Cross-country bicyclist visits grandparents
Thread started by
PC at 09.18.08 - 4:33 am
Cross-country bicyclist visits grandparents
Marcus McKenzie takes a break from his 3,000-mile trip to spend time in Hamilton.
By Eric Schwartzberg
Staff Writer
Sunday, September 14, 2008
HAMILTON — For many summers during his childhood, Marcus McKenzie boarded an airplane in Texas to visit his grandparents in Butler County. Last week, the 27-year-old Californian arrived via bicycle.
Along with friend Brad Watkins, McKenzie took a break in the middle of a more than 3,000-mile journey from Los Angeles to New York and visited Hamilton, where grandparents Cordell and Nettie McKenzie have lived since 1955.
Cordell McKenzie said his grandson's 4-day visit means the world to him.
"I really appreciate him and his friend coming and staying with us," he said. "We just enjoy their company and have a good time with them."
Having a good time included attending church and Great Miami River Days on Sunday, dining at a Main Street restaurant with bluegrass music on Monday and visiting relatives in Springboro and Monroe on Tuesday.
Along their eastward odyssey, which began July 5, the two men stayed with friends or camped out. The country dinners Nettie happily whips up for them are the gastronomical highlight of their nomadic summer.
"I've cooked sweet beans and cornbread and sauerkraut and corn and all that good stuff," she said. "I'm trying to fatten them up a little bit."
Traveling thousands of miles and spending time with his grandparents is nothing new to Marcus, who spent summers in Hamilton from the time he was 5 years old until age 14, making the flight by himself each year from Texas, where he grew up. Since then he's made sure to visit at least every two years.
"Really, I kind of have three homes," he said. "It's always a really peaceful time here. It's a slower pace of life and it makes for a really good place to be as a kid and now also as an adult."
reply
-->
Ridazz Roulette!
@RBI