Small Town, USA

Today's Google Earth file: http://tomerceg.googlepages.com/Abilineks.kmz

I'm a little late getting this out. Today is our rest first rest day after 9 straight days of riding. Some of us blew off a little steam last night, so I couldn't get this done last night. More on that in tonight's post.

About 10 miles into yesterday's ride I stopped at a convenience store and met the store clerk, a gal named Mary. She was either 73 or 76 years old, I can't remember which. She'd been retired twice and hated it. She now works 60 hours a week at this store. She gets up at 3:00 a.m. every day to open it, and absolutely loves it. We talked about the riders and what we were doing for awhile. She wanted to know if we were doing this for charity. In general we aren't, but I told her about my personal fund raising. Without asking any questions about what charity I was helping, she reached into her purse and handed me a $10 bill. I was absolutely floored. She is camera-shy and didn't want her picture taken, otherwise I would post it here. By the way, if any of you are still interested in making a donation you can click the "Donation" link on the right side of this page.

We've been riding through small Midwestern towns for the last week and a half. One of my hopes for this trip was to see if small town America still exists. I'm happy to report that it does. Its not quite the way Norman Rockwell might have painted it, or John Mellencamp might sing about it. Nevertheless, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, and rap music haven't yet sucked the soul out of this part of the country.

Some of these towns might be little more than a grain elevator and a gas station. One little place had a sign at both ends of the main street identifying the six churches in town. The pace of life is slower, more relaxed. Any stranger on the street will stop and give you directions. They're happy to hear our stories and tell you a couple of their own. Personally, I couldn't live out here. I need a little more hustle and bustle in my life. But I'm really glad to know that this part of Americana is still going strong.

Here's a picture of a kid named Chris. I saw him mowing the lawn along the side of the highway, so I stopped to talk. He was bummed because the riding mower was broken. One of the daily interactions that make this experience so fascinating.


Here's Terry goofing at the SAG stop today. Each day is filled with goofy little incidents that just crack us up: Squirt guns, road-side hula dances, we never know what's coming next.


One last thing for now. All of our crash victims were able to ride. I spent the second half of the day riding with Ray, who had been taken to the hospital after his crash. I was quite amazed at how well he rode. Getting started was a chore. The first couple of pedal strokes elicited a "Groan, Ack...", but once the bike was rolling you'd never know he'd crashed yesterday. Nicely done, Ray.