THERE & BACK: portraits and stories of people along the way

Itinerary Wrightwood, CA > Tampa, FL

9/26 Santa Barbara, CA > Wrightwood, CA

9/29 Wrightwood > Flagstaff, AZ

9/30 Flagstaff > Albuquerque, NM

10/1 Albuquerque > Las Vegas, NM

10/2-3 Roadrunner Festival

10/4 Las Vegas > Elk City, OK

10/5 Elk City > Joplin, MO

10/6 Joplin > Collinsville, IL

10/7 Collinsville

10/8 Collinsville > Randolph County, IN

10/9-12 Randolph County

10/13 Randolph County > Indianapolis, IN

10/14 Indianapolis

10/15-19 Flight > Washington, DC

10/20-25 Brown County, IN

10/26 Brown County > Cincinnati, OH

10/27 Cincinnati

10/28 Cincinnati > La Grange, KY

10/29 La Grange

10/30 La Grange > Nashville, TN

10/31-11/3 Nashville

11/4 Nashville > Athens, GA

11/5 Athens > Augusta, GA

11/6 Augusta

11/7 Augusta > St. Augustine, FL

11/8-10 St. Augustine

11/11 St. Augustine > Palatka, FL

11/12-14 Palatka Bluegrass Festival

11/15 Palatka > Tampa, FL

11/16 Flight > Los Angeles, CA

Solo Motorcycle Travel Tips

09/15/21  (Tim Collins, Forty Times Around)

1. Meet people along the way

2. Stay in touch w/family, friends

3. When lonely stay busy

4. Embrace solitude

5. Relax (stop worrying, pre-planning)

6. Challenge yourself, push your limits

7. Get to know yourself

8. Practice self-care

9. Keep a journal

10. Embrace the freedom of traveling alone

Logistics 

1. Camp with a lot of people or alone

2. Be prepared for emergencies: health, safety, mechanical issues

3. Pay attention to bike (daily pre-ride check)

092121

Adventure pants, jacket, boots, gloves, and helmet. Tracking started on the Garmin Mini GPS communicator. Kickstand up, starter depressed. Off I'll ride on a cool fall morning near the end of September, 2021—the beginning of a 7,700 mile cross-country motorcycle journey from Los Angeles to Tampa and back.

Why? You tell me. You might understand better than I do. I was restless, lonely, prone to depression when not busy, tired, so tired of listening to inner self-talk day after day. Riding is freedom, Adventure. All-consuming. An antidote to more of the mundane. Concentration so severe as to quiet self-talk... at least after the first mile down steep, foggy, dangerous Lone Pine Canyon wondering:

Can I do it?

Can I ride this far?

Will I have enough energy??? I’m almost 70!!!

Long days. Sore muscles. Rain and cold. Wind and heat. Camping. Staying with friends. Maybe a few hotels. Hopefully, few mechanical problems and no accidents.

Yet purpose within adventure: photographing portraits of people I meet along the way and recording a story—any story from their lives; maybe a few stories of my own; content all for a book to follow.

092621    Santa Barbara > Wrightwood Mileage: 175    Duration: 6:30

Yesterday I rode down from the mountains in Wrightwood to the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barabara, a fitting place to begin this adventure—a motorcycle ride across America. Today I rode back to Wrightwood along with Gary, who was kind enough to ride with me and lead me to John’s house in Simi Valley. Very nice ride through the warm foothills and Ojai and then warmer canyon country back to the cool mountains at dusk. Riding partners, John, Nick, and Gary, all of whom I met rather surreptiously eating outside the Jensen’s market in Wrightwood have been extremely helpful preparing me for this adventure.

092921 Wrightwood > Flagstaff Mileage: 421 Duration: 7:30

Left Wrightwood at 6:30 am after a fitful night of sleep. Cool, almost cold riding today north on I-15, and especially east on I-40 very windy between Newberry Springs and Needles, CA. Good,  long ride. Met up with friends, Bob and Claudia, to camp at Buffalo Park in Flagstaff, AZ. We’re all headed to the Roadrunner Music Festival in Las Vegas, NM, over the weekend. First photo/story at gas station when Cameron, a bubbly young man, admired my motorcycle. He was glad to participate in the book project; actually gave me a hug when he learned his photo and story would be featured in the book. Got second photo/story at a 50’s BBQ/Burger restaurant from Emily and Elvis.
I like the fact that this project forces me to take breaks during the day and gives me something to do at night... in tent tonight, raining.

Cameron Newberry Springs, CA

Cameron said he likes to box and to read the Bible. He didn’t have a Bible with him, but he did have a pair of new boxing gloves. 

“I was sitting at my desk selling cars in Atlanta. I was the number one salesman, and I was having a great year. Sometimes I open my Bible and read one of God’s promises when I feel discouraged. 

“One day I opened it up and He led me to a passage that says, ‘Hey, Zion do you love these more than Me?’ I didn’t know what Zion meant, but I thought about it, and then I knew that Zion meant my heart. And so the Lord was speaking to me through His Spirit, and He was saying, ‘Hey, do you love selling cars more than you love Me?’ And the obvious answer was, ‘No!’ 

“So I got up from my desk, and I drove all the way from Atlanta to California, until there was no more road to drive, and I started my ministry—Cam Ford Ministries.       

“But now this morning I’m starting the long drive back to Atlanta and will start selling cars again. Maybe I’ll see you again along the way.”

Emily Williams, AZ

I asked my waitress, Courtney, at the diner if she’d like to participate in the book, but she couldn’t think of a story to tell. A few minutes later she introduced me to Emily. 

“I grew up in this town, and I’ve worked in this place for 13 years. I met my husband here; his family owns the restaurant. We travelled all over the place, but we came back here. I don’t know, this is my happy place I guess. I have a lot of memories here. I have a little girl, and I want to be close to home.”

093021    Flagstaff > Albuquerque Mileage: 326    Duration: 5:52

Rain off and on all night, stayed warm and dry. In bed 7:30 pm - 6:30 am. Corresponded with friends.

Broke camp and off at 7:00 am. 45º - 55º with rain half of the day; uneventful otherwise on I-40 to Albuquerque. Tired, cold. Staying in hotel. No photos yet today. Wanted to get through with wet ride as quickly as possible.

Photographed Virginia, the assistant manager of the hotel, a pleasant, ambitious young woman who restored my waning respect for people of late.

100121 Albuquerque > Las Vegas Mleage: 108 Duration: 2:20

No rush getting up. Waiting for weather to blow through. Easy 100 mile ride through vast beautiful plains and later rolling hills outside of Santa Fe beneath the imposing Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Ride ended on a 1-mile stretch of loose gravel and mud, kind of hair raising before arriving at Geo’s and Tanya’s wonderful compound in the country. Once again met up with friends Bob and Claudia who drove their Class C RV from California to attend Geo’s Roadrunner Stringjam. Fewer folks this year than usual—yet another Covid consequence.

Unwound tight back muscles in the 106° soothing water of the wood-fired hot tub. One of mankind’s greatest inventions!

Great potluck dinner (though I only brought myself) followed by a delightful jam with Geo, Bob, Robert, Rolf, Kevin, and Sandy. As usual really talented musicians. As usual I am by far the least skilled. Good time. To bed earlier than just about anyone. Still worn out from yesterday’s 300-mile ride in the wind, rain, and cold.

Virginia Albuquerque, NM

How refreshing... an ambitious young woman who knows where she’s going, and will, I’m sure, get there.

“I am the assistant manager here at the Quality Inn and Suites, and I also work as a caregiver. I’ve had two jobs since I was 18. So I’m 22 now, and I’m trying to pay off my student loans, you know. 

“Something that is very important to me is that I want to be the first in my family to graduate from college. I want to become a forensic psychologist, yeah that’s something that I’m super interested in. I’d like to pursue that as a career. Of course the University of New Mexico doesn’t have a program. 

“Right now I’m happy where I’m at. I’m content just working hard, doing better for myself and for my family. I just feel like I want to be successful, to do what I can to be sure that the rest of my mom’s life is, you know, abundant, joyful. I don’t want her to worry about anything.”

Nick Las Vegas, NM

Son of Geo. A story from the wood-fired hot tub. A story untold.

“A good college buddy and I would come up here to New Mexico to take our annual ski trip. We’d leave at 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning, and being college students, we’d have to bring our friends: maybe we’d start off with an amaretto sour or hot cocoa and whiskey, something like that, and we’d take along a 12-pack of beer.

“We cut through back roads until we reached Chalma, where we restocked with more beer. It was early when we got to Pagosa and our rental cabin so we took a little nap to take the edge off. Thank God we did because a Statey pulled us over on the way to the resort for speeding. We thanked our lucky stars when he sent us on our way and spent the rest of the day skiing.

“As we left my parents home early that morning my dad, Geo, had said he might meet us at the resort. He said, ‘I probably won’t come up, but I might surprise you. If I can shake free I might come up.’

“Of course we partied late that night; we were college kids. The next morning my buddy looked out the window, and asked me, “Hey, what does your dad drive?’ I jumped up and saw my dad unpacking his snowboard from his truck. ‘Oh crap, quick grab the beer,’ I yelled. We were underage, and my dad wasn’t too keen on us living life and being kids in that way. I raced around gthe cabin picking up cans, shoving them in boxes that my buddy took out the front door and stashed out back. He returned just as Geo came around the corner saying, ‘Oh hey guys. How are you doing?’

“‘Yeah, we’re great,’ we managed. To this day I don’t think Geo knows what was really going on.”

100221     Las Vegas Roadruuner Stringjam

A nice warm sunny day relaxing, playing music, and eating barbeque smoked ribs. Spent a few minutes prepping the motorcycle for long rides each day next week.

Photographed Monte and Jenny, missionaries to Brazil, and Robert, a fine musician and song writer.

Monte Las Vegas, NM

A grandfather intent on helping his granddaughters along the way.

“My oldest son asked me to write something about myself for the family. I got to thinking about how boring that might be because I’ve read some of things my family has written and they’re just gathering dust in the attic. So I thought, if I’m going to write something it should be interesting. 

“Seeing that my first four grandkids are girls I decided to write a book to maybe help them along the way as they grow. By now, some of them are grown and the book is still in process. It’s a novel set in the 1300’s about a young girl who grows up in her father’s castle. She’s born of high estate, and she has lots of obligations that await her, but she’s somewhat rebellious to take on that identity. Through her trials I try to show some of the values she’s picked up, things that would be beneficial for anyone as they go through life. So that’s what I want to leave my grandchildren, even if it isn’t of the caliber to publish. It will at least be something interesting for those coming down the road. So that’s what I’m undertaking. I’m finishing the first book. It’s called The Voivode’s daughter. A Voivode was a governing warlord in medieval times. I like the character so much that I’m writing a second book to kind of take her to the next level.”

Jenny Las Vegas, NM

Who would believe it… Brazil?!?

“We joined the Joni and Friends Disability Ministry in 2006. Because I’m an occupational therapist we did a wheelchair ministry. God used us in that work with Joni Erickson. Our connection was with Dinalva, a woman living in a wheelchair in Brazil. She had read Joni’s story after her own accident and paralysis and joined Joni and Friends effort. 

“Soon afterwards Dinalva was looking for a couple to establish a camp on the coast of northeast Brazil for people with disabilities, and who would believe it but God sent us to the camp. We’ve been going there now for 10 years. The Brazilian people have been so great welcoming us into the ministry. And like all serving opportunities it seems like we’ve been more blessed than those we serve.”

Robert Las Vegas, NM

He met a girl. He met bluegrass music. Together they changed his life.

“My parents were missionaries in Bermuda. After graduating high school in 1979, I moved to Austin to live with my aunt and uncle. They found me a job that summer near here in Glorieta, New Mexico. When I went up there I met a girl I was immediately interested in named Susan. I brought a guitar and was playing classic rock and she said, ‘There’s a bluegrass festival in Telluride, Colorado in two weeks and I think you should go up there.’ I said, ‘Great, would you like to go with me?’ She declined.

“I’d never heard bluegrass, didn’t know anything about it. But, I loaded up my car with three other folks and we drove through the night and got to Telluride early Saturday morning. When we first arrived Dan Crary, Bobby Hicks, and Byron Berline were playing. After that was Norman Blake playing solo. When I saw Norman Blake play the  guitar I was totally done with rock and was now going for acoustic flat-picking. 

“Saturday night we loaded up and drove all the way back. We each got a few hours of sleep and were back to work Sunday morning. But that experience totally changed my direction, changed my life, and… I ended up with Susan.”

100321     Las Vegas Roadruuner Stringjam

Another lackadaisical day, 70s, bright blue sky, puffy white clouds. Morning began unexpectedly with a gospel jam playing a dozen or so hymns, followed by another hearty breakfast served from the outdoor kitchen: scrambled egss, country fried potatoes, bacon, tortillas, green chili, juice and coffee.

Photographed Charlie, a musician/motorcycle repairman, and George, host of the Stringjam. All of the muscians left late in the morning. Relaxed the rest of the day and packed the motorcycle for the next three 300+ mile days. Played some more music with Bob this evening and photographed him.

Charlie Las Vegas, NM

“I started playing bagpipes when I was 15 years old. If anyone had told me at the time that I’d make most of my career earnings playing the bagpipes I’d have said, ‘Hey, can I have some of what you’re smoking? It must be really good.’

“Later I moved to Boulder, Colorado, where I spent my summers busking with the bagpipes on the Pearl Street Mall. I discovered that I could do that in the winters, too, up in the ski areas. So I’d be playing the bagpipes outside in temperatures in the teens. Every 20-30  minutes I’d duck into a bar and ask for a drambuie and a brandy snifter and hold it over a candle to get it all nice and warm and put my fingers all over that, slug it down and go back out to play some more.

“Toward the end of the ski season when Aspen and Vail were fixin’ to close I thought I’d go ahead and explore. I was hitchhiking and taking buses. I’d heard of Telluride and thought if I get a ride in that direction I’d head there. This old boy, a rancher dude in an old beat-up Ford truck, picked me up and said in a drawl, ‘Yeah, I’m going to Delores.’ We drove up to Telluride with that big open box canyon and my jaw just dropped. I didn’t think there was anyplace that looked like that except in the Canadian Rockies.

“‘What the heck, I thought. I’ll just start playin my bagpipes while staring at that massie wall and waterfall at the edge of town.’ I’d never seen anything like it. This was THE pivotal thing in my life. I spent the next 9 years in Telluride. I really cut my teeth as a mountaineer: backcountry skiing, mountain biking, fly fishing, all that. And I spent a lot of time playing bagpipes on the streets, too.

“That’s how one small happenstance—a guy picking me up in a tiny town—changed my life.”

George Las Vegas, NM

George exclaimed “BANJO?” And later “SOLD!”

“I’ve tried to get all of the grandkids to our Roadrunner Stringjam for years. I only bring one out at a time so they’ll meet the older folks, listen to them play, and want to get involved. They have and it has turned them on to music very nicely. They all play something now and are involved in music at their school. The twins are both playing. Eli has played saxophone and Stella was kind of gifted. She began on trumpet and was then asked to switch to baritone, and she excelled at that.

“When we got to FaceTime them during Covid Stella said she’d like to play another instrument. I’ve always hoped one of them would learn to play a string instrument. I asked Stella what she wanted to play? ‘Banjo,’ she replied. ‘BANJO! Do you know anything about the banjo, what kind of banjo you’d like to play?’ I showed her some videos and she said, ‘I’d like to learn clawhammer style, it sounds pretty cool.’ 

“So when we visited Portland I went to Artichoke Music and asked if they had any clawhammer banjos to rent out. They were all out on loan, but they told me one of their instructors had a nice Deering Goodtime banjo. They only wanted $350 so I said, ‘SOLD!’ I signed Stella up for lessons and she sent me videos of her playing Old Joe Clark and frailing. So I thought, that’s really cool and she’s got the banjo to play in Portland.

Bob Las Vegas, NM

Full-time travel. Quite a change.

“Here you see me washing up dishes in my home. For my wife and I and our three dog this is our home for this season of our lives. We lived in Southern California and raised a big family there. After retiring we felt like we’d like to do some traveling. We’ve always been travelers, but we wanted to travel full-time. So now we’re living in this 23 foot motorhome that’s new to us.

“I am the C.D., the cruise director. I pretty much get to decide where we go, and my wife, Claudia, says that’s fine as long as there are grandchildren where we end up. So we travel around enjoying outdoor spaces like a park or somewhere that’s pretty and find somewhere in a forest, or maybe a Walmart, to sleep for free. And then we’ll move on. We’ve been doing this for almost a year, and I can say that every day gets better. This is really a nice time for us. My wife and I are very close and we make a good team. And our three dogs give us a lot of comfort.Right now we are in New Mexico traveling on with our destination the east coast to see family.

“I’m doing dishes here because my wife cooks and I wash up. That’s our deal, and that’s pretty much how it goes seven days a week, which for us is quite a change. But like I said every day gets better. 

“Life is really good and we feel very blessed to be able live like this.”

100421    Las Vegas > Elk City Mleage: 417    Duration: 7:50

Left the Roadrunner Stringjam reluctantly at 6:30 am. What a fun, memorable weekend. Hard to say goodbye to good friends, George and Tanya—special folks, unique, warm, and wonderful. Ride as sun came up was not warm and wonderful. Cold, 39º (21º wind chill). Warmed up slowly to low 50s, 60s, suddenly 86º as I crossed the New Mexico border into Texas. Pretty monotonous driving through the seemingly limitless plains of eastern New Mexico, across the Texas panhandle, and into Oklahoma.

Met David when I stopped for a quick lunch at a gas station/diner. Hard core rancher and a very nice guy. Fun.Rode to the KOA between Clinton and Elk City, Oklahoma. Set up camp. Took a nap. Went hunting women (have to few so far) for the book. Photographed the bartender at the campground grill, a hoppin’ place, and a young woman greeting folks at the reception desk. Also, an older woman who built a truck stop just down the road. Refreshing, down-to-earth, middle-America folks. Just before sunset photographed Chad and Ashton and their converted ambulance camper—very cool.

Worked on the book a few hours before crawling into my sleeping bag for a good sleep tonight. Long ride
today. Poor diet today. Breakfast: Hostess cherry pie, chocolate milk. Lunch: pizza, Diet Coke. Dinner:
Hamburger, chips, ginger ale.

David McClean, TX

Paid a quarter an acre...that’s how they got started.

“Millie Porter, my great-grandmother, she wrote a book called ‘Memory Cuts,’ and it depicted what was goin’ on around here, details of the settlers.She was a Jones girl. They came over from Missouri back in the 1800s, about 1880 somewhere. Got stranded for a winter in Kansas before they got down in here and homesteaded over by Shamrock, Oklahoma. 

“My great-grandfather was cattle ranching over in Shamrock for the Sheltons. He was a straw boss. So, my great-grandmother was out tended the sheep and he ran into her. He was riding his horse. Yes sir, that’s kind of how we got started over here. Yeah, the Fort Elliott was over here, and he homesteaded some land over there. He had to live on it for 10 years before they’d grant him a deed. Paid a quarter an acre for it. So my family’s been over here all those years. We accumulated some ranches around to run cattle on. That’s kind of the way we got started.”

Misty (“Purple Hair”) Elk City, OK

She knows she can get through another day with Purple Power.

So, the reason I‘m purple is because I was 34 years old and woke up one day in organ failure, I had two kids at home, and I had to figure out what was going on. There I was 34 and bedridden. So, I went to doctors and found out what was killing me was the medications they had prescribed for 17 years. They hadn’t realized the long-term affects of the medications, only that they were good for treating my symptoms today. 

When I was 21 I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. When I was 31 I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. When I was 36 I was diagnosed with Hashimoto disease. My organs had suffered so much that I had to go off all medications. I was bedridden for 9 months, in and out of the hospital, surgery after surgery, and I used my Purple Power to get through it. 

Purple is for fibromyalgia and RA. So my hair is purple, my toes are purple, every tattoo in between has purple in it. When I’m having a hard day and I look into the mirror I see my purple hair, I look down at my feet and see purple toes, and know that I can get through another day. I have to. My purple is my power.

Kailey Elk City, OK

The experience here is just great!

“ I’ve been working here at the KOA for three years on and off. I’ve got the best managers in the world. The best thing about being here is you’re not just doing one thing. You’ve got all these things to do, and you’ve got several people coming in, young and old. It’s great to hear their stories. The experience here, cleaning, cooking, it’s just great.”

Chad & Ashton. Elk City, OK

They got an ambulance. Thing’s a champ. It’s great.

Chad: “We joined a mini-truck club that started in Las Vegas. Since then we’ve been traveling to shows all over. We coming from Noel, Missouri back to Colorado from a show called ‘Sparks in the Ozarks.’”

Ashton:“ There were about close to 1,500, 2,500 people all there just for the mini-trucks. It’s a magical venue. We literally had someone from every side of the country; we had west coast, we had east coast. It literally changed our lives. Chad was super into trucks. I was, too. We started building one together, and there’s what, about 600 Members worldwide—Canada, Japan, New Zealand.”

Ashton: “It‘s kind of cool how we started. I had just moved from Mississippi and started my job.  He walked through the door and my heart dropped. I knew he was the one. And we’ve been together 15 years now.”

Ashton: “We bought this in January, and this changed our lives.”

Chad:“ So this is an original ambulance to the fleet of Snowmass, Colorado. They sold it to Grand Lake, Colorado as a back-up. Grand Lake recently had fires so they got a big check, stimulus money and bought all new apparatus. So they were offing all the old vehicles. The Chief called me and said they were getting rid of this one. I asked him well what does he need for it, how much, and he said, ‘Bring me a cashier’s check for five grand and we’re good.’ Brand new set of tires, 50,000 miles, four-wheel drive, air in the rear. Thing’s a champ, it’s great.”

Ashton: “I got a text from him saying we got a new ambulance. I replied, ‘who’s we?’ He texted back, ‘Well, you and me, babe. We got a new ambulance. We pick it up tomorrow.’ We got it home, and we’ve put 20,000 miles on it since January.”

Shirley. Clinton, OK

She didn’t even ask her husband.

“1982 we had a truck stop on the west side of I-40. Everybody kept goin’ up on gas. We kept warning them we were going to buy some land. We tried to buy that land, but that guy didn’t want to sell it. One day I was workin’, he comes in and he goes, ‘You kids want to buy that land?’ He goes, ‘My wife’s got cancer.’ I said, ‘Yes!’ I didn’t even ask my husband. And, we went over there and built a stop, and it’s still over there today, exit 53, two miles down the road—Pendleton’s Truck Stop.  ”

“We run it til 2006, then my husband, he got cancer of the kidney. He passed away and then I tried to run it, what, two years. I just couldn’t do it by myself. I sold it. I farm and I raise cattle. I just live a mile away.”

100521   Elk City > Joplin. Mileage: 317

Slow getting up and started this morning. Fixed oatmeal. On road about 9:15. Georaphy changed from expansive plains to heavily forested (yellow poplars, oaks), gently rolling hills similar to Ohio Valley area. Very inefficient ride. No sooner started than stopped for gas. Then to pee. Gas. Pee. Pee. Pee. One of those days. Camped again at a KOA. Have discovered that KOAs seem to be located very near, like right on top of major highways. As much as I hate noise when I’m trying to sleep, the ever present traffic is of no concern. Set up camp as soon as arrived, fearing rain. Nice hot shower. 90-Minute nap; slept like a rock, nightmare (last night, too).

Realized today while riding that I feel happy—not always the case. Like doing this. Motorcycle is comfortable, effortless to ride, though 6 hours riding is enough.

Shot no portraits today. Will spend the evening editing and posting stories from yesterday. Looks like rain on the long drive to St. Louis tomorrow. Will seek hotel for the night and probably an extra rest day.

100621    Joplin > Collinsville Mileage: 286  Duration: 6:30

I’m so tired I can barely type, keep my eyes open. Tough day of riding through weather.

7:30 - 8:55 dense, wet fog

8:55 - 1:05 rain, heavy at times

1:05 - 2:00 partially sunny

Late breakfast in Lebanon, MO at Waffle House. Got a few glances as I walked in dripping all over the floor. Photographed Jerry and recorded his coon story. Variety of stories people come up with fascinates me.

Staying at nice hotel in Collinsville just east of St. Louis, so nice. Even offer free dinner. So nice. Will stay an extra day luxuriating in the niceness.

Photographed Elizabeth and her grandfather, Ron, with whom I have things in common.

Photographed Ernie, with whom I have things in common.

Found this quote apropos today:

Despite the rain and the cold I still loved riding the bike. Loaded and lardy it may have been, but it gave me a buzz – always. The challenge of keeping it upright in difficult conditions, the smooth lean and swing of the bends, the instant response and power of the engine, a touch of the brakes at just the right moment, the visor (long since replaced) slightly open or locked shut depending on rain and condensation, the chill on my chin, the air in my face, the rumble beneath, a glance to the instruments and compass, a flick in the mirrors, the satisfaction of forging on, whatever the weather. BEARBACK, Dr. Pat Garrod

Jerry. Lebanon, MO

They got ‘em an English Tick.

“About 1983, 84 we moved into this area, and my father-in-law and I searched around for a good coon dog. So every night when season was in we’d go out and do our coon huntin’. This coon dog that we got, this fella that owned him, said we could take him and try him for a week and if we didn’t like him we wouldn’t have to buy him. We took him out the first week, and we made quite a bit of money with him selling coon hides. The guy came by and asked what we thought, and we said, ‘Well, we’d like to try him for a few more days,’ and he said that’d be fine. And we did. After a few days we had enough money to buy a $1,200 coon dog and pocket some money. 

“ We had that English Tick. My brother-in-law, he had a Walker coon hound that he claimed to be a good dog. He went out with us, but the only thing that Walker could tree was a possum! (laughing) He got mad because we were teasing him and wouldn’t go out with us anymore. He got rid of his old dog.”

Ron, Elizabeth Collinsville, IL

When grandma got sick… morning, noon, and night.

Elizabeth: Grandma was our girl, between gardening, and everything you did outside: on the boat and rock climbing and rock hunting and fishing and cooking. What didn’t we do with Grandma?

Ron: Everything…

Ron: Family got very tight. We were living in Arkansas on Bulls Shoal Lake. In 2002, they found a tumor in her breast. We sold the house, went home, and wound up in a duplex. Three years after we moved our two granddaughters, our grandson, and my daughter moved in with us. When grandma got sick—this granddaughter especially­­—they stayed very, very close to my wife. She had four brain surgeries, gaminite radiation. She walked into the hospital with a walker. When they brought her down they had a feeding tube on her and a trach. She was there 23 days and they decided, you know Medicare and everything, that it was time to move her to another facility. They said it was a therapy hospital, right. There was no therapy to it.

Elizabeth: It was horrible.

Ron: They took her in on a gurney.

Elizabeth: Dirty.

Ron: I brought her home. After 21 more days. They never did anything. Never took her off the feeding tube, off the trach. They wanted me to take her to another facility. Enough is enough. I was with her everyday 7 days a week. And, I thought, ‘No I’m not doing this. I’m taking her home.’ And I took care of her, um…

Elizabeth: Morning, noon, and night.

Ernie Collinsville, IL

Didn’t want anything he could just hop on and ride.

“It’s a ‘77 Harley Davidson Sportster Ironhead. I don’t know anything about Harleys, but, um, my dad used to drag race motorcycles, so I grew up around ‘em. And this would be my second motorcycle. Only reason I got it is I stay right down the street and, ‘Summer, wow, and got this nice job. Let me get a bike.’ And so my kids’ mother would agree with it. We’re driving one vehicle right now so she said, ‘That’d be nice so I can have my truck!’ So yeah, I got the bike; she actually found the bike for me. Yeah, that surprised me, but I got the bike. It’s a fixer-upper. I wanted a fixer-upper. I didn’t want anything I could just hop on and ride. I wanted to fill out the bike and add my own parts, make it something a part of me. So that’s what I’m doin’ so far.”

100721 Collinsville

Tough night sleeping. Had a Diet Coke and dark chocolate candy bar for an afternoon snack at a rest stop out of the rain. Kept me awake; finally to sleep about 1:00, my eyes very unhappy. Unhappiness soon returned, this time throughout my entire body, when the room’s alarm clock in and of itself b u z z z z z e d at 5:30. So much for sleep. Groggy at breakfast in hotel. Invited to sit with Elizabeth and Ron... very good company.

Resting today with only one important task at hand: LUNCH at BOB EVANS. So glad to be back in the land of Bob Evans Restaurants. Ordered usual sausage patty sandwich with cheese and pickles and well-done country fried potatoes. My midwestern-food-accustomed-stomach is very happy indeed.

Spent a few hours designing the book that will result from the photos and stories captured on the trip.

An observation: nice to see gas prices falling: Premium gas in Newberry Springs, CA — $4.99/gallon. Regular gas in Collinsville, IL — $2.89/gallon. What the... ?!?!?! Oh, the blessings of living in California. Or, perhaps better said, the blessings of traveling outside of California!

100821    Collinsville > Randolph County Mileage: 342    Duration: 7:10 hrs

Met Nestor in the parking lot outside the hotel as I packed the motorcycle. Ate breakast with him and his wife and then photographed him before we rushed off our separate ways. 

50 or 60 miles into Illinois the landscape became very familiar, making me happy and feeling like I was back home to canoe the lazy rivers, hike through the jungle like dense hardwood forests. Crossed into Indiana—where I was born, where I went to college, where I came to faith, where we lived as a newly weds, where our first son was born, where I had my first real job, where I bicycled long distances and began backpacking, where I became serious about photography—the only place that feels like home.

Hoped to avoid rain today, but alas some more near Crawfordsville, windy and cold mixed with tiny hail. For some reason my rain paints leaked today, first time. Perhaps because of all that, I missed a turn and ended up in  heavily congested downtown Indianapolis. Took me an extra 1.5 hours to reach Marty and Diane’s farm outside of Muncie. What a beautiful property surrounding their historic 1850s brick house. 

Wonderful dinner and early to bed after a long, trying ride.

Nestor Collinsville, IL

Essence of his life.

“I am Nestor. I am from Peru and came here in 1969. I was single and did not speak English. I married my wife, and I learned the language from her. We have been married almost 50 years and have five grandkids. I taught school most of my life (all ages). I enjoy playing the guitar and serving the Lord having worked in church most of my life. And, I am very happy right now. In an essence that’s my life.”

100921 Randolph County, IN

Woke up well-rested to a beautiful morning of soft sunshine filtering through the leaves of the pines and oaks and illuminating the maple tree lined drive on the farm. A space infused with as much peace as with light.

Met Marty and two fellow bike riders, Larry and Kerry, for a rest break on the nearby bike trail at a small country gas station/convenience store at the junction of two national highways—35 and 36. Arrived early and photographed Johnny, Christy, and Ben. What an amazing crossroads of humanity frequents this place. Got an idea do a book of portraits of the incredible variety of folks that stop by here. (Designed a book cover later in the day).

Rode in Marty’s time capsule—an all original 1954 aqua green Chevrolet with only 40,000 miles—fifteen miles to the aged, though nicely restored, school house in Williamsburg for a classic car show fundraiser for a firefighter fighting cancer. Intermingled with hundreds of folks there meandering about the cars and ate a delicious pulled-pork lunch in the gym, which just wreaks of Indiana high school basketball—an exceedingly high level of sport, which only a true hoosier can appreciate, knowing full-well that it should be included in the Olympics! Hyperbole, you say. Tell me so after your first edge-of-your-seat game with Gene Hackman.

Before we left, photographed Nathan, the demolition derby driver, Elam the young amish man, and Gunner, the future classic car owner. Photographed Marty piloting the time machine through the maze of county blacktop backroads to the farm. Diane cooked up an amazing hamburger and homemade (from the garden) fries for dinner. Ended a delightful day talking into to darkness on the front porch.

Johnny Losantville, IN

Looked like the “Undertaker” but was a good guy.

“I worked in corrections. I worked in the local county jail in New Castle for about a year and about six months. There was a lot of wild stuff that happened there. I’d say that the funniest thing was that we had this guy who was about 7’ tall. I’m about 6’6” but he was a big guy. He wasn’t all there mentally, but he was alright. He looked like the ‘Undertaker,’ if you’re familiar. One of the scariest guy’s I ever met. 

“We had an emergency so I was the only one in the booking area at the time they brought him in. I didn’t know that he was off his rocker, so to speak. So I was just chattin’ with him, and I had to do a strip search. I took him into the bathroom and of course this guy’s towering over me, he’s huge. Nobody had told me that you never knew what he was going to do. He reached into his pockets and said, ‘I’ve got something to show you,’ and that’s usually never a good sign. I didn’t know if he was going to pull something out because sometimes the officers don’t do a guy right and then he’s got a knife on ‘em, or drugs. Well, he pulled out two rocks. He’s like, ‘This one’s Jesus, and this one is the Holy Ghost,.’ He’s like. ‘Hold out your hand.’ I’m like completely baffled at this point because I don’t think he’s completely there.

“Because I’m a tall guy, too, he became convinced that I was his son. So he got really cool with me all of a sudden. He didn’t get mad or anything. He was convinced that I was Thor and he was Odin. Yeah. He was convinced he was a religious figure, but he was a good guy.”

Christy Losantville, IN

Bigger and better things.

“My husband and I met growing up in school. We got together at a local fair just down the road called the Mooreland fair. We’d go every year, and one year we rode the Ferris wheel once. That was in 1989, and we have been together since then. We’ve had a lot of struggles, we’ve had a divorce pending. We’ll have been married 30 years soon. So we decided if we can make it to 30 years it was going to be a big-assed bash. That is what we’re getting ready for this weekend. We’re just looking forward to bigger and better things in the future.”

Ken Losantville, IN

Out enjoying the country.

“Alright, I’m an over-the-road truck driver. Do entertain hauling, and I had a weekend off so I figured that I would go see an old school friend whose not doing well. I haven’t seen him in 15 or 16 years, and he recently reached out to me so I figured I’d get my bike out today and ride across and go up and see him in Muncie and spend some time with him. It’s been a good trip so far. I’ve got about 15 miles to go and I’ll be there. I live out in Middletown, Ohio, about an 85 mile trip. Out just enjoying’ the country while I can.”

Larry, Marty, Kerry Cardinal Greenway Bike Trail

Lo and behold.

“Ok, the four of us, Kerry, Marty, Larry, and Kenny, were riding on the bike path one day. While we were riding Kenny told us the story of the day he was taking a long ride in the fall and there were butterflies all over the trail. Suddenly, he noticed one ahead sitting on a pile of excrement from a dog, and he thought to himself, ‘I’m glad that butterfly is down there.’ As he rode by, lo and behold that little butterfly flew up and alighted on his lower lip. He couldn’t believe it and started spitting and…”

Nathan Williamsburg, IN

It was meant to happen.

“Actually, how I got into cars, its kinda been bred into me. My grandpa was into the Thunderbirds and the Cadillacs and whatnot. Growin’ up my dad introduced me to demolition derby. And of course, these Kingswood Chevrolet station wagons are kind of the holy grail of demolition derby cars.

“Over my time I’ve destroyed a lot of nice stuff. Roughly five and half years ago I had to have back surgery. Ended up with 8 screws and 2 rods in my back. I wouldn’t say I hurt myself in the derby, but it certainly didn’t help. It definitely hurt my bad back. So now I can’t be in the derby so I promote them. 

“I still like this old, big clunky stuff. I thought maybe I’d buy one. I’d been trying to find one as a driver. It just so happened this one popped up. My son saw it on Facebook. It just so happened that I just sold my rental 3 days before it was posted, and I was like, ‘it was meant to happen.’ And here we are. I love turning heads. A lot of people they want hot rods or this and that. I’ve got a ‘72 Kingswood station wagon that’s a hundred feet long. I’ve always liked to be different.”

Elam. Williamsburg, IN

Everything here benefits Joe.

“Joe, one of our firefighters was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer. We decided to do a fundraiser, a benefit for him. So a church in our area and the community center donated the parking lot. Most of the food was donated, actually all of the food was donated. A group of classic car owners from Muncie decided to donate a car show. Everything here benefits Joe. They had a motorcycle ride this morning. Fire trucks escorted them in. Everything you see here benefits Joe. We’ve had a really fun time and probably fed over 800 people. Yeah, it’s been a good day. We’re really happy for Joe and his family.”

Gunner. Williamsburg, IN

Raymond L. built it. Daddy restored it

I am four years old. My Jeep was built by Mr. Raymond L. in 1983 for my daddy when he was a child. My daddy restored it two years ago.

101021    Randolph County, IN

Attended Assembly of God church with Marty and Diane followed by lunch at a Mexican restaurant, desert at Duncan Donuts (love this Indiana lifestyle!), and a beautiful drive through the country along side of the White River. Stopped at a very old cemetery near their house, which includes graves of Civil War casualties.

Spent the remainder of the afternoon enjoing the warm breeze out on the porch transcribing stories from
the photos taken yesterday. Late in the afternoon Jerry and Rodney and his son, Jake stopped by for a great 3-hour jam, mostly bluegrass gospel. Very talented players and singers. Great evening. Went to bed feeling very blessed to be spending time here with such wonderful friends.

I haven’t mentioned one negative aspect of life here on the farm. A year or so ago, 49 wind turbines were erected—at enormous effort and expanse—in this section of Randolph County to generate electricity equivalent to the output of a coal-fired electrical plant. The scale of the project is enormous, Regardless of whether or   not they are effective, the towering white turbines are a blight on this otherwise pristine pastoral landscape. A blight both visually: spinning 100’+ white blades and tower, red flashing lights at night, and aurally: swooshing sounds of the blades slicing through the air at speeds of 100-150 mph or higher. A travesty to inflict upon long-term residents having lived their lives in peace before this massive intrusion upon their space.

Marty Randolph County, IN

A time capsule!

“As we were driving through through the little town of Kensington, Kansas, we passed by a car lot, and I see an aqua colored ‘54 Chevy sittin’ off to the side of all the other used cars. I did a double take and made a U-turn. I said to Diane, ‘I got to find out about that car! I’m not going to buy it, I just want to find out what the story is and how much.’

“So I pull in there and I’m looking it over, and I think to myself,‘That looks like a time capsule, it’s totally original—the chrome, the paint, everything about it. I eased over to the car salesman, and I asked him, ‘What’s the story on this chevy?’ He said, ‘Well, it’s for sale.’ I said, ‘How much?’ He said, ‘$7,000.’ Instead of saying, ‘Wow, that’s a good price!’ I said, ’I’ll give you $5,000 for it right now.’ He said, ‘$6,000,’ and I said, ‘Well, $5,500, I’ll go as high as $5,500.’ Then I asked him, ‘What did you do to that car anyway?’ He said, ‘Washed it. That’s all I did. $6,000.’ I said, ‘$5,700, that’s all I can afford today,’ and he said, ‘$6,000.’

“So I turned away and started walking towards my Suburban. Diane was sittin’ in it the whole time. The salesman called to me, ‘Come into the office and I’ll write it up for $5,700.’ I turned back around and started walking with him, but said, ‘My wife isn’t going to be very happy with me because I just told her I wasn’t going to buy this car.’ He stopped, turned around, and walked over to the Surburban, waiting for Diane to roll down the window. She did and he said to her, ‘Do you love your husband? Do you trust him?’ She said, ‘Yes I love him and I do trust him.’ ‘Ok,’ he said.

“We put it on a trailer to pull home. All the way back, every time I looked in the rear view mirror there was that original ‘54 Chevy grill and front end. I seen that thing, and I just kept smiling all the way back to Indiana.”

Diane Randolph County, IN

A privilege.

“Often when I’m planting, weeding, or planning my next landscape project, I try to visualize the property in 1832, when Allen Driskill, a New Englander homesteaded 100 acres for the price of $100. After first building a log home and clearing the land to farm and the labor of raising his 13 children he at some point he began the process of preparing the lumber and baking bricks from the clay deposit he found on the property.

“Move forward to 1963, the house and acres were purhased by my parents, and renovation of the ‘Old Brick House’ began. All of us, mom and dad, and my six siblings began restoring windows, rebuilding chimneys, stripping paint off all of the house’s woodwork. From the time we began the renovation it took 3 years for just the house. Then the property...

“Move forward to 1978, and my husband, Marty, and I became the new owners. We continued renovating the grounds, removing a 100 years of junk, and planted an orchard of 700 apple trees and 300 peach trees. As time went by, we continued to update the interior of the house.

“Now after 43 years we consider being ‘caretakers’ of the Old Brick House and the acres it rests upon... a privilege.“

101121 Randolph County, IN

Slow moving this morning, though found myself speeding up a bit as I raced into the kitchen for Diane’s biscuits and sausage gravy! Drove to town for a haircut and photographed Elisia. Quiet afternoon relaxing

Diane shared stories of the history of their historic house. Fascinating 

glimpse back in time to an era that is hard to even imagine today. 

Arriving on horseback patriarch Driskill constructed the house from local timber and bricks handmade from a clay pit in a nearby field. By the tme Diane’s parents bought the property in the early 60s, the house was in great disrepair and only the surrounding 80 acres were of any value. Her parents and Diane and her sisters and brother spent countless hours restoring the old house to liveable condition. She and Marty, afer they married, slowly remodeled the hosue into a fully-functioning modern equipped home. Meanwhile, Diane has created extensive luxurious gardens on the property. And together they have planted orchards of apples and peaches.. Their house is indeed a marvel to behold, both of beauty and a testament to perseverance and fortitude.

Elisia Muncie, IN

She’s a whole little person.

“My favorite thing to do is to spend time with my daughter. Her name is Vivyd Arya Sky. She will be 4 months old on October 25th, and she is so smart. She’s just so smart. She already knows how to wave; she’s said, ‘Hi!’ I like taking her with me really wherever I go: if I visit family, if I go visit friends, we like to go shopping together—‘Who doesn’t like to shop?’ She loves being outside; she loves looking at all the colors. She’s my little sidekick. She’s my favorite person in the whole world. I enjoy just spending time with her and watching her grow and watching her learn new things. It’s crazy… she’s a whole little person.

“I’d love to bring her up in the hair industry. Maybe she’ll like to do it one day, or maybe she’ll just learn a few things, learn people skills. So yeah…”

101221 Randolph County, IN

Up and at ‘em easy, packed cleaned laundry on motorcycle. Photographed Diane in front of her historic house. A real piece of history.

Rode motorcycle to Fountain City, Indiana to meet up  with Marty, Larry, and Kerry again for lunch, this time at Fountain Acres Foods, an amazing Amish grocery store/deli. Delicious HUGE sandwich. Was fortunate to meet Stevie, the store’s owner, in the parking lot. Couldn’t photograph him, but he told me a good story. Rode back on Davis Martin Road through farm after farm under a threatening, leaden gray sky… an ominous foreshadow of winter ahead.

(Stevie*) Fountain City, IN

Have a smiley day!

“I’m Stevie*, and I’m fourth in line here with the Fountain Acres Foods in Fountain City, Indiana, right in the heart of America. Being fourth in line—God is first, the bank is second, my wife is third—you can see where that puts me; that puts a lot of weight on me. So I’m the little guy down at the end of the line. 

“My uncle asked me years ago, before we even had the store here, ‘Stevie do you think   you’ll ever amount to anything?’ We kid a lot, and I said, “I don’t know, I’m trying.’ He said, ‘If you ever do, give God the honor. If you don’t you’re stealing.’ 

“We are very blessed here. I hate people going out of here having met the owner and he didn’t make any mention of who the actual owner is. That’s my story, and I’m going stick to it. You have a smiley day!”

*Stevie is Amish, a handsome man, approximately 50, with a full beard. 

“The Amish hold humility as a highly-cherished value and view pride as a threat to community harmony. Because items such as personal photographs can accentuate individuality and call attention to one’s self, they are prohibited outside of the home. Moreover, the Amish believe that photographs in which they can be recognized violate the Biblical commandment, ‘Thou shalt not make unto thyself a graven image.’ They want to be remembered by the lives they lived and the examples they left, not by physical appearance.”   www.discoverlancaster.com

101321 Randolph County > Muncie > Indianapolis Mileage: 52 Duration 1:32

The Last Breakfast, yet again delicious, and I said goodbye (for the time being) to Marty and Diane. Decided to ride via Muncie in order to photograph Tim, a fascinating guy who owns an auto repair service. Then the short 40 miles to Indianapolis to spend two nights with Ruthie, Nancy’s (deceased wife) life-long best friend. Shortly after arriving Ruthie and I had a religious experience: lunch at Noble Romans Craft Pizza and Pub. I didn’t know they chain was still operating. The deep-dish cheese, sausage, and onion pizza was every bit as good as the dozens I ate years ago when attending Indiana University. Wonderful to reconnect with Ruthie and Jay.

Tim Muncie, IN

“I had an old ‘57 two-door Ford Fairlane for the stock car races around, in Anderson, Winchester, Salem. I got to wonderin’ what it would be like being upside down in it. We had it out in the backyard and my brother had a backhoe so we flipped it upside down to see what it might be like one of these days, because I knew I’d have a car upside down some time. 

“Yeah, I figured it out right then. It’s not too good a feeling to start with because you can’t get out very well, strapped in there with a 5-belt harness. It’s hard to get out when you’re upside down. When we got done we just rolled the car back over.

“A few years later, I flipped one over at Anderson Speedway. I rolled it actually during practice, but we just rolled it back over, and I raced it that night.”

101521 - 101921    Flight: Indianapolis > Washington, DC

I am certainly experiencng a huge variety of the disparate sights and sounds this country has to offer: desolate deserts, majestic mountains, plain plains, calm countryside, chaotic cities—each with distinct occupants. Experiences for which I am thankful, reminders that our pot of incongruity is indeed still melting, sticky syncretism the glue binding together this united of states.

102021 Indianapolis > Brown County Mileage: 50 Duration 1:30

Flew back from DC yesterday afternoon. Fantastic visit with Andrew and Penelope. Great joy to meet her family. Dinner and lodging again last night with Jay and Ruthie—so great to catch up with dear, dear friends.

Up early this morning to pack the motorcycle before Suzy and Dave joined us for breakfast. Again, nice to catch up, lots of memories of time spent with Nancy. Easy ride to Brown County. Met Bonnie, at Brownie’s Restaurant across the road from Bill Monroe’s festival grounds in Beanblossom, just north of tourist-infested Nashville, Indiana. Absolutely wonderful to catch up with her, one of my very closest and longest friends and favorite people.

I had carefully planned this trip to arrive in Brown County State Park during this third week of October in order to experience the magic of its Fall leaves, which regularly compete with those in Vermont for the most spectacular color. Unfortunately, the change is late this year, probably will be poor anyway, because of the very dry past summer. I am so disappointed. Though Indiana is for the most part a very flat state, this county about 35 miles south of Indianapolis, is full of 1,000’ hills and dales covered by dense hardwood forests as far as the eye can see in any direction. So much for the plans of man…

Yet just being here, however, my little tent nestled amongst the trees of the park, fulfills my deep longing for home. This area alone, the park in particular, is the only place I have ever felt at home. Just riding across the county line felt as if I’d arrived. The verdant green grass covered fields bordered by majestic maples, oaks, poplars, sycamores, beeches, walnuts, hickories speak deeply to my soul. 100+ year old cabins lining sky blue ponds awaken a longing, which is never far from my mind, to live out my days here.

No saturated red, yellow, orange leaves, but peace. An inflatable mattress that no longer inflates, not so peaceful. Going to be an uncomfortable, back breaking night. Hope to replace it tomorrow in town. A light dinner of oatmeal and hot chocolate before mounting the rack… Hope to meet a few folks and take some portraits again tomorrow, including kilt-wearing Corey WHO LOANED ME A MATTRESS!

Walk after dinner and nice light in the sky and a few leaves. Thank YOU.

102121    Brown County, IN

Rain didn’t materialize last night. Lunch at Abe Martin Lodge in the park with another long-time, close friend, Patty. Lots of catching up on our families and many friencs from our time at the Lighthouse, a spontaneous Christian ministry during the Jesus Movement at Indiana University in the early 70’s. Looked at a couple of old photos of Patty’s wedding in which I took place—I adamantly refuse to believe that was me! Photobraphed Patty doing delicate crochet work, for which she is well-known, before we parted.

Rode around familiar country roads throughout Brown County past at least 40 old cabins in the woods, the kind I dream of (with the help of Zillow) owning here. Stopped in Nashville for a snack at a favorite restaurant and potographed Susan—good story, and then Chris, as well. Returned to my campsite in the park, winding up and down hills along ridge tops overlooking vistas with endless miles of hardwood forests in the distance.

Bit chilly camping tonight, but snuggled up in one of the 47 year old Gerry down sleeping bags Nancy and I bought when first married and still ABLE to backpack.

Patty Brown County, IN

Everybody admired it.

“In 1974, Roger and I got engaged. We didn’t have a lot of money so I happened to find a crochet pattern I liked and decided to crochet my wedding dress. It took 12 skeins of yarn. I was in college so I would take it to lectures and sit with the dress under the desk and crochet where people couldn’t see it until it got too big and I’d flip my pencil up and take notes. 

“I carried it around until it just got too big to crochet in classes. It was so heavy. An art teacher, who knitted clothes for his wife, showed me how to put an undergarment on it so the dress wouldn’t fall down. So I finished it; actually I finished putting the flowers on it the day of the wedding. I wore it May 11th, 1974. Everybody admired it and now my daughter has it vacuum sealed in her closet.”

Chris Nashville, IN

It was crazy.

“Basically I was a finish carpenter; I started as a framer when I was 18. I worked my way up, had my own business, had a crew, had a woman, kids, all that stuff. Then in 2007, the housing market crashed, no houses to do. Me and her came down here, and we opened up a shop. I was going to whittle, and she was going to sell some other things. Her stuff didn’t sell. She lost interest. We ended up splittin’ up because of all this stuff. It was crazy. 

“Basically at night after the finish carpentry work, I would whittle. I did whittling for 10 years and then started doing the chainsaw. I knew I had to get quicker, got a chainsaw. I just kept going, going, wouldn’t give up through thick and thin, you know what I mean. It ain’t been easy, but I knew I had to just get better and better. That’s what it is to be an artist. You’re not going to just make money right off the bat. So it’s been 16 years now I’ve been here, 26 years working all together.”

Susan Nashville, IN

Born on a motorcycle.

“I was born on a motorcycle. Well, I was born in New Hampshire. My father rode a Harley Davidson. He rode in the circus; he rode a straight wall, he was a motorcycle guy. When I was 2 months old he built a wooden box  on the back of his Harley for me, and drove me to Massachusetts where my grandmother lived.

“I’ve been riding a bike all my life; just bought a bike 3 months ago, a 1300cc Honda, really nice bike. My boyfriend and Bought it. I wanted a motorcycle. We went to get some Mexican food and there was a picture of a bike for sale. We never even looked at it. We just said,‘There it is, let’s get it.’ So we did.

“I wish I was in your shoes. There’s nothing I’d rather do than ride my motorcycle, except maybe shoot my guns.”

102221 Brown County, IN

Cool night, mid-40s but no rain. Broke camp, prepared gourmet breakfast: instant oatmeal, hot chocolate, Tang. Interviewed Cory, speed skater record holder. Rode about 40 minutes through light rain to meet friends, Dick and Cindy, at the Gatesville Country Store in eastern Brown County. Photographed Robin at the store, where I couldn’t resist ordering a Hoosier special: fried bologna/American cheese sandwich. Great story from Robin of a gem collector who found four (gave her one) diamonds in Salt Creek running behind the store.

Rode a bit further to their home on Sweetwater lake where Dick and Cindy retired—lovely. Lots of catching up from our days together at Indiana University and afterwards. Lots of talk of Nancy.

Cory Brown County, IN

2010 500 Meters 46.24 Seconds

“Ok, I wear a kilt because my family is from Scotland and Ireland. I’m trying to trace
it back down, but all of us are fair-skinned, red haired. I’ve been looking into one for awhile, finally pulled the trigger because wearing pants kind of sucks.

“Skating, it’s been in my family since my dad started when he was like 10 years old. His mom, my grandma, was an artistic skater, a figure skater on wheels. Everything you see on ice in the Olympics has a counterpart in roller. They all started out that way for cross-training because you can’t get ice time all year round. So people have always done
it on wheels.

“My dad wasn’t all that well off. He came from a family of 14 or 13. He has always raced. so he would go to the skating rink and participate in session races. If he won he’d get a free pop and a slice of pizza… that would be his dinner. 

“That’s how he started coaching me and that led up to me setting a record in 2010—the fastest five laps in America: 500 meters in 46.24 seconds on wheels. My claim to fame in speed skating. In that race I ended up getting fourth off the starting line. I had to pass someone every single lap to be able to win. When I crossed the finish line I heard the announcer say, ‘New unofficial national record!’ I was really pretty hyped; all my family was cheering. My dad had set some records back in the day when he was racing on regular roller skates with four wheels, side by side. Inline skates came out in the late 90’s about when I started.”

Robin Gatesville, IN

Cool things.

“In Salt Creek back behind the store they do a lot of gold-panning. But because of the glacial tilt from Canada we find a lot of other pretty neat stuff back there. There’s a 47-carat one in the Smithsonian in Washington, DC that came out of the creek about four miles from here.

“This is a diamond. It was found down in the creek. This is a tester to see if diamonds are real. You see those red and green lights and hear the beep? That lets you know that it’s real. This fellow found four diamonds that day, and he let me have one. He was originally from Columbus, IN, and now lives and works for a mining company in Nevada. I don’t remember his name.

“That’s one of the cool things that came out of our creek.”

102321    Brown County

Dick and I had a very enjoyable time spending much of the day driving on the Back Roads Brown County
Studio Tour. Visited 5 of the 20 art studios and saw the work of some 13 artists: metal work, wood furniture, blacksmithing, falconeering, water colors, weaving, printmaking. Absolutely fascinating to see such a variety of work by these artists dispersed throughout the county’s dense forests. Brown County remains to this day an artist colony at heart. Another reason I love it here so. Throughout our drive I was overwhelmed at my attraction to the forested hills and valleys, green grass meadows, cabins of old and new, creeks and ponds. As my son says, ‘Brown County is your happy place, dad.’ Indeed!

Lunch at the famous, old (1851) Story Inn at the junction of State Highway 135 South and Elkinsville Road just south of the horse camping area in the state park. More horses ‘parked’ out front than cars. Great lunch outside listening to old-timey music. Hadn’t been there for many years; memories of the last time with Nancy.

Brad Nashville, IN

A big-ass mill.

“So anybody can get plans and build something with money, but to build something alone on your dreams, to put something together and see it before its made… that’s hard to do. This place here, I wasn’t looking for property, wasn’t looking for an investment. My kids grew up here on this creek playing on this little bridge. I thought, ‘Man, what if we had part of this creek, actually owned this property.’ My wife said, ‘Do not buy that property.’

“I came over with the loggers, whose dad used to own this, and they told me there are X amount of trees here [I could sell] so I justified buying it by using that money to make payments. 

“So, I had no plans to build a mill here, nothing like that. My wife said, ‘If you’re going to build something over there why don’t you build one of those,’ pointing to a painting of a mill we had on the wall. When I turned to look it was like, ‘Holy cow! I’m going to put a big-ass mill on that property.’

“The idea grew and kind of morphed. The whole structure is poplar beams, walnut floors, cherry ceilings, hickory bedrooms—we built it with materials from the property, damned up our water source from the creek that powers the wheel. We built the water wheel in the driveway—3,850 lbs. It takes very little water to turn it.

“This has become a place now, we’ve been open 12 years. People have come here for a long time. They’ve said, ‘We used to look forward for a week to come out here.’ For me to be a part of these people’s lives and to be a tradition… this place makes people happy. Of course I’ve got to sell stuff, right, to make a living, but it’s much more than selling things.”

Luke Brown County, IN

Stuff like that.

“So, I started blacksmithing in 2018. I’m being mentored by an older gentleman who’s been doing it for about 35 years. He made all the hooks and handles and hardware for my dad for a long time. He retired and didn’t want to do it any longer, but I was interested so he’s been mentoring me. So, now I do it for my dad and make gifts for people and stuff like that.

“Last month we went to a reenactment up in Mississinewa, IN, so we did a War of 1812 reenactment. I blacksmithed all of our utensils, frying pan, all of that kind of stuff. We go up there and wear 1800-period clothing, and my brother and I joined the volunteer militia so we got to be in the last battle.”

Isaiah Nashville, IN

A cool experience.

“So, I’ve been interested in birds and flying things pretty much all of my life. I got
into birding when I was about 11 or 12. My cousin Trevor, we’re really close, he’s a wildlife researcher so he really got me into birding as a young guy. He did this since he was 16 or 17, falconry. 

“So, I started going to falconry club meets; I went for several years. You have to get a sponsor for two years to be a falconer. It’s kind of an interesting thing, you can’t ask someone to sponsor you. You have to kind of just prove that you’re worthy in a sense. You have to take a test and get your license. Then sponsors will start looking at you and say, ‘he’s serious about it.’ But I wasn’t finding anybody, and then my cousin, Trevor, moved up here to Indiana about four years ago, I guess, and said he’d sponsor me.

“So, we went out and trapped my first bird, named Frost, in the wild. That was 2 years ago. I hunted him for a year and then this red tailed hawk with me today, Dez, last year. It was really cool, a cool experience.”

Sarabeth Nashville, IN

A promise… not to put it in storage.

“I met Nancy when she was about 84 years old. She had bought an iron hand press (made in 1907) I think from Cincinnati, Ohio, for herself when she was in her 20’s. She lived in Lexington, Kentucky at the time and worked under Victor and Carolyn Hammer*, who were letterpress people back in the 50s. They would use lunch breaks to print their own little book under what they called High Noon press. But after Nancy bought the press she promptly got married, had kids and a farm and put the press in storage for over 40 years. 

“I met her in her 80s, and she had pulled it out of storage and set it up in her formal dining room. All her friends made fun of her. She’s like, ‘I’m going to print this book that I’ve been promising these people all of my life.’ She was unable to do it by herself so I was introduced to her, and I would go to her house and we would sit and drink tea and eat cookies for like 2 hours and then I’d tell her, ‘Nancy, shut it down. I got to get this thing done!’ It took like 3 years to print this book because I was still working at the time and taking care of my grandmother.

“When the book was done she gave me the press and made me promise to never put it in storage, so I print a calendar for her every year. This is the sixth year I’ve printed it. Now I print mostly linoleum cuts, wood cuts, occasionally a book.”

*Poet, social justice advocate, and theologian Thomas Merton (1915--1968) is arguably the most influential American Catholic author of the twentieth century. In his short lifetime, he penned over seventy books and maintained a brisk correspondence with colleagues around the globe. However, many Merton scholars and fans remain unaware of the significant body of letters that were exchanged between the Trappist monk and Victor and Carolyn Hammer.

“Unable to leave his home at the Abbey of Gethsemani except on special occasions, Merton developed a unique friendship with this couple from nearby Lexington, Kentucky. Carolyn, who supplied Merton with many of the books he required for his writing and teaching, was a founder of the King Library Press at the University of Kentucky. Victor was an accomplished painter, sculptor, printer, and architect. The friendship and collaborations between Merton and the Hammers reveal their shared interest in the convergence of art, literature, and spirituality.”

Sandy Columbus, IN

60 Alpacas and then 20 more.

“I read a magazine article about apples. A retired couple had started an orchard in Texas. I told my husband about it, and he said, ‘Yeah, that sounds good, it would be a good retirement project for us.’ So, we got into the apple business first. After work we’d plant apple trees. We planted 300 the first year and 300 the next year and 300 the next year and irrigated and everything. 

“Then we went to a small farm show and met our first alpaca in the early 1990’s. It was really cute. A fellow from the state of Washington had a piper cub airplane and he had brought the baby alpaca to Columbia, Missouri. We said, ‘Oh, we’re going to get those one of these days, but we had kids in college so that had to wait. Then toward the end of the 1990’s I think, we had taught school and saved enough for the kids so we quit and bought ourselves some alpacas, a couple. My husband didn’t think we’d get too many, but pretty soon I went to an auction in Las Vegas and bought some more, and I bought some all over the place: Ohio, Washington state, and anyway… We ended up after so many years with 60 alpacas, and then I boarded 20 more.

“Finally one year sitting underneath an apple tree that was no longer functioning I decided I’d better retire. I sold the farm and moved closer to my son in Zionsville. He told me about Brown County, and I read that this was kind of an artist colony and that they have this artist tour every fall. And, I decided this is where I wanted to go. I had all this alpaca fiber and my spinning wheels and looms and everything and would continue making stuff. And now I have a shop.”

102421    Brown County, IN

Went to church with Dick and Cindy in Nashville, traditional service with solid expositional preaching and
incredible piano playing by a music profesor with a doctorate in performance. Lunch at the relatively new Hard Truth restaurant/distillery/event center, an amazing complex set on 325 beautiful acres of wooded rolling hills.

Tried to catch up with editing photos and stories for this book and  the trip blog... unsuccessful, napped instead. Rained hard on and off all day until a brief period of warm sunshine late in the afternoon gave us an opportunity to take a lovely boat ride around Sweetwater Lake. Finally, some colored leaves framed by deep blue sky and wispy clouds. Some beautiful reflections in the water.

Finished editing photos and stories and discovered a fascinating connection with Sarabeth’s story and renowned Catholic Theologian, Thomas Merton. I am overwhelmed by the mix of people I have met and photographed so far on the trip.

Dick Ninevah, IN

Listening to others.

“I worked for forty years in an office and like everyone there comes a time when you leave what demanded most of your attention and are faced with finding new meaning and things do do outside of work. Additionally, we moved to Brown County, IN and that brought new opportunities and challenges. We learned of Sweetwater Lake through our son-in-law and then began looking into possible lake houses. The lake is in the corner of the Brown County about a 30 minute drive to the county seat, Nashville, known for its many artists and musicians. Our grandkids live a short drive away, which gives us an opportunity to watch their sports and school activities.

“Meanwhile, I find meeting new people here and hearing their stories a most rewarding experience. Just listening to others it is so surprising what I discover.”

Cindy Ninevah, IN

Ever changing hills, valleys, and trees.

“When we bought our place in Brown County I looked forward as we drove here, excited to see the hills as we crossed the flat Indiana farm land. My husband teased me that it must be genetic because my father was born and raised in West Virginia. Now that we live in Brown County full-time, Rick’s visit has reminded me of how blessed I am to see the ever changing hills, valleys, and trees that cover this part of God’s creation.”

102521    Brown County, IN

Ran errands with Dick up in Greenwood, Indiana. Dark, dreary, rainy day. Shipped home the fantastic 4' x 6' alpaca wool throw rug I purchased from one of the studios we visited yesterday—will add texture to my house.

Visited the Brown County Art Gallery. Viewed an exhibition of 90+ impressionistic oil paintings by child art and music prodigy, Timothy Greatbatch. Pretty amazing but exhibition took up much of the gallery space so that, unfortunately, the gallery’s permanent collection of T. C. Steele paintings were in storage. Thankfully, the 45+ prints of Brown County by Gustave Baumann were hanging in the Dr. Robert E. Sexton Gallery. As we were viewing a video describing Dr. Sexton’s collection, who should walk in but Dr. Robert E. Sexton and Lyn Letsinger-Miller, president of the Brown County Art Gallery Foundation (who it turns out was a classmate of mine in the Radio and Television Department at IU in the early 70s). Unbeknownst to me she is the author of The Artists of Brown County, my favorite book on the impressionistic movement that took place in the early 1900s in Brown County; a book on display in my home. What a treat! Had a fascinating discussion about the Baumann prints and how Dr. Sexton had collected them over a period of years, tracking down every print Baumann ever made of the area.

Photographed Dr. Sexton and recorded his story, after which he invited Dick and I to visit his log cabin and tour his 28-acre property. Can’t put into words what an incredible treat this was. Again, I am overwhelmed by the people I am meeting in making this book. Feel as if I am being directed to meet very special people. Amazing!

Before going to bed photographed Cindy and recorded her story about the blessing of moving to Brown County.

Robert Brown County, IN

A fortunate run…

“I really enjoy coming here to the Brown County Art Gallery. I am particularly interested in Gustave Baumann and how he went about making his woodblock prints. He was a sculptor, wood carver, a printer, and an artist, who came from Chicago about 1910 at the suggestion of his graphic art friends and left Brown County for New York in 1917. I got so consumed with his work that I went out to Santa Fe, and I bought a couple of prints, and from that time on I decided they’d be fun to collect. I’ve had the good fortune of finding all of them, all of them that I know of that were done in Brown County, about 45 or so. 

“An interesting thing about Baumann is that he was friends with [impressionist painter] T. C. Steele. Steele mentioned to him one day that, ‘There is going to be a world’s fair in San Francisco—the Panama Pacific Fair—and they are going to have a juried selection of woodblock prints, and you ought to take a few of your prints there. I think you would enjoy it.’ In advance he made 4 large wood block prints, which in itself was a crazy feat. They were four of the largest woodblock prints ever made to date.

“He went out there and won a gold medal. And the jurists said, ‘Who in the hell is this Gustave Baumann, and where in the hell is Nashville, Indiana?’ That sort of put him on the map. 

“I feel very fortunate that I had a run of Baumann’s.”

102621 Brown County > Milford Mileage: 110 Duration: 2:30

C b O rr Lrrrr Drrrrrrr riding today—45º-50º, windy, gray overcast, damp. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr. Stopped for gas in Edinburgh and photographed Cole from nearby Camp Atterbury, after he helped me park my motorcycle on uneven ground. What a kind, courteous, committed patriot!

Arrived about noon in Milford on the eastern edge of greater Cincinnati, to stay with very close friends Mark and Bev. Allowed my stomach to dictate our lunch choice: Cincinnati Skyline Chili, a regional delight I have not experienced for years: 3 cheese/onion/mustard conies. Tasty heart burn.

Cole Edinburgh, IN

Jumped in, tried to help.

“Work for range control. Been in the military for several years now. 9/11 happened, I was in the painter’s union. I was working nights painting a factory, and I remember my dad waking me that morning, watching everything unfold on TV. Few of my buddies said, ‘Hey, we need to jump in and try to help,’ and that’s what landed me in the Army.

“Spent some time overseas, got in, didn’t know anything about the military, didn’t have any family that I know of that served. Started out as an E-nothing; should be higher ranking than I am now. That’s mainly my fault for not going to school and pressing myself to be as good… to earn a higher rank. 

“I grew up right here in Edinburgh, Indiana. Always knew Camp Atterbury. Spent a long time hunting in the woods around here. Ended up back home in Indiana working on the range at the Camp. I’d work here forever if they’d let me. It’s like a big, giant playground.”

102721    Milford

Up late, took too much medicine in the middle of the night for neuropathy; woke up with hang-over, very fuzzy. Ran a couple of errands. Mark cooked gourmet lunch. Photographed Jay and recorded her motivational story. Also James. Worked a bit on motorcycle, then rode to Mariemont to visit Paul, then Lynne, then to a fancy restaurant for dinner with old friends, Burr and Terry and Brad and Sarah. Much reminiscing over excellent, though pricey, food. Photographed Burr and recorded his somewhat miraculous story.

Strange riding around Mariemont, so many memories from high school and then later to raising family. Late to bed and anticipating early ride in the morning.

Jay Milford, OH

Whole new perspective.

“The most interesting thing that’s happened to me is two days after coming back from Covid-cation I got in a car accident on I-275. I got hit by two semis and a box truck. The box truck hit me and ricocheted off my back tire, and I got ping-ponged. I got beat up really bad. I walked away, and it gave me a whole new perspective on life: 

- you got to respect everybody

 - you got to just enjoy the moment

 - stop lingering on everything that’s bad in your life ‘cause it could be worse

 - keep a smile on your face

 - compliment people—you see someone having a bad day say, ‘You know what, your shirt looks great on you!’ 

“All that makes people happy, it turns their day around.”

James Milford, OH

And all that.

“I’ve been working here for the last two and half years. I have another job after they close this place. I repair computers, phones, printers, and all that. I also take care of animals all the time at home. Been taking care of my grandfather the last few years since he’s been sick—has diabetes and all that.

“When he was younger he used to drive his motorcycle everywhere. There wasn’t a place he didn’t drive it. Her took a trip from Jacksonville all the way to Los Angeles. He was always in a bunch of those biker gangs and stuff.”

Burr Mariemont, OH
A piece of paper.

“I knew when I left Procter & Gamble I wanted to get into Christian ministry, but I wasn’t sure how to do it. I got lined up with City Gospel Mission and Ben Huffine. Ben said, ‘You need to start mentoring a couple here,’ so I got involved. One thing led to another, and Ben called a meeting of various people like me, who were interested in the inner city and wanted to talk about what City Gospel Mission could do to meet the needs of people on the streets. So I went to the meeting, and Ben said, ‘I need somebody who will consider what’s been talked about here tonight, think about things, and come back in two weeks with a plan. Anybody here volunteer?’ And I raised my hand, and he said, ‘OK, Burr, you go ahead and do that.’ I left that meeting thinking, ‘Burr, you fool! You have no idea, absolutely no idea what to do.’

“As I was leaving, Tom, who lives in the inner city came up to me and gave me a piece of paper; I folded it and stuck it in my pocket. I got home, and I’m thinking, ‘Two weeks, I got to come up with something.’ I pulled the paper out of my pocket. I read it, and it sounded pretty interesting about how to meet the needs of some people in the inner city. So I called Tom the next day. I said, ‘Tom, where did you get this piece of paper?’ He said, ‘Well, you know I live in the inner city, and I see these men walking around, and I pray for them.’ And he said, ‘One night I woke up and I had had a dream, and I thought to myself I better write that down. In the morning, you won’t remember what this is about.’ So he wrote it down and he said, ‘That’s what I gave you.’

“So I took that, that was the blueprint. I went back [to City Gospel Mission] in two weeks and said, ‘Here’s an outline.’ I embellished it but not a whole lot. And that piece of paper had the principles, the five steps of what became Jobs Plus.”

102821    Milford > La Grange    Mileage: 96    Duration: 2:10

Left about 7:00 trying to ride the 100 or so miles needed before predicted rain began. Very dark, lots of fast traffice on I-275, then I-71, and again cold. Bit of a hairy ride, kind of scary. Met good friend, Vance, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, and rode with him to Louisville to pick up prescriptions for his ill mother-in-law. Good bar-b-que lunch on the way back. Worked on the book for awhile in the church’s guest apartment (nice!) where I’ll stay two nights. Nice to see Fern at dinner together in the evening. I’m blessed to have so many good friends throughout the country!

102921 La Grange, KY

Slow moving this morning. Thankfully a rest day. Think the trip is beginning to wear on me. Worked on book, played guitar. Lunch with Vance at Our Best Restaurant in the country. Great food and photographed Nancy  and Jerry and Faye. 

Visited Wendell and Joyce. Fun time playing a few tunes together. I had forgotten how well Wendell sings and plays, and what a gorgeous piece of property they have high on a hill.

Nancy Smithville, KY

Somethin’ you’d never forget.

“I grew up with a little slip on. My daddy and my brothers they’d go and work in the tobacca, and they’d leave me and my brother and my other sister at home. And then we would get scared and run up the way to get to our neighbor’s house. My brother would come get us and say, ‘Just them little cats scrappin’ on the plastic!’ And then my daddy would say, ‘I knew I shouldn’t a left them alone, I knew I shouldn’t.’

“We lived in a shack house. Mr. Shackleford owned it, and that’s what we called it, the shack house. It didn’t have no bathroom; we had to use the pot in the winter. Only drink a water we had was from a hand pump. We’d have to prime it every morning; it’d be dry. 

“There were nine in the family, seven kids—5 boys and two girls. We had the basic stuff, grew a garden. We never went hungry, we had plenty of food. It was just home and somethin’ you’d never forget.”

Jerry & Faye Smithville, KY

Hard, hard ridin’

“We’ll tell you a story about a motorcycle trip. We started from Versailles, Kentucky,  and then we travelled through Missouri and Kansas, and then we went to Colorado. There were two other motorcycles, just men, and then Jerry and me. I was the only female. Then we went to Montana and Wyoming, Beartooth Pass. Then we travelled to Nevada and on into California, just across the border to say that we’d been there. We travelled six thousand two hundred five miles Just hard, hard ridin’. We went farther than we were plannin’.”

Wendell Oldham County, KY

God’s gift for not killin’ our own.

“I was born in Eastern Kentucky, little placed called White Oak. It was in Estill County, Irvine is the county seat. I was born in my grandparents house; I wasn’t born in a hospital. We lived there until I was about 8 year old, and then we moved to Oldham County, where we live now. I went to the Oldham County schools, so did my wife, Joyce. We met in driver ed when we were sixteen year old, and we’ve been together since. We dated for 3 years, been married for fifty-three, well fifty-three and a half actually.

“Love the Lord with all my heart. Saved my soul October 22nd, 1972. Been singing’ playin’ gospel music ever since. Met a lot of great people along the way. Seen some miraculous changes in people’s lives during that period of time.

“We have one son, he’s 53 now. Have one grandson. Have one great granddaughter who’s actually blood. Have a step-granddaughter. Love ‘em all dearly, have a good time together. Nothin’ like grandkids. I say that, ‘Grandkids and great-grandkids is God’s gift to us for not killin’ our own.’”

103021    La Grange > Spring Hill     Mileage: 229   Duration: 5:10

Arrived early to meet Vance for breakfast at the local McDonalds near I-71. Photographed a group of 7 local guys shooting the breeze there. Fun. Rode to Nashville through light, moderate, and heavy rains, but at least not too cold. Saw 4,213 cars (approximately), 1,246 semis (approximately), 0 motorcycles (exactly!).

Arrived at Marco’s and Betsy’s house in Spring Hill, TN about 2:30 (including time change). Dinner with son, Joe and CJ and two kids. Great to catch up and see how their young family has grown and how dedicated they are to their successful cross-fit trainng business. A very capable young couple.

Pendleton, KY

Lord have mercy.

“I can talk if you want; I’m an extemporaneous speaker! Can make up a story about anything. This group? Oh, Lord have mercy, where shall I start? 

“This one (1), he’s a mortician. Watch him—shake hands with him and he’ll measure you.

   He (2) breeds mares… all by himself.

   He (3) restores tractors and plays golf in Florida.

   We haven’t figured out him (4) yet. We don’t know exactly what he’s doing.

   Larry (5) owns the stock yards.

   Barry (6) owns a trailer park. We call him a ‘ghetto master.’

   Me (7), I’m a retired educator.”

“That’s about it. Livin’ in this area’s about the same as anywhere else, I ‘spose. I been a lot of different 

places, they’re all the same. ”

103121 Spring Hill, TN

Fun breakast at Marci Jo’s restaurant in ‘Muletown,’ the nickname for Columbia, Tennessee, county seat of Maury County.  Had perhaps the best cinnamon bun with cream cheese icing of my life... and I’ve had a few. Walked around town and photographed Tia.

Fun jam with neighbor friends of Marco, after which I photographed and interviewed Diane—a very, very moving story.

Tia Columbia, TN

For a reason.

“This is straight from the heart. As for me, I became a mother at 37, and my first son, his name is Landon, is autistic. He was diagnosed at the age of 2. He is now 9, and he has excelled tremendously. They said that my son wouldn’t be able to talk, but now he can’t stop talking! He’s the smartest one in his class, and I’m so proud to be his mom. I love kids. I’ve always worked in education, customer service, traveled, and I thought that was it, that that was life. But then I had my son, and God said, ‘I’m giving him to you for a reason. I advocate for him, and I advocate for families with children on the spectrum.”

Diane Spring Hill, TN

She took her daughter home and loved her.

“The thing that sticks out is your loved ones dying and what you went through with the knowledge you have about God and all. I lost a little girl, Carriellen. She was born with cancer of the eyes, very rare. I told [the doctors] that I don’t think she can see. ‘Oh, mother, mother it may take awhile,’ they said. She loved to hear, but she had other things wrong, too. She was severally retarded and had a dislocated hip.

“So as Carriellen grew, we spent months and months at the hospital in Los Angeles. They removed one eye and did photo-coagulation treatments and radiation on the other, but of course that left her blind. I remember standing in the kitchen thinking about the possibility of removing the other eye. My other daughter was standing there and asked, ‘What happens if we don’t take out her eye? She’ll die won’t she?’ And my daughter said, ‘Well then, we’ll have to take out the other eye!’ Right, so that was pretty simple.

“My doctor told me that our little girl was failing. He said, ‘I want you to take her home and love her,’ which we did. It was a couple of weeks later… she died in her crib. She was three and half. We had signed up to have her organs donated. 

“Later there was a TV program, I think it was Jack Parr, and he interviewed a gentleman who had a cornea transplant. He was talking about having gotten the cornea from a little girl. We had been told that Carriellen’s cornea had been used in a transplant, but they had no record of who received it. During the transplant I had been in the hospital and had heard the donor recipient’s voice. When I saw the man on the TV I recognized his voice—he got her cornea. 

“So now I was praising the Lord, after I had previously been cussing Him out.”

110121    Spring Hill

Day to catch up... bills, prescriptions, appointments, scheduling next leg of trip. Betsy drove us to Franklin in the afternoon. Fun town filled with very nice shops. Extremely beautiful scenery coming and going. Photographed Issac and Elenore. Continue to be amazed at the folks I meet. Dinner with Chris and Lindsay and family. Great to catch up some more.

Issac Franklin, TN

Not bitter, better.

“I try to live my life in a way to add value in life and inspire people through my life and the things I do. I sing. I’m a poet. I’m a fashion designer. The theme of everything I do must be about empowerment and inspiring. I’ve had some quite pervert things happen in my life, but I realize they have a purpose, and the fact that I’m still living and breathing… it’s very clear to me that my life is to my own. I’ve been through sexual abuse. I’m an African American so I’ve had to deal with lots of racism. But it has not made me bitter; it’s made me better.”

Elenore Franklin, TN

It’s been great!

“I’m kind of bland. I’m from Huntsville, Alabama. A story? I don’t know probably the birth of my twins. Yeah, I’ve got twin boys that are now 16. They’re great. When the boys were about 6 or 7 years old, we kinda could tell they were having some trouble reading,
a few learning disabilities with math and that sort of thing. We tried the public school
system and that really didn’t work. My sister had moved to Franklin, and she told me about a school in Brentwood called Curry Ingram, so we moved up here for the school. We’ve fallen in love with Franklin, and I started working here I guess about six months ago. I kinda went back to work after awhile getting us all adjusted and everything. So the boys are thriving in school. Yeah, it’s been great!”

110221 Spring Hill > Tracy, TN    Mileage: 90 Duration: 2:05

Beautiful two hour ride on back roads through better fall foliage to Marco’s and Betsy’s tiny house in Tracy City, Tennessee. I had never seen an entire community of tiny homes—very, very apealing around a pretty lake. 

Photographed Marco at the Mountain Goat Restaurantin Monteagle, cool place. Later visited the Odd Shop Outdoors in Tracy City and photographed Robert, who shared his life-long familiarity with guns.

Robert Tracy City

It ain’t in the guns. It’s in the heart of the man.

“Born and raised on a farm. Been a truck driver, firefighter, correction officer, flipped burgers, mechanic... you name it I done it. Little jack of all trades, master of none.

“Growin’ up on a farm, I learned to shoot from the day I could walk. Back then my mother was workin’ at Hardys, and at the time she was only getting $4 or $5 an hour. My dad was gone out of the picture; he had left. So if we wanted to eat we hunted in the winter, fished in the summer. I was always outside doing something. The outdoors is where I’m at home.

“First time I remember shooting I was 4 or 5 years old. Shot a Colt 45 Government
Series 1911 pistol. From the day I was born I had a shotgun.; my daddy gave me one when I was born. My grandfather’s always had guns and hunted. We never hunted the racks; we hunted to eat. And, we hunted to thin the herd, did mercy killins. 

“[Self protection is] granted in our rights. The second amendment says that we got the right to keep and bear arms, and they weren’t talkin’ about muskets then. They foreseen what was comin’ in the future. They was goin’ through it with governments. 

“I been to some places that I wish I had a gun at the time, you know. I’ve been through some cities. Washington, DC is one the worst cities I never want to go through again. If I do go somewhere, like my grandfather always said, ‘Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. So, my wife she carries. My sons carry. Ad none of our guns have ever killed anybody. People start saying, ‘You know, guns kill people.’ But it ain’t in the guns. It’s in the heart of the man. One of the deals is the only thing that stops bad guys with guns is good guys with guns. And, me reachin’ on my side grabbing my gun is faster than waitin’ on the cops 10 or 15, 20 minutes later to get there.”

Marco Monteagle, TN

God’s been really good.

“Since we moved to Nashville, we’ve been interested in getting a vacation home on a lake, something like that. So we’ve looked on and off for a few years. Our realtor at the time told us about this tiny home community being built in Tracy City, Tennessee. So on our way to Chattanooga one weekend we stopped in to look at the properties and right away fell in love with the area: Monteagle, Tracy City, various things along the way—the Mountain Goat Restaurant, people we met there and other places. Anyway, we got to the tiny home community, looked at properties, and finally bought the property that we eventually put a tiny house on.

“That story was interesting because there were only a handful of properties available at the time. We were looking at one, and I had to excuse myself to use the boys room. So I got in our truck leaving my wife and the realtor behind as I went to look for a restroom. Well, I have a very bad sense of direction, and I got lost in this tiny community of tiny homes. But I think it was God’s planning because I drove into this cul-de-sac, the wrong way, but there was one piece of property undeveloped. I called back to my wife and told her to ask the realtor if it was still available. Sure enough it was, and that’s the lot we ultimately purchased and built on.

“So, I like to think that God used my weakness—my sense of direction, which is not very good, and my need to relieve myself on regular occasions—to lead me to this piece of property we bought. We are very happy there. Great location. Great house. We have a good time, just the two of us. It’s turned into just what we wanted, a place to get away, a vacation place on a body of water, and God’s really been good!”

110321    Tracy, TN

Gray, cold weather—winter approaching. Drove around the area and visited some fun shops. Photographed Jessica at her store, The Whimsey Willow. Also toured University of the South, a privage college in Sewanee, TN, with its Episcopalian Schiool of Theology. Extremely impressive campus with old, old stone buildings reminiscent of Europe. Very surprising to see here in middle  Tennessee.

Jessica Sewanee, TN

Because of her dad.

“Well, I can tell you about my store and the reason I did what I did. I went through a lot, didn’t know what I wanted to do, went to college for marketing. I’ve always had a dream to own my own store. Well, I say I always have… I’ve always been into shopping. I remember my mom, my aunt, and I, we’d go shopping every weekend, and I would just love it. And then my mom and my sister started being like, ‘Well, you pick up some gifts for so and so and such and such,’ so I’d be buying gifts for other people. My dad always told me I should be a buyer because that’s what I like to do

“Fourteen years I taught high school marketing and economics. In March, 2020, my dad suddenly passed away, and that sort of spurred in me a change. With that change I thought of all the things I had wanted to do, and all the things I had been scared to do… and nothing was going to be as scary at that point in my life as losing my dad. It was so terrifying and unexpected. So I decided that I was going to take that jump and that risk, and I decided to open my store, The Whimsey Willow, in August, 2021. We have done very, very well, and we’re not even online yet. It’s because of my dad, he was a very influential person in my life.”

10421   Tracy City > Jasper, GA    Mileage:94    Duration: 3:10

Awoke at 4:00 am to the dreaded sound of  m o r e  hard rain striking the metal roof. Began to worry about today’s relatively short ride (to get a headstart on the long ride to Augusta. So much for sleep. Had planned to leave after lunch, ride for about 3 hours on back roads and camp. Check of the weather predicts rain will cease this morning, but below normal temperatures, freeze warning tonight. Made a reservation at a hotel instead with plans for a very long, very hot shower. Will be a cold ride today with me wearing everything I have with me: 5 layers on top, 6 on bottom. No doubt the motorcycle’s freeze warning will blink on and off all day.

Rode to nearby Jasper for lunch following Marco and Betsy, who were surpised by a very large bald eagle flying up from the side of the road. Hard to part ways with Marco and Betsy, two of my best, longest known friends, who have supported me for a lifetime. This adventure, riding cross-country, has been such a blessing as I reconnect with dear friends, more impotantly friends who love me, who accept me for who I am... a pillar, the only pillar of self-growth, the only way in which I have come to accept myself. (The very essence of the Gospel.)

Rode another hundred miles or so to Jasper, Georgia, through on and off again light rain through my kind of countryside: dense forests carpeting lush hills. Temps in upper 40s, not too bad dressed as I was. Glad I’m staying in a hotel tonight.

100521    Jasper > Evans, GA    Mileage: 161    Duration: 4:25

Very cold ride today, temps in the mid-40’s, gray sky, windy at times, d a m p. First time I’ve really been chilled on this trip. Very glad that I’ll be heading south from here on next ride. Again rode through beautiful countryside past a lot of gorgeous homes but also through some real southern poverty in this land of the Civil War. Arrived at Tim’s and Ban’s house about 2:00 pm.  Hot soup. Hot bath. Finally warmed up.

Wonderful time with Ban and Tim, Ban’s sister, and little Sahira.

Sahira. Evans, GA

An Angel.

“My name is Sharira.

I am 3 years old. 

I live in a home with my mommy and daddy. 

I go to school in the big kid’s class. 

I paint at school and at home. I paint a flower. My favorite colors are pink and yellow. 

I like to play games, the jumping game. 

I go from my daddy’s house to Highlands. It is fun. 

Mommy got me some candy and presents yesterday.

I am an angel”

Her mom was born in  Baghdad, Iraq; her dad in Pennsylvania. She was conceived in Atlanta, born in Augusta. She lives in Evans. Her first name is Arabic, her middle name is Welsh, her last name American.

110821    Evans > Jacksonville Beach, FL    Mileage: 268    Duration: 6:30

Scraped frost off the windshield before packing motorcycle this morning. Waited awhile until temperature reached 40º. Ride south through Georgia became progressively warmer, until acutally reached 72.6º (that’s right 72 point 6—I was thankful for every tenth of a degree!) before crossing into Florida. Stopped for a late breakfast at Huddle House in Millen, GA (a gourmet restaurant on par with Waffle House!). Photographed Brittany, Johnnie, and Brandon.

Negotiated fairly heavy traffic through Jacksonville. Stopped briefly to check into a hotel and then back on the motorcycle for the five minute FINAL RIDE ACROSS AMERICA to the Atlantic Ocean. I MADE IT!

Brittany Millen, GA

Trapper

“I was born and raised in Millen, Georgia. I’ve been here 23 years, my whole life. I’m 5 months pregnant, and that’s actually why I’m workin’ here. It’s the only place that would hire me and that would accommodate my needs as a pregnant woman.

“I love to hunt, fish. I was raised doin’ it. My dad worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Savannah. That’s why I went to school and got a degree in fish and wildlife management. But I haven’t done anything with it yet; jobs are very scare right now. Yeah, I’ve loved the huntin’ and fishin’. In high school they used to call me ‘Trapper’ because I took a coyote hide to school. We had trapped one and skinned it, and I took the hide for show-and-tell. Everybody made fun of me. They thought I was so silly for bringing that hide to school, but I honestly took that name and still use that nickname. Even to this day people still call me ‘Trapper.’ 

“Yeah, that’s about all there is to know about me.”

Johnnie Millen, GA

More joy on that side.

“Well, I can tell you like this right here now. At a very young age I was always wondering about things, but the Lord let me knew that He had something for me to do. And what He had for me to do, He didn’t allow me to do it until I was 33 years old. That’s when He came in, fully came into my life, and I started preachin’. And from that day on… you know you’re goin’ to have problems and everything, but I had more joy on that side than I had on the other side.

“So that is my story.”

Brandon Millen, GA

X, Y, Z

“Oh my childhood was rough growin’ up a little bit off and on with my family. I jumped back and forth between my grandparents and my folks for awhile. After awhile we finally got settled down in Effingham County, where I spent the remainder of my school years. From there I jumped back and forth between jobs, many a job. Right now I’m workin’ two full-time jobs. I’m workin’ here at Huddle House in Millen—love this place, OMG I can’t tell you how much I love this place. I bend over backward for this place. And I’m workin’ full-time bein’ a Door Dash driver. Ah, I make decent money there, not too much.

“Really I’m trying to really better myself now that I got a girl moved... I guess you would say my significant other moved in with me. We can’t live in a camper all our life, it’s just not goin’ work. I’m in the process right now of actually becoming one of the shift managers here at Huddle House. I got into cooking back when I was in the eleventh grade. I actually wanted to open my own restaurant, to a point I still want to open my own restaurant. It’s just that I don’t have the funds to do so. That’s what’s really botherin’ me and that’s why I’m working two full-time jobs right now. Not only that, like I said, but for my significant other so we can actually find a better place for us to move and start a family—easier said than done on my part because I am sterile.

“I’m 26 years old and it might not sound like a whole lot, but I’m finally in a position where I can say that I’m in a better, stable part of my life to where I’m not constantly worried: ‘Like am I going to have money for this? Am I going to be able to do this and not get in trouble? Am I goin’ to be able to do X,Y Z.’”

110921 Jacksonville Beach > Sarasota, Florida Mileage: 258 Duration: 6:15

Tiring 250 mile ride through considerable traffic along major highways (I-95, I-4, I-75) through Jacksonville, Orlando, Sarasota. Wanted to arrive as early as possible because I am wasted. Good thing the THERE portion of this cross-country adventure is over!

Pulling into the hotel parking lot, I had the only close call of the trip. A maroon Audi convertible turned left into the hotel’s entrance, but then suddenly stopped and began to back out of the drive just as I was turning in. It happened so fast I couldn’t even honk my horn. Without thinking I swerved to the right to avoid hitting the car. Thankfully, I found myself riding up a sidewalk adjacent to the drive. A very close call... how ironic at the very end of the trip!

Total Trip Mileage: 3,846

Checked out the storage facility where I’ll leave the motorcycle for 2.5 months, then ate at Rico’s and took two fun photos/stories. Edited them and to bed early; exhausted, eyes won’t even focus.

Sal and daughters Sarasota, Florida

Both made money.

“I was born in New York. Both my parents were immigrants, both Scilian, came over here to start a family. I started a business with two of brothers for the last 27 years. We’ve got restaurants in six locations now. Got a family, father of five. My oldest is 28 and my youngest is four.

“There was an older gentleman that used to come into my restaurant. He was buying gold coins. ‘Sal,’ said, ‘I’ve been buying these gold coins my whole life you know. I can’t tell you how many I have, but I have a lot of them. I see you’re a hard working guy, and I want you to make some money. I’m going to come by and bring you a gold coin like this.’ And he showed me one, an American Eagle coin, and said, I’m going to let you make a hundred bucks every time, or two hundred bucks, whatever I feel like doing. I’ll pay for my food with a coin and you can give me some cash back.’ So we did it for like 4 or 5 years. He’d come in once a week or once a month and eat some food, and we’d do a little trade. We’d look up the market price, and we’d just trade it out.

‘Before you know it, this was probably like 7 or 8 years ago, I had like quite a bit of these coins saved up, like 150. And it was like right at the peak when gold was starting to really come around, and I made a lot of money. He said, ‘Listen you know, somebody taught me, and that’s why I was buying them. I was buying these things for $50.’

“They went up to almost $2,000. I sold a bunch of them. I kept some just because I respect what he did for me. I made money, and he made money. We did each other a favor at the same time. He was cool.’

Trevor Sarasota, Florida

A wild situation.

“My grandfather, he was in the car business for a long time. He always had this dream of becoming a farmer, always wanted to have his own farm. So sure enough he told me, ‘Trevor, I’m going to quit, your dad’s going to take over the dealership, and we’re going to go and start a farm.’ So my grandfather gets out there, you know, and her’s doing everything. He’s selling farm fresh meat—chicken, goats, eggs, everything.

“Well, I tell ya he wanted to get him goats real good. He loved goats. So we went to the auction and bought us a couple of billies, got us some little ones. We had a whole bunch of babies. This one goat would not leave either one of us alone. Every single time we went out there to the fields he’d be right up on us, making sure we’d pet his head. He had really good size horns on him. My grandfather said, ‘One of these days he’s really going to hurt me. If he comes up between my legs he’s really going to hurt me some day.’ I’m like, ‘No, he’s alright.’ Every time he’d come up we’d pat him away. 

“I remember one day my grandfather screaming at the top of his lungs. I ran outside to see what was going on. Grandpa was on the ground and the goat’s horns were caught in his knees and the goat’s head’s in the ground. My grandfather’s lying face first and can’t figure how to get off the goat. The goat’s going nuts; my grandfather’s going nuts. It was a wild situation. I run out there and was trying to figure out how I was going to help him  do this, you know. I ended up having to grab the goat by the back and flip him over so his horns got unattached from my grandfather. It was a pretty wild occurrence with a goat, you know. 

“So we ended up getting rid of him. He was too friendly, a pain in the ass. My grandfather was like, ‘Take him to the auction, man we got to get rid of him. So we sold him.”

111021    Sarasota

Poor night of restless sleep. Up early to work on this book, ate breakfast, and then spent several houses cleaning the motorcycle and rearranging gear for its storage. Rode to St. Armand’s Circle and then several miles on Long Boat Key. Photographed Thranya and heard of her project, for which she is working hard to accomplish.

Thranya Long Boat Key, Florida

That project.

“I was born in Maryland, Silver Springs, but I lived 35 years, almost all of my life, in Argentina. Now I’m back because I had a very bad story with my last husband. I want to bring my 9-year old son here to the United States to make a new life. And that’s it. So I’m working hard for that project.”

111121 Flight: Sarasota > Ontario, CA