Joey here.
By now, but for COVID-19 travel restrictions, we would be in eastern Washington State.
But if your grandmother had wheels, she’d be a trolley car.
What’s a Ride season without a Ride?
We put on appropriate garb.
L to R: Joey, Jeffrey. Joey models the latest in handkerchief facewear. Jeffrey is clad in the jacket he bought in Maine on the 5th Ride, the “Illinois Pork: Generations of Commitment” hat he wears when biking through the Heartland, and a mask fashioned from a Philmont Scout Ranch neckerchief his late brother Howard brought him from New Mexico 52 years ago.
Then we hit the road to circle Manhattan on our Lightning Phantom recumbent . . .
Our route around Russell Shorto’s Island at the Center of the World.
. . . with signs and the Stars and Stripes proclaiming our mission as a symbol of the real America.
Joey and a 19th century sailing ship at the South Street Seaport.
United Nations headquarters.
Along the Harlem River on the East Side.
Approaching the George Washington Bridge on the West Side.
From Uptown toward Downtown along the Hudson.
Flowers near the Financial District.
Heading uptown from the Battery. The tower with the spire is One World Trade Center, built on the site of the WTC destroyed on September 11, 2001.
It’s a little over 30 miles (50 km) around Manhattan, depending on one’s route and on the obstacles that take one by surprise . . .
. . . and require a detour.
While we wait for it to be safe to make friends as we pedal from Seattle to Provo, we two will bike around NYC and show you where we would be out West if your grandmother were, in fact, a trolley car. (When Jeffrey bikes in the city alone, those miles won’t count.)
So far, two spins around Manhattan clocked 62 miles. Other trips in Manhattan and Queens brought us up to 101. That would have taken us from Jeffrey’s brother David’s house south of Seattle, where we left our bike, to Bristol, Washington.
At right is Missoula, Montana, where we’ll turn south toward Provo. Someday.
Social distancing prevents us from stopping to talk to New Yorkers. But when a Spandex-clad cyclist passed us and called out, “Good for you! Good luck!”, we know that others, too shy to speak up, also notice our bike, read our signs, and may be inspired to think.
We take the Ride seriously because these are serious times. While Americans are distracted by the pandemic, our government, in our names, is crushing the embers of human rights.
Here’s but one example.
John Kelly, the current president’s former DHS director and later his Chief of Staff, is no fan of the Refugee Act of 1980, which like it or not is federal law. From the unabashedly pro-Administration anti-immigration organ, The Washington Examiner:
Under cover of the pandemic, Kelly’s dream—and that of Trump staffer Stephen Miller—is being realized at our borders. From ProPublica:
You and I, on our own, are powerless to stop this evil. We’re grateful that Human Rights First is on the job.
Our friends at Human Rights First raise their voices to defend the voiceless. They do not forget.
Please, despite the pressures you and we are under, let’s not forget either.
We’ll keep spreading the word, pedaling in circles, racking up local miles until we can return to the wide-open West.
And we’ll keep you in the loop.
Stay tuned!
Ride for Human Rights 