I wander America on a Harley Davidson motorcycle, sleep on couches and in fifty-dollar motel rooms, eat at Waffle House and Main Street cafes, and have conversations with people whose politics I might not agree with. These are our stories.

Metaphor Racing

Metaphor Racing

americaisabeautifulthing.com My son, Eli, and I spent the weekend at Talladega, a NASCAR track in Alabama. It was our first NASCAR event. I might love NASCAR, the wholesomeness of it, the innocence, the obliviousness, the sensuality, the Americanness; the families and...

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Hannibal to Cairo via East St. Louis

Hannibal to Cairo via East St. Louis

America is a beautiful thing… americaisabeautifulthing.com My plan was to follow The Great River Road, the Blues Highway, the Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan, from Minneapolis to Memphis then cut across to Birmingham for two days of NASCAR at Talladega with my son,...

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The Small Motel

The Small Motel

Last night a friend asked me how I find the small, locally-owned motels where I tend to stay. I told him I just wander around whatever town I’m in until I see a motel-looking building that doesn’t have a Holiday Inn Express sign on top. You don’t meet interesting...

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The Pit

The Pit

After my driver’s license was suspended, I started hanging out nights at the Pit & Paddock. The Pit was a 3.2 joint on Snelling Avenue in St. Paul. It was deep and narrow with a black door, black walls, black ceiling, fluorescent lights hanging on chains, the...

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Ivory

Ivory

It was 96 degrees yesterday in Montgomery, Alabama. I sat in the shade under the canopy of The Legacy Museum and had a conversation with the security guard. Her name is Ivory. We talked for an hour. She’s sixty-two and remembers as a child helping her...

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