From California to Franklin Square — on two wheels

When Billy Harrison finished his collegiate studies at the Art Institute of California-Hollywood in April, he didn’t choose to come back to his home in Franklin Square in either of the conventional ways. He didn’t book a flight, nor did he gear up for a cross-country road trip in his car.

Harrison decided to ride his bike home. In doing so, the 21-year old digital film and video production major fulfilled a dream.

His journey began in San Francisco on April 16, and ended 66 days later, on June 21. The idea, however, came to him long before that. One day, in a sociology class at the college, Harrison recalled, a guest speaker had extolled the virtues of the bicycling lifestyle: Every day, every errand, everytrip from one place to another, the speaker had said, could be done on two wheels.

“I thought, ‘There’s no reason, if a guy can live on his bike, that I can’t do the same for three months,’” Harrison told the Herald.

And after doing some research, buying equipment and getting a supportive green light from his parents, Harrison did just that. Among other necessities, he bought a tent and sleeping bag, both of which, of course, had to be strapped to his bike for the duration of the trip. Harrison said that he slept in the tent most nights, with the exception of unusually harsh weather, when he stayed in motels.

Along the way, he met other bicyclists, many of them, like him, eastbound. Every state was a different experience, he said, and his fellow pedalers became friends with a common goal. But even that wasn’t his biggest takeaway from the journey, which he documented by posting pictures on his Instagram account.

“It’s just the awareness of different cultures I have now,” Harrison said. “It’s amazing how the environment changed day to day. Wherever I ended up, it was so different from the previous day. It was eye-opening, and you really don’t realize how different things are outside of Long Island.”