Day 130 – Pass Christian, MS

Yesterday was a short riding day. I got into Biloxi, MS and saw that a bunch of rain was coming to ducked into the Golden Nugget Casino for some food and gambling. After lunch I tried my luck at roulette and the black jack table and was up and down and finally down, but not too down 🙂 It was my first time every playing table games and a good learning experience. By time I got out of the place it was super windy and still raining so after a couple miles on the road I decided to get a motel room and rest for the night.

Today I stopped in at a gas station and two interesting things happened – 1) for a dollar you could buy a newspaper called The Jailhouse Weekly (pic) that has the mugshots of all the people arrested that week in the surrounding counties. Plus other crime related stories. I can’t decide if it is a good thing or not. The woman working the register said she sometimes recognizes customers in the paper.

2) As I was putting electrolyte powder into my water bottle a gentleman walked up and started talking to me about my trip. It turns out he is from Denmark, but had lived in the US for a long time and actually lived nearby the gas station. Somehow we got to talking about politics – I think because he was explaining all of the storm damage from Katrina and the areas near the area that still hasn’t rebuilt. I said that maybe it was because with the climate changing and another storm would happen soon. That led to him talking about who the Democrats are destroying the country, and that Muslim Obama and all the people on food stamps. I pushed back that Obama was no more Muslim then he or I was and we got to taking about the Middle East, etc., etc.

I was politely pushing back on what he was saying and then he quickly said he had to go and that we didn’t share the same view on politics and as he was walking away I asked to shake his hand and told him that although I did not share his political perspective that I was happy to be talking to him and sharing our views. I then pulled him back into a conversation about safe routes to be cycling around the area and we talked some more before he really said that he had to go. I asked to shake his hand and we did and I reiterated that although we have our differences that I have happy to talk to him and that we are all in this together (meaning living in the US). He seemed to agree and wished me well before driving off in his truck with a honk and a wave.

It was nice talking to a conservative Danish transplant because in my mind I think of them as all being Liberal it was also nice talking about politics and ending with a handshake. I’m also happy with myself that I stood up for my own political views and respectfully pushed back on what he was saying.

I’ll be in New Orleans the day after tomorrow and looking forward to it. I am staying with a guy named Jeff. I’ve also passed the 3,000 mile mark and still feel good physically, if some nights sore.

I feel really good about going into my 5th month of this trip even though I still have frustrating and trying moments. Mostly due to my inability to get as much video work done as I want. I get both distracted and overwhelmed with all the information that I am processing. I know I need to simplify how I am thinking about what I am doing and focus on output, but it’s a constant struggle.

It also looks like Austin will be a month+ stay as I refill my bank account and figure out the next part of the trip. I think I could spend much longer than a month in Austin, but still want to make it to LA to say that I’ve finished the trip I set out to do initially. I also think there is a lot of story telling I can do from a base in Austin.