Re-cycling

(72miles, partly cloudy, 59-75F, easy)

I rode bicycle to ~. It’s been a week since I rode bike last time. It was too comfortable to sit in the Jiwoong’s car. My body is completely relaxed. My whole body hurt after one hour of pedaling.

Eric Rocks!

Distance: 250 miles

weather: cloudy

I went to Eric Clapton concert in Charlotte.
It was very emotional. I saw the ‘god of guitar’ ‘the slowhand” and the “biggest star of my youth”, Eric Clapton. I started playing the guitar with “Tears in Heaven”. My band used to play “Layla” and “Crossroad”. I played “Wonderful Tonight” on my girlfriend’s birthday.
He now has short hair. He is old. But he was still tough. When he was ‘in the mood’ he played stepping the ground with both feet.

Ji Woong didn’t go to the concert. He sat in a coffee shop and read a book

i'm in UNC

University of North Carolina is well known for their basketball team. Michael 'Air' Jordan played there in the mid 80's.

My friend Jiwoong was crazy about taking pics of me.

Jiwoong is also a victim of the "KATUSA" program. He served as a admin in the orderly room of the Alpha troop, 6th Cav BDE. Funny.

US Army

In the middle of my study in college, I had to serve in the 6th Cavalry Brigade, Camp Humphreys,Korea, starting as a private.- for two years Full Time.
Being paid 20 dollars a month wasn't fun.

But I got to know SFC Miller in the US Army. He was a very tough soldier but he had a great leadership skill.

Me and SFC Miller worked in Equal Opportunity office. He was my supervisor and I was his only soldier.

Once I told SFC Miller that I've traveled Europe by bicycle, he encouraged me to cycle across the USA. He said "there are people who make it within 8days"

I thought I could do it at least within a month.

SFC Miller wasn't kidding, and I was a fool. That's how this trip began, i guess.

He was sent to Iraq, and I've never heard a thing from him since then.

USFK -United States Forces Korea

Here's why there are American Forces in South Korea.

I still don't understand this fully, but, whatever.

-----------------------------------------------------------

United States Forces Korea

The initial contact between Americans and Koreans was hostile - a clash in 1866 over Chosun rejection of U.S. overtures for trade relations that resulted in a dozen Korean casualties and left the U.S. merchant ship General Sherman sunk in the Daedong River, its entire 23-man crew dead. Relations did improve so that the historic links between the two nations have developed into a close and friendly alliance of economic, social and cultural, as well as military interests.

With the capitulation of Japan in World War II, U.S. troops entered Korea to accept the surrender of Japanese forces in the zone south of the 38th parallel, which crosses the peninsula's midsection. The Soviet Union, having belatedly joined the war in the Pacific, had already sent forces into Korea and took the Japanese surrender north of the 38th parallel. Although the allies had agreed at Cairo in 1943 that Korea would be "free and independent," In due course the border at the 38th parallel was soon sealed and contact between the southern and northern zones ended.

Elections supervised by the United Nations led to establishment of the Republic of Korea in the south. The Soviets appointed Kim Il-Sung leader in the north, without bothering to submit their choice to any mandate of the Korean people. Moscow pulled its occupation forces out in 1948, thereby forcing the United States to take similar actions. U.S. forces were withdrawn by mid-1949, leaving only an advisory group called KMAG to help train the fledgling ROK defensive force.

On June 25, 1950, North Korea launched an all out attack intended to unify the peninsula. Only then, when U.S. troops were committed as the bulwark of a United Nations' authorized defense of the ROK, did Korea really come to be impressed upon the consciousness of the American public. For more than three years U.S. forces fought valiantly - in all the dimensions of the battle - the length and breadth of the Korean peninsula. More than five million Americans served in Korea during the conflict. When the guns were silenced by an Armistice Agreement on July 27, 1953, U.S. casualties exceeded 140,000, including more than 33,000 killed in action. The armistice that brought a cease fire and defined the terms of the tenuous peace that followed remains in existence to this day. It is the longest truce in modern military history. U.S. forces continue to serve on the forward edge of freedom, sharing the rigors of maintaining the deterrent to another North Korean attack with ROK forces.

The longtime U.S. security commitment to the ROK has both legal and moral sanctions. U.S. legal obligations are those under UN Security Council Resolutions of 1950, by which the United States leads the United Nations Command, and the ROK/US Mutual Security Agreement of 1954, which commits both nations to assist each other in case of outside attack. The United States is also a partner in the operations of the ROK/US Combined Forces Command, an integrated headquarters that was established by the two governments in 1978, and is responsible for planning the defense of the ROK and, if necessary, directing the ROK/US combat forces to defeat the enemy aggression. U.S. Forces Korea is the joint headquarters through which American combat forces would be sent to the CFC's fighting components-the Ground, Air, Naval and Combined Marine Forces Component Commands. Major USFK elements include Eighth US Army, US Air Forces Korea (Seventh Air Force) and US Naval Forces Korea.

For more info -> http://www.goodneighbor.or.kr/content.php?mode=view&c_idx=c0006&c_type=06&str_block=eng

Nuc Test

Somebody told me that North Korea tested nucluear bomb a few days ago.












It's sooooo depressing.

Outer Banks

Ji woong took me to Outer Banks to take some pictures of me and Lexus for his portfolio.


It was just awesome.

I saw this fishing man in a shore.
He was a pastor from Virginia.

He's been waiting for fish for hours.

The moment we arrived there he got one.

He was a pastor.

He prayed for me and Jiwoong.

And he let the fish go.

CNN Center

At CNN Center.

With the help of a BBC journalist, I could take an extra insider tour.

Coca-Cola World

Coca- Cola World in Atlanta, GA.

All the coca-cola products were for free, if you pay 10 dollars for the entry.

Wow.

I think i should write a story about a man I met in Alabama.

It was in Natural Bridge,in Alabama. I entered a cabin where the entry tickets, T-shirts, postcards are sold. The Natural Bridge must be the biggest tourist attraction in the entire country. I saw only 5 people while I spent 2hours day. It was a hot day, by the way.

An old man, about 75 years old, was stunned when he encountered me. I don’t think he has seen anyone from Asia visiting this small tourist attraction. An Asian with big Afro that wears tight pants and blue bike helmet.

“Where are you form,sir?” “From Korea”

He was glad. “Oh, I was there in 1950”
1950 is the year when the Korean War started. He was sent as a private in the US Army. “It took 12 days to get to Japan by ship. I was very frightened. I asked an officer what happened to the unit that was sent to the battle field before he came. He said “they are all gone”. But I was lucky. When my unit reached Busan, the allies started the Incheon landing” I spent 10 months in Korea, served 4 more years in the army and got out.”

He gave me 5 postcards for free. The postcards were pictures of the natural bridge, collection of some of the beauties of Alabama and the “Graceland”, the resident of Elvis Presely.

“You can have them. But please send me one of the postcard back to me whenyou arrive New York City. If I get the postcard, I’ll know that you get there safely and It’ll make me happy.”

Maybe my trip is not useless.

Aquarium

I went to the biggest Aquarium in the world which is located in the downtown of Atlanta.

It was just amazing. Wow.

about 2000miles left 'till NYC.

Georgia

It's been 2 months since I started this "My Great America" journey.

Then something struck my mind. I totally forgot smoking. It works better than quiting smoking.

Rain

It rained.

"What should I do? What Should I DO?"

I kept saying this to myself for 7 hours on bike until I reached little Rock.

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.