WHY?

Hi - Marty here. I realised that for some of you I have never explained the WHY question. That is - "Why are you cycling across the USA?". Well...it all started a long time ago - probably about 15 or more years back. Growing up in NZ so far away from any other country you either look outwards and are intrigued, or you focus on the things close to home and enjoy those. I guess I was always in category one - and as a kid would love to look at maps of other countries and try and imagine what life would be like there. Right from a young age I was intrigued by the fact that the USA had such a HUGE influence, both culturally and politically, on the rest of the world - including little old NZ - right down there at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean! So -I had always planned to go visit the US some day for myself & see what it was really like. I didn't just want to do a standard tourist visit in a few weeks & return with the T-shirt to prove I had been. I needed to slow it down and have a good reason to go slow - and thus the idea of cycling hatched!!

I held on to the dream and would occasionally mention it to someone I thought may be interested. In 2003 or 2004 whilst working in Kabul I met an American guy named Glen who had cycled coast to coast twice- and this was inspiring and made my dream seem not so crazy (thanks Glen!!). Nicole knew of my dream and was encouraging -although I had always thought I'd do it when in my50's - as part of the fun is holding onto the dream. Nicole however was firm that if I wanted her to join in I had better do it sooner than that(she took a couple years to warm to the idea and is now loving it!!). So ...with our short contracts coming to an end in July this year and nothing else to do we decided that now was the right time. And so here we are - inthe middle of Iowa - Winterset to be exact (the town where "The Bridges of Madison County" is set).

I am still trying to get more insights into what makes America tick, what is it about the US that makes it strong, what is good about being American etc? I am making lots of observations but haven't had many direct conversations about the topic yet. What I do observe is pretty simple though - Americans are just like you and me!!! I have concluded, after a fair bit of work/travel in other places these last few years, that despite culture and religion and even very differnt physical surroundings people everywhere are actually very similar. We all want to love and be loved, and usually dream that life can be better than the present. And...the Americans are no different in that regard. I do think though that they are a very friendly lot (and quite so here in the Mid West) - and very polite too. Everyone is very helpful and kind towards us.

One example of this was just this Sunday afternoon as I cycled up the 20th small hill that day (Iowa is an interwoven patchwork of hills) - a man in a pickup truck slowed right down and yelled through his window "Are you doing ok? Would you like a Pepsi or a Dr Pepper?" to which I replied I was doing fine and no thanks. He carried on a short distance and turned into his property. By the time I reached it a few mins later he had come out to the road with two icy cool waters for us both and asked if we would like some cool watermelon! Of course we couldn't resist - and ended up sitting at the family dining table with more watermelon, and chatting with him and his wife and kids in their beautiful home. A really nice break in the middle of a hot afternoon's cycle - thanks Steve and family - you rock!!.

As I said Iowa is rolling hills which makes for prettier scenery than Nebraska. The crops remain the same though (Corn and Soy Beans mostly) and the European influence is evident in the quaint style of barns and some of the housing. I haven't felt that well for a few days - not quite sure what it is I've picked up - so we took a break today which has been great and move on tomorrow again - hoping to be in eastern Iowa by Friday night and into Illinois on Saturday. We will head to Chicago and spend a few days there enjoying some city life! Then on around the bottom of Lake Michigan and up to Grand Rapids where we will stay withsome of Nicole's old friends from Tennesse days and also hope to hear a favorite author/pastor of ours speak (see http://marshill.org/ or www.robbell.org/).

We continue to enjoy the ride...and hope you are too!! Any Americans reading out there - please feel free to comment on what you like about being an American, what is it about the US that you like/dislike? I'd love to hear your perspectives. Or anything else you want to comment on.

Thanks to all who make comments and sorry we cant respond to each individually - usually we have limited access to computers I am afraid.

Sorry too ...no pictures yet - gotta wait til we get a big town that has a Walmart and can copy them for us - but just imagine lots and lots of corn fields!

Stay cool

Marty