Chusok- Korean Thanksgiving.

Today's Korean Thanksgiving.

I had BLT sandwich at Subway's.

I called home. My father told me that , as usual, my whole family gathered together at my uncle's and had lots of fun.

It was akward. They're having lots of fun while I paddle to death somewhere in USA.

Maybe that's life.

"Blacks"

Distance: 65miles

Weather: sunny, 65~79F

Difficulty: moderate

There are lots of Afro-Americans in Georgia.
In retrospect, I’ve had lots of stereotypes on Afro-Americans. I’m very ashamed of this fact but I have to admit that most of these stereotypes were negative.
The only Afro Americans I knew before I was drafted to the military were either basketball players, rapper, gangster or somebody from the Cosby Show.
I didn’t believe in Bill Cosby’s intelligence even though he was a “doctor”, because I knew it was a show and thus fictional. But I wasn’t intelligent enough to find out that what the Afro American rappers did was also fictional.

I’ve met many0 Afro- Americans on my way here. I was scared first. They didn’t seem to be talkative.
Then I found out that Afro Americans don’t talk to strangers very often. Howeever, when I started a conversation first in a bar or in a restaurant, they became friendly and started talking to me as if I was a close friend of his. Just like Mike I talked to today. He was silent first, but by the time I left the bar, I knew all about his children, uncles, nephews,what he did in 1976, 1984 etc.

While I write this now, I realize, it is very hard to get rid of the prejudice on other races. I don’t know if any of my friends can do this while they watch TV in Korea. It took me 2000miles.

Bicycle Accident

I was riding bicycle in a small town in Alabama. A big Truck passed by and I fell.

But some nice Americans working in a beauty shop helped me with the first aid kit.

I love the warm heart of the Deep South.

Rednecks

All day long, sitting on the saddle of my bicycle, I've been thinking about what i think of when i cycle.

Right before i arrived here, I figured out that when I cycle, I think of Swedish women playing beach volleyball in Florida. This thought motivates me. A lot.


Kevin, who repaired my bicycle in Memphis, told me some of the ‘Redneck jokes’.

“Hey, Izaka, do you know any‘redneck’ jokes?”
“What’s that?”
“It goes like, “If you let your 14 year old daughter smoke in front of her 4 children, you might be a red-neck”
“I don’t get it. And I don’t think it’s funny. Who are rednecks?”
“They are people who live in the Deep South. They are usually poor, not hygienic, and have bad teeth”
And he told me somemore redneck joke:

‘if you’ve ever stared at an orange juice more than 5 minutes because it said ‘concentrate’, you might be a red neck’. I think that one was really funny.

Kevin changed my itinerary. My original plan was to go to St. Louis to get back on the ‘Mother Road’ and going to the East through Chicago, Detroit. But after I was told the jokes, I wanted to go to the ‘Deep Southern States’ - Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

It was in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. 4 old trucks were parked in the dusty parking lot. The restaurant may accommodate around 50 people. When I got there, it was about 4 O’clock and 7~8 people were sitting around, either watching TV or doing nothing.

I wanted to ask for direction to Birmingham. Jim, who was one of the servers and the owner of the restaurant drew a map and showed me the direction.

He asked me why I came to such a small town in Alabama.

“I came here to meet the rednecks. I heard they are pretty odd people.”

The entire restaurant became dead silent. I could feel that people were listening to what I was telling Jim. It seemed like Jim couldn’t believe what he just heard.
After a few seconds were passed by, Jim started laughing. And the whole crowd laughed hard. I didn’t know why.

“Izaka, we’re all rednecks here,haha”

He didn’t charge me anything for the sandwich and the soda. In addition to that, he gave me a yellow T-shirt, where it was printed "Keep Alabama beautiful".

Now, I know what a redneck is. I think I could have offended many people there, If I didn’t keep my serious face. They knew I wasn’t joking, and forgave me.



Oh, I love the Rednecks.

(these pictures have nothing to do with 'rednecks')

Dog

There's something I really don't understand about the people in the South.

Why is it that the Southern people never have their dogs on leashes.

People in the "deep south" seem to enjoy their unleashed dogs chasing a stupid cyclist with a big Afro from Deep Asia.

Jim Crow Law

I talked to the bartender. She was a round woman from Birmingham, Alabama. I told her I cycled through Alabama, and it made her delighted. I asked her what it was like to live there before the Civil Rights movement. She told that they had different water fountains for whites and blacks, that she had to sit in the back seat in a bus and was asked leave the seat when there was no seat for white people..

I knew all about these facts, all the segregation and Jim Crow law.
But the history was dead to me. I couldn’t feel it. Just like the fact I know people die in Palestine but I don’t have much of sympathy for them.

But today, I could feel it. Her life became a part of my history.

Corny

I met Corny in a restaurant in Tupelo , Mississippi. She is round, looks about 42 years old and has beautiful smile. She told me that she never traveled in her entire life.

“I envy you. Even though you’re from Korea, and I’m an American, I’m sure you’ve seen my country much more than I’ve seen."

The biggest place she has ever been to was Memphis, TN, which was 3 hours away from the town.
I ordered a turkey sandwich. She brought me a fresh baked sandwich and a wooden bowl. “You see the salad bar over there?” she smiled,”help yourself”






3000 miles to NYC.

Dry County

Distance: 59 miles

weather: partly cloudy

difficulty: moderate

This is the most interesting town I’ve been to in USA. It’s a dry country. I didn’t know what it meant. I thought it was a town where it doesn’t rain much in summer.
- “We don’t sell alcoholic drinks”
- A 17 year old waitress said to me. I couldn’t believe my ears. No alcohol in the whole county. What do they do on the weekend?
- “Well, we go bowling, we have a movie theater.”
- It was 9 o’clock on Saturday. It was dead silent.
- You missed something, mister” she continued. “If you came here earlier, you could have seen the football match of the ~ middle school”

Gibson Guitar Factory

Gibson Factory, Memphis.

Memphis

Memphis, the hometown of Elvis.

Also, the hometown of Justin Timberlake. What's the odd.

Mississippi River

I camped at a small state park along the "Mighty River"

It was.... dark and no fun.

Tom, 42, a photographer who takes pictures of small insects, showed me some pics of 'flying scorpions'.

Tom Sawyer in Mighty River

Distance: 27 miles
weather: partly cloudy.

I’m right next to the Mississippi River!! And I’ll sleep over here! This feels great. I set up the tent next in the wood. I brought 1 gallon water,
The weather is nice, I checked forecast and it will be sunny the whole week.
I always dreamed of camping here, ever since I read “Adventure of Tom Sawyer” 150 years have passed by since Mark Twain wrote the wonderful story. But the nature couldn’t have been changed much. Trees after trees, far away from the towns. Noone can find me.

I used to hate sleeping in a sleeping bag. Bad memories from the time I spent in the US Army.

"On the road again"

On the Road again.

But, when are we actually 'off the road'?

On a bicycle, in a car, walking, talking, eating- no matter what,
we are on the road constantly.

Arkansas

long, silent roads,

Trees,

filthy gas stations

local newspapers

...Things I saw in Arkansas.

my memory of 911

911.
I was sitting on a bus, chatting to my girlfriend. I heard it from the radio the bus driver turned on. It must have been about 8 o’clock in the evening of 11th of November. I thought it was a new type of radio drama. Then I thought it was some sort of gimmick that someone did after the “Invasion from Mars” in the 30’s.
I found out what really happened when I got a phone from dad. He asked me if I was watching the news. I said no. He said I should come home immediately. He said “Something incredible happened”
By the time I got home the other building was crashed by the suicide plane.

Next morning, everyone was talking about 911. I felt sorry for the Americans who died on that day. I was scared. If I’m selected for the KATUSA program, do I have to go somewhere to fight against the terrorists?

I was scared, what happens if USA attacks North Korea. Will North Korea attack USA or attack South Korea?



I was confused, just like anybody else at that time.