Final Thoughts(?)
I really hate to call this blog "Final Thoughts," because these certainly aren't going to be my final thoughts on this marvelous journey. I'm sure that I will never forget everything that I saw and experienced during the summer of 2020. I had always planned to post a final post-ride blog. I wanted to give it a little time, since the days right after we finished were filled with the things you would expect: Get back home, get familiar with family and friends' names ;-) , go back to work, get back into the old groove. Also, I thought it might give me a bit more insight to think about it before putting pen to paper (or digits to keyboard, as it is). To see if I figured out any life changing deep thoughts from this trip.
So here they are, my (not)final thoughts on this great trip across 'Mur'ca during the 2020 pandemic.
Before I start, I want to thank everyone who donated to the World Bicycle Relief charity organization. We set a goal of raising $2,000 and we got close. If we don't get there I will make up the difference, because I believe in the power of bicycles to change lives. That's what this organization does and it does it well. If you are interested in contributing, please go to http://give.worldbicyclerelief.org/dinowheels
1. I'm amazed at some of the things we were able to see: Especially in the western US, as you would expect, since the geography of the west is so far removed from what I see on a typical day in the Midwest/Great Lakes. I was most amazed at Oregon - we spent a lot of time traveling through this state, and every day seemed like a different country. Ocean, tropical, mountains, red rocks, desert, we seemed to see it all in Oregon. I wouldn't have guessed a state could have so much variety. We had incredible climbs and tremendous drops during our time there. All across the US, there is so much variety. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, the mountains of Colorado. There are also places that are downright uninhabitable, but people live there. Jeffrey City, Wyoming, seemed like the most remote place we stayed. Yet people live there and make their livelihood there and, I would think, wouldn't have it any other way. It's not where I would choose to live, but that's the thing about choices - they're different for different people.
2. The hospitality we experienced, in every place we went, was humbling. I think perhaps that when we arrived in places on a bicycle, we put people at ease. We weren't a threat, we were there for no other reason but to travel through. Being on a bicycle, I think, made people curious about who we were and why we would do such a damn fool thing. In any case, people almost everywhere were very kind to us. Places like the bike hostel in Seebree, KY, and in Farmington, MO and Ash Grove, MO where complete strangers welcomed us in, gave us a place to stay with showers and air conditioning, even let us use their public pool for free. The pastor in Kentucky who let us shelter under their canopy when it looked like a monsoon was coming. They gained nothing by doing this but the appreciation from people on two wheels. Thanks to everyone we met along the route.
3. The chasm between rural American and urban America is wide, and I'm afraid, growing. We didn't travel through many cities, and spent most of our days where few people live. Sometimes a big city was one that actually had a grocery store and maybe even a traffic light. Most places were either country or small towns. Small towns in most places were shells of what they used to be. In town after town, there were abandoned buildings and practically abandoned downtowns. It makes sense, I guess, when you think that there are fewer, larger, farms and ranches across the US. Fewer people on those fewer farms means fewer services, fewer needs for the businesses that used to serve those people.
3a. We traveled through Trump country: Again, I think because of the chasm separating rural from urban American life, you would expect there to be a difference of political opinions. We certainly cannot know the political opinions of everywhere we went. However... we saw Trump flags, Trump signs, Trump T-shirts, and of course the red MAGA hats everywhere we went throughout rural America. I'm not making a judgment, only observing, but it seems that Trump's message, whatever that is, certainly resonates with the people outside of our urban areas. Whether they are simply conservative, or drawn to Trump's personality or message, but they are enthusiastically with him! I looked at the 2016 election results, and it's pretty clear. In my home state of Ohio, Trump won 80 of the 88 counties, with every larger city going against him. Nationwide, Trump won 85% of the counties, even though he didn't win the popular election. This certainly doesn't say one candidate's better than the other, but the incredible divide in this country may or may not be racial, but it certainly is about where you live. Perhaps politicians should be looking at what makes rural America tick, because it certainly seems different from what's happening in urban areas. I'm afraid that rural America is being forgotten, and it shouldn't be.
5. Wow, there are a lot of Hunt Brothers Pizza locations out there! Everywhere we went, we may not have been able to find much food variety, or good restaurants, or heck, even a restaurant. But we could find a Hunt Brothers pizza location at the local convenience store or gas station. Have you ever heard of them? Well, according to their website, they have 7,800 locations across the US - this is more than any other pizza chain, including Pizza Hut! And they're only in 30 of the 50 states. This is a pizza empire that flies under the radar. And no, we never even tried one, thank you.
6. America's beer drinkers are watching their weight: Does anyone drink anything but light beer anymore? Well, at least in rural America, it's all they drink. Or, I should say, it's all they drink and then throw out the window of their trucks. On the side of the road, I saw thousands and thousands of beer cans. Sometimes I saw entire cases thrown to the side of the road. And more than any other kind, by a wide margin, was the blue Bud Light can. I certainly wasn't keeping count, but after traveling 4,000 miles, it's hard to miss. I believe I saw one can of regular Budweiser, across the entire 4,000 miles. I remember stopping at a convenience store in rural Missouri, and watching the beer truck unload case after case of different varieties of light beer. The closest thing to regular beer was the few cases of Guinness, likely for the Irish lads, which is actually a pretty light beer itself.
7. I am not surprised that the pandemic is growing in the rural areas of the US. While we traveled, it didn't seem like rural America was either paying attention, or heeding the warnings, of what's going on in the rest of the country. Perhaps because there are fewer people, or because many people know and trust their neighbor, and are less inclined to wear masks and separate from each other (?) Perhaps it is the physical divide from those in urban areas that has given rural people too much confidence, but it seemed pretty clear that once this virus hits rural America, it's going to spread quickly. Looking at today's posted statistics in Ohio, the top 10 areas, per capita, for cases, are NOT in the cities but in rural areas. I bet this trend continues, at least until rural America figures out that they're not immune. Honestly, we likely benefited by this lack of wariness. We might have been regarded as potential virus-spreaders, as strangers traveling through their counties. We were not, thank goodness.
8. Coming home, it seems that everything was in suspended animation while we were gone. We took two months to travel across the country, and in that time it seems that nothing whatsoever happened without us. Outside of the better weather, it seems like everything else is the same. My goodness, I was able to watch (on television, of course) the Indianapolis 500, basketball and hockey playoffs, the almost-start to the baseball season. I ask everyone here what I missed, and they look at me like "nothing; why, were you gone?" We missed absolutely nothing.
9. Bicycles Rock: As everyone who has gone to a bike shop lately has found, there are few to be found. Bicycles are cool, and everyone's got one. This is actually great news, and I hope it continues. More people on more bikes means more pressure for better roads and access. I see phenomenal growth to the trail network here in Cleveland, and it seems like more and more trails everywhere. Perhaps someday we'll be able to take a cross-country ride without having to share roads with cars. As I have mentioned before in my writings, the bicycle was the delivery vehicle. It delivered us to experiences that we could have never found any other way. Even in a car you would never travel the small roads we did, nor stop in as many places, nor share experiences with so many people. I'll never stop cycling as long as I'm physically able.
10 There's no place like home. Dorothy said it, but you can certainly believe it. Even though I enjoyed the trip, and was able to see and experience so many things during this summer, it is really good to come home.
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