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<p class="MsoNormal">Days Eighteen thru Twenty-Four:<span style=""> </span>Common Ground Along an Uncommon Route</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Along this trip, I’ve been testing a line:<span style=""> </span>“We’re biking for peace.<span style=""> </span>We started at the House of Common Sense in Oakland, California
and we’ll end up at the White House that needs some common sense!”<span style=""> </span>Everyone in every state has enthusiastically
agreed!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, you won’t believe this!<span style="">
</span>I have broken bread with militia members who voted for Obama!<span style=""> </span>Now, I know that doesn’t sound possible, but
I overheard the conversation of some Utah men discussing what the heck they
were going to do to put this country -right and bingo—an admission that they
had voted for Obama!<span style=""> </span>They lamented that
they certainly weren’t going to do that again, but they couldn’t vote
Republican, because Bush had ruined the country, and so they just didn’t know
what they were going to do.<span style=""> </span>That’s when
my feet began to glide uncontrollably in their direction.<span style=""> </span>The idea of these men having voted for Obama
just overtook me and I begged their indulgence and interjected myself into
their conversation.<span style=""> </span>In just a few short
moments it was clear that we had similar concerns about the direction of our
country.<span style=""> </span>I never let on to them who I
was.<span style=""> </span>I just reminded them that they did
have options, even in Utah,
where the Green Party was on the ballot.<span style="">
</span>That they didn’t have to give their most precious political asset—their
vote—to a political party that didn’t deserve it.<span style=""> </span>Interestingly, I left them saying to myself
that I always knew that with dialogue we could find areas of commonality, just
as I had done that in the first Congressional District that sent me to
Washington, D.C,. and that if we worked hard enough at dialogue, that we could
bring this country together.<span style=""> </span>So,
Bike4Peace 2010 took me into a conversation that most likely I would never have
witnessed were I not here.<span style=""> </span>It only
reinforces my belief that we really can build bridges to each other, if only
the hate-mongering, fear-proselytizing politicians would get out of the way</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One last thing:<span style=""> </span>Now,
I think I’m beginning to understand how bikers feel when they’re on a
bike.<span style=""> </span>Just before leaving Gunnison, Colorado,
I decided to bike into town all by myself!!!!!<span style="">
</span>To buy some jewelry to go with the outfit I bought in Telluride.<span style=""> </span>Even with the bike helmet on, I imagined Mel
Gibson yelling, FREEDOM!<span style=""> </span>I think that
explains why we’ve met so many bikers, all alone on the road, from all parts of
the world, criss-crossing our country.<span style="">
</span>Once one gets over the “rumpus hurticus,” a term coined by our fellow
traveler Paul Stutzman, biking can become quite addictive, and if not
addictive, certainly fun and challenging!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Day Eighteen -- We left Hite,
Utah and Glen
Canyon and headed into Blanding, our
last Utah
stop.<span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Day Nineteen -- Can you believe that the core riders have
ridden across California, Nevada,
and Utah and are about to do the same in Colorado.<span style=""> </span>We arrive in Dolores and begin the process of
unloading the car and setting up the cabin to receive company!!!<span style=""> </span>We are in a cabin along the Dolores River
and by chance, Yaney discovers an e-mail from Marion saying that he’d like to meet us while
we’re in Dolores.<span style=""> </span>Marion bought dinner for us and brought along
his friends to enjoy.<span style=""> </span>Marion s a courageous young, Black man who
sued the county for discrimination!<span style=""> </span>He also
has a copy of the documentary, American Blackout, for me to autograph.<span style=""> </span>I knew he’d want to take a photo so I dressed
up in the tie-dye dress that I bought from Marianne!<span style=""> </span>All evening, he wanted to know about
Obama.<span style=""> </span>I was able to cut through much of
the propaganda and the prejudice and give him the truth and the facts about our
President.<span style=""> </span>In addition, I reminded him
of the reason we participate in politics and what our responsibilities are if
our expectations are not met.<span style=""> </span>We had a
very potent political discussion.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Day Twenty – Everyone anticipated arriving in
Telluride.<span style=""> </span>Well, as it turns out, it was
in Telluride that I posed the question for the first time—what the heck am I
doing here???<span style=""> </span>But before I deal with
that, let me say that the shopping was very satisfying.<span style=""> </span>Between Dolores and Telluride, I made my
first commitment to leave the group.<span style=""> </span>My
intention was not to leave the group during the entire ride.<span style=""> </span>But I received an offer I could not turn
down:<span style=""> </span>September 11 with Luke Rudkowski
(WeAreChange-NYC), Daniel Sunjata, my sister Cindy Sheehan, and former UK MP George
Galloway!!!!!<span style=""> </span>And since I didn’t pack
anything but bicycle clothes, I needed something to wear.<span style=""> </span>Telluride provided the perfect answer.<span style=""> </span>Only thing, the young lady who helped me was
sooo ready to talk.<span style=""> </span>She was disappointed
with politics.<span style=""> </span>She had been excited and
had even majored in political science.<span style=""> </span>She
wanted to explain her disappointment and how because of it, she found her way
to the architecture department.<span style=""> </span>She is
now working to go back to school to get her masters.<span style=""> </span>I commented to her that it was a shame that a
bunch of bankers had to get in-between her and her education.<span style=""> </span>After shopping, YeYo took me for a bike ride
and we went on the gondolas, too.<span style=""> </span>After
that, back to City
Park where we pitched
tents and that’s when I had my “why am I here” moment.<span style=""> </span>That next morning, Day Twenty-One, I was
sooooooo cold.<span style=""> </span>I now know why we have
Thermarest—it does protect you from the cold ground.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Day Twenty-One – What a wonderful shop in Ridgeway, Colorado!!!<span style=""> </span>Bought some street clothes since I’ve figured
that walking around in the bike shorts isn’t good for me at all!!!<span style=""> </span>Overnight in Montrose, Colorado.<span style=""> </span>The view of the mountains is awesome.<span style=""> </span>However, Utah for me is still the most beautiful!!!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Day Twenty-Two – Gunnison,
Colorado.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Day Twenty-Three – Rest Day.<span style="">
</span>Our hotel is outside of town so I ride the bike back into town in my
first solo ride of the trip!!!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Day Twenty-Four – Monarch
Pass!!!<span style=""> </span>11,300 feet today and the core bikers rode
all the way up and down.<span style=""> </span>Tonight we
sleep in Poncha Springs with a great sense of accomplishment.<span style=""> </span>We’re on the other side now of the Great
Divide!<span style=""> </span>Scott says we’ve done about half
of the elevation and about one-third of the mileage!!!<span style=""> </span>Amazing!!!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think Nora Jones’s “Above Ground” is the great song for
this week.<span style=""> </span>That’s what I played on my
father’s iPhone as Yaney and I crossed Monarch Pass
and started our journey on the Atlantic side of the Continental Divide.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oh beautiful for spacious skies . . . The scale of this
country and all its bounty.<span style=""> </span>On this day,
University of Georgia
scientists expose the lie that all of the oil is gone from the Gulf while the
world counts the hours until Israel
strikes Iran with weapons
supplied by the U.S.<span style=""> </span>My son awaits a storm in Georgia, that originated in the Gulf of Mexico,
to see if it will rain oil in Georgia
the way it has already in Louisiana.<span style=""> </span>We all know what this could mean.<span style=""> </span>Let’s hope it doesn’t happen.<span style=""> </span>On both counts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oh, why can’t our country be a better partner for Mother
Earth and the global community?<span style=""> </span>Who will
step up and make it so?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><a href="http://dignity.ning.com/" target="_blank">http://dignity.ning.com/</a><br><a href="http://www.enduswars.org" target="_blank">http://www.enduswars.org</a><br><a href="http://www.livestream.com/dignity" target="_blank">http://www.livestream.com/dignity</a><br>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/dignityaction" target="_blank">http://www.twitter.com/dignityaction</a><br><a href="http://www.myspace.com/dignityaction" target="_blank">http://www.myspace.com/dignityaction</a><br><a href="http://www.myspace.com/runcynthiarun" target="_blank">http://www.myspace.com/runcynthiarun</a><br>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/cynthiamckinney" target="_blank">http://www.twitter.com/cynthiamckinney</a><br><a href="http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinney" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinney</a><br>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/runcynthiarun" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/runcynthiarun</a><br>
<br>Silence is the deadliest weapon of mass destruction.<br>