Thank you from Nebraska

I’ve checked into a hotel in Fairbury, Nebraska, finally making it out of Kansas. Temperatures held steady at 106 degrees today. I’m parched, shaky and totally fried–sunburnt because I shed all my safety gear in the heat of the day. Still, I engaged with the hotel clerk, for about an hour. They don’t really see scooters out here, much less one loaded down with enough gear for three months. I had many questions to field and to ask.  I have some interview footage to upload and compress into video when I’m done blogging.  Tomorrow will be much of the same scenery; nothing but corn and soybeans, with the pungent aroma of pesticides and cow manure choking my nose.  Only the people I meet will make the day different. I had the vision to create this peace sign that spans 22,000 miles and now I’m here in the middle of it. I realized today, as I interviewed the people I met, and learned about their culture, their perspectives, that this is what I want to do with the rest of my life. Not here in Nebraska, mind you, and I don’t know where, when, or how. What I do know is that today it became clear to me that I want to spend my life finding stories and giving them a voice.