Youngstown to Scranton: Life is all about Perspective.
“Money is a symbol of our creative energy.” – Shakti Gawain, “Living in the Light”
***
Waiting in a Truck Stop in Youngstown.
Meet Freddie.
I met Freddie at a truck stop in Youngstown, Ohio. I decide to try for the long term ride. It is my good friends birthday, so although I have resolved to follow wherever I am taken, I am hoping for a miracle ride to Baltimore. I was too shy to ask the truckers for rides, so I hung near the door with my little sign, East. I made it out of the last piece of plain white paper I had; the back of my final water bill from Farmville, which I had still not paid (Mental note to do so).
Freddie bounded up in black basketball shorts and a t-shirt with the sleeves cut-off and asked where I was headed. He is headed towards Scranton, PA, which is about 200 miles away. He is hesitant to take me and went inside for hot dogs filled with cheddar cheese product and a soda the size of a small bazooka.
“Alright lets go!” He gives in as he comes out.
From the Land of Distance Runners.
Freddie is dark brown and speaks English with very England-y polish. He’s from Kenya and he came to the USA to go to school. He lives in Saginaw, Michigan with his girlfriend whom just moved here from Kenya. His mother is in the United Nations and most of his family live in the States now.
“Weird how your Life changes.”
His soda is absolutely huge, like 3 Big Gulps put on top of each other. ”In Kenya, soda is only for special occasions.” Here, he drinks one of these monsters a day. It keeps him going.
Freddie is passionate about Economics and explains to me how GM squandered their market share by not listening to their customers. He wants to get his degree from Saginaw Valley State University and then head back to Kenya to help build solid communities there.
“Economics relates to everything.”
He is driving a truck because the USA is expensive. He has been on the road for 9 weeks to pay off some debts. Freddie was making some bad choices in his life a while back. He is now a born again Christian and on his windshield is a graphic displays Jesus holding a man whom looks like he is not doing well.
Freddie just bought this truck about a month ago.
“I knew I was making mistakes, but I couldn’t stop.”
He says he was about a month from death, when he decided to become a Christian.
“It was such a wonderful feeling.” He says it with his African-y, English-y accent, it is beautiful how he says it. “It was like a huge load off my back.”
He is doing much better now and is a very happy man. He is a loud laugher! He talks to some friends in his tribal language and in Swahillian, and he laughs so loud!
He still makes mistakes, but he forgives himself. “You have to crawl before you walk, and walk before you run.”
Truck Stop, USA.
Freddie is going to a huge truck stop just south of Scranton to hit the sheets and watch some television in the trucker zone. He offers me dinner, but I decline and decide to explore the area.
Soon will be my exploration of Scranton and the surrounding area, I am interested in where Joe Biden came from.
Create Our World.
Ben
“A creative economy is the fuel of magnificence.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tags: adventure travel blog, Benjamin Jenks, create our world, Economics, hitchhiking, Money, roadtrip around the USA
Categories:
Hitchin Stories., People.
Michelle Swift
Man hearing what Freddie had to eat for a pick me up makes me frustrated with food in America. I just imagine Freddie on the road for hours, days and weeks consuming sugar and corn through a straw to give him sustenance and energy….for a short time anyway. Why is sugar, corn, and unpronouncable I don’t even want to call them ingredients taking over our grocery shelves! Why is it that these so called foods are so affordable to the average American citizen? Can it be that a 2 liter of soda is the same price as an apple!!!
I know someone else who has ventured to the U.S. from another country and was shocked to see that here people go out to eat everyday. In his former unAmericanized life he never went out to eat and grew alot of his own food including meat, eggs and milk. Upon arriving to the U.S. he went from eating bread, soup, dumplings, veggies, eggs, shish kebab and tea to consuming pizza, McDonalds, Rotisserie Chicken and soda….because it is CHEAPER and FAST…we are in a hurry here when it comes to our ‘meals’ I am just interested in how culture changes the way we eat? Can we change America’s culture when it comes to our food…who is in control here?
jenksben
Good questions Michelle.
Yeah!
Hmm… I wish I had the answers to your questions. I do agree and my battle everyday is cheap & greasy belly feel or more expensive and energy rich.
They are in an epic battle now.
Nationwide though it is changing. The good food movement has begun.