An extraordinary experience that is very difficult to summarize - but a few random thoughts.
-Americans are exceptionally friendly, curious, interesting and welcoming. People we encountered were amazingly nice to us - in all respects. The random encounters that are inherent in this type of trip are undoubtedly the best parts - and served to remind me (and i think everyone else) how good people are. Surprisingly, there were less than 4-5 brushes with single finger salutes or trucks that wanted us to know how much they disliked bikes. While we saw almost no other bikers to speak of (and the ones we did see were near cities and clearly on local jaunts), bikes seem to have become well accepted as part of the road.
-the Mississippi is clearly not a well trod ("rolled?") bike route. The general response when people learned about the trip was "yeh, i remember some other guy who came through here 5 or 10 years ago". A missed opportunity, since it is a wonderful cross section of America.
-Feeding people really resonates as a cause. People universally relate to food as a basic human right - and are uniformly supportive of helping to feed others. Poverty - and food insecurity - crosses all parts of the country. It is not limited to urban settings - the poverty we traveled through in parts of rural America is profound. I am very happy that this ride could play a small part in feeding some Chicago children who should never have to face hunger - plenty of time to contribute! Www.ridetheriver2017.com has the link you have been looking for :) lots of water bottles left to give out!
-Small town America is really struggling. Very skewed demographics (old and young - not much in between), gutted Main streets, shrinking populations - tough economic future that is quite unclear to me.
-i am profoundly grateful to a variety of people:
-Chris Donnelly - a great riding companion who kept me going
-Bob Liebetrau - our extraordinary driver and compatriot who always sees the bright side of things
-Karen Imrisek - who makes life function smoothly and coordinated this venture flawlessly and with superhuman equanimity
-my family - who give me purpose
-the many friends who lent their muscle, time and companionship to bringing us the distance: Jacob, Todd, Bryan, Ralph, Mark, Kerry, Derek, Kate, Jill, Claire, Erin, Anna, Kathe, Don, Michael, Susan, Alisa, Teresa, Jennifer, Tim, Ted, Blake, Joe, Louise, Chris Jr., Randy, Carol, Steve, Mike, Curt, John, Dave, Scott, Beth, Bob, Julie, John, Harris, Louis, Justin, Susan
My abiding thanks to all - and looking forward to the next one!