Ortonville- Chris Register rolled into the village Monday on his bicycle, one more stop on a journey in which he hopes to find what unites Americans, rather than divides them.
The Houston resident is on the second leg of an ambitious project he calls ‘Conversations with US.? The project will eventually take him into every state in the country, in 5 to 6-week segments in which he bikes approximately 50 miles per day, choosing routes in which he can interview Americans from a wide range of backgrounds.
‘Today I talked to an autoworker who is also a union official in Flint,? said Register. ‘I talked to him about things I talk to everyone about? I get a snapshot of their background, family, the industry/profession they are in, changes they’ve seen or what they’d like to see, things they hope never change, how they will bring about change. I flush out the things that are important to them and how they feel they’ve been treated by the system and how it has allowed them to fill their potential or not. The values that are important to them. That serves as a way to achieve a cross-country comparison and I can see how those values overlap regardless of color or political party and see the things we have in common as Americans.?
Register began his project in October 2010, a year after graduating law school. Living off his savings, he set out from Charleston, S.C., riding down to Savannah, Ga., then biking along the gulf coast to New Orleans, riding up the west coast of the Mississippi River into Arkansas and finishing the five-and-a-half week tour just before Christmas having logged 1,761 miles. That first region he aptly titled ‘Deep South.?
Register, a native of North Carolina, then wintered in Washington, D.C. and was preparing for the next portion of his journey, when he accepted a position as an attorney in ouston. That detour took him off the road for the next four years, but it didn’t take his mind off the project. This past February, he began planning his next route and started training.
A project of this scope requires first and foremost the proper equipment. Register has a Surly bicycle known as the ‘Long Haul Trucker.? He does self-supported touring, meaning he has no one following him in a vehicle, so he must carry everything he needs on his bike and be prepared for any conditions. On his bike he transports food, a tent, a sleeping bag and pad, a cookset, campstove, clothes, a spare tire, tool kit, rain gear, and water bottles. He orders some extra supplies and has them mailed to post offices on the route.
He began his current leg, ‘Water, Steel & Grit,? on July 17, by flying to Duluth, Minn. and having his bike shipped by FedEx. He put his bike together at a bike shop there and rode away, shipping the now empty plastic box that contained the bike on to Rochester, N.Y., which is where this leg will end.
So far on this segment, he has been through Minneapolis, as well as Milwaukee, Chicago, Southbend, Ind. and various towns in between. His first stop in Michigan was Spring Arbor and before arriving in Flint he also visited Quincy, and was surprised to find himself in Amish country. He was pleased to find an Amish man who was willing to be interviewed, although out of respect to the man’s culture, Register did not take a photo or electronically record him.
‘I was seeking as wide of a cross-section as I can find and I didn’t even know Amish were in this area,? said Register. ‘I started talking to this man about why he chose to live without electricity and cars, and he said, ‘That’s just how I am, I never viewed it as a choice.? He was just living the way he was raised. The notion of choice is a radical western idea that we take for granted. The idea that we can choose a career, a religion, a location, and move or change a name? for a lot of people in this country, or in the world, that’s not part of their mindset. They don’t go about developing intentionally. I want to explore more the idea that identity and the choice of identity is uniquely American and modern.?
Register’s interview with the Amish man was unplanned, and he will sometimes do impromptu interviews of people who look interesting or at places he finds intriguing. He looks for people with long-term connections to a region and something that identifies the region. In Flint it was auto manufacturing. In Wisconsin, he couldn’t leave until he found a dairy farmer to speak with.
Although he has conducted dozens of interviews so far, some really stand out, like the man he talked to in New Mexico that he identified as ultraconservative, who told him he had a bunker and enough ammunition to kill 3,000 people. Register said the man told him he didn’t want to have to use the ammo, but was prepared as ‘the country was going to hell, the system was going to collapse,? and he didn’t want to pay taxes to the government.
Register was surprised to find similarities to this man in a Duluth, Minn. man that he described as the quintessential hippie, living off the grid, with a solar-powered battery device, heating water with wood, and a desire to be left alone without government interference.
‘You think of hippies as ultraliberal, but he had a lot in common with the ultraconservative dude,? said Register. ‘You would think they are polar opposites, but I think they could sit and talk all day long. I wonder how much divides them?? Register criticizes the national media, saying he believes that the nature of 24-hour news is to find things to keep people watching and a concentration on the things that scare the audience or that which creates controversy.
‘It’s never news when I have a black neighbor and we get along fine, or when me and a Republican or Democrat friend go to a bar and have a drink and discuss things (rationally). If I have an agenda, it’s to try and refute that notion that we are at each other’s throats and try to blur the borders or lines that have been drawn by politicians.?
Register will have more time to ponder what he is learning from the people he is meeting when he is off road. For now, it’s a whirlwind tour as he is up right after sunrise, setting up interviews, updating his website, pedaling his bike and looking out for potholes, figuring out the next stop for food, making sure he’s not running out of water or getting sunburned, and dodging obstacles in the road, including blown-out tires from trucks.
He is thankful for kind people whom have offered him lodging and food, and even as he left The Citizen Monday evening, he found some Ortonville hospitality in the form of village resident Dave Van Dis, also a cycling enthusiast and chair of the Blackhawk Community Trail Committee.
Van Dis, on his way to the library for a program by author Rob Pulcipher on the best trails to cycle in Michigan, spotted Register on South Street and stopped to talk to him, inviting him to the library program and after learning what he was doing, offered him a place to stay for the night.
‘The best part of this is being welcomed into the lives of folks I don’t know and sometimes into deep subjects,? said Register.
Register accepted the invitations from Dave Van Dis and his wife, Sharon, and after breakfast the next morning with the couple, was soon on his way again, heading to Dearborn, and then Detroit, before his final stop in Michigan, Monroe. He will now head east into Ohio, then on to Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh before ending in Rochester, N.Y. next month. From there he plans to fly home to Houston and rest for awhile, where he will ‘eat lots of cheeseburgers? and put on a few pounds before planning the next route.
For more information on Register and his project, visit www.conversationswithus.com.