PA Junkyard

It's been brought to my attention that my previous post sounds defensive. It's true I was a little on edge from not sleeping, going on little sleep, packing my bike,and sending off some last minute emails. Oh well!

After getting two and a half hours of sleep, I set out and rode 75 miles today, and I'm staying the night in Pennsylvania just past Gettysburg.



During the ride, I got a little bit of attention from a guy who wanted to talk to me about Ron Paul, but not much else. I didn't really stop today as I've been playing catch-up. Tonight I camp in a junk yard. I was a little intimidated still I did want to talk to the owner of the junkyard about his political views. Unfortunately, he left almost immediately after giving me the "ok" to camp there.



A small dog, whose name I later learned is Maria, has been barking at the amorphous white blob of my invading tent most of the night.



Tomorrow, I will try to ride 100 miles.

A Parting Shot

I am about to leave. Before I go however, I wanted to comment about something interesting that has happened since I sent out the first mailing about the trip. The responses that I have so far received fall into a couple of general categories: the “wow, cool, good luck!” replies, and the “oh, hey, you know what you should do” replies - I have been thrilled to get that kind of support, but then there’s this third category, what seems to me like a kind of social/political pressuring and I’m not sure how I ought to feel about it.

The few republicans I’ve heard back from seem cynical and to have lots of concerns about the sincerity of the project. One went so far as to say, “oh well it’s sort of too bad…if he does in fact decide to vote republican in the end, his whole generation is going to disown him.”

The Democrats, on the other hand, have been amicably threatening. They don’t seem prepared to expose me to republican thinking: I could never be convinced by their ideas, only corrupted. They are concerned that I will defect, become a turn coat, or convert.

These questions of loyalty and fidelity might reasonably come up among sports fans as they root on their team and curse the opposition, among members in a congregation of faith about those that stray, even in family where blood can be thicker than all else, but it's unreasonable where voting is concerned. The nature of this project is to try to vote based on reasons, to try to speak with people about how candidates represent their ideas, and to avoid using voting like a strategy to beat out an opposing party.

It seems that there will be speculation about my political leaning, and about whom I will vote for – both are healthy questions and I encourage them. I am however quite certain of my sincerity as regards the project itself and feel no obligations as regards my final vote. I welcome anyone (which includes members of other parties than the two mentioned above) to speak with me about their basis for electing a president.

Oh! I should add that I have made sure the sign on my bicycle does not read “whom”, but “who”. There was almost as much interest in that damn sign as there was in my well being.

That must be all for now, I have to be starting…

Ever out there,
Eric