The Cycling Storyteller
Zoom!, Vanguard Airlines — Winter, 2001

Jim Leach and the author with the tandem trike riding in Davenport on the River Trail.

Kansas City born and raised, Steve Thunder-McGuire is an internationally known cyclist and educator. A university professor with an unusual teaching method -- cycling and storytelling. Thunder-McGuire recently cycled throughout the Midwest making storytelling appearances at a number of colleges in several states.

But Thunder-McGuire's cycling extends beyond education — he's completed the 210-mile Alaskan Iditasport race in the dead of winter, on a recumbent tricycle. A recumbent tricycle, or trike, for those unfamiliar with this unusual mode of transport, looks something like a narrow lawn chair on wheels with handbrakes and handlebars on each side instead of arm rests. "I've been riding a bike since I was a boy in Kansas City — never stopped," Thunder-McGuire said.

The Red Oak Breakfast Club in front of JD's Cafe

Why storytelling? "I come from a family of storytellers," ThunderMcGuire said. "As a boy my classmates would come over to our house to listen to my Dad tell stories about things he had done when he was younger. For instance, when he was 16 he traveled the country with friends in an old Woody." Several of Thunder-McGuire's other relatives were also popular storytellers. His great uncles, great grandfather and grandmother were renowned for their tales about their adventures of settling in the 19th century Midwest — a time before the Internet, television and radio, a time when much of the country relied on a rich tradition of swapping stories for entertainment and information.

"Storytelling," according to Thunder-McGuire, "unravels the connections and direction of human action. It preserves the meaning of events and experiences that would otherwise be unrelated."

"Telling a story is very different from writing a story," explained Thunder-McGuire. "The storyteller's audience is of paramount importance to the story's success, the ability to arrive at a definite meaning."

"I learn something from telling a story," Thunder-McGuire said. "When I tell a story I rediscover my point of view as the story weaves around events, characters and the audience's responses. The story's success involves my learning its meaning along with the audience. Storyteller and audience help complete each other's stories."

As part of the "Stories Quest On The American Discovery Trail," during the summer of 2001 Thunder-McGuire taught "Storytelling Experience," a graduate seminar in art education, while he and a handful of his students cycled 504 miles across Iowa's portion of the American Discovery Bicycle Trail. Members of the public — from school kids to senior citizens — often joined the ride on their own bicycles.

During the ride Thunder-McGuire and his students interviewed people, collecting stories in the towns they passed through. The trip's stories and photos have been compiled on a DVD disc that has been distributed to schools and libraries. Thunder-McGuire and his students rode tandem recumbent tricycles as well as ordinary bicycles. The trikes were designed by Thunder-McGuire, based on tricycles manufactured by the Australian company Greenspeed.

Riders in Shenandoah at the Depot Cafe

Events were planned in towns throughout their ride. "We contacted mayors all along the ride," ThunderMcGuire said. "Each town planned something different, something that comes from its own identity. For example, Malvern, Iowa had a potluck dinner at which 93-year-old Alan, who still rides his bike, told stories about community events shaped by the Wabash Cannonball train, from a mysterious murder to accounts of daily life." The path of the Wabash Cannonball train is now the Wabash Trace Trail, part of the route Thunder-McGuire and his students cycled. "One of the things we wanted to do was reinforce the idea of educational outreach — a commitment to working outside the classroom to make teaching more meaningful," Thunder-McGuire said. "One of the purposes of our storytelling trip was to inspire curiosity. I wanted students to appreciate that curiosity, which is the essence of learning, can unfold outside a traditional classroom" Thunder-McGuire said.

The American Discovery Trail, which is billed as "the nation's first coast-to-coast, non-motorized recreation trail," runs from the Point Reyes National Seashore near San Francisco, California, and passes through Kansas City on its way to the Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware, outside of Washington, D.C. Planned jointly by the American Hiking Society and Backpacker Magazine, the trail is about 4,800 miles in length and roughly parallels U.S Highway 50 across the country. Several of the bicycle trails were built on old railroad beds — known as "rail trails."

Thunder-McGuire's project, "Stories Quest On The American Discovery Trail," received a National Endowment for the Arts grant. The grants create community-centered arts projects, components of the Millennium Legacy Trails across the United States.

The inauguration of the Millennium Legacy Trails, part of the White House Millennium Council's effort to "honor the past and imagine the future," was announced at the International Trails and Greenways Conference in Pittsburgh on June 26, 2001 by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater and the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. The White House chose to designate trails to honor how people have traveled America in the past, and to encourage Americans to experience the country in new ways in the future. "Transportation is about more than asphalt, concrete and steel; it's about people," Slater said.

One of the Millennium Trails the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail, which passes through Kansas and Missouri on its way to the Pacific, celebrates the heroic expedition led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark from 1804-1806.

Thunder-McGuire, a devoted cyclist who travels to work at the University of Iowa throughout the year from his home in rural Kalona some 15 miles from campus, may seem masochistic to anyone familiar with Iowa's brutal winters. That is, until they learn that Thunder-McGuire is a veteran of several memorable long-distance rides. Aside from completing the 210-mile Alaskan Iditasport in the dead of winter, which makes his Iowa winter cycling commutes to work seem like child's play, in 1994 and 1997 he rode his recumbent tricycle from Fairbanks, Alaska to Iowa City, Iowa — 3,478 miles — to raise money for the Close Encounter Art Workshop. Close Encounter Art Workshop is a two-week summer residency program for high school students with disabilities held at the University of Iowa Hospital. The Thunder-McGuires adopted a second son, Chris, who has cerebral palsy.

In 1999, Thunder-McGuire cycled around Iowa telling and collecting stories at senior care centers. The project, " 1,000 miles of Iowa Stories," evolved as collaboration between Thunder-McGuire and Care Initiatives of Iowa. During the fall of 2000 Thunder-McGuire traveled a large circle through the center of the country on his recumbent trike, making storytelling appearances at colleges in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas, and Colorado.

Thunder-McGuire has released a CD of stories, "Completing Stories." A second CD is in the works, "1,000 Miles of Iowa Stories," featuring stories collected in 1999 at senior centers around the state. A faculty member of the University of Iowa School of Art and Art History since 1990, he has received a number of teaching awards, including the 1997 Collegiate Teaching Award from the University of Iowa and the 1999 Iowa Higher Education Art Educator of The Year.

Thunder-McGuire's next cycling adventure? "I'll cycle throughout Iceland to help document that country's legacy of verbal sagas," he said. And, of course, he'll do it on his trusty recumbent tricycle.

For more information about Steve Thunder-McGuire visit http://www.uiowa.edu/~arted/faculty2.html

The home page for the "Stories Quest" project can be found at http://www.uiowa.edu/~tqstory

American DiscoveryTrail (ADT)
Boonville, Missouri to Kansas City (state line)

The French explorer La Salle first claimed Missouri for France in 1682. The United States acquired the land in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase, and in 1812 Congress formed most of the Missouri Territory from what had been called the Upper Louisiana Territory. Lewis and Clark began their historic expedition where the Missouri River empties into the Mississippi River just north of St. Louis.

ADT's route from Boonville to Kansas City may change in the future due to the development of a new rail-trail from Boonville to Kansas City.

Information about the American Discovery trail can be found at http://www.discoverytrail.org

Alaska's Iditarod

Established in 1978, the Iditarod is a system of historic trails made famous by Alaska gold prospectors and their dog teams during the late 19th and early 20th century gold rush. Most of the trail is usable only during Alaska's six-month winter when rivers and tundra are frozen. During warmer months thick tundra vegetation makes travel extremely difficult. Each year the renowned 1,150-mile Iditarod Sled Dog Race is run along the trail. Other events include the 210-mile Iditasport race for skiers, cyclists, snowshoers, and the Alaska Gold Rush Classic Snow Machine Race.

The trail takes its name from the 19th century Athabascan Indian village on the Iditarod River near the site of a 1908 gold discovery. By 1910 a gold rush town flourished for a time and was the center of the Iditarod Mining District. Trails were originally used for Indian trade and commerce. Gold seekers bought provisions in Anchorage or the town of Knik before sledding, hiking or snowshoeing to mining districts.

The trail had been used as a major route until 1924 when the airplane came into use. But in 1925, dog team and driver recaptured the nation's attention in a dramatic display of courage and stamina. A diphtheria epidemic threatened the town of Nome, which had run low on serum to inoculate the community. Plans to send a plane were thwarted by weather. Instead a relay of dog teams braved the Iditarod Trail, carrying the serum 674 miles in 127 hours. President Coolidge sent them medals. Balto, the lead dog of the finishing team, was immortalized in statues. The era of the sled dog went out in a blaze of glory.

The Iditarod Trail had been forgotten until racing renewed interest in 1967 when the first Iditarod race was staged on the old Iditarod Trail. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race attracts competitors from around the world. Since then other sporting events have sprung up to attract challengers.

Rail Trails

Rail-trails are multi-purpose, public paths that encourage outdoor recreation and promote fitness through cycling, walking, running, in-line skating, horseback riding, and cross-country skiing. Rail-trails also serve as historic and wildlife conservation corridors, linking isolated parks and creating greenways through developed areas. They stimulate local economies by increasing tourism and promoting local business. Learn more about rail-trails by visiting the Web site TrailLink.com.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC), a non-profit organization with over 100,000 members and donors, is the nation's largest trails organization. RTC is dedicated to connecting people and communities by creating a nationwide network of public trails, many from former rail fines and connecting corridors. Founded in 1986, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is located in Washington, D.C. Visit RTC's Web site and check the online rail-trail database at www.railtrails.org.

Kansas Trails

1. Lawrence Rail-Trail
   Activities: Walking, Biking, Wheelchair Accessible
   Length: 1.1 miles

2. Prairie Spirit Rail-Trail Location: Ottawa to Welda
   Activities: Walking, Biking, Cross Country Skiing, In-line Skating, Fishing, Wheelchair Accessible
   Length: 33 miles

3. Whistle Stop Park
   Activities: Walking, Horseback Riding, Biking, In-line Skating, Wheelchair Accessible
   Length: 1.8 miles

Missouri Trails

1. Frisco Greenway
   Location: Joplin to Webb City
   Activities: Walking, Biking, Mountain Biking, horses by permission.
   Length: 4 miles

2. Frisco Highline Trail
   Location: From Willard to Walnut Grove and one mile in Bolivar.
   Activities: Walking, Horseback Riding, Biking, Cross Country Skiing, Wheelchair Accessible, Running.
   Length: 12 miles

3. Grant's Trail (formerly Carondelet Greenway) Billman Spur
   Activities: Walking, Horseback Riding, Biking, Cross Country Skiing, In-line Skating, Wheelchair Accessible.
   Length: 6.2 miles

4. Katy Trail State Park
   Location: St. Charles to Clinton
   Activities: Walking, Biking, Cross Country Skiing, Wheelchair Accessible
   Length: 225 miles

5. Little Blue Trace Trail
   Activities: Walking, Biking
   Length: 8 miles

6. M. K. T. Nature/Fitness Trail
   Location: Columbia to McBaine
   Activities: Walking, Biking, Cross Country Skiing, Fishing, Wheelchair Accessible, No motorized vehicles.
   Length: 8.5 miles

7. West Alton Trail
   Location: West Alton to Missouri River
   Activities: Walking, Cross Country Skiing, Mountain Biking
   Length: 1.3 miles

© 2009 Bill Asenjo

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