Day 1: Cincinnati, OH to Mobile, Alabama

(everything we need for the next 18 days!)

Mobile, Alabama is one of those places we have all heard about, but how many people from the North have given it serious thought? My dad and I definitely had not. I commented that we would likely be in a tiny plane from Atlanta to Mobile... my dad argued that it is a real city, so maybe not. It turns out Mobile is small. The airport does not have underground trams. People can park their cars infront of baggage claim to wait for their relatives' arrivals. The downtown is charming, but largely empty. Given that Mobile is the biggest city we will see until Lousiville, KY, we decided to stay a night and take in the culture and sights.

Our cab driver had an aura of someone who just knows things. He loaded our gear and we asked him to take us to Cadence 120, the bike shop where our tandem had been shipped. As we drove to the bike shop, the cab driver mused on life in Mobile, the places to find the best seafood and the virtues of being a good person. "You know," he said, "You may not get everything you want when you do things the right way, but you'll be able to go to sleep every night with a clear conscience. That's all I need."

Brad at Cadence 120 had fixed our bike up nice. We spent a good hour tweaking every last part. I made friends with Brad's 9 year old son who was going on a tandem ride with his father this Saturday! It seems father-child tandem rides are all the rage. When all was set, and our 55 pounds of gear was masterfully loaded onto the bike, we set off to ride the 8 miles into downtown Mobile. The ride itself was uneventful, but a nice way to ease into the trip. We set ourselves up in the lap of luxury, also known as the Hampton Inn--likely the most plush accomodation of our trip, and then headed out to take in the sites. Seafood sandwiches, old beautiful buildings, a less than romantic waterfront and the Museum of Mobile rounded out our day. At the Museum we were able to get a history of this once cosmopolitan city. Mobile was the capital of French America from 1702-1760. It has since been occupied by the British and the Spanish, til it became part of the United States after the war of 1812. In 1860, shipyard owner Timothy Meaher importated the last slave ship, The Clotilda, into Mobile despite the fact that importing slaves was banned in 1808.

Tomorrow morning we will ride with the sun rising from the corner of Royal and St. Louis Streets, the site of one of the busiest slave markets of the south. We look forward to learning more about the South and the struggles for freedom and justice that paint its history.