Connecting with America

Possibly the greatest part of my trip is making connections across this country. Not the kind of connections they tell you about in business class, you know, not the networking kind where you shake hands and exchange business cards. I’ve been able to connect with people across this country from all kinds of backgrounds through conversation. It probably goes back to being a kid and always wanting to sit at the adult table and listen to their conversation. As my memory has it I never said a whole lot and would just listen.

This was a great week of conversation. A lot of hours spent talking with Charles. Unfortunately, John had a busy work schedule and we didn’t get to talk as much. The best part of the conversation was Charles questions. I get a lot of questions on this trip, a lot. It’s very rare that someone comes up with a question I haven’t already heard. But Charles nailed it. He really challenged me with questions. What kind of reciprocity do you give on your trip? If you could trade lives with anyone from your trip for a day who would it be? What kind of parallels do you see in families and their struggles? How does the level of happiness compare with different hosts on the trip? These can all be answered. But now that I’ve stayed with close to 90 households, there are a lot of details to look at.

This is just one small sample of hundreds. Whether teaching a 7 year old how to solve the Rubik’s cube, learning about how to operate a ranch in Montana, or having a tour of a church that was demolished by Katrina, it’s an amazing experience.

As a closing point here, people often ask if I ever meet anyone famous on my trip. Well I stayed with a Guinness Book of World Records recipient. In 1988 John headed a project to make the world’s longest banana split. At 4.55 miles long it was quite the accomplishment! The award hangs on an impressive wall of with degrees from the finest universities across the country.