Well folks, there are just a few weeks left on this wild adventure of mine. You know, Halloween is almost here and that's the time of year where certain folks start gettin' creative with costumes, and scarecrows and other weird ideas and such. Well, if you're starting to think about something crazy like that, throw a Don Quixote on that ghoulish bag of leaves, throw a jack o lantern on top, aw heck, fill it up with candy, throw some corn stalks in there....I need just a few more wacky photos to always remember my trip by.
Well this week's entry is from a fantastic gal in the heart of America named Autumn Daily. She doesn't look like it smiling in the bright sunshine of a field of sunflowers, but Autumn is one tough lady. I ran into Autumn in Newton, KS when I stopped in the visitor center to ask where I might find a shower and a library. Autumn wasn't a whole lot of help, but she was the most pleasant and likable unhelpful person I'd ever met.
Autumn thought my trip was pretty inspiring, not realizing that her own story would make an impression on just about anybody. At twenty-five she possessed more vision, energy and ambition than a gackle of .......well of gackles I guess. She'd just bought a new home for she and her five year old son Reese, you know like the chocolate peanut butter cups. Reese had been born with a cleft palate, a rare birth defect that occurs in 1 out of 600 births and leaves a cleft in the upper lip. The condition requires numerous surgeries throughout the child's development. As a single mom, Autumn finished her business degree, got a job flexing her interpersonal skills with the city, started her own business in web design, bought a house and is remodeling it, and dreams of going to flight school to get her pilots license.
And it looks like Reese is following in Mom's gifted footsteps as he was the photographer for this great photo. Just another example of the incredible people I have been blessed to meet on this trip.
All my best to Autumn and Reese.
Before I sign off, thought folks might be interested to see this little blurb that Adventure Cycling wrote in their e-newsletter. As a result I sold a few t-shirts and received a request from a freelance writer in Birmingham to write a story about my trip. Adventure Cycling is the organization that develops bicycle routes for travelling the country. They are based in Missoula, MT so I paid them a visit and found out that we have the same idea of organizing bicycle farm tours. I talk more about this later. Hasta luego.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
When country music legend Willie Nelson hits the road these days, he
powers his tour bus with BioWillie. Meanwhile, Justin Ellis, of
Homewood, Alabama--inspired by Willie's series of Farm Aid concerts,
perhaps?--is on the road himself, actively promoting farmland
conservation and trying to help preserve the family farm. And
Justin's doing it without using any fuel whatsoever, other than the
grub he gobbles down as he rides the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail from
Virginia to Oregon. In advance of his tour, sponsored in part by
Adventure Cycling, Justin identified approximately seventy-five small
family farms within twenty miles of the route, which he is visiting as
he goes. Right now, he's somewhere west of Missoula and east of the
Pacific Ocean. You can learn more about Justin's cause and read
journal entries from his ride here:
http://www.farmlandconservation.org
If the above reference to BioWillie has you scratching your head,
check out this site and it will become as clear as used French-fry oil:
http://www.wnbiodiesel.com
COMMENTS
10/10/2006 8:39 PM Autumn Daily wrote:
On behalf of...well...myself....I was not as unhelpful as he "claims". He found the rec center and found a shower and...yes...I know where the library is. I was so overwhelmed when the spitting image of Don Quixote walked in my door....I was speechless.
I mean how would you act if a man shows up riding Rocinante (aka...his bike) and talks with a southern chivalrous accent.
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