9/8/20 – Welcome home!

After riding in Iowa, my 48^th state, we began our leisurely trip home. There were things to see on the way home, like buffalo in Yellowstone, and mountain goats, deer, and moose in Glacier.

Although I truly feel at home anywhere in this great country, the West is where I belong. I could easily live in New York City. I love, love, love everything about The City and the pure exhilaration I feel there. I could easily live in Appalachia, in the mountains of east Tennessee or the friendly Carolinas. Atlanta is a beautiful place, a happening place, where so many lifelong friends always make me feel welcome. At age 24 coming off the road after three years of constant traveling, my boss at Coca-Cola offered to send me any place in the country as my final assignment. I chose Portland, Oregon and have never regretted the choice. Casey, my talented and energetic publicist, notified the hometown media, and KATU Television picked up the story; good ole KATU, the same station that covered my new solar home almost 30 years before where a young Matt Zaffino, then an environmental reporter, interviewed me. It was a lovely welcome home.

This link is the interview shown on the morning news show, AM/Northwest. When the link opens, click once on the picture of me to start the interview (after a short commercial): https://katu.com/embed/amnw/am-northwest-special-guests/vancouver-man-takes-cross-country-solar-powered-bike-ride

This link is the interview on the KATU website (also after a short commercial). They’ve included some text and a link to my blog: https://katu.com/amnw/am-northwest-special-guests/vancouver-man-takes-cross-country-solar-powered-bike-ride

Seeing all the states again, after so many years, reminded me that this country is and always has been great. We the people make it great. We have always honored the vision of our founders and that is what will keep us great. We have a beautiful land, something to be cherished as dearly as Theodore Roosevelt cherished it. We have so much spunk as a nation, a nation of innovators, where new ideas take root quickly and produce fruit overnight. This is the lesson of Sunride: that by using the sun’s energy for most of what we do, we can have our cake and eat it too. We can have economic prosperity while cherishing the land “where the deer and the antelope play” (and the buffalo too).