Transcript Staff Writer

Come Monday, one young Norman couple will say good-bye to their home, friends and car as they embark on a two-year bike trip to the center of all 50 states.

“We want to see the country while we’re young, and we don’t have kids yet, so we have a lot of freedom and we want to take advantage of it, I guess,” Aaron Beese, 27, said when asked why he and his wife, Laura, 24, decided to take the trip.

Aaron got the idea for the bike trip about two years ago when he read in a hiking magazine about people who hike to the highest point in each state. But he figured that would only show a small part of each state; by biking to the center, the couple will have to cross the entire state and experience the culture fully.

Aaron and Laura, OU alumni and Norman residents, married less than a year ago. But before they were even engaged, Aaron told Laura about the trip.

“He sits me down and starts talking about this bike and this idea for this trip,” Laura said. “And it took me a long time, but when we got married, I knew what I was getting myself into.”

The general plan

The couple will pedal on a tandem bike to the geographic center of every state. They will take back roads through small towns and plan to camp out or stay with people they meet along the way.

They have been looking at satellite images of the center of each state, some of which include schools, fields, houses or prisons.

They will spend their first winter in Hawaii, working on a coffee farm owned by an OU alumna. The next winter they said they probably will spend in Oregon. Laura said their goal is to make enough during the winters to pay for the rest of the trip.

After the two year trip, Laura said she will use her music education degree to teach while Aaron, a mechanical engineering graduate, will write a book about their adventure.

They will carry all their possessions in bags attached to the sides of the bike and racks in the front and back.

Because they will have to pull their belongings on the bike, the couple has had to compromise on some issues, like hair mousse.

“How much does that mousse weigh?” Laura mimicked Aaron saying. “A pound? No way! When we’re going up hills, you’re going to be sad.”

So in the end, they decided to start out with the fewest things possible, and if they need something they can buy it on the way.