TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) – Eric Hites of Putnam County was 560 pounds, jobless, and in the face of divorce.
“I was failing miserably at pretty much everything. My health was bad. My marriage was bad,” he said.
Hites says he hit rock bottom. So he decided he was going to get his wife back and take control of life.
He’s going to do it with a bike.
“I don’t think I can walk 500 miles but I can ride my bicycle to prove to you how much I love you and how much work I’ll put in to get my health back and change our future,” he said.
And while he’s at it he’s writing a book.
“I decided to do a coast to coast trip. Write a cool book about it, visit cool places, meet cool people and do cool things and show her how much I love her by doing it,” he said.
He started in Massachusetts.
A couple weeks into it, Hites, his bike he bought right here in Terre Haute, and the 300 pound trailer attached to it were met with a visitor.
“I could either sit at home and worry about him day in and day out or I could get out here and show him you know that I’m here with him and I’ll do it with him. I told him it was the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard,” Angie Hites said.
So Eric and his wife Angie were taking on the challenge together.
Angie now drives along in support and the two camp or stay in cheap hotels when Eric isn’t biking.
They say it’s tough and they miss their loved ones.
“I miss my friends and I miss my niece, I miss my niece so much,” Angie Hites said.
But together, they’re pushing through all the emotions.
“I will not give up until I’m done because that was my promise to get her back,” Eric Hites said.
Fighting for personal growth and health. Fighting for love.
They’ve switched up the route due to dropping temperatures.
In Florida now, the Hites are heading west, hoping to finish by May.
