Friday, July 25, 2008

My German Trip

Though this blog title was not to be about anything but the US, I will add some observations and experiences during my summer in Germany. I hadn’t spent a whole summer in Germany since 1959 and this was a good time to do so, to do some rediscovery of my homeland and to visit my mother and other relatives young and very old.

The first four weeks were dedicated to my mother and her garden which is the largest garden parcel remaining in the old part of the city, Langenselbold. It is partially overgrown with grapes, blackberry hedges, and the invasive Japanese Knöterich (fallopia japonica) and full of dead fruit trees. A gustatory benefit of being here in summer is the sequence of remaining fruits: currants, cherries, blackberries, plums, quince, apples.

During these first weeks I was also working on improving my German language skills – learning all of the new words which have mostly English roots or are just adopted English words, especially from pop culture, marketing, and computer technology. Words such as kollidiert (collided) and komplettiert (completed). Mother and I speak a mix of German and English and sometime have fun literally translating the German compound words into English, i.e. for breakfast: Frühstück is “early piece”. Getting practice hearing the many distinct dialects found in Germany can also be a challenge.

The Euro money exists of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, cent coins, all being regulary used, as well as 1 and 2 Euro coins. If one doesn’t make an effort to spend the change one receives, one’s wallet will bulge with change very quickly.

By far the majority of German drivers respect the speed and traffic laws, especially in-town and give deference to pedestrians and bicyclists, of which there are many. Many sections of the Autobahn are now under speed control but in those areas where there aren’t any controls, one must continually watch for super fast, gas wasting, drivers passing in the left lane. On must always drive in the right lane and may never pass on the right. Fortunately, trucks are limited to 100 km/h (62 mph) and, believe it or not, the trucks obey the law because of serious enforcement and large penalties. Thus if you want to drive a relaxed speed and not worry about the crazy speeders in the passing lane, just join the truck convoy in the right lane, save gas, and smell the Diesel exhaust. The German roads are also full of signs and one could keep busy just looking at them rather than driving. There are two standard non-Autobahn speeds, 50 kmh in city and 100 km outside of cities unless posted otherwise. One of my favorites is the “end of prior restrictions” or freedom sign.

So, after a few introductory weeks of re-immersion into German culture, I was ready for some total immersion and sightseeing. I saw an ad by Radweg-Services.de offering rides all over Germany as well as France, Holland, Belgium, Hungary, Austria, and Italy.
A week bicycle tour of the close-by Main river valley seemed like a good start.

This trip started in Bamberg and ended in Aschaffenberg and was managed by Radelo.de. It was 6 days in the saddle covering, at a relaxed pace, the 430 km of mostly paved bicycle paths running along the Main river and through the many adjacent historic villages and cities. I rented a bike which had six hub gears (Shimano) with coaster as well as rim breaks. Saddle bags (now called panniers?) and a map bag with detailed maps were provided as was a complete repair kit, trip odometer-speed inidcator-clock combo and running lights should you need to bike during the dark hours of summer, 11 PM – 4 AM.

Overnight accommodations were in three star boutique hotels, many old historic buildings as the one shown in Volkach. All rooms had showers and generally a great view. Internet access was very spotty, however. I took the half pension option which provided in-house choices of local foods, generally very good but usually too much food for me to eat.

German hotels are a little different than the ordinary chain motels in the US. Beds, for example, had no bed covers to remove and had no top sheet and blanket for cover. The German cover is a completely enclosed quilt. I always wondered when they last cleaned the covers and blankets, one is exposed to in the US.

German toilets are different also. They are typically low flow, dual flush or start-stop flush, i.e. you control how much flushing you need. Showers are tiny, all having the removable shower head on a flex tube. One peculiarity I haven’t figured out yet is why the light switches to bathrooms or WCs in Germany are always outside of the room. One could sit in private on the loo or be in the shower when someone mischievous comes along and turns off your light. It can’t be to protect yourself from the 220V electricity because they have hair dryers and outlets in the bathroom. It must just be a regulation on the books and we know by now that regulations must be followed. Ja!

The cities and villages along the way all have a long history shaped by religious and civil conflicts over the millenia. Bamberg, the first city on the trip, managed to survive WWII unscathed because the local commander decided to actively show the Allies that they are surrendering. It is a town historically divided between the religious part where the Bishop lived, were there were no taxes, and the civil part were taxes were levied, The Rathaus, or city hall, was located on an island served by a bridge across the Main, binding the two parts of town together. This town has 4200 houses under historic protection and most of them are still occupied. A part of town called the Garden District had houses with large gardens for growing foods for the local market which to this day is open Mon-Sat.




At the other end of the trip is Aschaffenburg which was a historic fortification and town. Here, the WWII commander in charge, decided to make a stand against the allies and thus the city was completely firebombed. There is little left of the historic feel but the Schloss Johannisburg was completely rebuilt to the original appearance and now houses a regional museum of largely local art and artifacts.





In between these two cities lie many villages which are known for their beers and wines. This is Franconia and though it’s a part of Bavaria, don’t call the residents Bavarians. They feel themselves as distinct. The trip goes from the Beer Franconia, where many grain fields are located, to the Wine Franconia in the narrow Main valley with its steep slopes and many vineyards. Most of the vineyards are small and privately owned and each will have its own wine cellars and tasting rooms. Some villages are a collection of local wineries.

One particularly nice historic town was Volkach where I stayed in a hotel going back hundreds of years. It was right on the town square with the local church, Rathaus, fountain, and many outdoor eating and drinking venues with happy children playing into dusk. In all villages I stayed in there were always the church bells informing me of the time, except during sleeping hours, 12 PM – 6 AM, in some places.










The city of Würzburg is also an historic city which received much WWII destruction and was rebuilt. It has a skyline dominated by the largest fortification in Germany, Marienberg, connected to the old town by a bridge being used since 1133. It also has the most cathedrals per square km.








Two other places of note are the ancient churches at Urphar and Bürgstadt. Both have biblical pictorials on the walls which was a common way of teaching the bible stories to the analphabets (illiterates). The church at Urphar has been in continuous service since the 10th century.









The type of trip I was on was self-guided between lodgings. This gave me an opportunity to explore at my own pace and will but didn’t enable socializing with others. Typically, family groups or male or female or mixed groups of elderly people sign on to this type of Gucci biking trip. It wasn’t cheap, averaging around 100 Euros per day (not counting train transportation there and back) which is about twice my average cost experience on my US trip.








Germany has very many well-marked bike paths going nearly everywhere. Also along the paths, near the villages, there are small ads for overnight lodging and eating establishments for bikers. There were 100s of bikers on the paths every day from young to old. Most were traveling with equipment, few were just day bikers. In short it’s a biker’s paradise on non-rainy days. I’d like to do a similar trip again sometime with other interested bikers. Anyone interested? Danube to Hungary?

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

APPRECIATION
First, I’d like to thank the relatives and many friends and acquaintances whom I visited. It was nice getting reacquainted with friends from high school, college, and work. I’d like to thank them for the time and the accommodations. I also have to realize that all of this would not have been this easy were it not for modern technology, (still) cheap energy, and an economic system that allows this kind of indulgence. I was indeed lucky on this trip considering I had it rain on my parade on only two days out of 55, had no tornadoes, no flooding, no flat tires, no car problems, no traffic tickets, and no sickness other than some allergic reaction to all of that pollen in the various springs I experienced. Also thanks to Susan for tolerating my time away from Columbia.

TRAVEL EXPERIENCE
My decision to stay on secondary roads and to stay within the speed limits was a wise one. I found the secondary road surfaces equal to and often better than my interstate experiences. Secondary roads had much less traffic and it was easier to stop quickly for pictures, etc. It’s also a much better way to experience the local economy and culture. Locals are also much more likely to obey the speed limits in small communities. One has to wonder if there are any law-abiding Christians living in the cities as they certainly aren’t out on the freeways keeping me company among the speeders.

Motels for me were not necessarily a good experience. They almost universally had bad smells from Fabreeze to worse and some don’t even have windows that open. They almost all have small refrigerators that cycle continuously (can you imagine the energy waste? I turned them off). Many motels are located near noisy freeways and may have trucks with AC compressors cycling all night. The good thing is that they almost universally now have free wireless internet access which is the way this blog got updated. Campgrounds, on the other hand, are usually a great experience for fresh air, prettier surroundings, meeting people, and quietude, though some are within range of midnite (or later) trains. State campgrounds are not cheap (~$20/night) and National Parks with Golden Passports or similar cards are a steal at $6/night. Unfortunately, the National Parks are beginning to look neglected and are understaffed because of poor funding from Uncle Sam. Conditions are being created, I believe, for more privatization of this prime real estate.

Eating out can be expensive nowadays with a reasonable meal and a Stella and tip costing around $20. Meals are a little cheaper in the country, though not by much. McDonalds and Subway are almost always there as backup choices. Many grocery stores offer beside fresh fruit, etc. take-out food for solitary dining. Though finding good grocery stores in some parts of the country is not a choice.

LAND OF PLENTY?
When white man first landed on these shores, he found a land of plenty, a land sustainably used for millenia by the native Americans he subsequently conquered to realize his manifest destiny.

White man’s fascination with growth has now pushed the Natives to marginal lands and has led to the agricultural usage of all easily farmed as well as marginal lands requiring extensive irrigation. As man’s numbers increased, good agricultural lands near population centers were “developed” into housing, industrial, and commercial uses. The ultimate examples of this seen on this trip are Los Angeles and the Florida coasts. Many other examples exist on a smaller scale from retirement community sprawl to house trailer spawl in the high desert. In today’s “dynamic” employment environment, many agricultural workers, for example, just live out of campers in camper cities.

This Land of Plenty has seen its plenty eroded over the last century as the needs of its population, has increased 4 fold. Water demand in the Southwest is straining the dwindling resources. The waters behind the Hoover Dam are approaching their lowest level since they started to fill the lake in 1935 and may be too low for the turbine intakes soon. Yet growth goes on.

This country’s fascination with growth will be its downfall. Growth to our current numbers was only possible because of cheap fossil fuels. These numbers cannot be maintained as we deplete the remaining fossil fuels because the alternatives, wood and grazing for beasts of burden are insufficient for our current numbers. This reminds me of the old seventies saying, “Nature Bats Last”.

DID I FIND A NEW HOME?
So did I find a place I’d like to call a new home? Well, yes and no.

The Southeast has warmer weather punctuated by occasional hurricanes. Florida still has great wildlife in birds and fish and some opportunity for growing fruit trees and vegetables. The hot humid weather I could get used to again. There seems to be a lack of individual and unique communities; it all seems like a sprawl with cars a necessity. In the other southern states one can get the same humid heat in summer and some of the colder northern winters. There are a lot of retirement communities with golf courses. Not exactly what I’m looking for.

The Southwest is too dusty and arid for me. Though a pristine desert environment with a little oasis is of interest, good luck finding it. The cities often look junky except for the few high cost, higher altitude retirement cities. Wildfires are an ever present danger. The California coast must have been Nirvana around 1900 with its ideal weather for growing fruits and vegetables. It is now too densely packed with humans and too expensive for what you get.

The Central Plains states are largely agricultural and can be boring. They also have extreme weather from heat to cold as well as tornadoes. They do often have distinct communities though many smaller ones have very limited variety, great for solitary and inactive lifestyles.

The Coastal Northwest certainly is scenically very appealing. It has mild and cool weather great for gardening and has lots of outdoor opportunities for active lives. It, of course, is also growing fast because of its desirability, a problem with most Nirvanas which soon become less so as they are loved to death by the ever increasing masses.

Western Canada certainly is beautiful. The Vancouver area is mild (they even have palm trees), crowded, and expensive. The Kootenays are beautiful and though they have a colder climate, they are a still a good area for fruit trees and gardening.

The upper Northeast, exemplified by Vermont is beautiful but cold. It has plenty of water and is also good for gardening. It also has nice small towns and a movement statewide to become self-sustaining. Its desire to secede from the US also says something about its welcoming of old out-of-staters like me. If it ever gets warmer with global warming, it also will be overrun with the masses looking to escape the sprawl.

The common thread is that this country only has so much nice-to-live-on land, pretty much all of it populated by today’s 303 million people. What will it look like with the expected 445 million by 2050? Can we really afford the huge legal and illegal immigration policy of today?

So, it’s a toss between Vermont and Oregon at present. So to avoid a decision at this time I will first go to Europe for a few months of reflection and if McCain wins the election just stay there.

Thanks for listening/reading and please remember that all comments made are personal and based upon limited sampling.

Auf Wiedersehen,
Au Revoir
Good Bye
Sayonara
Ciao

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

First, Lets Do the Numbers

In this age of computers, spread sheets, resettable odometers, electronic fuel consumption measurement, etc. it’s easier to do the numbers, so let’s do them.

This trip covered 12,850 miles of mostly secondary roads. The car, a 2004 Prius, was driven at the speed limits, not to exceed 65 mph, by cruise control. It averaged 51.66 mpg on fuel that varied in price from $3.17 to $5.00 per gallon with an average cost of $3.63/gal. Total fuel consumption was 249 gallons accounting for 2.5 tons of CO2. The carbon emission was offset by 2.5 acres of trees in one year on my Carroll County tree farm (What a smug green SOB, this blogger!).

Lodging and food were the dominant other expenses. Lodging consisted of staying at friends and family (44% of the time), camping(22%), and moteling(38%). Food was a combination of grocery food, eating occasionally at good but reasonable restaurants, and having a few too many fish sandwiches and pies from the one universally available source, McDonalds.

Total cost for the 55 days was $4152 or $75.50/day. Fuel was 21.7%, lodging 35.5%, camping 4.8% with the rest, food and drink for self and friends, books, posters, admissions etc. 38%. Of course, there were some savings at home estimated to be: electricity, gas, water and sewage and the at-home food consumption and car usage. There were also some new costs: cutting the grass to satisfy the homeowners association and the neighbors. The incremental cost of the trip is estimated at $3000.

Friday, May 23, 2008

The Long and Winding Road*..

..that leads to my door is mostly US Route 2 from Bonner’s Ferry, Iowa to Saginaw City, Michigan. This route of good pavement and little traffic is a relaxing delight to drive at between 55 and 65 mph.


In West Glacier I took a quick view of the famed mountains of Glacier National Park. The park personnel is just readying for the summer tourist onslaught and hadn’t plowed most of the roads yet.

Going up the nearby Marais Pass (5220ft) on the west side is all nice and green. Just past the peak however, trees quickly change to high desert vegetation as the Blackfeet Indian Reservation is entered. This high plain stretching for 100s of miles to the east is wheat farming country and most of the towns along the road and the adjacent railroad are small decaying farm towns with massive silos, spaced around 20 miles apart. They have hopeful names such as Dunkirk, Inverness, Kremlin(US Style), Glasgow, Harlem, Zurich, etc. Some cities tell the population and one stated that it had 512 happy people and one curmudgeon.












In Montana the locations of traffic mortalities are marked by standard white crosses indicating how many people died. These crosses really standout and are testament to the dangers of driving.













Entering North Dakota,one could see more orderly and well-off cities and greener fields. In the eastern half, windbreaks started appearing many being evergreen trees seen nowhere else. In one city one could see huge wind mill blades although in both Montana and North Dakota there were no to few wind power generating towers visible – here in the land of wind. One other item of interest noted here is the presence of native American (aka Indian) radio stations where one can get lessons in native vocabulary, hear public interest announcements regarding drinking and suicide, hear NPR news, advertisements, and lots of chanting which I really started to enjoy after initially forcing myself to listen to it.

In Minnesota northern style forests started appearing and further along the lumber trucks started rolling again carting this time not lumber for construction as in the west but lumber for paper production. Driving for hours in a green canyon of trees is not as interesting as driving in the treeless plains as the trees hide most everything and one can’t look over them. So one plays music and listens to the radio offerings which in these parts as in most other parts of the west are dominated by country&western and religious broadcast, an occasional PBS station, and lots of right-wing hate and misinformation talk radio with notables such as Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck. I’ve gotten to really enjoy C&W.

After crossing the Mackinac Bridge into northern Michigan, the environment seemed familiar again with bad Interstate roads and everyone in a great big rush wasting fuel to get to somewhere. My last motel night was in Gaylord, Michigan, a touristy town with its architectural shtick being little alpine roofs in front of every establishment. From here it was a visit in Medina, Ohio with in-laws Phil & Pat and Susan’s brother Stuart who just happened to be visiting for a few days.

Coming soon to this blog will be a summary of the trip and what it meant to me.

* Beatles

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Oh, Canada


Oh Canada, had I only left more time to discover the west of you. My four days there were just enough to wet my appetite for a more lengthy tour of discovery.





Realizing that I would be in Vancouver on Victoria Day Weekend (a long weekend celebrating the 64 year reign of Queen Victoria), I decided to stay in a distant burb of the city, Maple Ridge, hoping for a few cheaper nights of lodging. Maple Ridge was like many other small cities I saw in Canada, relatively clean and orderly compared with most small rural US cities.




My foray into Vancouver started in Stanley Park which is an island park north of the city. I parked the car for the whole day ($7) and biked about the city exploring the park and the Seaside trail which also takes one around False Creek, the little bay into the city around which all downtown life seems to revolve on a beautiful day like the one I had. Further west of the city is a large beach with an impressive tidal flat visited by Bald Eagles and many other birds. Since the temperature was in the 80s, the bike and walk paths were fully packed as was any available grass near the beaches. There were many outdoor eating opportunities and the several, large outdoor pools were open for business. Vancouver seems to be a real livable city with little blight noticeable downtown.

After a beautiful day in Vancouver I filled up with $5/gal gasoline and drove the roller coaster route 3 across many mountain passes to Creston located in the Kootenay region of eastern British Columbia. Here I briefly visited with the Almeritters, acquaintances from my hometown in Germany. It was a day after the wedding of their youngest daughter and I was asked to participate in finishing the left over wedding goodies.

Realizing that I was a little too early for the roads and campgrounds in Banff and Glacier National Parks to be open, I decided to start heading for home via the route of the cheaper fuel – the USA.

Friday, May 16, 2008

The Pacific Coast

The Pacific Coast hasn’t been very pacific with its strong winds and high seas making for a cold California experience along the coast. All this wind was of course great for the thousands of wind turbines in the San Gorgonio Mountain Pass, creating 300-600 mega Watt of electrical power, enough for Palm Springs and the whole valley.

Palm Springs appeared to be a grander version of Naples, Florida with all of the upscale stores, fancy dwellings, and hundreds of restaurants. It was a great contrast to the poverty seen in the adjacent Mojave Desert.


Coming out of the desert and crossing the Santa Rosa mountain pass on Route 74, I had an opportunity to hike for a few miles on the Pacific Crest Trail which runs from Mexico to Canada. It was surprisingly busy with back packers and in full bloom with a great variety of flowers.


In San Diego I visited with Steve and his lovely wife, Sue in their downtown home. The house is built across a small gulch and the gulch is an unbelievably beautiful and productive garden with orange, plum, avocado, loquat, banana, and other trees, myriad flowers and orchids and many birds including an expatriate Baltimore Oriole who kept tweeting something like “San Diego beats Baltimore almost any time of the year”. Steve and his wife and another old high school and Boy Scout friend, Daryl, all joined for a local Cinco de Mayo meal.

In Hemet, I visited Aunt Püppi whom I hadn’t seen in over 50 years. She’s 94 years old and has retired from work and horseback riding to the internet and e-mail.

From Hemet it takes about !120 miles! of freeway and development to get out of greater Los Angeles to the much more serene coastal route. In both Santa Barbara and Monterrey I had the opportunity to explore the waterfronts by bicycle on their excellent path systems. In several locations such as Watsonville, one can see the truck farms growing lettuce, strawberries, artichokes, etc. with the largely Latino workers bent over picking or planting. The worker’s small towns are largely hovels of temporary lodging and Spanish signs. Think of them sometime as you enjoy your California fruits and greens.

Of course, I had to spend some time in the Big Sur area of the coastal route, famous from the hippie days of yore. The area still has hippies, though somewhat more aged. It also has a Henry Miller Library containing all those banned books from the 50s, such as Tropic of Cancer, which one had to obtain in Europe. Camping among the Redwoods in the valley is cold. It was 37 degrees one morning and it stayed cold most of the day even though when I went hiking in the desert-like adjacent 3000 ft Mt. Manuel, it was hot and dry. Interestingly, when the light rain comes at night, it never hits the ground below the trees, keeping tents dry.

I arrived in San Francisco on a beautiful clear day and just had to join the hundreds of bikers and walkers crossing the Golden Gate Bridge to take in the sights and enjoy the day. Advisory signs were periodically present to protect us from ourselves.

Going back to the coastal route I revisited Stinson Beach where Susan and I had slept in the Dunes in our 1972 Tour d'Ouest. It hasn’t changed! It even still has the Redwood House B&B with its German sign “Zimmer mit Frühstück”.

Driving the coastal route requires lots of patience, a strong upper body for serpentine driving, and an appreciation for beauty. There are great vistas around nearly every curve and there are happy cows feasting on luscious greens on ocean front meadows. There are also a lot of bicyclists and hikers trekking the Coastal Route in a southern direction to take advantage of dominant winds and to be better seen by motorists. The coastal communities are small and have not yet been invaded by outside development money. They are mostly plain with seemingly contended residents in the fishing, oystering, or lumber business.

In Oregon I visited former APLer, Don Duncan, who has landed his dream job in the liberal outpost of Portland. It is a busy and livable city with many great restaurants and pubs and bumper stickers saying “Keep Portland Weird”. Don has a great view of downtown from his office window and he can ride on a modern alpine-style aerial tram from his waterfront campus to his hill campus. Portland has a nice park with Japanese Garden, Zoo, Arboretum, and many hiking trails plus great views of snow topped mountains.

Continuing the travels on coastal route 101, takes one to the Olympic Peninsula known for its northern rain forests. Driving there was my second rainy day on this trip. And the following day the promised sun also did not appear and it rained yet more making the rain forest seem truly genuine.

Finally on the third day on the ferry ride to Victoria, British Columbia, the sky turned a lovely and warm blue making it possible to explore this beautiful Capital of BC by bicycle and sit outside for a delicious lunch and a Stella draft. I finished the beautiful day back in the US with a drive up to Hurricane Ridge to get a great panoramic view of the snow capped Olympic Mountains.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

The Southwest


The Southwest experience was also very windy, starting off with a blinding dust storm on the Interstate coming into Albuquerque, NM. The cutsey adobe style old towns started with Taos which had a small town square reminiscent of town squares in small midwestern towns such as Medina, OH. The stores in these “old towns” are largely touristy in their offerings, yet I couldn’t find a good outdoor place to sit to have a brewsky for my minimum daily liquid requirements. The architecture is adobe, adobe, and adobe. Even the new steel structures have the old adobe finishes. Outside the tourist area other architectures, presumably not as expensive, quickly became the norm. Santa Fe, the capitol city, was similar to Taos, except on a larger scale. Both cities were explored by bicycle as it is a quick, yet less stressful way, to get to see the places.

The next destination was Flagstaff for an expected camping overnight. However, because of the forecast 22 deg night at the city’s 7000 ft altitude, I decided to move to lower altitudes for more of an atmospheric blanket. I thus headed for Sedona, an upscale cutsey place built for the upscalers. Trying to find a campground or motel outside of Sedona on the way to Las Vegas was unsuccessful and I had to drive into the evening before I suddenly had dozens of choices in the crossroads town of Kingman. On the way there I had to pass through the village of Jerome which reminded me of those northern Italian villages clinging to the top of mountain passes with narrow serpentine roads winding through town. It even had a catholic retreat center at the top of the village.

On the way to Vegas, I stopped at Hoover Dam for a tour. It was interesting to hear about how quickly and efficiently it was built (we don’t seem to be able to do even some smaller government contracted projects without cost and schedule overruns anymore). The old exhibit center had a huge hydrological model of the Colorado watershed which showed all of the dams and irrigated areas. About 30% of the electricity goes to light up Las Vegas and most of the rest goes to California. Security is high, as an act of terror on the dam would have huge consequences. In fact they are in the process of building a bypass bridge over the gorge, south of the dam, which will be the largest bridge of its kind.

Driving in Las Vegas was a stressful, high speed experience which made me decide on the spot to get some rest in Death Valley instead. I arrived at Furnace Creek Ranch and found a great camping spot in the shade of several Mesquite trees. The first evening was pleasantly warm for sleeping in the nude on top of the sleeping bag (did I mention the full body tanning session in the Colorado dunes?). The night sky was clear with a brilliant display of stars and the Milky Way, accompanied by a chorus of Hyenas howling in the distance. Daytime found Prairie Chickens suddenly appearing in the camping area with their weird call, an introduction sounding like a Dove, followed by castanets. There is much wildlife in Death Valley.

The following morning I went to Bad Water waiting for a colorful sunrise, which didn’t appear. This was followed by what seemed like a quick ride to the easily visible other end of the valley to see Scotty’s Castle. Well, it took 160 miles of driving to see it. It was interesting to observe what can be done with lots of money in a somewhat disorganized way.

The evening cooled down from the 97 deg high to a pleasant beer and wine drinking temperature. Our neighborhood social hour or three was composed of a detective dad from Chicago and his Hollywood director (in training) daughter and a spelunker lady from Taos. The pleasantries of conversation were followed once again by a dazzling display of stars and a peaceful sleep.
The dry desert environment is great for preserving the past. This allows us to find evidence of past civilizations more easily. It unfortunately also means that today’s junk easily accumulates and is easily visible. The result is that much of the “civilized” desert is trashy looking from plastic bags trapped in cacti to old abandoned trailers, cars, etc. scattered about.
As one drives through the Southwest, one realizes the importance of water to this desert environment. Yet, one cannot help but notice the water squander in high flow shower heads and high flow toilets in motels, wasteful irrigation practices in some areas, and the prevalence of conventional water sucking golf courses. Even in Death Valley, the moneyed class can fly in for an evening round of golf. The Coyotes are fighting back, however, as they have taken an occasional fancy to chasing golf balls on the course during daytime.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

The Rocky Mountains



The Rockies started for me in Ft. Collins, Colorado where I visited my new grandson, Bran, and my son Ian and his lovely wife Laura Resau. They live in Old Town which is a vibrant part of town consisting of two story historic houses. This town is one of the few bike towns in the US where bikes are extensively used for utilitarian as well as pleasurable purposes. The weather was very windy and cold except for the last day and this allowed me to get to know Bran better while Laura worked on her next young adult novel in her writing trailer. For more detail on her work see http://www.lauraresau.com .
Coming down from Loveland pass I noticed a lovely skiing scene on a warm day at Arapaho Basin. This was an opportunity not to be missed. Fortunately, I had planned for such an event when I packed my cold weather clothes. The 12000 ft elevation often left me out of breath but did not diminish the enjoyment of late April skiing. The night was spent in the old and cozy Frisco Lodge. Frisco was able to save some of its building history in a downtown museum. The rest of Summit County has exploded into a condominium bubble with shopping centers featuring the usual boring chain stores. Pity!

The drive from Frisco takes one past several old mining towns such as Leadville, a site never completely cleaned up by the EPA’s superfund. The long run down the traffic free San Luis Valley toward the Great Sand Dunes National Park is awesome and relaxing. It certainly seemed as though much agricultural development has taken place in this valley since my last visit.
The Dunes is one of the best places to visit in the National Park system. The day was cool though a bit windy but near perfect for an ascent of the 700 ft sand dune. Camping was also near perfect: cool and quiet except for a few cycling generators on the many camping buses and trailers parked in the distance. When I woke up during the night I saw the Big Dipper constellation perfectly centered in my oval tent window. The sky was brilliant in the complete darkness and seeing the Milky Way clearly was an event one can rarely experience back east anymore.

This section of the Rockies has many scenically beautiful places to live if one doesn’t mind the solitude and the long distances to most places such as grocery stores, hospitals, etc. As automotive fuels get more expensive, these areas will experience real hardships.

Did I mention the wind? If my few days are any indication, the place is too windy for me and really should have some wind generators to slow those winds down and produce some electricity. It seems the natives don’t like wind generators but seem accepting of many high tension lines.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Week 3 – Central Time Zone




In the Central time zone I went from early summer back to late winter somehow missing spring.
The weather in New Orleans was delightful, great for walking and even a little biking around the French Quarter. This section of town must have been nice to live in in its heyday but many of the historic houses now seem empty. I love the tall windows and shutters to let breezes in on those hot muggy days. It is now touristy and Bourbon Street pubs seem somewhat seedy. I accidentally walked onto a street scene that was being filmed for a Selma Hayek film. I’m sure I didn’t make the cut.
The Garden District has many lovely large houses under old oak trees. This district was for the rich. Many poor sections ravaged by the hurricane are visible coming into town. Also visible were many adjacent new apartment developments. So was there money available for developers to build anew but not for residents to rebuild? Hmmm?
Natchez, Mississippi was a very wealthy town in the early to mid 1800s, home to many of the plantation owners who built their wealth on the back of slaves. A small US National Historical Park site there, chronicles the life of a black barber who was a financially successful free slave slave owner.
Leaving Natchez I traveled about 20 miles on the beautiful 444 mile long National Park Service Natchez Trace Parkway (http://www.nps.gov/natr/ ) which runs to Nashville, TN. I saw only trees and meadows with wild turkeys and raccoons playing in the meadows.
In Hot Springs, Arkansas I was the guest of former APLer Dave and his wife Dianne. Dave showed me the remnants and glory of the hot spring days of yore when the rich, famous and infamous, came to town for “the cure”. A nice hike and much pleasant conversation was a welcome change from solitary driving.
In Kansas City, Missouri, I visited with old high school buddy, Charlie. Now known to his over 100 admirers by his “nom de pub”, Capt. Hoohah, he is a local savant and daily philosphical e-mail chronicler of nightly events at Mike’s Pub (http://mikestavernkc.com/) and the world beyond. The Capt. showed me the finer points of KC.
On Earth Day, I visited the eco-village Dancing Rabbit located in north-east Missouri (http://www.dancingrabbit.org). One of the founders of this village is the son of former neighbors in Columbia. My purpose for visiting was to get a feel for this type of community. Although much information is given on the website, which I’ve followed with some interest over the last ten years, one must be there to get a good feel for the people, their interactions, and their daily routine.
In my one day there I observed beautiful, committed, single and partnered individuals enjoying themselves communally, eating well, laughing, working the houses and gardens and spending time teaching and interacting with about half dozen potential new members.
The community consists of about 40, mostly young, adults and 12 children. The children seemed happy, friendly, and smart. The village is located on about 240 acres of former agricultural land and contains 3 lakes. The soil is rich for good gardening. The difficult concept of sustainability is practiced, as best as possible, in everyday life. The village produces all of its own electricity and water and organically manages its wastes. Interactions with the outside world are largely by internet and bicycle to the nearby Mennonite community.
The community’s mission statement, significantly to me, recognizes the importance of a sustainable human population, achievable peaceably worldwide through negative population growth by furthering the one child per couple concept.
In Omaha I had a “farewell to Omaha” dinner with sister-in-law Beth and her daughter Loren who will be joining her husband in a new home in Sheboygan, Wisconsin after school finishes.
From Omaha I headed west, preferring the secondary roads to the interstate for getting a feel of the real Nebraska. The roads were good and empty making it easy to observe the decaying old farm communities, the many large, muddy, and stinking cattle feed lots and the long coal trains traveling east. These “unit trains” are over 100 cars and over a mile long. Every 20 miles or so another one came down the track. A little research showed that about 80 unit trains come from the Powder River Basin area every day. Each of the hopper cars holds 100 tons of coal which contains enough energy to produce 20 minutes of electricity (http://smtc.uwyo.edu/coal/trains/unit.asp). Doing a little computation shows that the coal in each unit train will eventually contribute around 36,000 tons of CO2 toward global warming. This is definitely not a sustainable process.
Several unit trains of container cars stopped on the tracks in close proximity to each other was due to a derailment. It is amazing how much heavy equipment it takes to lift the cars back onto the tracks and to repair the damaged track.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Week 2: Florida – You Can’t Go Back



After arriving on this continent from Germany, I lived for two years in Florida. It was 1952 and I was 11, an impressionable age. I had to learn English, joined the Boy Scouts, and loved the simple life and nature that Florida offered then. We lived north of Eau Gallie with two-lane US 1 between our house and the Indian River. Our air was conditioned by day and night breezes and the fishing was only a few yards away.
Today, our former house is gone, replaced by a bridge across the Indian River. US 1 is four lanes surrounded by ugly development. Eau Gallie has been swallowed up by Melbourne and is no longer on the map. Gone is the Oleander Hotel where my parents went dancing on weekends while I listened to the crackling of the high voltage of the neon signs and watched the bugs get zapped. Only the elementary school and the Ice Plant remain and fortunately, the memory of those times.
Florida has become the playground for developers. I drove on several six lane roads to nowhere beckoning developers to develop the surrounding land, often orange groves and cattle farms. Most of the seashore on the east and west side of Florida has been developed into one glob of faceless communities.
Route A1A must be the richest stretch of road in the US. It is also the most relaxing to drive at 25, 35 mph, if you’ve got the time. The alternatives are the crowded, stressful 70 mph interstate highways chock full of trucks and ex-New Yorkers. Most main roads are bordered by seemingly endless alternations of decaying and new shopping centers.
The Orlando area reminds me of Los Angeles in its traffic. Though if you live in the old part of town where friends John and Anna Scolero live, life seems more livable and less hectic with much variety. Why, it’s downright vibrant (for those following the Columbia downtown development). The new downtown Orlando, however, seems like a mini Manhattan.
Miami Beach seems to have avoided the out-of-place 50 story condos visible in some communities north of it. New condo buildings in South Beach are more limited in height. Most importantly, the Art Deco neighborhood remains and keeps attracting admirers who want to walk, shop, dine or just swim in the clear ocean waters near a clean beach. East coast beaches, in general, if not cleaned periodically are full of plastic and beverage container litter. Our old college days spring fling destination, Jupiter Island, though still little changed, now has a disappointingly littered seashore.
On the west coast I visited old college buddy Julius and good looker and cooker wife Steffi and was given a real-estate tour in their area. I was amazed at the fine construction quality and low prizes compared to Howard County. I also learned from first-hand experience how it is to listen to your house and boat getting damaged while hurricane Charley passes overhead.
After pitching my tent in a state campground on the western end of the Everglades on a Thursday, I proceeded to the restored old part of Naples in search of some food. What a surreal scene I found: busy streets of pedestrians listening to musicians in six separate locations, dozens of outdoor dining opportunities, a parade of upscale cars and a homogeneous white crowd of average age 65. Was this a Disney Land for the upper income AARP crowd?
Friends and interesting hosts, Carolyn and Owen Thompson, recently retired, showed me their housing choices in Indian Rocks north of St. Pete Beach. This area is a pleasant mix of old and new but surprisingly more expensive than Punta Gorda. Of course being near your children is priceless.
A real disappointment was the planned and much talked-about community of Seaside near Destin. I thought that it was a real community but it turned out to be a second home community with ½ of the 600 homes, rentals and only 15 year-around residents. The houses are small, cute, and closely spaced and start at 1 million ($s that is). At least the beach and the ocean are ideal.
So what’s good about Florida? It still has great, if not as abundant wildlife, a great State Park system, and many clearly marked or separate bicycle lanes. It may be paradise for some, but I’m still looking.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Week1


On the morning of departure it drizzled and the early tree blossoms looked like pink haze through the mist. Shortly, however, the rain stopped and the air was clear and fresh, if one doesn’t consider the Diesel exhaust of the truck trains heading somewhere, both ways, on Interstate 81. The Appalachians were still quite gray and winterish looking and greenery in Asheville, NC was no further along than in Columbia.
I had a nice visit with lovely daughter Stefanie and nice husband Brantley who live in a small and beautifully self-restored house in the liberal artist enclave of Asheville. We took a challenging hike on a wonderful day on the Boogerman Trail in the Smokey Mtns. We saw clean streams and the remnants of a homestead on a high plateau where a family once eaked out a living, manually clearing the field of large boulders and building an impressive stone wall near their log home. This in contrast to the unsustainable, oversized homes being built nearly everywhere on steep slopes with views by the nouveau riche class created by lower taxes on the upper income brackets. These homes generally sit above valleys of poverty.
In Georgia I was graced by the invitation to experience a small town weekend by in-laws George and Charlene Milligan. George, a city councilman of his community of 2200 showed me the good and the bad. The good was a real sense of community including all races eating at the downtown restaurant after church. Church there, as in most other places of worship, was a segregated event. The Baptist Pastor was exceptional for such a small community. The community suffered from the same affliction as most other small ones: flight to the cities since the 60’s. Many once beautiful houses are abandoned and have become a problem for the community. Prices for beautiful homes on large lots are available for under 100K with fixer uppers available for a small fraction thereof. Talk about affordable housing! We need to provide incentives to move people back to the country.
A late afternoon arrival in lovely Plains, GA made for a brief visit to former President Jimmy Carter’s home and visitor center. Just as with the Milligans, the Carters also feel a strong sense of community and have stayed or returned their roots.
As the trip progressed through Georgia I spotted the first palm trees, many beef herds of all colors grazing sometimes along with goats, many pecan groves and most often pine forest farms. The secondary roads were in great shape and largely empty and the 55 mph speed limit made for relaxing driving and great mileage, 54 mpg.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Gearing up and Powering Down


With age I’ve learned to plan. So planning I must now do, unlike in the days of my more impetuous youth.

The hiking boots were 20 years old with some bad lacing hardware. The tent was family size for sleeping four. Good hiking pants were needed, etc. Finding good replacements was easily accomplished by a trip to the “local” (50 miles round trip) REI.

The more complex and time-consuming part was powering down. The more obvious powering down of all power-sucking electronic devices was easily accomplished. The prior decision to turn off the heat was not met with enthusiasms by my indoor plant buddies, especially the orchid. Thus the heat was left on at 60 degrees. My plant buddies also reminded me that they will still need feeding and Susan agreed to take care of their aqua needs in exchange for more future Johnnydog sitting.

The more complex task was turning off the media monsters as they would have no one to persuade to buy more junk with obnoxious ads, to scare with blown-out-of-proportion tales of murder, to selectively feed “news” to, to call for urgent $ contributions for and against one thing or another, etc. etc. It was to be a time of quiet and peace while I was gone, something I should not have to pay for.

The TV and the Internet were supplied by Comcast cable. One cannot turn off the TV without turning off the Internet and one cannot keep the email address without having Internet services. One also cannot suspend services for more than 3 months unless you’re a snowbird (like summer birds don’t exist?). Thus it was time to cut the cable and business ties with Comcast and save some $s. Hello Gmail!

That left the phone communication which was supplied by Vonage and required an Internet connection for home use. Fortunately, the voice mail feature of Vonage will forward an e-mail to you whenever a voice mail is waiting and one can then retrieve an audio file for listening. No telephone ringing, no need to answer right away. But how do I answer? This is where Skype comes in. This PC application allows me to originate cheap phone calls to anywhere in the world as long as I have high speed Internet access. Thus people cannot reach me directly and I am only able to respond, Internet access permitting. Sounds like a recipe for peace to me. I’ve never been a fan of a real cell phone as it represents to me an electronic leash around my personhood.

Having accomplished all of the above, including cancelling Vonage and changing from paper to electronic payments and banking, I then packed my camping gear, bicycle, and all other needs into my 2004 Prius and managed to embark upon this adventure at 10 AM on April 1. In the rush to leave, I totally forgot to pull an April Fool’s joke on someone.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Why the Blog?

When I took my first trip of discovery, there was no personal computer, no internet, no cellphone, and no digital photography. It was a time of 20 cent/gal gasoline, expensive long distance phone calls, few interstate roads, the Vietnam misadventure, and only 200 million people in the US. Now we have Skype to make international phone calls from anywhere where we can find free WiFi using our laptops, we have GPS to get us anywhere in our hybrid cars, we are in another misdaventure known as Iraq and we now have 303 million people to feed and house. Some things have gotten better, some haven't changed and some have gotten worse.
My first trip was a marvelous discovery of places of beauty and of wonderful people. It was an experience that was imprinted in my then young mind for many years; no need of written record being necessary. But now with an older mind I have all of this cool technology available to help keep a record of my experiences and am able to easily share them in almost real-time. How can I not take advantage of this opportunity? Here's hoping that, after daily feeding of all of this technology, I'll still have time to smell the wildflowers and to enjoy what beauty remains before 150 million more people will want to share it in the next 40 years, energy availability permitting.
The adventure starts April 1, no kidding.