Made it to NYC!

I completed the route I set out for myself, crossing the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan on late Monday afternoon. It took me five days to bike to NYC. The first day, I went 42 miles, the second day 33, the third day 86, the fourth day 40, and the last day 63. That totals 264 miles total, and an average of 53 miles/day. I passed through Balimore, Newark, DE, Philly, Trenton, Princeton, Elizabeth, Newark, NJ, Jersey City, Hoboken, and Manhattan.

Some recent photos:
Downtown Manhattan from Jersey City, with sailboat on Hudson River--this one's a keeper!

Entering Jersey City on Rt. 1.

Downtown Newark, NJ. I found a large neighborhood of Brazilians in Newark. I hope to stop there on the way back, hang out and practice my Portuguese.

Church in Newark, NJ.

Mural in NE Philly.

Mural in NE Philly.

Mural on Frankford Ave in NE Philly.

Church in Philly.

Peace mural in Philly.

Mural in Philly, north of downtown on Broad.

Mural in Philly, downtown.

Making the deal with Janne Nuorti.


The trip was awesome. The ride's last two days were beautiful riding from Philly to Princeton, and Princeton to Manhattan. Heading out of Philly, I absorbed the culture along Frankford Ave/13. I stopped at a Chinese restaurant, practiced a little of the little Chinese I know, and the teenage siblings working there asked me all kinds of questions about my trip. We ate together and exchanged card tricks. They are from southern China, and have lived in northern Philly for ten years. I asked them if they were excited about China's recent economic growth, and the sixteen-year-old boy said that living here in the states, the growth doesn't really affect him personally. I asked him if he plans on going back, and he said he would like to go back to live for a while, but not permanently.

The ride through northern Philly and into NJ was flat and calm along the roads I traveled. It helped that it was Father's Day. At dusk, I arrived at a battlefield historical park just South of Princeton and pulled in to camp. The next morning, I rode through Princeton and ate a bagel breakfast in Kingston. The owners of the Kingston Deli and Cafe are of Korean origin, though one of them knew some Spanish from her middle and high school courses here in the US. She made use of the knowledge she had with the many Mexican and Central American immigrant workers who came in to buy some breakfast. "Quieres una bolsa?" she would say. "Eres bonita," they would say, and she would reply, "O, gracias." They would say, "Cuanto cuesta?" and she would say, "Cinco pesos." They would say, "Pesos o dolares?" "Dolares." Hahaha. I spoke with some folks from Oaxaca who worked in dry cleaning in Trenton. They were happy to hear about my trip to Chiapas.

Later on down the road, just outside of New Brunswick, I felt like a city from Mexico had been transplanted in New Jersey. The name of every business establishment was in Spanish, and Mexicans and other Latinos sat in the parks and along the sidewalks hanging out and congregating just as is common in Mexico. Nearly everyone I saw was Latino.

Once I got to the Hudson River in Jersey City, the influence of New York City was clear. Big, beautiful buildings sprung up, and as I biked along the Hudson, up towards the George Washington Bridge, I could look across the river at Manhattan. It seemed that the entire island was full of high rises.

I am going to visit friends and explore The City.

Proposed Route for today, half completed (I'm in Elizabeth as I write)

Princeton to New York bicycle route

Bike Route: Philly to Princeton (completed)

Bike Route, Philly to Princeton

Approximate Route of Bike to Brazil, Round One

Route

Documentary on my Trip coming up

A high-definition amateur camera man, Janne Nuorti, is interested in my trip and will be sponsoring the trip and helping me create a high-definition trailer, and acquire a helmet cam. He is from Finland.

Potential Route for tomorrow

Route

Bel Air to Philly

My route today, 86 miles. I do not fully recommend my route today. First some pics, then some discussion.


Painting of Philly skyline.

A signature building in Philly downtown at night.

Honeysuckle flower at a rest stop.

Mural in Newark, Delaware.

Elkton, MD watertower.

Stretch of road on Pulaski Highway on way to Elkton.

My route until Newark, DE was good--Pulaski Highway continued to be a great biking road, only I had to get a ride across the Hatem Bridge, which does not permit bicycles, but offers escorts on weekdays. Today being a weekend, some folks helped me out. The first guy I asked had a small SUV, and he consented to take me across. As we put my bags in the back, a family in a pick-up pulled up, and the dad offered to take the bike. I threw the bike in the back, he secured it, and said he'd meet us on the other side. The guy in my car said it is Father's Day weekend and he wanted to extend the good spirit. Happy Father's Day, Dad! Pulaski to Elkton was more of the same great bike lane. In Elkton, I picked up Elkton Rd, 279, and it had a bike lane as well, and was a very nice ride. In Newark, I rode the bike lane through town. I stopped to check my tire pressure. A couple guys came over to check on me. One of them helped out at the local bike shop, Bike Lane. I told him my bike was fine, but I would like to compare notes on route. As he pulled off to meet me at the shop, I got on my bike and my chain broke. I hailed him over, and we threw the bike in the van for the three blocks to the shop. In the van, I repaired my chain. At the shop, I put the chain back on, and asked the mechanics for a route to New York if the knew any. The route I told them I planned on going went through towns they considered dangerous. I never like to listen to fearful talk because in my experience, those places that people say are dangerous usually turn out to be the most interesting. But they designed a route for me, taking me north to Route 1, where, "You might get killed by a car, but you won't get mugged." In other words, a rich man might kill you with his car, but a poor man won't rob you. The mechanic's priority was avoiding the black drug dealer, more so than the white man's SUV. The route through Marcus Hook and Chester was a straight shot to Philly, and it was along the Delaware River, so it would be flat. But he recommended I go the long way around, and through the hills to avoid the drug dealers, who would probably take my bike, he said.
After I sat down for awhile to rest, and I had something to eat and drink, I decide I thought that avoiding places out of fear of people struck me as ridiculous, so I decided to take the route I originally had set out for myself. However, when I got to the place I needed to turn to follow my route, the road had no shoulder (at least at that first little stretch, and many cars were all lined up to turn onto that road. I reasoned that perhaps the mechanics had other reasons to suggest the route the suggested, including safety with regards to cars. So I turned around and found his route. It started off just as it would continue throughout--hilly. It had a bike lane for a good while, but that soon disappeared. I managed. When I got to Route 1, there was a shoulder. But eventually, Route 1 came to a point where no bicycles were allowed! (at the Media Bypass) This is one reason I do not recommend this route. The other reasons being the hilliness, and the fact that it is very boring--you just go through rich people's territory, and all you see are big, expensive cars and big houses. I would have prefered the flat, straight shot through all the interesting small towns with poor people all over the place, outside--CULTURE. When I finally got to West Philly, and I cruised into town at sunset, I got to see all the black people out on the street, hanging out, congregating, talking, listening to music on their porches, riding bikes, etc. But I did get a good workout with all those hills.

Baltimore to Bel Air

My Realized Route today.
Ingo's house in Bel Air, met through Warm Showers. Ingo and his wife biked from Fort Meyers, Florida to Bel Air, MD in 2000 on a recumbent tandem with a one-wheeled trailer (BOB yak). They have been wonderful hosts--thank you so much!
The road I chose to take out of Baltimore, Pulaski Highway, turned out to have a bike lane! The shoulder was clearly marked. I thank the advocates that established this signage and markings. I recommend Pulaski Highway to all cyclists for its wide, bike lane/bike route-marked shoulders, gentle hills, and straightness.



Heading out of Baltimore, I snapped a shot of this guy's house with a great Baltimore-themed mural painted on the side. Thanks, guy, and nice mural!
Maryland blue-crab is a ubiquitous icon around Baltimore.

Today's journey was good. Thirty-three miles. If I were driving a car that got 22 mpg, I would have used a gallon and a half of gasoline today. That would have cost me $4.50, and I would have emitted 30 lbs of CO2. It costs about 50 cents per mile to drive a car if you include gas, insurance, etc. So that would be about $16.50 I saved. And then to offset the CO2, it costs $4/ton of CO2 offset. I would have emitted 0.015 tons, so that would be like 6 cents to offset that amount of CO2. Which gets me thinking, it would cost about 4 cents to offset the CO2 emissions from burning a gallon of gas.

Route for this afternoon/evening

Route I will staying at some folks house, folks I met through Warm Showers, hospitality network for touring cyclists.

For those of you just tuning in--welcome everyone from the Environmental Defense page! I have completed a journey from Mount Rainier, Maryland to Chiapas, Mexico. I am currently on a journey from Mount Rainier, MD to New York City. I am writing from Baltimore, Maryland. In September, I will begin a new journey from Mount Rainier, MD to Natal, RN, Brazil. I will be accompanied by three to-be-determined riders. (Please email me at pauljosephpark@gmail.com if you are interested!)

After packing in the morning, I left my house at half past noon. I first went to my Honduran friend's house, where I fixed one of her bikes and we shared some bagels and doughnuts. She showed me the letter from the Immigration Services office saying that her application for temporary status was denied. She believes she is going to be deported, though the letter states there is an option to appeal. My sister used to work in this field, so I am putting the two in touch. Then I headed to the MVA to renew my ID. It took an hour for that process, but meantime I called my mom telling her I would probably make it to Baltimore on the day, and I asked her if she knew anyone I might be able to stay with. Sure enough, she had a contact, the fine folks at the Jonah House, and she put me in touch. It was actually Kathy Boylan of the Dorothy Day House in Washington, DC who made the connection with Liz MacAlister of the Jonah House, but it all worked out for me to stay there tonight. I made forty-two miles on the day.


These are some pics from Baltimore.





Mike and Eda of Jonah House and I.

My route for today, Mount Rainier to Elkton, MD, 85 miles

My route. I have to stop at a friends house on the way out to fix a bike.

Interview with Environmental Defense

The following is an article written by Environmental Defense, a profile of me as a "New Patriot." Enjoy.
***
For most Americans, biking to and from work is a tall ask. But, for PJ Park, the 11.2-mile round trip daily bike ride was only the warm up to something much, much bigger.

After starting a bike co-op in his home town to share biking tips and repair tools, PJ soon found himself entertaining a radical (some might say crazy) idea – combining his passion for fighting global warming with his passion for biking and his lifelong desire to move to Brazil.

What followed was a personal odyssey on two wheels. PJ set out last September to pedal from his home in suburban Maryland along the spine of the Americas to Brazil, proselytizing the importance of global warming action along the way.

PJ stopped pedaling long enough to answer some of our questions

Okay, first question is the big one – what on earth inspired you to launch this amazing journey?

I have been thinking about moving to Brazil for years. I have friends there from my community service project through Amigos de las Americas in 1999 and I always thought about going back. One major concern I had in the back of my mind was the long distance travel involved in coming home to visit with family and friends.

My interest in cycling was more of an evolution. I was riding my bike to the metro, but soon decided to ride the bike all the way to work. It was a relatively modest 11.2 mile trek round trip. But it began something of a love affair with my bike and it became the part of my day I looked forward to the most.

I also started a bicycle cooperative in my home town of Mount Rainier, MD, to share biking tips and repair tools among fellow cyclists in the community. Cycling was becoming a bigger and bigger part of my life and my identity.

Another big interest of mine was the environment. I had been active online with Environmental Defense's global warming campaign and was involved in spreading the word to all my friends and family members.

All of these interests – Brazil, cycling, global warming – were starting to come together in my mind. All I needed was a spark.

One night at dinner with some of the board members of Trips for Kids Metro DC and the Mount Rainier Bike Coop, a friend of mine, Barbara Klieforth, told a childhood story about sneaking into a community pool to go skinny-dipping after hours. I thought to myself, "What an adventurous spirit," and over the next few days I began thinking about the importance of following your dreams, especially when you're still young.

That was the spark that brought this plan to life. The rest is history.

What were you hoping to achieve by biking to South America and back?

My goal was to raise awareness about global warming and show how much I was willing to do to decrease my carbon emissions - by traveling to Brazil by bicycle and contributing as little to global warming as possible while getting there. Collecting signatures to promote federal legislation on global warming, specifically a cap and trade bill such as Climate Stewardship Act, the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act and the Safe Climate Act was also a primary goal of my trip.

Additionally, I wanted to establish a route between Maryland and Brazil for myself and others to follow. Traveling through my country and many others on bicycle would provide a unique way of experiencing the various cultures I was going to encounter. I'd be able to improve my knowledge of Spanish and Portuguese, bicycle repair, camping and the outdoors.

By biking from Maryland to Brazil, I wanted to experience the cultural and ecological gradations between my home and my destination with a mode of travel bound to become more commonplace in our society.

How long did your trip take?

Seven and a half months.

I began in Mt. Rainier, Maryland on September 17th, 2006 and traveled through Washington, DC, and Virginia, south to Georgia, then west to Texas. I entered Mexico on December 22nd and made it to Catemaco, Veracruz in Mexico on January 29th, 2007.

February and March were spent in Tlacotalpan and Port of Veracruz. In April, I head south to Chiapas and made it as far south as San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico.

However, this was where this initial trek to Brazil would be interrupted. In May, I had to come home for my sister's wedding and my brothers' graduations, as well as other events back home. I was forced to travel home via bus and plane, but I offset my carbon emissions with DrivingGreen.com.

What's next?

I plan on beginning my second bicycle trip on this September, this time with three other riders (contact PJ if you are interested!--pauljosephpark@gmail.com). We will start in Mount Rainier, MD, and this time, we'll make it all the way to Natal, Brazil.

Along the way, we will speak on global warming and solutions, we will promote federal legislation, and we will raise funds for an energy conservation project in the communities near Mount Rainier, MD. My goal is to raise $50,000 - five dollars for every mile we bike - for a project that will install electric power consumption monitors in homes and buildings. The trip will take eleven months and I am just now planning to contact potential sponsors for this trip.

That's an amazing story. Thanks so much, PJ, for your passion and activism, not to mention your physical endurance. We hope you'll keep us posted on your next trip.

Absolutely. Thanks so much for giving me a forum to share my story.
***

Global Warming Legislation in the 110th Congress

This graph shows what US carbon emissions will look like from now until 2050 depending on which bill gets passed in Congress compared to business as usual. The Sanders-Boxer Bill is the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act and the Waxman bill is the Safe Climate Act. They will reduce our emissions to levels stated by scientists low enough to avoid the worst affects of global warming.

Mount Rainier Bike Coop tube repair class

I will be teaching a tube repair class this thursday, june seventh from four to five pm at the Mount Rainier Bike Coop, 3409 Rhode Island Ave, behind the Mount Rainier Library. Five to six pm will be drop in open shop time. Class is $5 for adults, $2 for youths (17 and under).

Mount Rainier Bike Coop

Overall, the trip was awesome. I met tons of people, saw many places. I loved Mexico. The people, the food, the weather. I even had a few girlfriends. One girlfriend in particular lasts to this day. She lives in Veracruz, is thirty years old, and I had some great times with her.

Other things that stand out on the trip were the sheer freedom and impressiveness of being able to bike so far so that I could see my progess on a world map. It is really fun, really cool. Real freedom and really amazing. It is just great to be able to travel on a bicycle. Navigating roads, gaining confidence on the road, learning to tackle larger and larger roads. Meeting incredibly helpful and wonderful people. Eating lots of wonderful food. Getting in touch with the cycling community, the traveling community. Seeing new places. Seeing Mexico. Mexico was the thing that impresses me most of this entire journey. I love Mexico now. The culture. More laid back than the US. In Mexico, the law is not overbearing, ever-present, and intrusive in nearly all aspects of life. When we say we are "free" in the US, I need to take a step back and think about that. There are many things the law prevents us from doing, but the main thing the law does is to make us fearful of breaking the law to the point where we are not free. We don't know everything in the law, we don't always know what is and what is not against the law, so we play it safe and keep to ourselves, our own confines.

In Mexico, I did not feel like the law would stop me from going a certain place, crossing a certain line, or reproach me for this or that. People's focus was not always on the law, what is lawful. People were not afraid that someone was going to bear down upon them for this or that. And this did not make them savage or uncivilized. It made them more open, relaxed, more apt to be with other people, to have a good time. To be more spontaneous. People were not as rigid about prices, about officiality, legality, safety standards. Just about every other person sold something or other. It didn't matter if that person had a permit to sell; they needed money so they sold food, or handicrafts, or watches, or pirated cds and dvds. Watch vendors would proudly announce that their merchandise was 100% pirated.

A different view on life. People had an understanding of where they came from--a mixture of the indigious groups of Mexico and the Spaniards who invaded and conquered the indigeonous. Traditions are strong, and people are very family oriented. The food is wonderful, and people say, "provecho" to you if they see you eating, which means, "may it nourish you".