Saturday, September 5, 2009

Alpha Epsilon Phi Initiation

Titoli di coda



Qualcuno ha scritto “quando la tua faccia comincia ad assomigliare alla foto del passaporto è ora che torni a casa” o, come si direbbe in Romagna, "now that you bring back to home and my face is beginning to have some problems.
I'm actually still in good shape, certainly better than the first month, but continued to lead Miami and Key West 600 km of freeways and busy spot in an area of \u200b\u200bno interest to me, and probably with a climate unsympathetic . Say something like cycling in summer for a week on the A14. It would not make sense, it ends here, after 3370 km, 59-day trip, 46 by bike. But it ends here because there is a limit to the ability to store feelings, emotions, faces, speeches, and after some time the need is to develop e raccontare più che continuare ad accumulare, e quel tempo è arrivato.
Quando il viaggio è iniziato avevo la grande curiosità di parlare con la gente per capire come è percepita qui la crisi, che futuro vedono e come sta cambiando il paese dove si decidono i destini di buona parte del mondo. Ho parlato con decine di persone, di tutte le condizioni sociali ed età e latitudine ed è stata un’esperienza unica, ma quando le domande sono così grandi non ci sono risposte univoche, e l’impressione generale è quella di un paese frammentato, forse anche confuso. Alcuni ritengono che quella che viviamo sia una fase passeggera e che l’America tornerà grande, molti pensano che niente sarà più come prima e ci si dovrà adattare ad un modello di vita più sobrio, altri sono semplicemente delusi.
Il fondamentalismo religioso protestante è molto forte e condiziona anche le scelte politiche, ma quello che è ancora più forte è l’individualismo e la convinzione che ognuno deve lottare prima di tutto da solo per superare le difficoltà. C’è un’avversione atavica per tutto ciò che è intervento pubblico, in particolare nell’economia, e non è una posizione solo dei conservatori. Ho sentito progressisti scandalizzati dal fatto che i grandi costruttori di auto sono stati salvati dallo stato, come le grandi banche: dovevano fallire, perché inefficienti, anche se questo poteva comportare la perdita di altri posti di lavoro. Qui non ci sono ammortizzatori sociali, gli impatti di un’economia che non funziona sono immediati nella busta paga di chi lavora, o nel fatto che la busta paga, da un giorno all’altro, si può perdere, anche nel settore pubblico. E quando questo succede si parte, si abbandona il posto in cui si vive e si va a cercare un’occasione migliore da qualche altra parte. In queste comportamenti, per noi ancora estremi, c’è tutta la vitalità e la capacità di reagire alle difficoltà di questa gente. Basterà?
Dal punto di vista personale il viaggio è stata una grande opportunità, è arrivato in un momento in cui il bisogno di riprendere entusiasmo era forte e l’America, in questo senso, è un ricostituente molto efficace.

E come si dice alla fine degli spettacoli o nella prefazione dei libri, tutto questo non sarebbe stato possibile senza l’aiuto e la partecipazione di alcune persone.
Anzitutto Marco e Pierpaolo, che hanno aiutato in modo decisivo a preparare la parte “tecnologica” del viaggio.
Poi tutti quelli che hanno animato i commenti del blog, e che lo hanno reso divertente e vivo per tutto questo tempo.
Ancora, quelli che pur non intervenendo direttamente lo hanno fatto con i messaggi di posta elettronica, grazie.
Infine, le tante persone incontrate lungo la strada che mi hanno aiutato senza conoscermi: Joe Nowak, i Simon, Mike Parks, i Mathis, Robertone, Jonathan, Eleanor, Isabelle & Oscar e quei ciclisti, che non ho mai citato, che mi hanno offerto una doccia e un letto per dormire, non accettati solo per ragioni di distanza. Non sono molti i pedalatori americani della East Coast, ma hanno un cuore grande, un grazie anche a loro.

Bunion Surgery In Prague

4 settembre - Cinque cose





Cinque cose che ho detestato dell’America

Le spiagge private e inaccessibili della penisola di Delmarva, e l’idea che we can privatize everything.

The Delmarva Peninsula, flat, crossed by highways with no history and very large and useless.

religious marketing in the states of the "bible belt".

The lack of bike culture and the idea that the persistent street, shops, cities are made for cars.

Absolute respect for the rules, even when they go against common sense.


Five things that I loved America

Public toilets and showers. It is not smart to start from here, but why not say that in all public places and tourist areas there are more bathrooms and are clean, and in sixty I did sixty days showers measured to perfection.

The Beef Jerky, dried meat of beef, in convenient resealable packages, tasty protein concentrate. The most significant American contribution to international cuisine, I've eaten tons.

The "refill." In all restaurants, diners and kiosks from breakfast coffee or tea you pay once, but the cup is always filled on request. A beautiful custom, especially in summer, when the scorching heat press.

The railroad line New York-Maplewood, and on arrival at the station every night I say goodnight and make you think that the Bologna-Ancona service could be improved.

The availability of the people. A man only bike here is never alone.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Is There A Stomach Virus In Vancouver Bc

2, 3 settembre - Jacksonville, Florida




After all the warnings on the hot el'afa of Georgia and Florida, I did not expect its rain and low temperatures. Yet three days have not seen the sun in the afternoon and at night it always rains, and yesterday morning I rode for five hours flying under water. While on a road in some areas where drainage has not worked the water came almost to the hub of the wheel and pedal it was like to acquabike; at night I watched the local news that the floods have hit exactly the area that I went through. Along the way I stopped at the classic shop attendant to get a hot coffee and warm and I took the opportunity to chat with the manager, as to a mountain hut.
I crossed the border with Florida, is the latest. If I counted right, this is the thirteenth state through: NY State, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia.
The route that I covered today it is largely part of the coast in an area of \u200b\u200bgreat natural beauty: Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island, Talbot Island: the forest here, which has a dense undergrowth and marshy, is mixed with sand dunes before reaching the sea. The variety of flora and fauna is also rich, is a nesting area of \u200b\u200bwading birds and raptors, but the animal symbol is the manatee, that sort of walrus without tusks grazing canals and rivers and wetlands that are at risk of extinction. National parks and protected areas were continued for many miles before you see signs of civilization of Jacksonville. To get there, take a ferry and cross the St. Johns River, the usual Lonely Planet, indeed, the last shred I have left, down the only river in the world along the Nile that flows from south to north. A
Jacksonville is host for a few days of Oscar and Isabelle, with her son Gabriel, Bob Mathis Friends of Washington. And 'he, the great Bob, to contact them and warn them of my arrival. Living much out of the city, but they are 200 meters from the ocean in Atlantic Beach, and now that I approach the finish is a great pleasure to find the sea, which had left more than a month ago in Maryland, and then some leisure resort.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

One Hard Node In Neck

1 settembre - La terza bottiglia di plastica





Great meeting this morning at breakfast at the motel, another cyclist who does the East Coast like me, but from south to north, and is not an American and a French Marc Delval.
say he is doing the east coast is a bit 'simplistic, in reality is doing around the world, which expects to complete in 2015, but does so in stages a few months, after which it returns to France to recharge the batteries and prepare the next piece. Key West is doing now - Boston, more or less the distance and the path that I'm doing, but this spring he rode in all the islands of the Caribbean: Cuba, Santo Domingo, Bahamas, Jamaica, in 3000 km. The next step in 2010 will be Europe, which will make a sort of circumnavigation starting from Scandinavia and from there down to southern France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and back north through the East: Russia, Poland and Baltics, to stop this plan to be away a year. On the rear rack has a rigid top box that contains a binder with pictures and locations that made the world a little 'as the press-book of the actors, and then another registry, much like that of luxury hotels, where people who meet him write two lines to remember.
With me is generous with maps and tips on places worth stopping after Savannah. When
meet on the way people like these, I've always a couple of curiosities: one is what they do in life, or what they did to afford it? But Marc is impossible to know more, speak only French, does not know a word of English, and this is a great mystery: how do you see the world like this?
The other thing I ask is what kind of cyclist is in the sense that the great cyclist traveler borders dangerously with ciclista-vagabondo/accattone. Sometimes it is not easy to distinguish, in the sense that there are people around the world who do not have a precise destination, are traveling for years and just live this way, and their reasons not to come and tell you, anzi di solito sono poco avvicinabili. Ma ci sono anche ciclisti-tecnici come Marc, anch’essi in giro per lungo tempo, però secondo un piano preciso che prevede un ritorno prima o poi. Come distinguerli? La differenza è sottile, ma basta guardare alle bottiglie in plastica che si portano dietro: tre o quattro bottiglie, che contengono semplice acqua sono il segno che il punto di non ritorno è stato superato: quello è il ciclista-vagabondo. Il ciclista viaggiatore invece non ne ha più di due e dentro c’è gatorade o acqua con i sali. E le borse laterali sono di qualche marca tedesca molto costosa, traspiranti, impermeabili, inaffondabili, e spesso non funzionano. Il ciclista vagabondo invece ha borse in plastica da supermercato, in quantità, e quelle sono veramente impermeabili.
Io e Marc abbiamo due sole bottiglie in plastica, ma occhio, il confine è vicino.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Biffy Clyro Piano Sheet

30, 31 agosto - Savannah






La colazione che prepara Eleanore la mattina della partenza è un pranzo di nozze. C’è di tutto, anche un piatto di polenta che qui si mangia con il formaggio e che, in piena estate e alle 7 della mattina fa uno strano effect, but it is quite local customs, it's called cheese grits.
I take a couple of days to visit Savannah, Georgia. And 'one of the most celebrated cities of America for the beauty of its buildings and its history and all have advised me to do so. The Lonely Planet calls it a sleepy town and a little 'slut, "like a beautiful woman with a dirty face," but of great fascination for the presence of beautiful Victorian houses, half hidden by the big American evergreen oaks. These trees are covered with a " beard moss pending, Tillandsia, which is actually a plant with aerial roots, and that gives it a vaguely Gothic in historic districts of the city, un perfetto scenario per un film di Tim Burton.
Ed effettivamente Savannah ha avuto molto a che fare con il cinema; nel tour guidato che ho seguito oggi hanno citato almeno sei o sette film girati qui, tra cui “La signora in rosso”, ma quello che tutti ricordano è “Forrest Gump”, con la scena della scatola di cioccolatini sulla panchina della piazza. Ho fotografato la piazza in questione, Chippewa Square, che è una delle ventuno ancora esistenti in città e la famosa panchina. Ho anche pensato al fatto che a Washington avevo ripreso il Mall, teatro di un’altra scena famosa di questo film e che in fondo anche la traversata dell’America del podista Forrest Gump assomiglia un po’ al mio viaggio; ci sono the strange similarities between the two, but for now I do not want to pursue these.
said, and acknowledged the beauty of Savannah, one must also say that America is a young country and ever changing and the impact of an American city like this, with a historic 150 year virtually intact, with restored the old cotton warehouses, the avenues and squares, it is almost overwhelming, while a European, accustomed always to live in the middle of the story, it could simply say: well, not bad at this Savannah.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Cowichan Knitting Patterns

August 29-E 'South


I became quite good with maps, now I can tell by the terrain and other signs that may be the type of road to face the next day. Last night I focused on route 17, which skirts an area of \u200b\u200bforest, following the course of Savannah, and in fact this morning I see the tables in the "scenic road".
There are things that change than the area of \u200b\u200bthe mountains, while the humid climate and vegetation. You begin to see the magnolias, oaks and beech trees to replace, but in spite of the season the entire environment around it is green. Today I rode for dozens of kilometers in the midst of pine forests, and this makes me a bit 'surprised, I thought I found a desolate and arid south and instead is something else. Also change the faces that you see around, just north of New York was very rare to see people of color, the blacks here are the great majority, and even how to talk a bit is changed, the speech is slurred and slow, measured in especially at times difficult to understand. Cycling
often listen to local radio stations, and almost all country music forward, in addition to the ubiquitous radio sermons of evangelical preachers, and political debates on health care reform that were prevalent in the north seem absent here.
That does not change is the availability people. This morning I met a couple of cyclists on Sunday, Eleanor and Alfred, who, after a chat rite ask me where I'm going to stay for the night, live in the country where I'm headed, Statesboro, and I offer a shower, dinner and overnight at home. I agree and I remember Jonathan, Asheville, told me about the great tradition of Southern hospitality I know now that was not joking.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Invitation For Pastor Anniversary

August 28 - Augusta National Golf Club




I do not have to enter. I tried to tell him that I did 2900 km in cycling just to be there,
"Only members are allowed"
I know all the names of the winners of the last 10 years (not true),
"That's The Way It Is"
which is the dream of my life in,
" Sorry, that's the way it is. "
There was nothing to do, that's the way it is, these are the rules. Maybe tell him the bike was a mistake, if I had told him pierced with Bentley, maybe ....
But in the end are not unhappy that it went well, indeed, the fact that I have withheld reinforces the idea of \u200b\u200bseriousness that I had made the place. Groucho Marx said: "I could never be a member of a circle accept a guy like me. "
would almost say that the refusal to let me in is a source of comfort for all who believe in something, is proof that there is still something sacred. In a world of ridiculous politicians, corrupt judges, a journeyman is still a place where there are no exceptions, winks and backroom deals, but only rules and fair play. We would have preferred that this place was politics, or justice, or school, but it's a field where you take a ball with a stick. For the moment we are content.
said that, as in life it takes a bit of balance, before I start I gave him a pisciatina on the gate closed dell'Augusta National Golf Club, Georgia.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

The Sims 2 Sims Muscular

26 August 27 - Georgia on my mind




Quando ho programmato il viaggio, definendo quei cinque o sei luoghi-culto da non mancare lungo il percorso, quello più a sud era (ed è) il campo da golf di Augusta, Georgia. L’Augusta National non è un campo da golf come gli altri, è IL campo da golf; qui si gioca da decenni il Masters, il torneo dei campioni, il suo circolo è considerato il più esclusivo del mondo e il suo campo forse il più bello.
Del circolo fanno parte ex U.S. presidents, captains of industry and finance like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and top brass of various kinds. The route runs along what was a nursery 80 years ago, with trees, plants and flowers of great beauty that uniquely characterize each of the 18 holes. Bob Mathis said in Washington that even the club members are not allowed to camp for several months a year for maintenance work needed to keep it at this level.
The exclusivity of Augusta is legendary, it is virtually impossible to attend the Masters, there are tickets booked for years, perhaps for generations, and there are stories of separation between spouses where the judge has to consider the issue of who gets the tickets. Next year, however, here will play an Italian boy of 16 years, Matthew Manassero, the great white hope, a phenomenon seen not only at national level, which was invited because he has won everything there is to win at this level.
With this in mind, I do not have many chances to put his nose in, but I want to try the same, or with the history of the Pilgrim-cyclist came there to see the Temple, or hoping for a guard of Italian descent to close one eye. The important thing is that dogs do not just see me mollino horizon. Meanwhile
bends towards the south, in Georgia, there is in terms of temperatures, much higher than on the Appalachians. I spent the night in a State Park, beautiful lake view with a pitch, but the humidity was unbearable even at midnight.
For the first time yesterday I had some problems to find a WiFi line with the public library closed and the center's premises which were not related. I made an attempt at a place in Italy would be the last to be searched: the gas station. Result: two stations fully operational. Here all the gas stations have the adjoining shop, which in addition to selling the usual brushes, road maps and cleaning agents is also a grocery store and more. A few weeks ago, in withdrawal symptoms from milk was looking for a pack of half liter, because of course there are those in supermarkets da uno o mezzo gallone. Ma il benzinaio ce l’aveva, insieme al cappuccino ghiacciato e al pane, migliore di quello degli alimentari.
Perché funziona così? Forse anche qui la cultura dell’automobile gioca un ruolo importante o forse è l’ossessione degli americani per il non perdere tempo e fare tutto in fretta. Anche gli sportelli bancari qui sono tutti come i drive through di MacDonald, non si entra in banca ma si va con l’auto ad uno sportello apposito e si fanno tutte le operazioni senza scendere, collegati con l’impiegato all’interno se serve, se no si dialoga con la macchina. Chissà se sarà questo anche il nostro futuro.