
{"id":16324,"date":"2011-03-03T12:40:43","date_gmt":"2011-03-03T17:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=16324"},"modified":"2011-03-03T12:40:48","modified_gmt":"2011-03-03T17:40:48","slug":"ridin%e2%80%99-the-j-bus-meet-the-walking-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2011\/03\/03\/ridin%e2%80%99-the-j-bus-meet-the-walking-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Ridin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 the J bus: meet the walking man"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_16327\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16327\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2011\/03\/03\/ridin%e2%80%99-the-j-bus-meet-the-walking-man\/linder_jbusfinal\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-16327\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Linder_jbusFINAL.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"376\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16327\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Linder_jbusFINAL.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Linder_jbusFINAL-113x84.jpg 113w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Linder_jbusFINAL-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Linder_jbusFINAL-360x270.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Linder_jbusFINAL-106x80.jpg 106w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16327\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PHOTO BY ALEX LINDER. Mark Quattlebaum rides the J Bus to Carrboro to buy groceries at Weaver Street Market. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>By Alex Linder<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Courtesy of the Carrboro Commons<\/em><br \/>\nBack during the Jazz Age in New York City, you took the A Train to get to Harlem. But to get most everywhere in Carrboro, you take the J Bus. In the spirit of Charles Kuralt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dictum that everyone has a story, Carrboro Commons reporter Alex Linder jumped on the J Bus and selected a rider to interview at random.<br \/>\nMark Quattlebaum\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s truck broke down for the last time on the side of N.C. 54 in 1993. The mechanic was not optimistic about its future, so Quattlebaum had it scrapped. He hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t needed a replacement since.<br \/>\nInstead he gets around town in the oldest-fashion way \u00e2\u20ac\u201c walking. Quattlebaum, 51, might not be famous in town, but his figure striding up the road with a couple of bags slung across his shoulders certainly has become a familiar sight in the community.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve built up a reputation,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153People will see me on the side of the road coming into town and sometimes they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll pick me up and give me a ride, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s okay if they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\nJeff Griggs of Pittsboro remembered seeing Quattlebaum plenty of times before deciding to stop to see if he wanted a ride.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He kind of reminded me of Forrest Gump,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Just more localized.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\nIf Quattlebaum had an online dating profile, it would begin with, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Enjoys long walks \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 anywhere.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He estimates that he walks nine miles a day, and on a good day his total can reach 12 or 15 miles.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done it for so long, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even mind it anymore,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<br \/>\nQuattlebaum said that his hobby started less as walking and more as being dragged along by his old dog, Noodle. The dog was a samoyed, a breed from Siberia used to pull sleds and herd reindeer. With little snow and few pack animals in Orange County, Quattlebaum ended up being the one pulled and pushed along.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Most people probably wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to walk as far as I have, but most people haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had a sled dog,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He really made it more fun.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\nThough Noodle died more than a decade ago, Quattlebaum has not stopped walking. He said it eventually became a habit too stubborn to break and always the best way to clear his head.<br \/>\nBut in September 2009, Quattlebaum did have to stop his habit for a short time, when he experienced a stroke.<br \/>\nWith the help of doctors, he made a quick recovery, using a cane to get around for some months, until he felt well enough to stand on his own again. The experience gave Quattlebaum more than just a cane; it gave him a new outlook on life.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153After the stroke, I thought, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve spent 51 years of my life doing not too much,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m trying to change that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\nFor the previous 31 years, Quattlebaum had worked in Chapel Hill-area restaurants, including the defunct Pyewacket, doing just about everything you can do in a restaurant: serving food, washing dishes, tending bar and bussing tables. Though he enjoyed the work, he said he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but feel like he had missed out. So Quattlebaum re-enrolled himself at UNC to get a chemistry degree, which he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d just barely started more than 30 years ago.<br \/>\nThese days, Quattlebaum spends his days in the UNC libraries reading heavy textbooks with names like Adventures in Chemical Physics and Calculus of Variations: Mechanics, Control Theory, and Other Applications.<br \/>\nAfter completing his daily studies, he likes to take the J Bus to Carrboro and shop at Weaver Street Market, where he might add another bag or two to his collection. Because Quattlebaum carries everything he might need during the day, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s loaded down with bags on his back, elbows and hands. But just like the long walks, he said, it is something he has grown used to.<br \/>\nAt the end of the day, he returns to his mobile home five miles west of Carrboro, three miles from the nearest bus stop.<br \/>\nQuattlebaum said he loves this community, and he wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to be anywhere else. He has been successful in this \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the last time he was out of the area was more than 10 years ago.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel trapped here without my truck,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always been where I want to be.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><em>Alex Linder is a UNC student writing for the Carrboro Commons, a bi-weekly online lab newspaper for Jock Lauterer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Community Journalism class at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back during the Jazz Age in New York City, you took the A Train to get to Harlem. But to get most everywhere in Carrboro, you take the J Bus. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":16327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16324"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16348,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16324\/revisions\/16348"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}