Steve Charles—Reading of Wayne Hoover’s moving tribute to a friend lost in the crash of Comair Flight 5191 (click here to read more), I was reminded of another alumnus on a two-wheeled, long-distance trek of a different sort.
Kevin McCrea ’88 and his wife, Clara, are taking their honeymoon in the form of a motorcycle trip around the world. They left New Orleans March 1 and have thus far visited 10 countries, ridden over 5,000 miles, ridden at altitudes of over 13,000 feet, and have fallen a combined total of 15 times! (Kevin, once a professional motorcycle racer, now the owner of Wabash Construction in Boston, MA, and a motorcycle safety instructor, would be quick to point out only three of those falls are his!)
Thus far they’ve seen some beautiful and not-so-beautiful country, found themselves in the middle of political demonstrations in Peru, and met other unexpected challenges (like killer bees) while making many new friends. But back in April, it was an old friend—Mark Schneider ’88—who came alive in Kevin’s memory as he crossed the Mexican border. Kevin’s Phi Psi pledge brother, Mark was killed in a traffic accident in the Caribbean years ago, but as the digital clock on Kevin’s motorcycle instrument panel showed 10:01—a time Mark had once printed on a t-shirt he wore to promote a band by the same name—Kevin was reminded of a road trip he and Mark had taken, and, as Kevin writes, “what a great, idealistic person Mark was, how much he meant to me and still means to me."
We’ll have an edited version of Kevin’s remembrance of Mark in a future issue of Wabash Magazine, and you can read it now and keep up with Kevin and Clara’s progress at: http://motomoments.blogspot.com/
It’s interesting how—both in Wayne Hoover’s bicycle trip and McCrea’s motorcycle journey— taking the time to take to the road honors so well the memory of one friend while bringing back to mind so vividly the memory of another.
