InMotion

Carol and I are back at the Lodge, doing minor repairs and I for one am trying to craft my travel buzz.  I notice that with long retirement days, I have an index of accomplishment that I keep referring to.  When the index gets too low, my buzz definitely feels less buzzy. More on that in a minute; I am wordsmithing now and if I get too jumpy, the text might disappear forever.   Have you ever been in the Wind River Range in Wyoming?  PFC. Earlier today we did a kick ass day hike up to Lake Louise whose waters eventually crash thru some tight gaps down into the Wind River and then into the Bighorn river and on to the Yellowstone.  Speaking of, we've decided to stay out of Yellowstone and Teton parks, fearing crowds.  Nevertheless, in a couple days we'll pull our home thru Jackson Wyoming and continue on, thru Pocatello and Boise.   About that index: I mean producing something or accomplishing something that maybe someone else can appreciate or ...

On the Delta Heritage Trail Have mask will travel, doing the museums in Helena.  As you may know, Carol and I are on the road.  We dusted off the Lodge (our Airstream Bambi Sport 22-foot trailer) and headed north. We finally pulled ourselves away from our daily rituals of worrying, reading, and bike riding, and got busy with research. Plans must be made. This is our 4th long-form RV trip, and we made a change in that our waypoints are going to be Rail-Trails instead of Craft Breweries.  Actually, we really didn't explicitly plan to visit breweries as waypoints in previous trips, it's just that they are everywhere,  and the beer is inevitably good, not to mention the great people associated with these family and dog friendly places.  Anyway, we will do the Delta Heritage Trail in SE Arkansas, the Katy Trail near St. Louis MO, Chichaqua Valley Trail in Iowa, Red Jacket Trail near Minneapolis, Georges S. Mickelson Trail in the Black Hills, William J. Mentock Trail ...

I’m wondering what there is to celebrate here on The Fourth of July.   There’s of course the establishing of an independent country (becoming formally politically independent from the colonial power).   Then there’s celebrating time off from work for many people.     One might celebrate certain treasured features of this country, the USA.   It’s a place where science, engineering, innovation and risk-taking have helped to usher in the peace and prosperity many people in the USA and other countries enjoy.   Maybe one celebrates a belief that the USA helps to prevent deaths and suffering from conflict all over the globe in its role as world policeman.   Some may have   other ideas of how the USA makes the lives of those who live here or in other countries better, or safer, or easier.   Of course, many will simply want to celebrate the existence of USA because “we” live here and so do most of our friends and parents and children and siblings an...

Carol and I said yes when Tim and Maggie asked us to join them on an outing.   They are avid adventure cyclists whom we met at the Saturday NOLA oldster social riders.   They have biked across the country, dipping the rear tire in the Pacific in San Diego and the front tire in the Atlantic at St. Augustine in northern Florida.   Not ones to eschew support, they had a full sag for the continent spanning ride, and their plan for our ride included car shuttles.   For our end to end ride of the combined Chief Ladiga and Silver Comet trails, here are the totals: 1.        Round trip to drive to the trail and back from NOLA: 1000 miles. 2.        Shuttling cars so that we did not do any out-and-back riding: 200 miles. 3.        Biking the trail from Anniston Alabama to Smyrna Georgia: 94 miles. 4.        McDonald’s Fish Sandwiches consumed (gro...

Well, we gotta do something! New Orleans French Quarter, May 2020  we'll get through this. Frenchmen Street Spring 2020 If you could hack into my journal, you would find a pretty down and desperate entry that I actually considered posting.   In it I attempt to describe my emotional state, and I blame the lockdown for uncovering and illuminating it. Stay-At-Home started here on March 22.   California was the first on March 19 and South Carolina the last on April 7.   Anyway, I’ve been stewing in the juices of my often dysfunctional cognitive and emotional regime.   Taking action, but it’s been really hard.   I know others are worse off than I while some are thriving and experiencing extra joy.   And of course, some are sick and others are grieving.   May we all find sources of strength and may we embody resilience.   My personal mantra, constructed during an online meditation class, is Breathe In Curiosity, Breathe Out Kindness . ...

On April 17 , Fiona Apple released her fifth studio album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters .  I had planned to continue my research on Apple and publish a blog post about it. But I keep not doing it. Even though I still feel not ready to write the piece, I decided to just sit down and write anyway, feeling that I might be able to come up with something. I continue my early Sunday morning ritual of biking out into the city to find a copy of the Sunday New York Times.  I am sometimes not successful when we are on the road camping, but it’s really fun to try. Carol decided to subscribe again to The New Yorker , after dropping our subscription 10 or so years ago. I guess we love New York!  Anyway, I started reading a long Profile of Fiona Apple by Emily Nussbaum in the March 23 issue of The New Yorker.  When I realized after half an hour that I was only half way through the piece, which was really going deep, and that I had been fairly distracted while reading, I went bac...

Spotted on St. Charles in New Orleans.  This animal may be enrolled in the pre-human stage of the Covid-19 Challenge Vaccine Study.  Thank you for masking.  I was out bike riding in New Orleans yesterday evening, crossing the French Quarter, the Central Business District, and the Lower Garden District on my way deeper Uptown.  Traffic is down considerably.   Everything feels and looks different and yet it’s exactly the same.   It is very, very weird.   All this and no one here to enjoy it, with PERFECT weather.   I just had to keep riding upriver, taking it all in. Where are y’all!?   Just before turning around to head back downriver to the restaurant (Seed) where we ordered takeout food and the brewery (Courtyard) where our 3 crowlers  were waiting for us to pick up, I spotted the creature in the picture.   Ha!   When we “start opening back up”, we are all going to have to decide what our risk will be.   It’s goin...