In Franklin, onto Montgomery

Digital coffee shop "Perk" in Glenwood Park, East Atlanta.

Sister Sarah, fiance Andrew, and basset hound Griffy raising his hand in allegiance to the Constitution.


The house I stayed in in West Georgia two nights ago. A very nice family--Mark Woods, Brett and family--put me up in one the new rental houses they are now selling, gave me night snacks and breakfast the next morning. Thank you Mark and Brett!

Store to Door Pizza, Franklin, GA.

Me and the owners of Store to Door.

Me and Cynthia, who used to work at Store to Door.

Chatahoochie River.
Hi All,

I arrived in Franklin, GA, last night, camped out on the Chatahoochie (sp?) River, and this morning I will embark towards Montgomery. A great little restaurant called Store to Door Pizza fed me Baked Ziti and salad, and I met some cool people there at the restaurant.

I am in East Atlanta as I write, just about to head out towards Roanoke, Alabama, which is midway to Montgomery. I will be entering the central time zone, and really moving into the Deep South. Some friends of friends are waiting for me in Montgomery.
It has been a pleasant stay here in Atlanta, spending lots of time with my sister, her fiance Andrew, Andrew's brother Jon, friends in Jon's community (Terra, Chris and Lori), Ashley and Amanda, Jay, Warren, Molly and others at the Sopo Bike Coop.
Arriving Tuesday night, after getting slightly lost and 88 miles on the day, I spent the first few days with Sarah and Andrew.
We went to Piedmont Park, saw the man with pet pig, played soccer, and cooked good meals at Sarah and Andrew's place near the Park. I visited the Carter Center where Sarah works, went to the Mediterranean Grill with Andrew, and played some more soccer at a park with some Mexicans.
Midway through my stay, friends Leah and Tim came into town to debut Leah's documentary Seeing Red about the moral divide in the US. See link to the left.
I moved over to Jon's place in East Atlanta. Jon lives in a new community built and designed to be walkable with green building construction. Good stuff. There I visited the Sopo (South of Ponce) Bike Coop to tune up my bike and see how they run their coop so I could relay feedback to the Mount Rainier Bike Coop I helped start in my hometown. Met some great folks there including Warren, who had biked from Atlanta to Irving, California. I ate dinner with Warren, and he told me about a biker who was going from California to Louisiana on a BMX! He had a frame pack strapped to the front of the bike, and some waterbottles strapped to a board on the back of the bike. Nothing on his back, and he was doing it--amazing. Shows me how much I am roughing it with my Koga Miyata World Traveller and Ortlieb panniers.
On the way to Atlanta, I met a Muslim car mechanic who signed the petition and had lots to say about our country and God, etc. He told me people in other countries often know more about the United States than Americans themselves. When the US was formed, countries began studying the US because it was such a hopeful new model. Now, they clearly see, that things are not going as they originally were set out. Recently, he said, money is making all the decisions, and Americans are asleep. The solution: wake Americans up to what is going on, and have them participate in the operation of the country. He said only five or six individuals were making all the decisions for his county of three to four hundred thousand people. The others just don't participate.
He spoke about God and religion. "You are on this Earth for two reasons," he told me. "One, to serve the Lord Almighty, your Creator. The Lord is the Infinite, the Absolute of Love, Knowledge, Power, Everything. Muslims bow to the Lord and touch their forehead to the ground because humans are less than the specks of dirt compared to the Lord. The second reason you are here on Earth," he said, "is to love, serve, and care for all of God's creation. Everything around you--people, animals, the plants, water, land, sky--this is your duty. This and other things we know," he said, "and we know about global warming, and we care about it...I'll sign your petition." I said, "This is part of the waking up of people to participate you are talking about." And of course he agreed.
Now for some photos.


Devin Myers of University of Georgia and I. Devin biked from Seattle to San Francisco, and he does time-lapse photography. He saw me biking around the UGA campus, enthusiasticly asked about my trip, and offered to put me up for a couple nights.

Devin's dorm room in Rutherford, part of the Franklin Residential Community (FRC). Thank you to Devin, his roommate Danny, all those I met in his dorm, and FRC.

Me at Jon's place in Atlanta. Jon is the brother of my sister's fiance. Big Thanks to Jon, my sister Sarah, her fiance Andrew Katz, and those I spent time with in Atlanta, including Ashley and Amanda, Terra, Chris and Joli.

Ike, Jon's basset hound.

Georgia countryside, on the way to Atanta.

People waiting outside for the Athens Public Library to open up at 2pm on a Sunday.

Group of students I met in Athens on Friday night who signed the petition (www.undoit.org).

Ashley and I after a night of dancing in Athens.

Steeel Woool, sponsoring band in Athens, GA

Sam, me, and John of Steeel Woool in Athens. This band plays great music, put me up for a couple nights, and supports the great cause of solving global warming and bicycle journeys. Listen to their music by following links to the left.

Man Cleans Up Rivers; Time to SWITCH to GREEN ELECTRICITY!

Hi all,

I just got off the phone with a guy named Dave Andrek in New Jersey who goes out every so often and cleans up trash from the riverbank of a river near his house. His river is getting cleaner, slowly but surely, and soon, maybe when he has kids or grandkids, they will be able to swim in it! Keep up the good work, Dave.

In my conversation with Dave, we talked about what our country can do about global warming, and we talked about cars--diversifying the fuels and increasing fuel efficiency. Now, cars are half the problem, and electricity is the other half. And switching to renewable electricity is now just about as easy as a click of the mouse!

Go to WWW.RENEWUS.ORG and Buy Clean Energy! Link to the left.

Entering Georgia

Yesterday, left Calhoun Falls and entered Georgia.

This store in Calhoun Falls, SC is over 100 years old! Run by the same family. The father, mother and son were a joy to talk to. This picture was taken just before I left and crossed over into Georgia.

Ah, a new state of mind. Later that night, the sunset in the sky was a beautiful orange peach--I ate it up!

A fresh, juicy tomato is a biker's best friend!

Black Stallion on the way to Athens.

Black Stallion runs anxiously around, checking out my steed, and what it could mean, when I entered a road toward his owner's house. One of the roads on my route turned out to be a private road! Soon, I had to find another route--the highway. I put on all my neon and reflective gear, turned on my taillight, and I set about the road to Athens, Route 78.

Black Stallion excitedly, curiously staring at me.

Some Pictures

Pavle, Lucas, me, Felipe Castro, and the other Felipe. All tenis players at Newberry College in Newberry, SC.

Some new friends at Newberry College.

Me and a girl from Newberry College.

Me and some guys from Newberry.

From left to right, Pavle of Serbia, me, Felipe Castro of Rio.

The Felipes and Lucas, Felipe Castro on my bike, as I head out of Newberry and they head to tenis practice.

The Felipes and Lucas (Felipe Castro on bike).

Calhoun Falls, SC, on border with GA. Where I am now.

Heritage Corridor, Nature Route near Calhoun Falls, SC, bordering GA.

Sunset on the road in Western South Carolina.

Ponies checking each other out.

My little ponies.

Ponies in the field on the way to Newberry.

Another shot of the road.

The road continued on the other side!

Steady steed ready to ford the stream.

Mile 31. I headed down the "Road Closed" path...

On my way out of Great Falls, this turtle was getting some sun in the road. I moved him to the side...

This is TJ, my gracious Fire Department host in Great Falls.
This is me at the Great Falls Fire Department where they put me up for the night.

Newberry

Hi all following the blog! I think I have at least a few new readers. Welcome and thank you for your interest.

I stopped in Newberry, SC (mile 60) on my way to Cross Hill, and passing through campus I met some very cool people. Some basketball players heard and were thoroughly impressed with my endeavor, and alerted all passerby to it. One of the passerby was Pavle of Serbia, and he had just been playing tennis with his Brazilian friends! So of course we went and I met them and we went to dinner and met some more Brazilians. I had a great dinner and answered all their questions--all thoroughly impressed and enamoured with the idea.

The Brazilians are putting me up for the night--one called his sister in Rio and told her all about the trip and he put her on with me. We spoke portuguese and now she's reading this blog. (Oi!--Hello!)

Today was eventful: one of the roads on my route turned out to be a dead end--"Road Closed" with a big mound of dirt and drop-off to a streambed. It looked like maybe a road was planned but not finished, like the trees were cleared, a path was made, but no road laid.

I decided to cross the stream and trek up the path through the forest. What is an adventure anyway if all the roads are nice and paved?

So I drank some water and had a snack preparing for an Indiana Jones mission into the wild. I pulled my bike around the "Road Closed" sign and forged down the riverbank towards the stream. How to ford the stream and not get my shoes soaked for the rest of the ride? (This was mile 31 for the day.) I took off my shoes and socks, and heaved them over to the opposite bank, committing myself to cross. I pulled my bike into the stream, barefeet into the sandy streambed and cold water flowing over them. No watersnakes, leeches, or snappy crustaceans. I pushed my bike up the steep back a bit. The rustling caused a huge, black bird with a heron-type neck to unsettle from his perch in the branches above and squawk off up the clearing into the trees. I pushed the bike a bit further, and then heard a gunshot off in the distance. Was this a hunting territory? Maybe this was just a dumb idea, I thought. Don't be stupid and risk your life, I thought, trapsing through a hunting area. I thought about turning back, but I remembered the big dogs I disturbed as I entered the road at the "Dead End" sign. I would have to pass them on the way out and surely they would be waiting for me. I also had no alternative route worked out. THIS was my route, and it was going to work. If hunters were stupid enough to shoot at a neon-green-clad biker riding through the forest, that would be tantamount to shooting a fellow hunter dressed in neon, and that would just be dumb, and I could be mad at them. So, I pushed on. I found a less steep way up the bank, and once up on the bank, I dried my feet with a tee-shirt and re-shoed. I had to cross another streambed, a dry one, before I pushed up an even steeper bank.

And to reward my perseverence and determination, I found that at the top of that bank, the pavement reappeared! I surmised that a large surge had washed out the bridge that used to span these stream beds, and had never been replaced. Only a biker could ford the gap! And only an courageous one at that!

This road had no traffic on it since it was a closed-off road, but many of the country roads in this northwestern section of SC had virtually no cars as well! It was a very relaxed day through very beautiful territory.

One of the roads I turned onto today was a gravel path, with lots of ups and down. Quite a challenge even for my mountain-style touring bike with 26" x 1.75" tires. Took my speed down to 7-8 mph. Going uphill, the rear wheel often slips, and going downhill, the possibility of slipping laterally threatens.

I saw some ponies on the way to Newberry, and got an electric shock trying to lure them over to the fence holding out some snacks. Ouch!

I stopped at a Country Music, weekend beer and party joint entering Newberry county, and a couple from FL was there who were very impressed with my trip and snapped some photos. She took down the blog (Hi!--please send me the photos--pauljosephpark@gmail.com), and said she would probably sign the petition because she is all about stopping global warming.

All in all, a good day--60 miles, and stay at an excellent college (Newberry) with some excellent hosts. Thank you Pavle, Lucas, Felipe, Jessica, Felipe Castro, and everybody else I met!

Great Falls

Yesterday, I set a goal to reach Great Falls, 85 miles on the day, and I made it. On the way out, the Econo Lodge in Cheraw gave me breakfast and let me use the internet--Thank you very much! Highly recommended to anyone traveling through the Cheraw, SC area.

In Great Falls, I met Todd at Tiffany's restaurant, and he connected me with the Fire Dept and TJ who put me up for the night. Thank you Great Falls!

South Carolina

Okay, I'm in South Carolina now. People in NC said it would be the same--strip malls, boring, southern conservative people, more bike animosity. Well, I have noticed a pleasant difference. More laid back, more happy people--they don't drive as fast, they give me more space and time on the road. The scenery is gentler, natural, long fields of cotton, fishermen lined up on the bridges and land banks just chillin. Young teen boys doing the same, even in canoes.

My average speed has gone up to 15 mph in SC, and when I made a wrong turn after dark last night, it was ten miles before I found out, and I had made it back across the NC border! Stopped at a motorcycle saloon and they put me for the night in this white, new building with nothing inside yet. See my route for today at left.