Creative forces collided today, as my host Daniel McCord introduced me to two people he’d recently been in contact with regarding their “Breakfast With Strangers: 50 Meals Across America” honeymoon tour throughout the United States: Matt Webber & Courtney Dillard. As they realized that sharing meals with strangers was a perfect way to bridge social gaps that so many of us experience, they decided to embark on a mission of sharing and caring across America from their cozy minivan. What a wonderful way to spend a honeymoon!! They’re even going to write a book about it!
Funny, as Daniel and Matt had previously been communicating with one another, they discovered that Matt, who lives in Portland, had been aware of my walk almost since the day I began. Julie Magers, a wonderful mutual friend, was on the receiving end of the telephone when, many days before my first mile, I called to see about getting Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber’s support– in the form of taking twenty minutes through Portland with me. Julie loved the idea; she put me in touch with the right people, and Kitzhaber ultimately did walk with me. Julie and I have been friends ever since. Julie linked me with a handful of her closest Facebook friends, and Matt was one of them.
It was a true pleasure sharing the first meal of the day with Matt & Courtney– both of them very fascinating people. They’re over three months into their five-month breakfast-sharing mission, and they too are now well aware of what nearly everyone who embarks on such an outward transcontinental social mission learns: originally-planned dates and deadlines do not allow nearly enough time to begin to get to know the people and places well. I myself learned this lesson before emerging from Oregon, but I didn’t actually expand my timeline until walking across the Golden Gate Bridge. Three years later, that original, self-imposed nine-month deadline lays flattened and nearly forgotten below the countless incredible experiences I’ve since soaked up across all the additional days & stays.
What a fantastic experience sharing the first meal of the day with Matthew & Courtney, newlywed Oregonians who are spending their five-month honeymoon driving around the United States, enjoying "Breakfast With Strangers."
Rob Pearce, another local Couchsurfing host who wanted to meet us all, joined us for the meal this morning. A fascinating and energetic guy, Rob is a twentysomething "starving entrepreneur," as he puts it. Whether or not he's starving now, I already detect an energy within him that could propel him to the stars ~
As we step deeper into the documentary project, Daniel led me on a walk of several miles through Greenville's well-kept, central parks.
Under Main Street...
The Reedy River runs directly through the middle of downtown Greenville
Bostjan, Brian, Sandrine, Puja, Daniel & I all team up for dinner at Swad-- a local vegetarian Indian Restaurant.
As we attend a Gujarati-themed, vegetarian Indian restaurant, Puja, a Gujarati herself, shows us all "how it's done!"
As much as I love ethnic foods, including Indian food, I obviously have a lot to learn not only about what I'm eating-- but HOW I'm eating it. My I-have-no-idea-but-I'll-try-anyway approach had Puja laughing out loud as I ended up building my food more Mexican style-- far from Indian style-- but the only way I knew how!