City council member Jack Dovey and daughter Jeneca will set out to accomplish something they’ve both had their sights on for many years.
The father/daughter duo will bicycle from Federal Way to San Diego. The approximately 1,800-mile trip will take roughly 23 days. The Doveys will ride primarily along State Route 101 and State Route 1.
The ride is something Jack Dovey attempted, but never completed, about 20 years ago. It’s something that’s been on Jeneca Dovey’s mind for quite some time too.
“I just like challenges and this is one of the things that’s always been on my list,” Jeneca said.
The pair will depart from Federal Way’s Farmers Market on opening day on May 8. Jeneca had planned to embark upon the trip alone, but her dad decided to join her when he found out she didn’t have a bicycling partner. Their trip will take the Doveys through Washington and down the Oregon and California coastlines. The Doveys will pack the bare necessities and spend their nights inside. During the daylight hours, they’ll bike 50 to 90 miles per day.
They’ve trained — some. Jeneca rides her bike daily, weather permitting. This includes riding from her home in Seattle to work in Federal Way. Jack has ridden some too. He also goes skiing twice a week, he said. Despite a hill near Leggett, Ore., that Jack Dovey remembers as being 10 miles long, neither he nor his daughter are anxious about their physical ability to complete the trip.
“I like to ride, but I would never have just done this before,” Jeneca said.
Jack Dovey said he knows he’ll regret it if he doesn’t give the ride another try. The last time he commenced on the 1,800-mile trip, Dovey did so with friends from Federal Way High School. He left behind his wife and two small children. Dovey returned home before completing the journey so he could help with the kids, he said.
The Doveys imagine the time spent on the road will be refreshing. The route is somewhat familiar, as the family drives to San Diego every year. On a bicycle though, they’ll see nature up close.
“When you’re riding your bike, you see the birds…,” Jack Dovey said. “It’s a whole different experience.”
They’ll also have plenty of time to catch up on what’s been happening in each other’s lives. Jeneca is preparing to leave on a Peace Corps trip to Cameroon. There, she will teach physics to school children. Lessons will be taught in French and classes could be as large as 100 students, Jeneca said. This will not be her first time away from home.
Following graduation from St. Lawrence University last year, Jeneca departed New York to Guinea, sometimes known as Guinea-Conakry, West Africa. She had planned to teach physics there. After only four months, she and several other Peace Corps volunteers were evacuated due to the sociopolitical situation in the country. Military soldiers, supportive of Moussa Dadis Camara, in September 2009, attacked, raped and murdered citizens who had gathered to protest his attempt to become the country’s next president.
Jeneca will start her two-year dedication to the Peace Corps from scratch in Cameroon. She will leave San Diego, where her grandmother lives, to fly to Philadelphia by June 2. From there, she will depart to Cameroon. She is not sure what to expect.
Neither is her family. Jack Dovey said he is confident his daughter can handle whatever is thrown her way.
“She takes a lot of chances,” Dovey said of his daughter. “You give (children) ideas and raise them and let them make their choices.”
Check it out
Follow the Dovey’s bicycle adventures and Jeneca’s work in Cameroon by visiting Jeneca’s blog at http://820days.blogspot.com.
