Roadkill exhibit takes visitors’ breath away

In the family adventure story that Charles Scott tells, there comes a moment when audiences gasp.

It’s not the part about bicycling with his children — now ages 6 and 13 — across Europe and around the ring road of Iceland. And it’s not the moment in their latest cross-country ride when they arrived at the base of the Rocky Mountains, looking up at the peaks yet to be crossed.

Impressive scenes, for sure.

But what got the reaction during presentations in Nashville this week was the family’s interest in road kill.

Dead birds, deer, and other varmints — each one that the trio encountered was carefully logged and photographed during their two-month ride last summer along the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail, from St. Louis to Portland.

Road kill is gross and sad, and even a little traumatizing, Scott conceded. But also part of a lesson that accompanied the family adventure.

“It’s tangible, it’s actionable and it’s something my kids can understand,” Scott said. “For my kids, this was the kind of thing I thought it’s better to look in the face and recognize there is some action that can be taken.”

After the family flashed images of dead animals on a projector on Thursday during a talk at the Adventure Science Center, some middle school students had to catch their breath.

But many also caught the message: that roads endanger wildlife and damage habitats, and that more awareness can make a difference.

While traveling, the family met with transportation officials about road kill mitigation efforts, such as small tunnels or overpasses that have helped to keep endangered species off highways in places like Montana and Florida.

Also part history and geography lesson, the joint talk by the father, son, Sho, and daughter, Saya, explained how they modeled their 3,200-mile journey off the specifics of the 1800s endeavor of Meriwether Lewis and Williams Clark. Their writings and maps guided them to the hundreds of plants and animals the duo discovered.

“Sometimes, the best way to learn about history is to ride a bicycle through it,” Scott said.

Scott, a Nashville native and Vanderbilt University graduate, said the family bike rides grew out of his reaction to working long hours and concerns about inactivity among children.

“While my kids were young, I wanted to spend time with them,” he said. “One of the ideas behind being adventurous is: Create the space to spend time with kids.”

He told students his family isn’t especially athletic.

“They’re doing what any child can do, which is get on a bicycle, go ride, take a break, and go explore again,” he said.

The interest in road kill came from a suggestion from a national group, Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation, which encourages travelers to take up a cause. The family mapped 150 incidents of road kill.

Sho said the trip made him realize that road kill doesn’t have to be inevitable.

Saya, a girl who fidgets more than talks, didn’t have a grandiose takeaway.

But she did come home with a camera full of photos of the nontraditional family vacation — plenty of road kill, yes, but also many of the prettier things along the way.

Reach Tony Gonzalez at 615-259-8089 or on Twitter @tgonzalez.

View the family’s travels at http://familyadventureguy.blogspot.com/.