Clements has traveled 750 miles south from New Jersey on a bicycle and he still has thousands of miles to go.
Clements said he's doing it for personal reasons and to discover new places and meet new people on his ride called "Trailing Dreams of America."
Clement's journey from the north led him through Bristol and down through Virginia, where he is currently traveling the Wilderness Road Trail. His next stop will be around Nashville where he will pick up the 'Trail of Tears' path.
Thursday, he made a stop in Middlesboro, looking for an internet connection.
Clements is a teacher at the Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey, a private boarding school. He teaches English and literature to 10th- and 11th-grade students and has for the past 29 years.
At 51 years old, he decided to take a four month, solo bicycle trip across America, following the historic trails that Americans took many years ago, asking people about their "dream of America."
Clements is an experienced bike rider. He has biked several trips including a couple with his son, traveling on their two-wheel transports up and down the east coast. He rides with a 70 pound bike that has all his gear and his wireless computer gadget, stopping in different locations and posting his progress, reports and experiences on his online journal for his students and family to read back home.
He carries a notebook that is filled with conversations he has had with people, ordinary people like most of us. In the cafe, in the diner, in the grocery store - wherever he might strike up a conversation. He tries to stay away from franchise places but admits, he has to stop in every once in a while for breakfast at McDonald's. Older and more historic towns appeal to him most.
"The scenery in the towns are absolutely beautiful," said Clements.
"I come into every town to get water or something and I go into a place and buy a bag of cookies and ask them to fill my water bottles and I just start talking. Everyone has been really nice and friendly."
Most people could not even dream of biking across one state so it's easy to assume the physical strain that he has been experiencing. He said he has not being doing as many miles has he needs to be doing but he takes it peddle by peddle.
"For the past few days, the mountains have really kicked by butt," he said with a smile. "But you have to think in the moment, if you're going up a mountain and you look at the top - you're dead. If you look to the sides and take the time, you will be fine."
The rain for the last week has hampered him a bit but he is in great spirits.
"I was up in Gettysberg one day and it was pouring and I thought I'll just sit here and wait and then I thought 'Wait a minute, there are hundreds and thousands of men a century and half ago that went up and down in the rain'," he said. "So I went out and I froze, but the rain is a pleasure because it cools you off. But, yesterday it was cold."
He started in his hometown of Hightstown, N.J., and traveled to Philadelphia along the Old York Road, a 17th century route. From Philadelphia, he headed west along the Great Wagon Road, an 18th century road that opened new territory for colonists.
From that point, he left the Wagon Road in western Virginia to cross the frontier mountains into Kentucky and Tennessee on the Wilderness Road, the path Daniel Boone crossed to blaze the trail to the west.
Clements was widely impressed by the Cumberland Gap, it's beauty and it's terrain. He said when he got to the Cumberland Gap tunnel, they would not let him ride through the tunnel but he explained to the park ranger that it was important to him to move himself physically over the gap. The ranger took his bicycle to the visitor's center while he walked up to the pinnacle overlook.
"When I got to the top, I was just thinking of what a personal accomplishment it was but when I was walking down the other side, I thought of all the miles I still had ahead of me," he said. "But that was the thing for the pioneers, they still had miles to go and metaphorically, that's everyone's life. I felt good but I have to keep going - I have more things to do."
After he travels the Trail of Tears, the route will end at Route 66 in Oklahoma. From there, he will follow Steinbeck's "Mother Road" across the American southwest, crossing the western mountains and deserts, and finishing at the Pacific, in Santa Monica, Calif.
He predicts that he will finish up in middle July, when he laughably said, he would be flying back home. He admits that at times, he wished he was in a vehicle as he climbs a steep grade but said he enjoys what he is doing.
Clements said the most interesting and common thing people tell him is to be careful down the road. He said he listens but when he gets to the next town, he learns that everyone is fine. He is glad to say that he has not had one bad incident on his trip so far, a couple of close calls but he adds, that is to be expected. Truck drivers have been wonderful about being cautious while he travels on highways.
"If anyone wants testimony that the truth is in this country - that it is filled with extraordinary people, great kindness and hospitality, do something like this or believe this story," he said. "People are just common folks and when you meet them in their homes, they are relentlessly kind."
To follow Clement's progress and journey, you can visit his website at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pjclements/.
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