'Icebreaker on Wheels'
Four years ago, Chris Register rolled into Butler as a stop in his six-week bicycle journey from Minnesota.
He returned Thursday with a book describing the people he met along the way including a chapter on West Sunbury.
Register was at the Butler Art Center, 344 S. Main St., on a book tour for “Conversations with US: Two Wheels, 50 States, Hundreds of Voices, One America, Great Lakes States.”
Register, a former litigator who calls himself a cycling journalist, said he put 16,000 miles on his bicycle as he made a series of six-week tours of regions of the United States, meeting and talking with people.
“The only original equipment on my bike is the frame and the front tire,” he said. “When I rode my bike, people were more willing to talk to me. I call it my 'Icebreaker on Wheels.'”
“My goal was to ride 50 miles a day and interview at least one person a day and bring their story back to people who didn't have a chance to travel,” said Register.
“I kept my tent in a bag, my clothes and camping gear in two others,” Register said. “I slept in all different kinds of places, in hotels, public parks in woods beside the road.”
Sometimes he would strike up conversations with people he met along the way. Sometimes he would ask the local historical society or a union local to ask to be put in contact with a longtime resident willing to talk.
Register said, “I set out to see what Americans have in common. I found we are each pretty different from one another.
“But what makes us Americans? Who do we want to be going forward?” he asked.
“We are all in this together. We all have problems. We all have things we love, things we are worried about,” he said.
Some of the conversations he had surprised him.
Take for instance, his stop in West Sunbury where he talked with Little League coach Mike Fallen and hoped to maybe sleep in the dugout at the league's field.
Fallen said he tries to instill respect for baseball into his young players.“Teaching baseball is teaching respect, building character,” Fallen told Register.Register said Fallen told him, “Where I live is safe, beautiful but with no economic opportunity.”But Fallen said at the time the foundry where he worked which made bases for hospital equipment had five jobs it couldn't fill for six months.“It's hard to find people. Out of 10 applicants, four won't show up for their scheduled drug test,” said Fallen.At the time Register said, “People are fed up with the federal government dysfunction, with a polarized society.”Register said four years later, it's gotten worse.“That's my view of it at least. I got to see how people's lives were impacted by decisions made in Washington,” he said.After completing his tour of the country in six-week stints, Register set out to record his adventures and conversations in what he hopes will be the first in a series of books.For instance, he hoped to sleep in the Little League field's dugout after talking with Fallen. But Register said he sweated so much biking to West Sunbury that he was chilled as the sun went down.Register was in a Laundromat in town when the owner “an old, grumpy guy named Butch” came in. Register asked if he could sleep on the floor near the dryers and Butch agreed, locking Register in the Laundromat for the night.The first book covers his trip from Duluth, Minn., to Rochester, N.Y. “They're all states that touch the Great Lakes,” said Register.He said it takes about six months to turn his notes and recordings into a book.His next, covering his bicycle trip through the Southwest, is tentatively scheduled to be published in October.Register's future plans include making his last bicycle outing through Hawaii next year and then perhaps after his “Conversations with US” books are done, going abroad.“I've been thinking about 'Conversations US versus Them,'” said Register. “I would ride my motorcycle around the world and see what foreigners thought of us.”
