August 23, 2016 – Partly cloudy, 80 degrees
Miles Today: 29
Miles to Date: 14,970
States to Date: 41
Cycling through Piedmont, a town that has seen better days, reminds me of something a guy in Atlanta said. “The Civil War was the first time the 1% coerced the 99% into doing something stupid, based on the fear that they would be worse off if things changed. At least the 99% of poor whites were above the slaves.” I’m not sure if the Civil War was the first time that happened; the powerful have divided minions to control for centuries. Piedmont seems like a place where the 1% has moved beyond city limits, rending the racial differences among the folks left behind irrelevant.
Back on the Chief Ladiga Trail I spun twenty more sweet miles until trail’s end in Anniston. Along the way I passed vines so thick they spread like cancer, cloaking each discrete piece of vegetation into a leafy contour.
Anniston has a classic downtown that still shows signs of life, including what may be the last extant Western Auto store, a franchise we had in my hometown over fifty years ago.
The Awkward Pose 