University of South Carolina Libraries
USC prol The following article was selected by the Carolina! staff as the best of nearly 20 written by students in a news reporting class. The class is taught by professor Patricia McNeely. By SHAYLA STUTTS Staff Writer The humid air is melting in the orange sunset. Despite the flat terrain, the 2,000 mile bicycle ride might as well be up a mountain. It's been hot and tiring, but the rider has seen America inch by inch. Get the. nieturp.? Bruce Konkle does. The photojournalist and assistant A Mm 1/ / M LwAffa < L Making tt Speaker: Dr Women Stud House 327 Living Wi 4 PM, Russe Sponsored b; Association Women in Panelists: Jo Phil Big Proj Going for Speaker: Cai Sponsored b> Center, USC Student Sen Making th Speaker: Dr. roles and exp Sponsored bj Outstandii Presentation i Featuring the Sponsored b> Sexual Asj Omicron Del Leadership I "The Acci "Thelma at Sponsored b> These events are sp and theWomen Stu Watch for other ev m // \ ^ P la J essor br< professor at USC has plenty of pictures in his mind of the people and places he's seen and the risks he's taken while on cross country u:i,~ ~u ?ii k,,? unit; liuc-a uuuugu an uui mice/ states in America. The Indiana native took his first adventure in 1974, when he and a group of college friends hiked from Muncee, lnd. to Daytona Beach, Fla. But the real challenge came three years later on his first solo 2,700-mile trip from Fort Wayne, lnd. to Denver, Colo. "I find out a lot about the area I'm in by being alone and talking to people," Konkle said. "I met an Indian who had broken some ribs in the rodeo, and we must have talked for three hours about life on the reservations." it, of course, irling... wtj m m m M m m* w* M ^?wu*v.-|-n le Grade: Women in Educatior . Barbara Neilson, State Superintendent lents' Association and Women's Studeni th AIDS - A Woman's Perspecl 11 House Theater y: Open Door/Thomson Student Health i Service an Fail, Nurturing Center, Gena Antinel lips, Partnership for a Healthy Generate Brothers/ Big Sisters of Columbia. Spoi jrams 4 PM, Russell House 306 the Gold thy Rigby, Gold Medalist and Performei /: Alcohol and Drug Programs, Open D Athletic Department, Women Students' 'ices and Women's Studies. 7 PM, Russ ie Transition From College to L Kevin King, USC Career Center. Worl ectations as you move from a student to r. USC Career Center. 7 PM, Russell H ng Women at USC Reception of "Most Outstanding Woman of the Ye USC Women's Chorus 4:30 - 6 PM, G women Mudents Association and W >ault: A University Liability? ta Kappa Forum. Sponsored by: Omici lonor Society. 7 PM, Place: Currell Co ised" March 17-18, 7 F id Louise" March 26-28, 9P ': Carolina Program Union onsored by Women's Student Services, Student L idents' Association. Call 777-5780 for more inforr ents on campus during Women's History Month. |^X v ives dam The physical exertion of biking attracts Konkle rather than repels him from taking the challenge. "On the Portland, Ore. to Portland, Maine trip, I lost 30 pounds. That trip was 3,600 miles. It's almost impossible to take in more calories than you expend, even though I ate a lot of food high in carbohydrates, like potatoes," he said. Konkle said he tries to camp out during most of his trips or stay in a hotel after riding for three days, but "most of the time, I find a clump of trees or bushes to sleep under because campgrounds are too noisy for me." There are many risks involved in biking alone. One, Konkle noted, is riding through a state like ?j DIDYOUKNo" 3 Survey of Over ] 90% n *! $200,000 per Y i\ GPA Ab< \\ ATTEND the STUDY 9' Saturday, March 21,., 1 - roo 31 For Information a 1 of Education. Sponsored by: L Services. 7pm, Russell ive Center and Graduate Student Hi, Salvation Army, Lyn on, Velma Love, Director of nsored by: Community Service r. Reception Following Lecture ?oor/Thomson Student Health Association, Women's ell House Ballroom ,ife kshop will focus on changing i an employee, ouse 327 ar Award" impus Room, Capstone omen's Student Services on Delta Kappa National liege Room 107 >M, Russell House Theater M, Russell House Theater Lfe/Studenl Affairs, nation. Imam o WHKm > I 1 t I 8 1 I ? |I < npr h\/ r Wyoming where there might be miles between towns. "On hot days, you can get de drated really quick, and water r not be for another few miles," said. Konkle plans his trips far in vance. He practices his riding much as six months in advar and picks scenic routes to tra' His wife, Kitty, helps him plantrips but does not go with him. No matter how well a cr country trip is planned, nature ; wildlife are the beautiful but oi frightening risks Konkle rf close to. "1 was in Yellowstone Natic Park, and a bear stopped on road right in front of me. I stop real fast. It got up on its hind 1( ^???%?Jn a Recent LOO R>p Corporate f Those Making Over ear had a college >ve 3.011! SMARTER Seminar... [JSC Law School Building m 135 nd Tb Register Call XCEL-12 STUDEN1 APPLIC \ Portl Ed WU! st? Applications call 77 i ^ v^> #MbhM ; >?&#' V^wwMjS 3fe J| y- ' j ? / /WP\, IV This scenic bike shot, right picture, rip across Indiana, Wisconsin, Cana he sunrise beckons him back to bikii i breather in front of a body of water rip. Konkle dropped 29 pounds in t five or six big meals a day. cycling aci 70 looked at me, and sniffed for two minutes, at feast. Then it just h'y- walked down to the Yellowstone nay lake. he "My first reaction was, should I get my camera out and take a picad ture? That's the photojournalist in as me. But if it had decided to attack, ice, 1 would have used my bicycle to vel. protect myself." the On another occassion, Konkle was traveling 85 miles per hour oss down the Blueridge Parkway. He and came around a sharp curve and alien most collided with a buck. Luckily des for Konkle, the buck lunged in the opposite direction. >nal Konkle hasn't always been so the lucky. ped "In 1980," he said. "I rode from ?gs, Columbia to Miami. I was on 1 fh-M A I-h* Meat Lover's, Supreme,1 Lover's Plus, Pepperoni : MEDIA IS NOW > ATIONS FOR THE LISTED BELOW amecock Editor, Sumr Editor, Fall 19( olio itor, 1992-1993 I Garnet G Edit* sn ation Mgr., 199: available in room 3 7-3888 for more info was shot in 1978 on a 1,000 mile da and Michigan. Konkle says ig. Above picture, Konkle takes during his Portland to Portland he 27 days even though he ate ross U.S. scenic highway A1A, and a car came and hit me from behind. I fell off my bike and cracked my knee cap. The people did not stop to help me. "There was a hotel about two miles away. I walked there and called the police," he said. Konkle wants to publish a series of articles about biking along with some pictures he made during the trips. A few of his articles have been published. Konkle said the magazines prefer pictures with a "rider in the foreground and something scenic in the background." "I like to come home after a two-month trip, but 1 always want to go back. I love the traveling, the challenge of biking and the break away from the norm," he said. ft*. Two Medium ^ Specialty Pizzas Cheese Lover's |||^^ i ACCEPTING POSITIONS } sr 1992 v i Black or, 1992^1^3 13 Russell House, rmation. "*Ti 1111T 1 <1111111 *?i