SOMEWHERE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA — One fine day last July, Clayton and Katy Pratt caught a plane for London, collected their luggage at Heathrow Airport, made their way to what the English call a car park and we call a parking lot, and assembled their mode of transportation: a tandem bicycle outfitted with enough panniers and compartments to carry everything they’d need for the next nine to 10 months.
Then they hopped on and started pedaling in the direction of Istanbul.
There was no grand plot behind it, no great save-the-world fundraising cause tied to it. They simply thought it would be cool to slowly pedal halfway around the world together and see what they could see.
Clayton was/is midway through medical school at the University of Michigan. Katy had/has a good job working for Google in Ann Arbor.
Both places OK'd a leave of absence so they thought, why not?
They’re something of a road-less-traveled couple anyway. After both graduated from Salt Lake’s Skyline High School and BYU, they got married and, before they moved to Michigan, spent two years in a little town in Arkansas called Lake Village, where they worked for Teach for America, the organization that brings high-achieving college graduates to teach in low-income communities. Katy taught fourth grade and Clayton high school chemistry and physical science.
So they’d seen Arkansas … now they’ve seen 26 countries, and counting.
They’ve chronicled where they’ve been and what they’ve done on their blog, thetouringtandem.com. Currently they’re in Thailand.
Their trip isn’t just one big cycling marathon. They’ve taken entire weeks off the bike to sightsee and absorb the local cultures (they spent five weeks in India alone), or to entertain members of their families who have flown in to see what they’re up to, or to just meander through markets that display unusual meat offerings.
Marco Polo didn’t have email, but Clayton and Katy do. I wrote and asked them about their trip. Here are Clayton’s answers:
Q: How many miles so far?
A: 5,200, although I think a single mile in India counts as 10 miles in any other country.
Q: What made you decide on your route, first London-to-Istanbul, then India, then Southeast Asia?
A: It came down to three things: head east, find mountains and look for good weather. We flew from Istanbul to Kathmandu (Nepal) and then flew again from Delhi to Vientiane (Laos).
Q: Best food?
A: Dessert: homemade prune crumble dessert with a French couple in the Saône-et-Loire department of France. Appetizer: kaimak, cured meat and fresh bread in Vršac, Serbia. Food in general: curries in India, baklava in Turkey, gyros in Greece, cheese and bread in France, gelato in Italy. Street food: anywhere, India. Samosa chat, served in a banana leaf bowl with a wooden spoon for 15 cents.
Q: Best scenery?
A. Julian Alps of Slovenia, Accursed Mountains in Northern Albania, Highway 13 in Laos.
Q: Best bike-friendly country?
A: Strangely, I would say India. Each day we were on the road with a couple of million other cyclists, ox-carts, camel-carts, auto rickshaws, chai-wallahs, handcarts, pretty much the whole of India. India expects chaotic roads. As soon as you learn to fit in, it’s a great place to cycle.
Q: Best moment (so far)?
A: Reaching the top of the Vršič pass, arriving in Istanbul, crossing the border into India.
Q: Favorite people?
The Turks and the Indians. We found these people to be the most hospitable and generous. For the Turks, Islam teaches guests are to be looked after and treated with respect. For Indians, well, they are just an intensely curious, overwhelmingly friendly bunch. In both of these countries, people offered to pay for our meals, invited us into their homes, and gave us lots and lots of cay/chai.
Q: Biggest surprise?
A: Generosity of strangers. Once we reached the Balkan Peninsula and went east, people got nicer and nicer. It is a refreshing reality that the world is full of really, really good people.
Q: Is it dangerous?
A: No. The only danger is going to bed hungry after two dinners and three desserts. Bike handling, common sense and respect of international customs also go a long way to keeping our trip running smoothly.
Q: What do you find you miss most about home?
A: During Christmas we were both sick in Rajasthan, India. It would have been real nice to have a weekend at home to get better, see family, eat some Grape Nuts with Winder Dairy milk and take a couple runs at Alta.
Q: What do you miss least?
A: The predictability of life. Back home, I can pretty much guess the outcome of each day before it begins. Over here, anything might happen.
Q: How has this affected your relationship?
A: How hasn’t this affected our relationship? If you were to measure the length of a marriage by the amount of time a husband and wife spend with each other, then we are coming up on our 50-year anniversary. Lots of highs and lots of lows. Being madly in love can quickly change to finishing a dinner where no one spoke and at the end of the meal, Katy takes $5 and says, “See you later.”
Q: Has this altered your future plans at all?
A: First, we’re in a huge karma hole. We have a lot of “good deeds” to do. For me, medical school still resumes on May 5. I’ve always been interested in international relief work, and meeting people from so many backgrounds, many of them in need of medical care, will hopefully push me to achieve this goal. Katy is looking into going back to Google, currently in contact about position openings.
Q: Would you recommend this to others?
A: Of course. Stop what you’re doing. Find a bike, go for a ride. It doesn’t have to be across the world. It doesn’t even have to be overnight. The world changes when you are on a bike. Ride to work. Ride to the grocery store. Put on a backpack and venture across State Street. Explore the parks of southern Utah. A great ride with interesting people is never far away. If you show up on a bike instead of a car, it will make all the difference (and you can justify a second dessert).
Lee Benson's About Utah column runs Mondays. Email: benson@deseretnews.com