NEW ULM — Author Chris Register visited the New Ulm Library, Friday to have a conversation on his non-fiction book series, “Conversations with the US.”

Register has published two books recounting his bicycling tours of the United States and interviews with the people he met along the way. Each book in the series focuses on a different region of the United States. The first book tackles the Great Lakes region while the second focuses on the American Southwest. Register believes the series will be complete after eight books. At this time, he has biked through 49 of the 50 states with only Hawaii remaining.

Register is from North Carolina and was previously a lawyer, but gave up the practice of law to explore the United States and write the “Conversation with US” series. He said he felt strongly about the journey and wanted to share his adventures with readers.

On his solo bicycle tours through the different regions of America, Register would ride his bicycles 50 miles a day and attempt to interview a different person in each place he stopped. The purpose of each interview was to figure out what America meant to people.

Throughout his travels, he interviewed over 300 people nationwide. Register said he tried to be random with his interviews and he managed to talk with a wide variety of people.

His interviews included Arizona astronomy enthusiasts, Detroit factory workers, heroin addicts, a former Miss America, a man who attended Kent State during the infamous massacre and many others.

The book also includes anecdotes about his time bicycling through the nation. In his journey, he suffered 42 flat tires. He would ultimately replace nearly every part of his bike except the front rim.

Register said while doing book tours the top thing readers ask is: what’s the state of America?

Register said the country is divided. When he started his tours 10 years ago it was divided and he feels it is divided still.

“This probably one of the most diverse countries in the world, which is good but we don’t have a common story,” he said. “There is no shared experience.”

The closest thing to a shared experience he could find was a military experience. Register interviewed a white man from Oklahoma man who never spoke with an African American man until flying over to serve in Vietnam. This was a common story Register heard from individuals who never encountered a person of another ethnicity until joining the service.

Register said he had no solutions for resolving the divide in the nation, but warned that the worst things in history happened when one group does not see another as human.

“The goal is to see us as human begins,” he said.

During his bicycle tours, Register stayed in a variety of places, often staying in the homes of strangers. He did not always agree politically with the people he stayed with, but they were still able to see each other’s humanity.

After his presentation, Register said he believed the country could regain a shared identity through the institution of a National Service. He suggested requiring high school graduates to serve in the Conservation Corps, The Peace Corps, the military or a reinstated version of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). He believed this would give young people a shared background, but could also help rebuild the nation’s infrastructure.

Information on Register’s “Conversation with US” series and details about his journey are available at his website www.conversationswithus.com. His books are also sold on this site.