Tennessee

Bowling Green was great, the people were just as welcoming and hospitable as Louisville. I stayed with kids my age who created the dreamers project, a photojournal of different families and their trials and tribulations to achieve their dreams from kentucky to LA. I used warmshowers.com for the first time, and around 4 PM I got a text from coach Mike Smith at Lipscomb University. I rode 70 miles to get to the dorm, about 4 miles past Nashville, and after we talked he simply said "stay as long as you like." He treated me to dinner, talking about how he was 50, ran basketball camps in the summer for his university, but loved touring on his bicycle and teaching kids to love life that way. He rode from mobile, Alabama to Canada in his late 40's. He's a generous and incredible man. The next day he took me on a bike tour all over Nashville. His friends and he bought me my meals, even offered to take me to a charity ride that Lance Armstrong would be at. Nashville was absolutely beautiful, full of history, and country music festivals. I have heard so much negativity about Christian groups and politics and abuse, but all I have experienced is the nicest, kindest, most hospitable people. Pillars of the community, nothing but amazing things to say. My ride to meet Lance left from the pickup spot early, so I just rode west. I found some protein bars at a Walgreens so now my legs are ready to rock and roll. I stopped and talked to some farmers. They love what I am doing. They gave me free muffins, water and sourdough bread. Several miles later some boy scouts were doing a charity car wash. I cleaned my bike last night, but I decided to pay it forward. I pulled in, asked for a wash, donated, and their scoutmaster asked me to speak. The troop was raising funds for a long canoe trip, I mentioned I was a canoe instructor and Eagle Scout, so I spoke. I mentioned safety, skills, and soon I realized they were already well prepared. I was proud of these kids already. Someone prompted me to speak about my trip, and so I started from the beginning. I learned my survival skills and appetite for adventure in the scouts, I quickly went over my bike trip history, and related it to the amazing things I can do as an adult. I finished with a little speech relevant to the tornado in Joplin, Missouri. When I was their age I was a first class scout, I had been a cub scout prior to being a boy scout, and the scouts trained my to rise to the ocassion as 9/11 destroyed my community and city. As a fourteen year old fresh into high school I recruited and led countless volunteers to rasie awareness for local firestations. We put together four candlelight vigils, and we raised $350,000 for the Dean St. Heroes Fund. Many widows and kids got food and were able to pay rent because of us, these ethics of being prepared and fundraising for charitable causes brings out the best in you, and it's shaped my personality to this day. I saved for this trip for a year. I did it working for non-profits, for profit businesses who raise money for good causes, and I am living the dream of a lifetime. I know the boy scouts will help make those kids great people, just as I have seen the scouts bring out the best in people for over a decade. I am now stopped in a library in the middle of nowhere, Tenessee two days ride from memphis. I have another crash pad lined up, and I'm sure the birthplace of rock will be just as exciting as the birthplace of country. Until next blog!