9/22/25

The Paw Paw fruit is native to North America. Due to its rapid ripening period and quick spoilage it is not a popular fruit. The taste is unique described as a combined banana and mango. It did however help early settlers to North America survive hard famine times. Those same settlers thought the fruit was papaya and so named it PawPaw but in fact it is not related at all being a separate species.
Just south of Cumberland Maryland is Paw Paw West Virginia. Nearby an engineering feat of the mid 1800, the Paw Paw tunnel. Present day the inner walk way is traveled by cyclists going from Pittsburgh to Washington DC.

What follows is from Wikepedia:

Built using more than six million bricks, the tunnel has been described as “the greatest engineering marvel along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park.”^[2] Located at milepost 155.2, the tunnel served to eliminate six miles of canal and is credited with contributing to the economic success of nearby Cumberland, Maryland.^[3]

Construction on the tunnel began in 1836 and was expected to be completed within two years at a total cost of $33,500. But the project proved far more complicated and costly than expected, and the tunnel did not open until 1850, more than a decade behind schedule.

The project was delayed for many reasons. Not only did the construction company underestimate the difficulty of the work, violence frequently broke out among immigrant laborers of different ethnicities, and wages often went unpaid due to the company’s financial problems.^[4] By the time the tunnel was finally completed at a price of $600,000, it had nearly bankrupted the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company. Due to the high cost and long delay in completing the tunnel, the construction ended at Cumberland, Maryland, falling short of the original plan to take it all the way to Pittsburgh.

The tunnel was used by canal boats until the C&O closed in 1924. The tunnel and towpath are now maintained for public use as part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. Though never one of the longest tunnels in the world, Paw Paw Tunnel remains one of the greatest engineering feats 

9/19/25

She lies on a bus stop bench sound asleep…Next to her a large bag of soda cans collected for a few extra dollars. .. her pants split open along her natural buttocks line, an unfortunate bending for a few more cans. 

A policeman wanders by to rouse her but she is at the last minute waken by her boyfriend , a high powered lawyer having finished his business in a sky scraper above. The policeman gently helps her up and ushers her along, lawyer friend left holding a bag of cans…

When asked later about her behavior she replies “ but it’s Pittsburgh, might be worn down and out of luck but the people are so kind. “

My mother…God rest her soul. 

Now may years later I return to this city to start a charity  bike ride to DC. 

Pittsburgh  has been rejuvenated through community efforts, hard work and local pride. Much effort went into this successful endeavor on a massive scale civic and commercial cooperation. 

Today in America and throughout the world the air is thick with division , negative feelings and destructive actions fueled by a media looking for a quick story to make an even quicker buck. 

I was told once by a wise young woman to get out of my comfort zone any time I could. Even more so now I believe this. It’s too easy to be a couch potato and passively absorb negative media vibes. They do nothing but cause anxiety, stir fear and stoke the flames of hate. 

Today 16 people of various backgrounds come together to form the core of an ALS charity ride. 

I look to them on the bridge with the new Pittsburgh in the background and see a halo of kindness above them which lowers itself and touches each shoulder forming bridges where there were none.  

We leave as a group and it soon becomes clear some riders are more experienced than others. Rather than break into groups of equal skill as I have seen so many times before the better riders slow to help the newer ones. Never is there criticism or impatience but rather a genuine kindness which  by its very nature fosters success. 

Bridges are crossed in tandem through these helping hands.

We arrive in a small town along a meandering river greeted by strangers at church reaching out to tired riders. A safe place to sleep, an evening meal, showers and a promise of a homemade breakfast before we leave.

The pastor explains” We do this because we can and because it’s the right thing to do” .

Never once in this town did I consider  left or right, blue or red, white black or brown…and neither did the ones reaching out their hands.

This town…these people are the real America, those same people who came together to rebuild a run down city, that same policeman who helped my mother from her slumber on a run down bus stop bench, the same people offering us a safe nights sleep.

This is America made great by the common folk who live in the real world not in the virtual world of the internet. 

It would do us all well to turn off our TVs, iPads, and internet links, peel away the shells and seek out the kindness that abounds. 

It’s waiting for you…