California or Bust!…Busted….

As some of you know, my recent California road trip came to an abrupt halt in Winnemucca, Nevada—turns out good pal L.E. Leone has contracted some sort of respiratory infection that sounds quite a bit like the flu. Anyway, discretion proved the better part of valor, & sad to say (for L.E.’s sake) it was a wise decision, as apparently her condition has not improved.

But speaking of blogmates, I have Audrey Bilger to thank for stressing to me that I should take road trip photos—this, combined with some good music on the cd player, made what would have been just a long, disappointing ride into some fun. Thought I’d share a few of the pix with you this evening—& what I think is the best of the lot will be appearing here tomorrow as the Photo of the Week.

Meantime, yours truly is quite tired out, & so hasn’t been paying any blog visits for the past couple of days. I expect that to change tomorrow!

Top pic: US 95 South in the Oregon Desert

Abandoned shack in the Owyhee Desert, near the Idaho-Oregon border

Old homestead with obligatory locust tree, east of Jordan Valley, Oregon

The High Mountain Desert in Southeastern Oregon


Diner/Service Station in Burns Junction - no longer a going concern

Casino with a matter-of-fact name; McDermitt, Nevada, just over the Oregon border

The Orovada Store, Oravada, Nevada - out of business

Snow falling near Paradise Summit, Nevada - a few miles south there were patches of snow on the road shoulder

Sand dunes north of Winnemucca, Nevada

Winnemucca, Nevada - the end of the trail this time around!

Home!

22 states—4 time zones (northern Idaho is on Pacific Time)—about 7,000 miles later—I’m back in Indian Valley, ID, & very happy to be so. I pulled in yesterday evening before 7:00 p.m. to the sight of Penelope Llama & Mo Alpaca grazing up by the loafing shed. The trip was amazing—but it was time to be home—I felt that acutely yesterday as I was driving thru the snow & rain squalls for 500 miles in Montana & Idaho—Lolo Pass between the two states offered by far the worst travel conditions of the entire journey—a full blown snowstorm swirling & blowing while I was descending the steep curvy grade thru the Bitteroots & down to the Clearwater. After this it was on to Kooskia & Grangeville, with more snow squalls on White Bird Hill, then intermittent rain all the way to New Meadows. But the sun was shining brightly on Indian Valley.

I’ll be back on Sepia Saturday next week—for now, I’ll be resting up & trying to catch up on blog visits!

From the Black Hills to Bozeman

Silent pines—granite rock face—the ice on Horsethief Lake—endless billboards for roadside attractions & an obsession with gold mining—a sacred place transformed to a rough & ready Disneyland—an obsession with natural resources “going to waste” by not being “used”—i.e., extracted—the sky is very sincerely blue tho as only in the west—four presidents carved into a mountain—the audacity & hubris of this—still, at least 3 of the 4 held positions now hated by the uber-patriotic conservatives—this country in a sad time, same as it ever was—the massive face of Crazy Horse emerging from another mountain & a solitary crow flying—

Brick buildings in Deadwood—the old Northwestern line depot transformed to a tourist info center—I’m wobbling around the cobblestone streets with a camera, dazed with fatigue & jittery from roadside coffee—a bust of Wild Bill Hickock, gambler & killer & lawman—the Anglo west with its lust for gold & land—

Wyoming: herds of pronghorns grazing near the pumpjacks & looking up to see the Burlington Northern hauling open containers of coal east—fiestaware cups in a Moorcroft diner—road workers eating chicken fingers & fries amongst the scattered high chairs & Sponge Bob Square Pants on the tube—the workers in work boots & ball caps all have an edge & everyone looks straight ahead—a boy refuses to let a girl sit on a plastic seat in the play area, keeping his feet firmly planted on it—same as it ever was—so she decides to play with an abacus—

Montana: the truss railroad bridges crossing the Little Big Horn—horses grazing on either side of a roughly paved highway that runs parallel to the interstate—a school bus flashing red lights—the battlefield itself unnaturally quiet & a waxing half moon rising above the battle ridge—nearby a gift shop & teepees in fiestaware colors—in Billings the refineries are smoking & flashing & a Holiday Inn is festooned with fake palm trees in an array of fiestaware colors—the truss bridges crossing the Yellowstone River & its sandbars—snow in the hills & rain along the highway—home is the one thing on my mind but I only make Bozeman, not Butte—home today—

“Anchorage”

The home stretch—Wyomng, Montana, Idaho: but as the east fades in the rearview mirror, here’s a song about making connections—old & new—for B.N. & Yaakov, & Willow & WT, & Lana, & Carrie & Marc, & Matt & Margot & Claire & Adele & Iris, & my mom, Bette & her friends Agnes & Mary & Shirley, & Raquel, & Jacqueline, & Molly & Tim, & Jonah & Sally, & Mouse, & especially Eberle.

Listened to this pulling in to Rapid City last night & thought of all of you, & about lots of other friends too, those who weren't along the way—this go round. How we scatter! If we could gather all our dear friends together in one big town - & of course they'd have all their other friends & their friends' friends & so forth—& pretty soon you'd have the world as it is—however scattered & distant & imperfect—

Enjoy!

From the Mississippi River to the Badlands

Minnesota’s barns are trim, no question about that—red & white & green & brick with shingled gambrel roofs—morning along the Mississippi River near Dakota, Minnesota—the train tracks winding north to the big river’s source—ice on the Mississippi—grandiose waters even here in the North Country—ice formations on the rock cliffs beside Route 90—later Canada Geese marching across a frozen pond in a tiptoe waddle—the birches from Wisconsin thru Minnesota—the redwinged blackbirds pecking for grit along the road shoulder—

South Dakota: the beginnings of the unkempt west—standing water & round hay bales & signs stating The Wages of Sin is Death—the endless signs for Wall Drug & the Petrified Gardens—the latter closed for the season—dinosaur sculptures & teepee sculptures in the rest area—totems of extinction—a 20 ounce cuppa Joe from a Cenex in Chamberlain—looking at the prairie dog postcards & Mt Rushmore t-shirts—

Wall, South Dakota: a shabby western Disneyland near a Minuteman missle range—the Badlands—serious atavism & I do mean serious—the history of the world told thru severe erosion—wild west jungle—ancient ocean—the mule deer grazing placidly—the rabbits furtive & freezing in the dead yellow grass—the meadowlarks soaring above prairie—the story of Chief Big Foot & the winter passage thru the Badlands into history at Wounded Knee—stark history amongst the jagged rocks & the exposed strata—

Today: the Crazy Horse Memorial—then on to Wyoming & Montana

Into the West

Greetings! This is being written in a Comfort Inn in the midst of Wisconsin's own little Disneyland, Wisconsin Dells - a yellow SUV with a Buffalo on top - water parks - candy shops - every variety of fast food, tho it must be added, none of the fast food joints have the usual air of squalor - a trim setting -

By the time you read this, however, I'll be well on my way down the road: the last 100 miles of Wisconsin - Minnesota - then back into the Wild West as I travel across South Dakota....

I'll be trying to get as close to the Badlands as possible today, & hope to take a mini tour of that area tomorrow - I have a couple of folks to thank for this idea: my friend Molly in Lyme, CT & the very delightful Mouse of Mouse Medicine & The Lakewood Daily Snap.

This trip has been deeply satisfying, & one of the great pleasures I've experienced has been meeting four blog friends: Willow, Raquel, Jacqueline & Mouse. Mouse has the same upbeat & infectious energy in person that one finds on her great blogs - & she made a lunch of grilled cheese & tomato soup - pretty much an all-time personal favorite combo for me! In addition, Mouse & I had very helpful route planning session, & if I had any doubts about whether to see the Badlands or not, that discussion cinched my decision.

It was also rather amazing to turn onto her street in Lakewood, OH & say to myself: "I've seen this before" - because I have, on both her fine blogs. For those of you who aren't familiar with Mouse Medicine & The Lakewood Daily Snap, you really must check them out - great photos & commentary.

From here on out I should be checking in each evening & morning - thanks everyone for sticking with the irregular posting schedule!

Top Photo: Wisconsin Dells
Bottom Photo: Mouse & Me: photo by Mouse

Ghost Dance

Today: the midwest - leaving Columbus, OH in mid morning thru a light rain & gray air - backwaters from big Sciota River churning past an industrial site - as yesterday the gray air between Lakewood & Columbus seemed moist & chilled with ghosts while the car stereo blasts Patti Smith Group Easter - the tracery of deciduous trees against a low sky - a red & weathered empty car carrier rattling between a red tractor truck on I-70 - the corn stubble & rusted silos in Indiana - Wabash River - a Covington Diner: Walleye Sandwich/Liver & Onions/Gyros/BBQ Sandwich & fries - the older couple drinking pink lemonade & smoking cigarettes - a felt cowboy hat a pair of suspenders a gumball machine - abandoned farm buildings along the interstates - turning north on I-39 & a piano version of Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" on the radio as Illinois rolls past - the corn stubble & leafless maple trees flow across the state lines - so I ask myself about the joy & sadness I've met crossing the country - "we are the tears that fall from your eye" - the lines & Vs of Canada geese wheeling in waves above a Wisconsin farm - an old farm house with green tin roof tilted by the northern weather - the clear air the chill in the air the orange sunset - the lives we've all lived the puzzles we're all untangling as the orange air diffuses somewhere past the northern prairies....

Steel City

Happy Sunday, one & all! I've been offline the past couple of days - time beginning to coagulate in singular configurations speaking more to times of day & sunlight or night sky - waning crescent above the Heinz ketchup sign - a sunset blur over the Alleghany Mountain tunnel on the Pennsylvania Turnpike - two wrong turns at Newark on a perfect March morning one day prior to the equinox - a Kali finger puppet in a crystal shop next to the diner filled with Pittsburgh Penguins hockey jerseys - a delightful old Connecticut farmhouse in an evening that could almost sprout tree frogs & in a morning fluttering with cardinals - still showing drab wings from winter - a delightful Thursday breakfast in historic Concord with blog friend Raquel of Out of the Past & Thoughtful Eating - a delightful lunch in Chicopee at a German restaurant with Jacqueline of Another Old Movie Blog, New England Travels & Tragedy & Comedy in New England - talk of Nell Shipman & children's books & the Civilian Conservation Corps - parenthetically, both very intelligent & engaging women, as one would assume from their excellent blogs - which you should most certainly check out! -

The trip is slowly winding back to the west - it still moves between past & present & future - myself & friends making sense of life in all the days we've been apart - constructing stories because that's what we do - today's stories re-creating yesterday & potentially re-creating tomorrow - which at one time was different & may be again -

Tomorrow: on to Cleveland & a return to Columbus before heading back into the Wild West - a blur - thinking about Plato & Nietzsche & poetry on the Pennsylvania Turnpike turning into gleaming claustrophobic tunnels....does the future narrow to a point at the end no matter the story - no matter how the song ends does the melody linger on....

Please drop by The Days of Wine & Roses & Alcools, both of which are running on schedule thru the road trip!

Driving on Nine

My mother & I headed north up Route 2 & beyond to the land where I was born today—Vermont, specifically the Westminster & Bellows Falls area. The main goal was seeing my father’s headstone, which neither my mother nor I had seen—she was still living in Florida when he died in 2005 & was unable to come to Vermont—& she’s been unable to make the trip from Dedham, MA to Westminster, VT since she moved to Massachusetts in 2008.

The New England towns all seem so old after the West—the weathered white churches, the 19th century town halls—as we moved up 140 thru Winchedon & then onto Route 12 west thru southern New Hampshire, the quaint historical New England mingled with childhood scenes & remembrances—as Hkatz described recently on the excellent Sill of the World blog, I knew the turns & intersections without knowing the names or numbers of the routes—

But one route I remember is Route 9, which takes one west from Keene, NH into the Brattleboro, VT area—the pic at the top of the post is the bridge on Route 9 crossing the Connecticut River as it runs between the two states—it reminded me of my friends Carrie & Jonah & Dani—Ed’s Redeeming Qualities; Dani’s cousin Dom, who founded the band before his death at an impossibly young age, wrote the song while living in eastern New Hampshire. It’s such a song of youthful loss—a bit of wry humor & a lot of heartache—

This trip was about a whole different type of loss—death—age—physical debilitation—yet still the force that keeps us moving, allows a moment of peace &—yes—happiness in the spring sun as the snow melts from the Vermont hills & pastures & the Connecticut flows deep & dark same as it ever was—

So yes, we found the marker—as is appropriate to this type of trip, it took a bit of effort, but the effort was well rewarded by seeing my mother as she looked at the plot—what is that emotion? Not happiness nor sadness but a very deep feeling that also partakes deeply of both—

& I think of people I’m seeing on this trip: my friend Margot tells me tonight of an elderly man she knows who recently found out that his high school sweetheart had been dead for some 20 years, & at 80 he drives from Massachusetts to New Hampshire to visit the grave—I’m so fortunate to be seeing these dear friends on this trip while we’re all still vital & full of whatever that thing is that allows us to take in the March sunshine a few days before the equinox with something you might even call joy.

& thinking of Carrie, who I saw on Sunday & Jonah who I’ll see on Friday, & Dani who I’m sure I’ll see soon: here’s “Driving on Nine.”

The Outback Has Landed

Hello everybody, & greetings from sodden & flooded Concord, MA! I've been places since last we spoke—thru the rest of Illinois—Indiana—where I had lunch at an old soda fountain in the evocatively named town of Brazil (sorta stopped there thinking of Eberle, who lived in Brazil for awhile)—BBQ sandwich & some wonderful hand-squeezed lemonade—into Ohio, where I stopped Tuesday night, Wednesday—had a delightful visit with Willow & WT of Life at Willow Manor—delightful Mexican lunch, visit to a bookstore "with creaky wooden floors," & a pleasant visit at the Manor itself—the pic at the top of the post is yours truly at the Manor! Of course, I was also most happy to see my friends B.N. & her husband Yaakov, who kindly put me up for a couple of days.

From Columbus it was onward across Ohio, thru a corner of West Virginia, with much of Friday spent in Pennsylvania—then trying to get thru the Lincoln Tunnel fro New Jersey into NYC. Had a wonderful Friday evening & Saturday in Astoria, Queens with my old & dear friend Lana Bortolot (see pic). I hadn't seen B.N. in over 20 years, & hadn't seen Lana in about 25 years!

From Astoria, I did a bit of backtracking west up the flooded NY Thruway (one lane closed near the overflowing Ramapo!) to see my friends Carrie & Marc in a small town in the Catskills—my directions & navigational skills were a bit challenged, but I finally made it to their lovely old farmhouse for a delicious dinner of rack of lamb! Have been eating well—in addition to great home-cooked meals by both B.N. & Lana, I also had some great Indian food in Queens!

Yesterday was spent plowing thru rain east on the NY Thruway & the Mass Pike. I should have internet for the next few days, tho it's going to be a while before I get caught up on blog visits or comments! Welcome, by the way, to the new followers! Usually, there are daily posts to Robert Frost's Banjo, but this trip has put a crimp in that! Glad to have you along.

Will post again later today or tomorrow! Thanks to all for your interest & for hanging thru this "slow" blog period.

Down & Out in Effingham

4 o’clock Central Time Monday afternoon zonked from fatigue in the Effingham, IL Best Western—channel surfing thru cop shows & reality TV—too tired to write—running on fumes along the Missouri River—Kansas City—St Louis—miles of silos & strip malls & white frame farmhouses & pro-life billboards & Hooters restaurants along I-70—

running on fumes along I-70 past the deciduous trees in Illinois—a morning following route 2 past the Iowa wetlands along the Missouri River—I-29 past Mound City home to the great Mound City Blowers kazoo band but where you can’t get an espresso drink outside McDonalds—I turned down that deal—

running on fumes—remnants—memory—time is our shared environment & all road trips are time travel simultaneously into the past/future/present—all the verb tenses eliding into a shared expression—speaking in tongues in verbs only where past perfect & future imperfect become the same damned thing—

what does it mean to say: “I’d like to go home?” what does it mean to say “I’m homesick?” what does it mean to say “take me home?”—

the future & past & present hurtling in multi-dimensions down the highway

Pic shows the old State Theater, Mound City, MO

Blog news note: Eberle's Adams County Makes the News post will be up tomorrow, but I'm not sure how the road trip updates will be for the next few days; will be visiting friends: B.N. & her husband Yaakov—Yay! so will be busy & also may not have a very good internet connection. I'll be updating if/when I can!

Oh, & I'm much refreshed & re-energized this morning!

Union Pacific

19 degrees & trains rumbling into the siding at Rawlins—bright sun & cold that takes your breath away—Laramie in a gray blue luminous shadow under the sunrise—the red rock outcroppings & scrub pines & cell towers ay 8,000 feet—a faux log cabin convenience store advertising Native American gift items & free WiFi—Cheyenne a clammy pool of freezing fog—the skateboard shop two doors down from the cowboy apparel store—the old Union Pacific depot pale in the gray air—Our Lady of Peace Shrine at Pine Bluffs on a washboard & rutted red dirt road between Interstate 80 & a junk yard—the UP freights running across the Wyoming snows & the Nebraska grassland—snow geese scintillating & undulant flock spiraling & swooping over the truck stops—the longhorn cattle—the appalling feedlots rising in mounds of mud & manure & the reek saturates the car for miles—locusts & sleepy towns & the bustle of Lincoln exiting I-80 for 4-lane state route 2 heading for Iowa—& a Burlington Northern freight chugging under an overpass—& Syracuse, NE, 640 miles later, a ton with cobblestone streets downtown, 3 bars (one open, one closed, one out-of-business) & two convenience stores—tomorrow, Iowa, Missouri & into Illinois—

Pic shows a Union Pacific waycar in Pine Bluffs, WY; UP freight trains have been the guiding spirit of the trip so far...

Please stop by Alcools for my translation of Apollinaire's "Le Pont Mirabeau" ("Mirabeau Bridge”)

Across the Great Divide

Roar of the Union Pacific freight out the motel window—sitting just below 7,000 feet in Rawlins, WY, beyond the rangeland where pronghorns graze on the thin white grass emerging thru snow—12 hours & 735 miles on the road—in the morning, the flash of a Great Horned Owl erupting from a pasture & for a shocking moment swooping thru the high beams—the salmon flesh sunrise thru cross-hatched locust branches along the Snake River—wind turbines & the tableland in Elmore County, ID—a wrong turn toward Pocatello—a UP freight skating along the rangeland past grazing black angus cattle—a diner in Snowville, UT & a retired railroad man talking heavy equipment, all sorts—another UP freight howling along a snowy hillside along a river in Morgan County, UT—a Subaru Outback jostled amidst a fleet of semis surging over the Great Divide, & now the floor shaking as the freight rolls into the mountains past the black angus cattle grazing next to the natural gas pumpjacks & the boarded up diners—I’m tired & thinking about the long lonesome highway—meditating at various moments today what each of my friends might be doing at a given moment because everyone is always here & all moments of the past are skating along beside the blacktop.

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Pic shows a snow-covered mesa just west of the Continental Divide; I shrank it a bit because the Comfort Inn's wireless is a bit shaky!

Please stop by The Days of Wine & Roses for a poem titled “Poem.”