Winter Solstice Mullings

Within the last few days I finished the corrections of the 50^th High School Reunion Travelog on Crazyguy (GCOAB). That's a relief, but now I've got the Itch to continue writing.  It's cold and dark outside. Why not write?  

So,  I've been mulling about how to use/present this blog moving forward...

• Stream of Consciousness?
• Share my future Plans?
• Thought of This Particular Moment?

I'm not quite sure. But I'll think of something. For now, I'll RAMBLE

To write and post on line is a bit of performance. If it were just a personal journal, I'd just write diary entries on the computer and save the file as a journal entry and there it would digitally molder for posterity. But now I'll have to deal with the constraints of public utterances.  The one advantage is the general indifference of the world.  In a strange way, that's an advantage, especially when starting out.

I like the term Busker. I never really knew the term for street performers.  But then I read that Cary Grant actually was a busker at Coney Island. He'd originally been an acrobat. As a young English immigrant to the USA he was on the boardwalk, walking around on stilts!  So, I think of this public journaling as a bit of the same.  Yapping away...

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Below is a rough map with a theoretical route for my 2022 bicycle tour across the USA. It is not exactly what I've described in the previous entry. I might start at Kingston, RI and then get up to Boston. Then, I would head west across Massachusetts and go out the Back Door, going over the  Berkshire Mountains and  the North Adams Hill down into upper New York State. Cross the Hudson River and get on the Eire Canal route. I think it's a bike path most of the way across the state.

I'll work the finer route details out, probably as I go.  You start with a concept, and then you refine it.  Once I get closer to the actual day of departure, near the beginning of May, I'll probably migrate over to the Crazyguyonabike site and there I'd write up the actual travelog.  For now, I'm just starting to put this idea together in my mind. 

My most immediate goal would be to get removed from the higher population density of the east coast. Get westerly as quickly as possible.  As a Midwestern Boy, having lived in Rural Countryside for nearly 50 years, I am most comfortable traveling across lower density areas. I certainly can handle cities. I've biked solo in Western India and the Center of London England. So I can navigate alright in intense population concentrations. But, I'm happiest out on the open countryside.

I used to live out east and I laughed at my friends' perception of the rest of the country. They knew the east coast and maybe the west, including Los Angeles. But they viewed the middle with ignorance and indifference.  Where I came from was considered Fly-Over-Land filled with Rubes, Rednecks and Reactionaries. In the last decade, I suspect that this attitude has just hardened.  I thought the old cover (1976) of the New Yorker summed up that prevailing attitude very well.  45 years later, the view hasn't changed, I suspect.

This week I stopped at my local bike shop (LBS) and picked up my touring bike. It's a Surly Long Haul Trucker. Mine has been on numerous tours both domestic and overseas.  Other bike tourists generally have a high level of regard for the LHT's design The LHT has been called "The Reference Touring Bike" for the last 15 years.  I bought the frame and fork in 2009 and had it built up to my specifications.  The bike has 26" wheels that  make it more robust than the average road bike. 

Jody at the shop carefully went over it. About $300 later I've new platform pedals, chain, bottom bracket cassette, rear rear hub, bearings in the head tube, new shifter (front bar end) cables, brakepads, etc.  The running gear went thru the parts washer and all the old grease was dissolved and flushed away Now the parts look clean and silvery. I figured I've had the touring bike for over twelve years and it was time to renew all the moving parts so I'm confident in it not breaking down because of an oversight.   Now I can put it away until April. Then I'll get it out and put it thru it's paces before getting ready for the cross-country tour.  

Anyway, on a dark, cold (7°) and windy evening in Wisconsin, I can sit and plot the next summer...

Why am I Starting This Blog?

 

Recently, I've begun talking aloud about my plans to do a Cross-Country Bicycle Tour in 2022. It would be a notable adventure to attempt at the beginning of my seventh decade!   I'd begin the ride next year in early May. So I thought it good to start putting down thoughts and specific planning ideas and sharing it with friends.

I've thought of the ride commencing from the Boston Common. In this way I would link this to my New England Ancestors who landed in Massachusetts  (most likely Boston) in the early 1640s. (a while after the Mayflower group).  After a while in eastern Massachusetts, they traveled down to the Rhode Island Colony and dwelt there.  Later, my notorious great grandmother, Herodias Gardner, returned by foot to Boston to testify in Quaker Fashion. She came with a nursing baby at her breast. This uninvited preaching was not appreciated by the Puritans. They stripped and whipped her for her troubles and then banished her. She made her way back to Rhode Island and eventually ended up in Kingston The Gardiners were a prominent family there for a long time after. There is more info on the Quakers and Boston Puritans here: Boston Quaker Martyrs 

In addition to articles about her in Wikipedia

Alternatively, it might be better from a logistical point of view to start in Kingston RI, where Herodias's home was,  and then trace her path up to Boston. Then I could pivot west and go in a more-or-less direct path to what might be my next goal of Windham New York (north of Albany) where my great grandfather Alfred Gardner spent time as a minister in the early 1820s. I might find his parents graves (Thankful and Elisha).  This ride would not have as a main theme family history. But I do like to incorporate interesting points when I can.  These personal points of interest, when I can get them, give my travels more meaning.  Ideas that I can chew on.

From Windham, I could head west across upstate New York. I might follow the Eire Canal/Mohawk River Valley.  Upon hitting Lake Erie I could turn south and move down into Ohio and cross the Old Northwest Territory. 

For the last decade, I've been recording my notable bicycle tours on Crazyguyonabike.com .  I'll probably continue to do this, at least in parallel with this Blog.  The one problem for me with Crazyguy is that I'm limited to bicycle touring themes. That's Neil's prerogative.  But I'm thinking of adding an additional platform where I can include other forms of exploration and experience.  

I have done a lot of road trips with my minivans over the several decades.  In addition, last year I purchased a pickup truck and added a pop-up camper to it. I've have started using that for winter explorations, with more explorations to follow. So, to share these types of trips, I'm going to attempt using this Blogger site, along with continuing to post on Crazyguy  my bike tours.