The Pinellas Trail

The Trail is about 37 miles of paved ex-railroad bed wending its way in a giant crescent around Pinellas County. Some years ago, politicians, cyclists, walkers, greenway-lovers and CSX Railroads made common cause to put in one of the finest trails in the country, right around the most densely-populated county in Florida. Not exactly a “ministry,” but I noticed yesterday how it’s become one.

She was rolling toward me in her powered chair as I pedaled to the south. Her face was looking up, and around. Perhaps she was just getting from here to there, but in the seconds I saw her, it didn’t look that way. I’d seen her before, but not noticed her. And I got to thinking about what the word “accessible” means to someone who can’t walk. Or maybe, I got to listening. And listening, seeing things a little more clearly.

“Accessible” means something on the Trail. The ground is level, or very nearly so, for the whole 37 miles. Even unpowered wheelchairs navigate its gentle grades and wide pathways with ease. Brilliant purple jacaranda, red hibiscus, and bougainvillea are in exuberant bloom. As you ride, the sight and rich perfume of jasmine in flower visits you. Oranges are hanging from trees in half the backyards, it seems. Ibis peck, egrets stand frozen in mid-stalk, squirrels and lizards dart. Mockingbirds proclaim everyone else’s songs. Red-winged blackbirds flash about their business.

The Trail is an easy, seamless road for the weary and faint-footed. “Accessibility” is freedom; the Trail is freedom from horns and houses. The Trail gives everyone a beautiful place. And maybe one more thing: hope.

A sign over the doorway of an assisted living facility along the Trail reads, “Your story continues here...” Loss of mobility from age or injury can be an end to someone’s story, but it doesn’t have to be. The story has a different ending than the one hoped-for, but it’s still your story, and it can continue. The trail offers Hope that each of our stories isn’t over, that there is still joy and beauty in life and the world around us.

It’s good to be thankful for the Trail, and toward the people who started and continue it. I’m sure they didn’t set out just to bring Hope to handicapped people. But they've been instruments of the greater Good, the ultimate Hope-giver, who desires to bless the ones made in his image, us. And from the amount of ink spilled in scripture about the poor and lame, I kinda think he had them especially in mind when he was putting “Pinellas Trail” thoughts into the minds and hearts of its creators.
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