Best Pictures From Western Georgia to Mobile, Alabama

Colombian family, Camp Hill, AL. They make me spell Colombia with two "o's".

Message from me to you.

One of my jacked legs.

Preparing lunch on the road.


Entering Alabama!

Lizard on outcropping, Western GA.

Western Georgia

Monroeville

Hi all. I am in Monroeville, AL, visiting the courthouse featured in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Lee grew up in Monroeville and the novel is based on characters and places in Monroeville.
I ate at Sweet Tooth Bakery and Restaurant, and the nice lady/owner of the restaurant comped my meal. Thank you Sweet Tooth!
This afternoon, I will head down towards Mobile and camp out near Uriah or Chrysler, or perhaps somebody will put me up!
See the article in the Mongomery Advertiser to the left!

This man makes my trip look like a piece of cake!

www.vancouvertovancouver.com (copy and paste) or click link to left. This man, Tim Harvey, is finishing up a two year trek around the world without fossil fuels--zero emissions. He envisions a future where all of us use less fossil fuels.

Montgomery

I have arrived here in Montgomery after a 57 mile day from Penton, Alabama. I am staying with the Crowleys, friends of the Cooler-Stiths who I met through the bike coop in Mt Rainier. Very happy to be staying with the Crowleys.

Camp Hill

Hoy, yo anduve en bicicleta doce millas, y paré para beber agua y comer un poco, y escuché un hombre, Ricardo, hablando por telefono en español, y me presenté. El me invitó para comer algo en la casa. Entré y conocí la esposa y los hijos. La comida fue deliciosa. Ahora no puedo esperar llegar a Colombia!

Camp Hill

I am writing from the house of a couple of Colombians who just moved to Camp Hill, Alabama. I met them as I stopped on the side of a country road to drink some water. The husband, Ricardo, was talking on his phone outside, and when I heard he was talking spanish, I introduced myself. He invited me in for lunch and I met his wife and kids, and his grandfather. I heard about where they live in Colombia, that the wife's sister married a man from Switzerland, and now lives there. The lunch was delicious and I cannot wait to arrive in Colombia!

The family lived in Cali, Valle, Colombia. This city is about two hours from the Pacific Coast, and it lies on the Pan American Highway--perhaps I will pass through it! They recommend taking the boat from Panama to Cartagena, though, and visiting Guajira--a beautiful city on the Atlantic coast.

I showed them a site, renewus.org, where their landlord can purchase clean energy, and where any of their friends living along the road can purchase it, too. In Alabama, it costs just six bucks per month to guarantee that the energy you pay goes to adding clean energy to the power grid.

The family asked about what they could do to reduce global warming, besides supporting the bill (Climate Stewardship Act). I told them the most important thing an individual can do is to live close to where they work so that their daily commute is short--perhaps walkable or bikable--but at least not a very long daily car ride. Another is to purchase green, clean electricity at renewus.org. Another is to have a car (if any at all) that gets high gas mileage.

The primary sources of greenhouse gas emissions are the way we make electricity and the way we transport ourselves. In both areas, we have technology to make them cleaner, and the Climate Stewardship Act would provide motivation to use that technology.

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.