What if you were arrested for walking?

After taking a couple days off (from blogging, at least), it's time to do a brief update.  Sorry for no posts since Wednesday, but it's been a busy weekend...
Thursday, my family and I went into New Orleans to spend Easter weekend with our extended families.  The wife took the kids into town while I was still at work, so I was going to have to take a separate car into New Orleans from Baton Rouge.  I'll have a full post on it soon enough, but I chose to go ahead and take my bike for the 75-mile trip, rather than drive.  Since then, there's just been absolutely no time to get to the blog, but there's something I wanted to discuss about this weekend: walking.

More after the jump...

THIS Sunday was, of course, Easter Sunday.  We spent the weekend at my parents' house in New Orleans, as there were a number of events for us to attend spread out over several days.  Because of the way our schedule works out, it was easier for me to go to Church by myself on Sunday morning.  As many of those with kids have already discovered, children are often an added blessing to a trip to Church, but sometimes they can be quite a challenge!  So, I was definitely looking forward to being able to pay attention for once...
My parents live just 3/4 of a mile from their Church, and since the weather was absolutely gorgeous this weekend, I decided to walk.  I know, I know, this blog is supposed to be about cycling, but since I didn't have access to my bike on Sunday (it's complicated), I decided to hoof it.

I must say, I did feel a little out of place walking through the neighborhood in my Sunday best at 7:30 in the morning.  We're used to seeing people walking dogs, pushing strollers, and walking for exercise, but I can't help but wonder if a gentleman such as myself cruising by foot arouses a bit of suspicion.  In fact, my parents' neighbors had a run-in with the police for being "suspicious."

The neighbors in question, two very nice gentleman who have lived there for the past twenty years, went out for a walk one evening last summer.  They don't have an "exceptional" or "suspicious" appearance, as they fit the neighborhood demographic; however, one vigilant resident found these two men walking through the neighborhood to be "out of place."  Upon returning home, one neighbor went inside, while the other remained in the garden to do a little work.  The next thing he knows, he is face down in his own garden being handcuffed!  The police officer responsible then proceeded to enter the house where she was confronted by the other (and certainly baffled) neighbor.  Of course, no one was hurt and no one was arrested (as he was only guilty of working in his own garden), but you can only imagine the shame and outrage you would feel were this to happen to you in front of your own house!

Last May, I had the opportunity to bring the youth Ultimate Frisbee team that I coach to Corvallis, Oregon, for the Western Regional Championships.  Oregon as a whole is FAR more advanced than Louisiana when it comes to "bike-friendliness."  The state is ranked in the top-ten in bike-friendliness and Portland is one of only three communities in the entire country to  receive a Platinum Award from the League of American Cyclists for its bicycle-friendliness (check the link to see if your community made the cut).  Every year the city sees an increase in bike commuters and a reduction in bicycle fatalities and crashes.  As our team drove through this fair city, my Louisiana boys could not figure out why all of these people were biking and walking.  "Don't they have cars?"  "Are they poor?"  "Is this a bad neighborhood?"  These are just a sample of the questions posed by this befuddled crew.  They simply had no idea what to do with people who CHOSE not to drive.  This from the same group who attempted (unsuccessfully) to convince me that anyone who drives a Prius is pretentious...


Why are we so quick to judge?  One look at people walking/riding for transportation pushed a bunch of teenagers boys to the point of panic.  Two men can't walk through THEIR OWN NEIGHBORHOOD without being handcuffed in front of their own house.  This became my meditation as I enjoyed my brief walk on a lovely Easter morning...

Happy riding, look for my regular updates throughout the week!