On November 1st, 2010 Wally and Sarah began a bike journey across the U.S.
Leaving from the Menla Mountain retreat center in Phonecia, NY they set out for California.
On December 15th 2010 this blog was begun so friends and family can have a collective place to bike with them vicariously across the country.
A bike trip turns into a good will ambassadorship
Good news just doesn't get enough press.
In the weeks before the trip began, some very nervous parents began to fret, sweat and pretty much flip out with worry. Anxiety soon gave way to relief, as our kids began to keep their promise to stay in touch by phone and Internet.
Relief turned to respect and awe as the adventure unraveled. The beauty they are seeing, and the kindness bestowed upon them are things that should be shared. This is Americana at it's best.
Feel free to share your thoughts, and pictures, past and present...because good news just doesn't get enough press.
Wow! So much has happened since the last post. If you would like to see more pics, see Sarah's photo albums the Great Migration, and the Great Migration Deux! These two photo albums contain over 300 pics that they uploaded, thanks to a fried from WarmShowers.org who let them use a mac computer.
Since the last entry here, the dynamic duo has been interviewed by the Sun Herald, a Biloxi-Gulfport and Southern Mississippi publication. Read that story here.
Photo journalism at it's silliest!
...awwww!
New Year's found them in New Orleans where Sarah sat next to Ani DiFranco on a street car.
They're now in Baton Rouge and are accumulating lots of friends along the way! Sarah is predicting that they'll be in San Diego in about 2 months!
Big storm headed their way at the time I write this, but they claim to be cozy and safe!
Hey everyone! On Christmas Eve, the family got a chance to talk with Wally & Sarah for a good while on the telephone!
Here's the update:
The Kids are now in Pensicola Fl, headed towards Alabama. Then the route calls for passage through Baton Rouge, LA, but being the music lovers they are, they are opting to head North through LA in order to stop in New Orleans! I'm really excited for them! I think it's a great call! I mean, how can you go through LA and not see New Orleans?
We are hoping that Sarah will be able to email me short videos from her cell phone soon! If that works out, of course I'll post them here!
The kids shared this one with me. Recently they were in a Salvation Army to buy clothes for Wally. His pants were pretty ripped up, I guess from all the miles. (I hope that's what it is! You never know with these two, they could have taken up rock climbing as a side hobby!)
When word passed through the store that there were two road orphans in the midst, they were fed and fawned over again! I hear this time with a two foot long loaf of French bread and enough fixings to make a meal of it!
Below is a picture of them as they were just about to depart Menla
That's it for now: Soon I'll be posting some Christmas pics so the kids can see what went on here.
Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy New Year!
Well the other part of the deal was that Wally & Sarah would hear from us when the occasion rose to merit so, and several such have.
First would be another phenomenal night at the Monday night open Jam Session at the Rhumbline with War is Over by John & Yoko as a last song by the Bandit Kings, a great Gloucester band, that among many other proud feats, host Monday night jams, has a new CD with fresh originals. This band does a killer cover of Kiss Off by the V Femmes that should be seen by everyone at LEAST once!
Also went to their CD release party in Cambridge at TT the Bears & saw em w/ 3 other great bands!
Friday, for the 2nd time I caught Jenny Dee & the Delinquents and MAN was I glad I did. This is one smoking 1960s style girl band that does covers without apology & originals that can set things on fire!
I don't have anything current to point to, but here's an older video of Christmas Baby Please, Come Home. Heed this, it'll take a couple of seconds to get used to the poor YouTube sound quality, but I promise, it's worth it!
Last Saturday I saw F-Bomb at Camerons: a heavy band that I dug a lot. The best numbers for me were, Let the Bodies Hit the Floor (a version that would have put Benny Hinn to shame) & the Cult of Personality, by the Cult. I'd wished they'd had done some heavy punk because the guy had a great voice to do the Offspring, but I got none. Still, they were incredible.
On December 8th for the 30th anniversary of John's death, Dan King & Fly Amero did a John Lennon tribute, at the same place.
Believe it or not, I'm happy to say that those are only the highlights of the music I've heard here in the last couple of months. There's good music here every night of the week at one place or another. Most nights you have several great choices!
The latest entry on Sarah's Facebook page is this:
We are being held captive by the best warmshowers hosts ever. They are feeding us too well and the bed is too comfy...there are too many good movies on tv and their yellow lab, Jenny, is too cute. HELP!
They were in Florida by my Birthday on December 13th. Wally called me to wish me Happy Birthday. Sarah sang Happy Birthday to me! Then I got an awesome birthday gift, in the form of an incredible, but apparently quite common story.
When they wheel into these small Southern towns, they obtain a kind of celebrity status. They immediately attract a crowd who wants to hear where they are from, who they've met and what they've seen..
This particular day they were in line at a grocery store discussing lodging for the evening.
Someone in line said "hey we have an RV that you can stay in". They exchanged information and hammered out the details.
When it was their turn to pay at the register, the store owner said: "you guys don't need to pay for your things".
Wally says similar things have happened since they left Phonecia NY many times over and I thought I could hear him choke up as he relayed this tale. They've been housed, fed, entertained & cared for by some amazing people.
There ARE a lot of great people in the world doing wonderful things. They just don't get any press.
If you've never had the experience of how it feels to have complete strangers care for your children, I can assure you, it puts a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye!
Those folks don't know it, but they gave me the best Birthday present ever!
