Our Route!

Our Route!
Charleston, SC to Santa Cruz, CA: May 26 to August 14

Trip Tracker

For an detailed interactive map of our journey, click here.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Alabama Fame

Limited access to group computer...Get ready for some stream of consciousness writing!

I've been having some great religion talks lately, especially as I am one of my group's few (if only) agnostic/atheist representatives. Sleeping in churches, saying prayers at Habitat sites, and meeting residents glad we are doing "the Lord's work" makes the topic simply unavoidable. Delving into the details would violate some of the group trust, but I am definitely hearing some intriguing perspectives. Yay intellectual growth! On this note, thanks to Walmart I picked up my third book of the summer (Kite Runner). I find it disheartening that a 18 store Birmingham mall had 8 places to buy sneakers and no bookstore. Kick the kicks and mind your mind.

Here in Alabama, we've been getting an amazing reception from locals and media alike. Like the prior church hosts, they've served fantastic meals and greeted us with open arms, but the response here is so heartfelt. One man making us breakfast broke down into tears of pride for our efforts, other women insisted on having photos taken with us, and all showed signs of awe and gratitude. My fellow riders and I have been discussing how wild this sort of reaction is. Even after doing 210 miles in two days, we don't feel like heroes or martyrs, just tired college kids. Yet people tell us how we inspire or touch their lives...it's startling. As for the media, three news affiliates (ABC/NBC/FOX) in Birmingham put our Habitat Build Day on their 6 pm news. In Eastern Alabama, I made the cover of the regional newspaper (click here). I may have to go superhero on all you readers...

Batman (and Bike and Build Riders): A man is just flesh and blood and can be ignored or destroyed (or tired on his/her bike). But as a symbol... as a symbol, I (we) can be incorruptible, everlasting.

Here in Birmingham, we did some rewarding and valuable work on two Habitat homes, doing a combination of siding installation, interior painting, and shelving construction. In the evening, I took a solo adventure downtown to see the site of the 1963 16th St Church bombing and stroll the streets. While a quaint city, the downtown was eerily quiet at 5:30 pm. During my roaming, a wonderful thing happened. As I entered the public bus, I realized I lacked the correct change for fare. Asking the lady in front of me for last second change, she smiled and said "Don't worry about it honey." As we rode together, Tamira directed me to the Birmingham places of interest and gave me some local history. With my wallet filled with Smile Cards, I had received an amazingly pure random act of kindness myself. This simple act filled me with joy, and I thank Tamira once again. Though she didn't want her picture taken, I will not soon forget her smile. On that note, other photos will come soon in a big burst.

Better go to sleep now as I have to wake in 6 hours to bike 95 more miles: Woohoo! As I am burning through books, my question is simple: what should I read next? (Note Kerouac's Dharma Bums is on deck).

2 comments:

  1. Get ready, Kite Runner will rip your heart in two!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Reference to superhero hit me a different way. When looking at the photo from the Heflin paper I thought that you and your mate out front would make nice action figures...I think it was the combo of the uniform and headgear (helmet and shades).

    ReplyDelete

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