Blood Road

There's a place I've been avoiding for a long time.

It's been in my thoughts for more than 40 years.

What happened there long ago set me on this path.

There are still lots of unanswered questions

and I'm not sure I'll find what I'm looking for.

And this journey, it all started with my father's story.

We have made a national pledge.

My father was a pilot

and he was shot down during the Vietnam War.

We did not choose to be the guardians of the gate.

Communism is a threat we cannot afford to ignore.

The spread of communism is imminent.

I was just 3 years old, and I never knew him,

and he was missing in action for a really long time.

We do not want an expanding struggle with consequences

that no one can perceive.

My mom raised my sister and I as a single parent.

A nation divided.

This war will have ramifications

on this country for generations.

And we never really knew if he was alive,

if he was a prisoner of war,

or if he died that day.

All American prisoners of war will be released.

They will soon join the army of the forgotten.

Over 30 years later,

a search and recovery mission identified the crash site

and found my father's remains.

And now I feel drawn to go looking for answers,

to a mystery that's been with me my entire life.

I've been a professional athlete for most of my life,

and that involves continually prepping, training,

preparing for some sort of adventure or race.

I'm pretty much always getting ready for the next thing.

Rebecca, growing up, was always attracted to challenge,

and she was always doing things outside...

Riding a bike, roller-skating,

ice-skating on the pond, riding ponies at the fair.

We went camping all the time.

It might have, at an early age, started instilling the love

of what you can appreciate out there.

Everyone who competes at really extreme sports

like adventure racing, climbing, ultra biking,

all these kind of sports,

requires a very high tolerance to pain.

And consequently, to participate in these races,

it was mostly by passion and sacrifice.

No matter how good you are,

people who do these sports have another job

because they just don't pay.

Back to my other job, riding bikes.

Four-time Leadville 100 champion, Rebecca RUSCH!

Rebecca has become a top athlete,

whereas I went into the Air Force,

but yet you look at our similarities.

We're both very, very driven.

We both have probably more energy

than a lot of people can tolerate.

We're both on a path to find our dad.

All of my life, I've learned if I prepare properly,

I can do almost anything that I set my mind to achieve.

But this challenge,

this is totally different.

My father's plane was shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

The trail is a massive braided network

that runs through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

There are a ton of unknowns I'm gonna need help with,

so I'm putting together a team with a support crew

and a riding partner to piece this whole thing together.

It'll be good to have somebody that knows the area,

speaks the language.

Yeah.

I've known Rebecca for over 10 years.

She's had a great deal of success

as an athlete in multiple sports.

This trip is something different

than anything she's done previously,

and I hope she finds what she's looking for.

The logistics for this journey are incredibly complex...

The time on the bike,

distance traveled, the heat of the jungle.

This'll be one of the more difficult undertakings

that Rebecca's gone through.

My father's plane went down

on March 7th, 1972.

My goal is to find his crash site,

and be there on the anniversary of his death,

as my way to honor his memory.

By riding my bike there, I will see more,

discover more,

fully immerse myself in the place, in...

In some sort of way to connect with him.

You driving?

I'll drive. Okay.

This trip, hands down,

will be the biggest undertaking,

the most ambitious thing that I've ever attempted,

and I hope I'll actually be able to find his crash site.

"June 5th, 1971.

"Dear Judy, Sharon, and Becky,

"I left California on Tuesday

"and spent 18 hours

"getting to the Philippines via Alaska and Japan.

"It is not a trip that I would care to do again.

"I have almost a week here for survival school,

"and then I'm off to Da Nang and serious stuff

"for most of next year.

"I'd like to hear from you

"a little more often about the children.

"This is not easy for me and that'll help.

Be good. Steve."

In order to get to the site

on the anniversary

of my father's crash,

we arrived in Hanoi

during the Vietnamese New Year.

I was anxious about meeting my new teammate

and embarking on such a big adventure

with a total stranger.

But I knew that riding with someone from this area

could be a bridge to the culture and really help me

understand what went on here.

When I heard about this project,

I felt excited,

because, for the nation and people of Vietnam,

the Ho Chi Minh Trail is a historical path,

a link on the path to independence

and freedom for our entire nation.

And lots of Vietnamese people's blood

has been shed on this road.

It is indeed a journey that I believe

will be exciting and meaningful.

Hello.

I started biking when I was 16.

I became a cyclist and was determined

to become the best biker in Vietnam.

Huyen is an athlete

who was an idol in Vietnamese cycling.

Because Huyen won four Southeast Asia Games gold medals,

in four consecutive events.

For an athlete in Vietnam, there has never been one

who claimed such a record.

After putting an end to my competing career,

I became a coach.

I've heard a lot about

the Ho Chi Minh Trail since childhood.

Not until now does my dream of riding

on the Ho Chi Minh Trail come true.

I am quite nervous, but also excited about it.

Hi, Rebecca.

I was looking for a long time.

Hello, hello. Hello, hello.

Thank you for coming. Thank you for having me.

These are for you.

Thank you so much.

I'm very sorry because my English is not very good.

Well, my Vietnamese sucks, so your English is better.

So happy to meet you.

Yeah, you too.

Rebecca, this is my father.

This is Rebecca.

It's nice to meet you.

Both my uncle and my father

experienced the American Resistance war.

At that time, America was our enemy.

One big problem is how

to overcome barriers among people,

to connect their hearts and souls

so they can understand each other.

Happy New Year.

Thank you for making all this food. It's beautiful.

Huyen's father and my father

indirectly fought each other in the war,

and it's extraordinary, more than 40 years later,

that we can all sit down at the dinner table

and share a meal together.

Cheers. Happy New Year, Happy New Year.

To a good journey. Yeah.

Our last major challenge before starting

is mapping out the trail

and trying to make sense

of the complex route.

Don Duvall is an American living in Laos.

He has spent most of his life

exploring and mapping the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

He is an essential part of our expedition because

he has really helped create

the most historically accurate route for us to take.

My background is navigating sailing yachts

around the world for almost 15 years,

and then I came to Laos and started

map-making and surveying on a motorcycle

on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

My role here with Rebecca's team

is to help them with navigation,

provide GPS maps and local knowledge and information.

Where we can camp,

what rivers we can go across.

I'm gonna assist them as a guide,

and also with navigation.