What follows are notes I dictated into my phone as I traveled, and transcribed to the computer so I could take the data off from my phone. Some of these observations have been worked into the blog previously, but a number of them have not and might be of interest to some of you.
Compiled Day Trip Notes:
7/6:
·
Highways are designed to connect towns along a
string, like beads on a necklace. The expressways were designed to connect much
larger beads, but in such a way that drivers lost sight of the
interconnectedness of all of the parts of the necklace.
·
There are too many of us on this planet not to
affect it negatively. I was just musing about the great national parks that I
have visited so far on my trip. They are mobbed with people. What if those who
first discovered these amazing places had not shared them with others? Surely,
they would still have been discovered by the masses. What if we, as individuals
and as a culture, could go into these beautiful places and treat them with
respect? Would there still be too many of us to leave the beauty alone so it
can be appreciated by the next person, and the next generation?
·
I can’t help but think of myself as a young
child, walking with my mother and seeing a beautiful flower. I wanted to pick
it, but my mother said, “No. Appreciate it. But leave it where it is so the
next person can appreciate it, too.”
·
I keep thinking about my Aunt Louise asking if
there were any trees in North Dakota and Montana, and thinking that was so
funny. In North Dakota, however, there really weren’t a lot of trees. There
certainly weren’t forests the way we think of them in Michigan. But everywhere
I have gone, till now, there have been trees.
·
Crossing into Arizona from Nevada, there are no
trees. OK, I take that back – there are small trees that look like overgrown
bushes. Now that I am a little farther from Lake Mead, I am starting see more
clean undergrowth, but for a while there it was rock and scrub.
·
In Las Vegas, it felt like I was in an oven.
When the wind blew, it felt like a convection oven.
·
One of the most stunning drives yet between Las
Vegas and Flagstaff … well, between Boulder City and Flagstaff.
·
Everything I experience is a gift from the
Universe, a gift in the realization that it is part of me. We like to think of
gifts as “nice” things, things that give us pleasure or delight. But not
everything gives us pleasure or delight, yet every experience, person,
relationship, … everything is a gift.
·
Something near Westside Lilo’s, where we stopped
for lunch in Seligman, creaked like an old metal gate in a cowboy movie. I’m
taking a piece of Route 66 out of Seligman. The first thing I notice is a
Burma-Shave sign.
Angels to protect you when you
drive, usually retire at 65.
Just this once and just for fun
we’ll let you finish what we’ve begun. ????
·
Sign in the back window of a truck: “My windows
aren’t dirty. It’s doggy nose art.”
7/17
·
Canyon, gully, creek, wash
·
Something to be said in favor of the National
Park System: you know what you will find when you get to it, any park, that is.
Thus, you can pass by all the tiny shacks hocking petrified wood, or Indian
artifacts, in favor of quality items that may be a bit more expensive, but are
definitely authentic, and don’t rape the environment of the parks.
·
During the Triassic, this area was wet and
swampy. There was some sort of deluge that carried trees into a waterway and
pulled them to the bottom. Once there, they were impregnated with various
minerals, including silica. These minerals took the place of the wood fibers
but kept their form. All of this was buried for a very long time, until the
Colorado Plateau pushed up, at which time the petrified wood and beautiful
colors of the Painted Desert were revealed.
·
Teddy Roosevelt was, as with other national
parks, instrumental in the preservation of this area; but it wasn’t until after
the 1920s that the park was supported with enough staff to keep it from being
plundered.
·
I am driving through, marveling at the vast
grasslands dotted with colorful, striped rock formations in the distance, and
realizing that no pictures I take can do justice to the majesty of what I see
and feel.
·
Now I see where the colors of the arts of the
Southwest come from. They are the colors of the rock, the sagebrush, and the
sky.
·
There are no rivers here. There are a number of
bridges over lowered tracks with names like Dry Wash, or Pueblo River.
·
I keep thinking, “Why did we never come here?
Could we not afford it? Would we have been unlikely to travel well together as
a family? We were not campers, so a long vacation would have been expensive, I
guess.” But I grew up seeing these places on Disney documentaries, and always
imagined that I would actually see them in person.
·
I just met a young geologist from the University
of Texas. He was lit up with what he was seeing. I am so moved by what I see, I
can’t believe I have no one to share this with.
·
I’m glad I followed my instincts and the signs,
rather than Google, or I would have driven on the highway to the northeast side
of the park and missed out on the beautiful drive through it.
·
I just saw a sign for: “In Door Pool.” I wonder
how they do that.
·
The oil tanks and rigs in the foreground kind of
ruined the view of the red rocks east of Gallup, NM.
·
We seem to have come to a point in this country where
leadership no longer means representing the best of what a group of people can
be, but rather representing the basest common denominator. We don’t look to our
leaders to set an example – and perhaps this is the natural outcome of the
horrific behavior of some leaders in the past decades – but it is unfortunate
that we are satisfied with someone who erupts in word vomit, seemingly
thoughtlessly, and who, rather than looking at how to make this country a more
collaborative place goads people into violent reactions.
7/8
·
As I am leaving Albuquerque this morning, I see
a person on a fenced overpass, just sitting and watching the traffic. Suddenly,
it is 1973, and I am a freshman at WMU, sitting on the wide windowsill of my
dorm room in Smith Burnham, watching the traffic on Stadium Drive, and wishing
I were going someplace.
·
I just saw a sign for a “Staying in Business
Sale.” I like it.
·
Here’s an idea: some sort of national, or even
international, site for older musicians/artists/crafts people called Not Too
Digital (or something like that). This would be a consortium of some kind,
through which tech savvy people could help these older artists to sell their
art and help them get up to speed on the digital technology. It would also be a
place for buyers to look for quality art from older artists.
7/10
·
Today’s On Being with Krista Tippit, guest
Elizabeth Gilbert, talking about curiosity.
·
The yield sign was first used on a trial basis
in Tulsa, OK.
·
After listening to Krista Tippit and Elizabeth
Gilbert, I realize that I am curious about a number of things, in particular
the history of non-Caucasians in this country. I have encountered many Hispanic
people as I have traveled, and I am curious about when groups of them started
to settle in this country. I also would like to know more about the numerous
Native American tribes scattered throughout the country.
·
I am learning to follow every Googled recommendation
up with a phone call. In Fort Smith, AR, I tried two places that were
supposedly organic groceries, before finally having lunch at a small, family
run, Mexican place. The first address I came to looked completely closed, as in
boarded up. The second one simply wasn’t open today, even though the website
said it was.
·
I like driving without a time goal in mind. It’s
easy to get out of other people’s way, and not to take offense when people get
in mine. I just slow down, smile, and let it go. Once in a while, I have to
message someone and tell them I’m running a little behind, but it always works
out.
7/11
·
It would be fun to do a tattoo tour of the
country, not parlors but people – When did you get your first tattoo? Why?
Where? How many do you have now? How do you feel it defines you?
·
People drive significantly over the speed limit,
for the most part, both on surface roads and on the highways. (I think this is
Tennessee.)
7/12
·
Terrance Callicutt & Tyron Parker at Scoops
Ice Cream, just east of S Main and (106) E Ge Patterson
·
Interesting street names in Memphis:
intersection of Democrat and Republican, McLemore Boulevard, Martin Luther King
Blvd and Danny Thomas Blvd, BB King Boulevard
·
Rick recommended TV shows: Mozart in the Jungle,
Luther, The Network (Jeff Daniels, Sam Waterston), Dexter, Breaking Bad
7/15
·
I’m feeling pretty low today. I keep thinking I
will go back to LA. Perhaps it’s time to see how I might live thereon SS plus
the minimum reportable income I can make.
·
Joan says she knows people who can help me do
weddings and memorials.
·
I could try it through the winter, perhaps, as
long as I wouldn’t have to dip into my savings. Then I’d still have options for
moving on, if need be.
7/17
·
Interviewer asks author, “Does it bother you to
think that you may not be remembered as a writer?” Writer replies, “Of course
not. I’ll be dead.”
·
As I have headed East, and now North, a vague
sense of anxiety pervades my travel. Maybe it’s because I still don’t know
where I’m going to end up. On the other hand, it may be because I belong
somewhere further west and/or north, and as I move away from that my body tells
me that something’s not right.
7/21
·
The sun warms the air till it can suck in the
fog with a big toke.
·
Driving in Vermont is a lot like driving in
California – constant ups and downs and curves – but Vermont is a lot more
developed. There are many signs for “hidden drives.” California, at least where
there are 2-lane roads, is a lot wilder.
·
Fresh Air today, contributor Matt Johnson
·
Eric Adams
·
Hotel (Syracuse): missing lightbulb, plug that
doesn’t work, toilet paper on back of toilet, not in dispenser, Wi-Fi is
horrible, sheet and blanket were reversed, no Do Not Disturb sign available,
outdoor door not locked at night – no card access, unpleasant clerk this
morning: spoke to me curtly when I entered the dining room at 6:15 looking for
fruit to take with me, since I was going to be gone before breakfast was served
at 7:00.
7/29 (Three months since signing on my house)
·
When I think back on my departure from Sue’s
house the morning of May 1, how cool and rainy the weather was, and how excited
I was to be off on this adventure, it seems a long, long time ago. I have seen
so much of the United States. I have seen its rivers – the Mississippi flowing
strong, and the dried up riverbeds of the Southwest. And even in the last week,
I have seen how far less musical the rivers of Ithaca are in the current
drought.
I have seen weathered the people of North
Dakota, compared to the sun-drenched, smiling faces of Southern California, and
the beatifically calm demeanor of the Pacific Northwest.
I wish I could say that there is one place
I want to be. This adventure has only shown me how many choices I have, not
only of place but of how I want to express my personhood. Choosing only one
seems an abdication of riches.
The longings I have are sometimes for
specific people’s company, but more often simply for company. I also miss
constructive work, at times, to the point where I want to clean my own room at
the Airbnb, or help plant flowers, or pick up trash on the street. Sometimes I
even do these things.
Today, I face one of the biggest drives of
my journey, from Ithaca to Grand Rapids around the bottom of the lake. Most of
my day-long trips were 4 ½ to 5 ½ hours. I do not yet know where I will stay in
Grand Rapids, either now for the next four nights, or when I return with my
parents on the 12th. I have a sense that it will be a good idea to
stay around the area until the end of September, when I can vote and then be on
my way.
At that point, I would like to drive south
again, meet up with Rick, and check out the mobile home situation in Florida. I
am almost certain that it makes sense to buy an inexpensive mobile home with
him, and split residence fees. That way, we will both have a place to call home
base for very little expense. Once that is established, I would travel back to
Abby, perhaps through Christmas, and then return to Florida to find some
gainful employment for a few months.
When the snow goes away from the upper US,
I will visit Michigan and New York State once again. I may look for work near
Abby and establish some place to live until it’s time to go South again.
During the winter months, I may want to
make my way back to Alice again, as well.
·
Picasso’s Art of Food in Erie, PA.
·
It’s Okay to Suck, by Tim ??, Professor
at Ryerson University
7/31
·
Emmylou Harris – article about Hard Bargain
collaboration
·
The Calorie Myth
·
Keyhole garden
8/5
·
Listening to a specific local Asheville station,
as I am driving out of town, the first thing that strikes me is the uniqueness
of the advertising: a mattress store that recycles its mattresses, a restaurant
(Magic Mushroom?) with a narrator that sounds stoned, restaurants emphasizing
locally sourced, healthy, organic ingredients, etc.
And PR classical music station DJs talking
about making coffee with champagne: sweet is better than dry, and there was
some kind of mustard to add to it, as well.
·
It’s about 11 o’clock in the morning, and so far
today I have had a cup of tea, a scramble with spinach and eggs and cheese, a
small sausage patty, and an entire package of almond bark with a decaf coffee.
·
I am sensing myself very much a part of a wider
world, today. I feel California, and I feel Kingston. Here I am in South
Carolina, and I am here, too. As I listen to increasing Olympics coverage, I
hear the music of many national anthems, and I feel them, even though I haven’t
visited them. Or maybe it’s just all the almond bark I just ate.
·
When, sometimes, I catch myself trying to speak
over someone else who is speaking, I wonder if I do that a lot. I usually don’t
interrupt someone, but I will start to insert a thought, and then the other
person will go on speaking. I have noticed this several times with different
people, where he or she will raise their voice and continue speaking. It makes
me wonder whether I do that sometimes, too. When this happens, I usually just
stop and listen, and if my contribution is still relevant, I give it when there
is another opening.
·
”Curiosity shop” from Ben, as a name for a
second hand store.
8/10
·
Luna Roitisserie and Empanadas (in Durham)
·
(Bike ride notes)
L on Waldo Rood
R on Cary Parkway
Past Old Apex
R on Lake Pine Dr
Go around lake and back out on Lake
Pine
Cross Cary Parkway & stay on
Lake Pine
R on Maynard and quickly L on Griffis
St.
It wiggles around and then finally
goes straight for a short bit
L on W Park St
R on Madison Ave
R on NW Maynard
L on Sudbury
L on W Dynasty Dr
R on Evans Rd
L on Western Parkway
L on Chapel Hill Rd
R on NW Cary parkway
R on Crabtree Crossing
L on bike route (Coles Branch)
L at T, route becomes Lagault Dr
(stay on it)
R on High House
L on Davis
Stop at Goodberry
L on Waldo Rood … etc.
8/11
·
Rookwood lite, trailer (seen on the road)
·
Saw two middle-aged, white police officers in
uniform leaving the restaurant where we had lunch (Graze on Main in Wytheville,
VA) and thought, “I wonder if they’re afraid.” Then I was taken back to
substitute teaching in inner city GR, compared and contrasted with outlying
schools – fear of the culturally unfamiliar, difficulty in communication and
accepted cultural norms.
8/12-13
·
Stuff I gotta do:
-
Change doctor on my Priority page
-
Make appointments for – mammogram, colonoscopy,
teeth cleaning, haircut, oil change
-
Write some lyrics, poetry, blog posts, piece for
Rachael
·
Sign seen in NY state about ice cream: “It’s not
just good. It’s really good!” Thoughts about judgment.
·
Cakery Café
·
The interconnectedness of thought: I place my
hands in front of my belly to encourage the chi to move. I think of Rick Powell
and of all my tai chi friends. Mind wanders.
·
Fears/concerns bubble up in my stomach when I
think that Abby really doesn’t want me to be close by. I understand that she
struggles between missing my presence and not wanting me to overbear her life.
I also see in this the necessity for me to build my own life and not to be
constantly serving either parents or children … or grandchildren. That would
not be healthy for any of us.
·
Aeschylus poem, read by Bobby Kennedy
·
I have a gift of music: I was born with this gift,
and I used it when I was young. I brought joy to people in theatres, in nursing
homes, and in churches by singing for them, and by feeling and believing the
things I was singing. At the point when Chuck and I agreed that I would only do
theater that paid, once Alice was born, the gift was stuffed down into my gut,
and bound up in other places in my body
and in my psyche. It is difficult now to find the places where it resides and
to understand how to release it, but I will find a way. I know so truly that
this is the cause of my Crohn’s disease, and probably of other physical issues,
as well.
In the past few years, it has
become easier to hide in the screen of the computer, playing games for hours,
rather than face the pain of not creating or try to figure out how to create
again. The few pieces written for GVSU exams were inspired at some level, but
not nearly the fulfillment that I seek and need.
·
Bad Dog Ranch in Colorado
8/14
·
I need to get a shower today, or swim with soap.
·
I would be interested to know more about the
kind of personality that enjoys large groups for a brief time, LOVES meeting
new people if she can have a discussion with them one-on-one and really start
getting to know them, gets “done” with parties and large social occasions
pretty quickly, yet is lonely enough when alone for long periods to distract
herself with computer and television, giving a false sense of company.
8/16
·
Need more alone time to write (but will I?!)
·
Read Travels with Charley
·
Write lyrics: travel, people around the country,
fear, politics, love with a certain perspective
8/17
·
Skin deep; safecosmetics.org; Alchemy forever
·
I really want to say today what I think you
already know
That with you my life is richer,
greater, stronger than I could be alone
And you know how much you mean to
me that I will stand up here
In front of everyone we love, all
whom we hold dear.
I want to walk with you, hand in
hand, as far as the future goes,
Because when we walk together, no
ill wind ever blows.
I trust you, for your deepest self
is kind, and strong, and true.
I can’t imagine anyone with whom to
face the world, but you.
You make me laugh, you make me
talk, you know me inside out.
You help me see the sunshine, and
that’s what life’s about.
I hope and pray that our faithful
days go on without an end,
This is the life I’ve dreamed of,
as I marry my best friend.
8/18
·
FBfan_KEEN2016
·
Approaching Grand Rapids feels strange in several
ways: it really doesn’t feel like “going
home,” but I have no home from which to approach it. My spirits rise at the
familiar radio stations, especially the ones that coincide with the buttons on
my radio. And I am ever so grateful to Annie for being willing to put me up,
but as I drive toward the city without a real “home” destination, my mind
wanders beyond the end of September, and I wonder where I will go next.
Random notes without dates:
·
(written 8/26) I realized this afternoon that I
am afraid: afraid of bicycling around the steep hills of Ithaca, afraid that
the experience of bicycling will be daunting and disappointing, as it was
earlier in my journey; and perhaps I am also afraid of the journey of life, and
that the bicycling is just a metaphor.
Into what do I jump next with both
feet, the way I did into my journey? Can I rediscover the spirit of adventure
which feels as though it’s fading fast?
·
I have been encouraged by a wise woman to do the
following: 1) Do not try to choose, but follow the things that give me joy; 2)
Allow that which I have been holding inside for such a long time to come out so
I may, 3) Share my gifts with the world, because the world needs it so much. 4)
Make all my choices based on joy. Do not overthink. Do not do things just
because someone else needs me to.
·
I saw the mountains of the Northwest
In their green
and glory best.
There it rains
most all the time.
This is ours,
and it is fine.
I saw Pacific
breakers roll,
Bathing warm to
winter cold.
Crying seagulls,
circling free;
This is you, and
it is me.
·
In Canton, Ohio, lavender honey decaf iced
cappuccino. Wow!
·
Habits and patterns of complacency
·
Zhibit – Directory of California artists
Trois Familia on Sunset: crispy
hash brown chilaquiles, sunny side up egg, cotija, salsa macho & avocado
(LA)
Clint Margrave, Salute the Wreckage
(poetry)
Skunks are ubiquitous
·
Decided I’d been alone enough and went to
Stanley’s Steakhouse for supper (Jackson, CA). Agreed to sit on the patio. As I
was being seated, I noticed another woman sitting alone and almost asked if
she’d like company. When the hostess asked about my drink order, I said I might
want wine with dinner, and the woman at the next table made a recommendation. I
asked if she’d like company, and Remy and I moved over to her table. She is
Anita Whitcomb, Jackson, CA
Trees at Yosemite: charred trunks
indicate a controlled burn; completely burned trees are from fire; brown
needles indicate drought or beetles.
Calaveras county has a lot of Mark
Twain things. RV Park called Frogtown, USA
American Tunes by Alan Tussault
(sp?)
The advantage to traveling alone is
that I can change my mind at a moment’s noptice. The disadvantage is that I
don’t do some things that I might otherwise, because there is no one else
saying, “Come on! Let’s do that.”
Book: What makes Olga Run?
Grammar Girl
·
Met Amy & Jackie at The Nova Café in Bozeman
on 5/22
Bridge at Lake Koocanusa
Egg and I Road, Nip Lee Road, Sweet
Laurette Café in Port Townsend
Mount Walker – 101 south, L at T;
Forks, some beach trails
Vancouver Island -- ? miles long,
about 50 miles wide: 11th largest Canadian island, approximately
700,000 people, half of whom live in Victoria.
SS notes: 6/7: Need some structure.
Remy and I both do better if we know where we’re going to eat and sleep. Need a
good bed. Need clean, running water, preferably a hot option. Need human
interaction.
·
Any photographs I take cannot possibly do
justice to the amazing panoramas I see as I drive through the wild parts of our
country. Light and shadow paint a patchwork over mountains, fields of
sagebrush, and water. Mountain tops loom up through the clouds. The clouds
themselves are living art.
The highway here is lined with
groves of fruit and nut trees interspersed with huge rose and jasmine hedges.
(I think this was going from Jackson to Napa.)
·
Jackson
There are no scorpions at this altitude.
1000 feet lower, there are, but they are relatively harmless to people and to
small dogs.
The poison oak (leaves of three) is not
harmless. Just like oak trees, it comes in many varieties.
Honeybees want to fly. If you put a water
source right next to the hive, they won’t use it. If you run your grey water
from the sink into a tub filled with plants, the plants will purify the water
very quickly. You can tell this by the honeybees drinking the water. They will
always go for the cleanest water source.
·
Haiku from Wisconsin:
Mottled sunlight on
Algae yellow marsh water.
Scent of heavy spring.
Wisconsin is full
Of lilacs, singing their song
Of Alice, Alice.
·
Not Haiku – near Glacier
A green song of the most exquisite
beauty
The barely audible whisper
Deep determination
8/24
·
As I drive through Grant and Newaygo, I love
being on the back roads again, and I like it even better here because things
are familiar, and I know where I’m going.
·
Listening to the radio as I travel is
fascinating. I just heard an advertisement for a dentist. It gave his street
address, but not the city. There is an assumption that anyone who is listening
already knows what city is being talked about.
·
Chevy 1990 pickup, bed is 8’ 2 1/2” long and 5’
8 1/2” wide (extrenal), 8’ x 5’ 2 ½” (internal); camper is a Palomino with the
extendable top, probably same vintage – 6’ 2” at widest point, 4’ 10” width of
the part that fits inside the truck bed, 8’ 2” length of lower parth.
