Young cross-country travelers pass through Logan County

 

[September 29, 2022] 

On Tuesday afternoon two young Japanese travelers were spotted on Kankakee Street in Lincoln. drawing the attention of local residents.

Yuji "Gump" Suzuki and Shots Ichinose are traveling from New York to Los Angeles and were passing through Lincoln mid-afternoon with plans of stopping in Elkhart later that evening and pitching a tent. They plan on resuming their travel today to Springfield.

Suzuki is walking the entire journey, pulling a rickshaw. This two-wheeled passenger cart is loaded with his belongings and looks to be quite heavy to pull. Suzuki, in fact, does more running than walking and this helps him keep pace with his new friend, Shots Ichinose. You see, Suzuki left New York 54 days ago and set out on this journey alone.

Gump Suzuki and Shots Ichinose

A week ago, Suzuki said he met Ichinose along the way riding a bike. Ichinose was also on the same journey and the two young men decided to stay together on the trip to Los Angeles. Ichinose left New York 26 days ago. Since Suzuki speaks English quite well, Ichinose relies on him to interpret the language for him.

It's unclear exactly what town the two met in a week ago, but nonetheless the two crossed paths and quickly became friends and road warriors. Suzuki did smile and say Ichinose is a "fast biker."

Suzuki also mentioned you can follow his travels on pretty much all social media platforms and even YouTube. Simply google Gump Suzuki. And yes, he borrowed the nickname from the movie, "Forrest Gump."

[Teena Lowery]