, chose.

At every step of the journey, there are decisions to be made. Are we going this way or that way? From this side, it’s flat, but less bucolic. On the other, there is the mountain.

“Everyone has to be on the same wavelength,” observes Alex. And that’s harder than climbing a mountain! »

There was also, at the start of the journey, a great unforeseen ordeal. While Alex was wondering how the family was going to face the mistral that would blow in their faces in the Rhône valley, the family learned terrible news: Paul, Pascale’s 80-year-old father, died. is found in intensive care after a fall. He had hit his head and suffered a brain hemorrhage. He died on the night of August 9 before the family, who had decided to urgently return to Quebec, had time to reach his bedside.

After a forced interlude for a funeral – made easier by French friends and the cycling community who helped the family with the headache of bookings, bike storage, transport, etc. –, the crazy adventure has resumed.

So far, so good ? There are obviously days of tension when everyone gets on each other’s nerves, admits Pascale. But they are largely offset by the moments of grace and the happiness of living this exceptional experience as a family.

All over Europe, the BroJames have pitched their tent in incongruous places. Wild camping no longer holds any secrets for them. Asking strangers in Germany or elsewhere if they would allow the family to pitch a tent in their garden, neither.

Before departure, skeptics had warned them. ” It’s dangerous ! You’re going to get robbed! »

But wherever they go, they are rather amazed by the kindness of strangers as well as by the welcome of the hosts of the Warmshowers cycling support network.³ offering them a shower, a bed, a drink, advice, new friendships… People are often intrigued by this family of cycle tourists. We ask them if they need help. We invite them to eat. We set the table for them, without accepting anything in return.

Even in poor communities, this richness of the heart remains, emphasizes Alex.

“Generosity manifests itself in different ways depending on the country, but it is always there. »

On the other side of the fury of the world, in this journey to the end of life, this gentle reminder: humanity still exists.