THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9408120260
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
TAKE FIVE KIDS from the inner city to Maine, put them on bicycles and pedal back to Virginia.
For many, that sounds like a recipe for disaster.
For Maury Cooke, it sounds like fun.
Even Cooke can't explain it.
``There is no way to explain what it was all about,'' said Cooke, who bicycled across the country with his sons several years ago.
But it worked.
ON THE LIST of things learned on the three-week trip, kindness of strangers was No. 1.
The youths, ranging in age from 12 to 15, live in Prentis Place, Prentis Park and Brighton. They had little experience outside this area and almost no positive exchanges with strangers.
``It made me feel good,'' said Kyser Siscoe, a 15-year-old I.C. Norcom football player. ``Hardly anybody said no when we asked to stay on their property or use their restrooms.''
``Strangers were nice to us,'' said Steve Brooks, a 13-year-old student at Cradock Middle School. ``I wish I were still on the trip.''
The goodness on the road was in stark contrast to their hometown experience preceding the trip.
On the afternoon before their departure, the group gathered at Cooke's home in Swimming Point to pack and spend the night in a tent on the edge of Crawford Bay.
The bikes, most of them borrowed from bike shops and friends, were lined up on a walkway in front of Cooke's home. The group was inside briefly. Within minutes, four bikes were missing.
The thieves had had little time to get away. Cooke jumped in his car to look for them, while others called the police.
Cooke found his own bicycle, minus the bags of supplies, at Hardee's, a few blocks away on London Boulevard. His equipment had been ditched in a yard in Olde Towne.
Although the other three 10-speeds were not immediately located, the trip was not delayed.
Three more bicycles were borrowed from friends, and the group left the next morning.
MOST OF THE kids weren't sure what they were getting into when they signed up to go along.
``I would do anything to get away from here in the summer,'' said Rasheen Hillard, a 15-year-old Wilson High student.
Getting away seemed to be the motivation for them.
Beginning Day One, they found out the trip would be more than just getting away. They learned the trip would require much of them.
On the first day they traveled by van to Maine with retired Navy Capt. Malcolm Fortson driving.
Fortson and the van stayed as a backup for the group as they pedaled down the coast of Maine. Then Fortson headed back with Ronald Anthony, 15, who was scheduled to return early.
Cooke's cousin, 22-year-old Maurice Gunter of Myersville, Md., joined the bicyclists.
Without the backup van and with a smaller group, the two adults and their charges became even closer.
Daily powwows to discuss attitudes as well as what they had seen and done were part of the routine.
``The powwows interfered with playing ball,'' Brooks grumbled, then admitted that he liked the talking.
``We slept in a tent together, so we started talking to each other,'' Siscoe said. ``Now we call each other just to hear each other's voices.
``. . . We learned to rely on one another,'' Siscoe said.
``We talked about feelings and fears,'' Cooke said. ``I think they learned about themselves and about others.''
Underlying all the comments was the notion of getting along with others and compromising individual desires for the good of all.
ONE BIG POINT of discussion was ``junk food.'' Cooke is careful about his road diet, including lots of pasta and rice to create energy. The kids wanted pizza and hamburgers, candy and soft drinks.
``We still liked it (junk food) when we got back,'' Hillard said.
Cooke admitted last week that he learned about some food from the youngsters.
``For instance, they taught me about Cream of Wheat,'' he said. ``I'd never eaten it, but they showed me how to cook it, and we ate it often.''
NOW SEASONED BIKERS, the four teens are trying to talk Cooke into going to Florida next year.
Cooke is noncommittal, but he hasn't said no.
On Wednesday, he talked about the case of the stolen bicycles, two more of which have been recovered.
``I'd love to find the four guys who took the bikes and take them on a trip with these guys.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Four of the teenagers who rode with Maury Cooke, right, are, from
left: Greg Seth, Kyser Siscoe, Stephen Brooks and Rasheen Hillard.
by CNB