I'm a map person. I will choose a good map over GPS any day and prefer to travel that way. Which is why the encounter I had with an unknown man two days ago sits so oddly with me.
It was Friday, and I had to be at work at 5am to open the pool. I had made an agreement with another lifeguard to come in at 8am to give me an hour break, before I worked my other shifts. He wisely obliged, as it was his opening shift I was covering. Anyway, he arrives at 8:00 and I head out for a coffee break. I half jog and half walk to a delicious local coffee shop for a tasty egg sandwich and another cup of coffee. along the way I am stopped by a guy who appeared to be in his mid-40s, wearing hiking boots and carrying a duffel bag. He asks me if I am from "around here?"
Sure, bud, whatcha need? He asks me where Omaha, Nebraska is from here (here being Davenport, IA). I tell him he needs to go west. Omaha is west of Davenport. I even remind him which direction North is, so he can get his bearings. He says something about just coming in from Chicago and how he's walked about 250 miles so far. Fine, I guess. We talk a bit, me trying to explain to him how to get to Highway 6, so that he can stay off of the Interstate. I remind him another couple of times which direction is North.
Just before he takes off down the street, (headed due West), he asks me how far it is to California. Oh, I say, a long way. 2000 miles, more or less. Okay, he says, and we go our separate ways.
This man didn't strike me as a foreigner, or even as a Canadian, but I suppose that's possible as he said he just got in from Chicago. And I probably should have told him that he is on the Eastern-most part of Iowa and has a long way to go to get to Omaha, I also wondered why he decided to walk across an entire country without so much as a road atlas. Shouldn't that be the first item on your list if you are planning a cross-country trek? Of any country?
And that's all I have to say about that.
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
road trippin
As preparation for my road trip South, I am reading A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. It is a great read, following the bumbling antics of the pathetic Ignatius J. Reilly through 1960s New Orleans. I think it set the stage for this year's road trip.
So far, I have misjudged driving times, gotten lost (and found again) twice, and missed my scheduled swamp tour. Fortunately, the tour is rescheduled for tomorrow morning, but it still puts a wrinkle in my planned itinerary. But I am nothing if not resilient. And, when it comes to travel, I make a point of trying not to freak out too much when plans go awry. Because I was looking for an elusive gas station in Kentucky while trying to drive through the much-bigger-than-I-thought Land Between the Lakes Recreation Area, I saw some interesting parts of off-highway Kentucky and witnessed a pretty impressive thunderstorm.
Because I misjudged the driving time from Clarksdale, MS to LaPlace, LA, I rushed myself and not only ran late of the swamp tour, but I took a wrong turn onto a huge bridge that didn't allow a quick turnaround. As a result, I saw swamps anyway, the industrial side of Louisiana, and got a feel for the highway system. Many of the highways are high up on stilts (so to speak) and are surrounded by swampland and lakes. The raised roadways make sense, as this area is prone to flooding and heavy storms. Which brings me to the next thing I may not have found otherwise: hurricane evacuation routes.
Winding my way back into Baton Rouge from lower Louisiana there were blue signs along the roadways, directing residents along evacuation routes. In the book Gumbo Tales, by Sarah Roahen, she describes how Hurricane Katrina impacted her and those around her. She is a food journalist, so her view skews towards how the storm affected the cuisine traditions of New Orleans. I can't help but get emotional reading about the storm and the aftermath. I've been reading about New Orleans since I learned what jazz music was, and in a small way, it's become a part of me. So, reading about what New Orleans and other Louisiana residents had to go through (and in some cases, are still going through) hits especially hard.
After barging into Baton Rouge without an appropriate map (I tried several different ways of procuring a good map of the city...all failed. So I had to make do with a less than detailed version I managed to pull from the Internet), I flailed around the downtown area. As it was late, due to my previously-mentioned lateness, the Capitol building was closed, but I could still look at it and the surrounding grounds. The stairs to the entrance are interesting in that they list the states of the U. S. in order of the dates of their statehood. Starting at the bottom, with the 13 colonies, you climb up the steps to get to the current state roster.
So far, I have misjudged driving times, gotten lost (and found again) twice, and missed my scheduled swamp tour. Fortunately, the tour is rescheduled for tomorrow morning, but it still puts a wrinkle in my planned itinerary. But I am nothing if not resilient. And, when it comes to travel, I make a point of trying not to freak out too much when plans go awry. Because I was looking for an elusive gas station in Kentucky while trying to drive through the much-bigger-than-I-thought Land Between the Lakes Recreation Area, I saw some interesting parts of off-highway Kentucky and witnessed a pretty impressive thunderstorm.
Because I misjudged the driving time from Clarksdale, MS to LaPlace, LA, I rushed myself and not only ran late of the swamp tour, but I took a wrong turn onto a huge bridge that didn't allow a quick turnaround. As a result, I saw swamps anyway, the industrial side of Louisiana, and got a feel for the highway system. Many of the highways are high up on stilts (so to speak) and are surrounded by swampland and lakes. The raised roadways make sense, as this area is prone to flooding and heavy storms. Which brings me to the next thing I may not have found otherwise: hurricane evacuation routes.
Winding my way back into Baton Rouge from lower Louisiana there were blue signs along the roadways, directing residents along evacuation routes. In the book Gumbo Tales, by Sarah Roahen, she describes how Hurricane Katrina impacted her and those around her. She is a food journalist, so her view skews towards how the storm affected the cuisine traditions of New Orleans. I can't help but get emotional reading about the storm and the aftermath. I've been reading about New Orleans since I learned what jazz music was, and in a small way, it's become a part of me. So, reading about what New Orleans and other Louisiana residents had to go through (and in some cases, are still going through) hits especially hard.
After barging into Baton Rouge without an appropriate map (I tried several different ways of procuring a good map of the city...all failed. So I had to make do with a less than detailed version I managed to pull from the Internet), I flailed around the downtown area. As it was late, due to my previously-mentioned lateness, the Capitol building was closed, but I could still look at it and the surrounding grounds. The stairs to the entrance are interesting in that they list the states of the U. S. in order of the dates of their statehood. Starting at the bottom, with the 13 colonies, you climb up the steps to get to the current state roster.
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
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For no reason.
Much of way (and why) this blog was born.
This is my blog for the non-musical thoughts.
So there.
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