Local man plans peace bike ride across Iran

Rick Gunn remembers a man approaching as he shared a meal with Mohammad Tajeran in a restaurant in a small village in northern Malaysia.

The man asked the two strangers where they were from.

“The whole room quieted,” Gunn remembers.

When they answered the United States and Iran, Gunn said, there was an audible gasp.

“But you two are enemies,” the man replied.

“Mohammad looked him right in the eyes — he’s an intense guy —” Gunn related, “and he said, ‘No, we are friends.’”

Six years after their ride across Malaysia, the two are planning to reunite next month to ride their bikes across Iran in a symbolic gesture of peace. Their project, Wheels of Peace, will begin with each of them visiting schools in his respective country and sharing his experiences of finding friendship with someone who might otherwise be considered an enemy.

They will ask the children to draw pictures after the presentations and write letters to exchange with students in the other country.

Read more at http://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/local/8922851-113/gunn-peace-iran-ride

You can visit Rick Gunn’s webpage on Wheels of Peace here.

Below is a YouTube video by Mohammad Tajeran on the Wheels of Peace Children’s Art Project

YouTube video Mohammad Tajeran

This video introduces Mohammad Tajeran’s current project while cycling around the world and also the peace project which Gunn and Tajeran will attempt in 2013 for peace.