The Art of Survival Century ride began as a tribute ride which coincided with the bi-annual “pilgrimage” of some of the Japanese Americans held against their will near Newell, CA, Modoc County, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii which started WWII. Because of the pilgrimage, some of their artwork and stories were put on display for the first time at the Favell Museum in Klamath Falls, Oregon. From there, that art show was to travel the west coast on a tour. Madeleine Graham Blake, a local artist from Marin and Siskiyou County, coordinated the traveling display and its overall interpretation, and was a personal contact with many of the personalities sharing their stories. That art tour’s theme was coined, “The Art of Survival”.

About that time, The Ford Family Foundation was energizing leaders in Siskiyou County, and Klamath County was ramping up their promotions of outdoor recreational tourism. A combined meeting was held in Mt. Shasta City where eight people from Klamath County expressed an interest in partnering our regional assets. Siskiyou County was represented by the Siskiyou Economic Growth Group (EGG), which identified bicycle tourism as the strongest asset we had. With that, EGG created Cycle Siskiyou and at that Mt. Shasta meeting, they chose their first official “ride” to coincide with the Japanese American Pilgrimage near Tulelake, CA, Siskiyou County. Because, Klamath County was represented, we chose to make it a two state ride. We felt the name should reflect something unique to Siskiyou County and connect with the Lava Beds National Monument with their new oversight of the Tule Lake National Monument.

The main emphasis and what makes our ride unique continues to be the informational rest stops. That very first year at our Internment Camp rest stop, we had Jimmie (an 85 year old Japanese American who was at the Camp as a young man) tell the story, while standing next to the NPS Ranger—very powerful!  He later spoke at the post ride event at the Favell Museum. At some other rest stops the stories of Captain Jack Stronghold, the 1st National Waterfowl Refuge in the US, and personal testimonies of WW II veterans were highlights. We were partially funded by JEDI to promote Stewardship Tourism that connects the community and tourists to the geography, wildlife, history, and rural life style.

The ride was turned over to the local communities of Tulelake, Malin, Merrill and Dorris as a fundraising asset in 2015. A team of wonderful partners decided to keep the original name of the event. The ART OF SURVIVAL name is still applicable today because it takes true grit to survive in rural America—actually to survive the challenges of everyday!