Cycling the Underground Railroad

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DAY 5: LINDEN TO MONTGOMERY,  BY TRUCK

Last night the storm moved in, and by this morning the sky had broken open and rain was pouring down.  

The ride to Montgomery during the day-long downpour.

As we had discussed last night, my riding partner Susan found two great gentlemen,  Butch (on the right) and Robert (left) who drove us and our bikes two hours in the deluge from Linden to Montgomery.

Robert, Susan (riding partner for part of the trip), myself and Butch arriving in Montgomery.

According to the Weather Service, the storm is supposed to move through early Thursday morning.  We'll wait out the thunderstorms here in downtown Montgomery tomorrow,  and visit several of the museums related to the "second" Civil Rights Movement (the original being the Underground Railroad/Abolitionist Movement).

View of downtown Montgomery, Alabama from my 4th floor motel room.

Thursday, weather permitting,  I'll ride the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail.  (I'll actually be riding it 'backwards,' from Montgomery to Selma.)  So today was a travel/"rest" (non-riding) day.

So what does a "rest day" on a bike tour look like?  Besides not riding,  it's not all that restful.  For me it meant washing all my clothes (after 4 days of pedalling, all the clean stuff is pretty foul), and drying out camping equipment.   I'll also have to tighten a couple of bolts on my bike and fix a slow leak on the rear tire.

Laundry done, clean clothes!!

Drying out camping equipment.  My room looked like an REI store!

Tomorrow I'll share what I discovered in my museum and memorial visits.

Maya Angelou quote on the side of the Legacy Museum.

Why do I think this history is important?

It's not because I long to live in the past--far from it.  It's because by learning our history we are better able to make choices that will result in a better future for all.  This Maya Angelou quote,  on the wall of the Equal Justice Initiative's Legacy Museum, adjacent to this hotel, captures what the late John Lewis called "The Spirit of History."

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