Originally Posted by
staehpj1
Yeah me too. I read here and over on GCOAB. I'd be curious to hear more about how/where her lack of participation in the ride was documented. I'd be disappointed if she was another fraud like the morbidly obese guy supposedly riding across the us who was a big "news" story and is probably taboo to name here and on most forums.
Until documentation is posted, I would be cautious in assuming gpsblake is referring to the same person as the CGOAB journal or familyonbikes.org web site.
gpsblake refers to Nancy which is the same name, but he also refers to Utah which doesn't make sense for Nancy Vogel.
Edit: Adding some additional context of what I know...
1. Tim Travis is another example of a long-term cycle tourist. Around 2002, Tim and wife Cindy set off from AZ on an open-ended bicycle trip. Over the next seven+ years they traveled by bicycle through multiple countries. They kept a newsletter and eventually also wrote several books. I know Tim from following his newsletters, reading books and eventually also visited him in Whitefish (where he is presently also hosting warmshowers there) and otherwise in contact via FB, etc.
2. Nancy Vogel I learned about through her postings, following her blog and even today she is part of the same FB posts that we also have with Tim. So while not directly, I've read a fair amount and interacted with her. I carefully followed her Pan-American blog as it unfolded and then also cycled some of those same routes. From what I know in that cycling, I find it difficult to believe she would have chronicled this account while "rarely touring with her family". What I do know, mostly from her blog was -
a. Nancy is passionate and an advocate of traveling with kids. Most of media accounts you find will include that thread. People can have strong opinions when it comes to raising kids, including some who strongly disagreed that raising kids in extended travels was a good thing. On her blog, Nancy sometimes shared links to such comments/articles and her reactions to them.
b. I haven't seen "fundraising" as a strong theme. Looking at familyonbikes.org, one sees little bits (a kindle book, asking for "sponsors" to post an ad on the web site), but what I know those things aren't particularly lucrative except for a very small select few. Instead, what Nancy wrote was more about using savings and have a rental property or two.
So from what I know, the original comment comes across as either mistaken identity or or a slur where I'd really like to see some additional documentation before taking it at face value in referring to Nancy who posted in this forum.