Contributing Work From (un)Fairfield Iowa.

At the end of last week I received the following email and pictures from Jordy Moore Money who has been out in (un)Fairfield Iowa since last fall. This narrative is self explanatory and needs no introduction however I will at least say, "Meet Cho(like go) from Korea who decided it would be a good idea to fly from Korea to Hell-AY-EX Airport(foot note: Meghan-UF Iowa) in Los Angles California, buy some supplies and then ride a bike across the United States."

There are few things more important than enthusiasm. If pharmaceutical companies could put anti-apathy in a pill, they would be out of business. This afternoon, as the temperature approached 80 degrees, in southeast Iowa, we spotted Cho exiting highway 34, on a heavy rig, bearing two flags. After a questionable u-turn, we caught up with him as he synchronistically stopped to check his location. I think he sensed that we were coming back, because he turned around, and with a large smile welcomed our presence. I confirmed he was indeed riding a trans-american route, and he proceeded to see my crack out and raise it ten crack-outs by pointing to the Korean flag waving just above his 26” rear wheel on his Chinese-made front suspension ride. He ask us about camping, free or pay, and we immediately drew him a map to our backyard. Then we ran errands (supposedly the next door neighbor never without her cane nor cancer stick interrogated across the fence our South Korean friend while he prepared his campsite as he has done every day since May 7th of this year, two-thousand and mine). Errands complete, we arrived home to find Cho set-and-ready and completely void of any desire to go to the sauna. After the sauna, we baited him with pizza at Sundar’s and he could not resist the temptation of free calories and carbohydrates and company, for it is a lonely route across America for a 26-year-old Korean man. His English is not so good, but it is much better than our Korean. We eventually established truth by using our fore finger and thumb on both the right hand and left to create bar graphs. Now we know that gas, cars and houses are cheap in America and expensive in South Korea. But everything else (coffee, bananas, movies, bicycles, shoes, pants) is cheap compared to America. When Mr. Obama’s name was brought up neither side was sure what to say. It was clear, though, that in the new year under criticism from the people of South Korea, their former president decided to kill himself. From the perspective of this South Korean, North Korea’s prime minister only gives money to his army, while most of the people there starve. He also thinks North Korea is not a nuclear threat because of perceived US military power. I could not explain to him with my fore finger and thumb on hands both right and left that I think such acts are far out of the control of any elected man or women. Cho made the decision to come to the United States for his transboundary transfer despite cautioning from his family that America was a land of many guns and killers. After his mandatory two years in the South Korean army and completing a degree in electrical engineering, he wanted to see what the other side of the planet looked like. He’s been keeping a blog of his trip and we suggest you go there and look at the photo section for each one is worth a thousand words which is a lot more than you will get out of Cho himself: http://cyworld.com/hinggooOver a diner of Za’s and salad, wine and conversation we tried to explain why perhaps carrying quinoa in place of white rice would be a much better alternative based on our generalizations and conceptions of the sacrosanct grain. At some point in the game Rashad blurted out, “F&(k energy right now!” Brilliant. I added that I would contribute a can of salmon to his journey (earlier I gave him a pack of emergen-C joint health packets). God, this was a funny evening. Like the guru Maharishi said, “It takes one to know one.” He also coined, “Be the ball.” I’m just saying, if you see a guy rolling off the interstate highway system who is obviously riding across the fine country in which you dwell, pull a u-ey and invite him into your yard. Don’t be afraid. Not even for one second. He has your best interest in mind, surely, for his “scenery” is your home. Or, as M-dawg also said, “Don’t be a gun-toting killer.” (Watch the video -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPtVp1YdGY8&feature=channel_page).