Monthly Archives: November 2011

First, the back-story. While touring the country with his dog and truck a half century ago, John Steinbeck’s journey around America finally hit a kind of emotional wall in the Deep South, where he witnessed firsthand the forced integration of … Continue reading →

“Blue-sky morning! Rain-free riding! George, what are you waiting for? Get going, man —now! Ride like the wind! Ride like the wind for Texas!” But Bike Guy, I’m not ready. I still need to write that post about breakfast in … Continue reading →

When asked by a reporter why he spent so much of his life trying to rob banks, the convict William “Willie” Sutton famously replied: “Because that’s where the money is.” Exactly. And if you were to ask why I spent … Continue reading →

Sorry but something about the name of this place (in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina) struck me as a little bit funny.

Passing by Mount Vernon just south of Washington D.C. last week, I decided on a whim  to visit George Washington’s ancestral home, which I’d never seen before. Paying to take the tour (the home is privately maintained and not visible … Continue reading →

No, I haven’t been loved up by those river women or turned into a toad by that crazy Circe. Just changing out of my cold-weather riding gear here at a wayside in Tennessee, where I’m happily heading west. A couple … Continue reading →

Thirty years ago last January I drove a car from the West Coast to the East Coast to start a one-year tour of duty as a relatively young Washington correspondent for the Anchorage Daily News. I arrived in D.C.  just … Continue reading →

I didn’t set out to document the Occupy Wall Street movement coast to coast, but I easily could have. Its supporters have been active virtually everywhere we’ve traveled so far, including, most recently, Washington D.C. The encampment across the street … Continue reading →

If riding a motorcycle on a rush-hour freeway in Seattle was my high school graduation, and doing the same on a Friday night in Chicago was my undergraduate degree, then think of New York City as the bar exam. I … Continue reading →

THE GEESE were already south, and we were pointed down-coast too. But the grey fringe of “Tropical Storm Sean” showered New England nonstop today, changing our plans. So we tucked into New Bedford to try to dry off. “Bet that’s … Continue reading →