Category Archives: 2017 Summer Trip: No Plan

People We Meet Along The Way: Abby and Danny

Posted on by
Reply

danny and abby

We met Abby and Danny at a gas station/Burger King in Green River, Utah which is just off Intestate 70 and a little west of Moab. Leaning against the window was a makeshift stroller loaded with assorted camping gear and a jug of water. Dressed with almost as much dust as clothes, there was no mistaking the owners of that stroller.

Beginning from Long Island, NJ in March, Abby and Danny have been walking across the country 20-30 miles a day. They hope to reach San Francisco in mid-September. For most of their journey they have walked the backroads, but since entering the west (which allows people to walk the interstate) they have taken to the shoulder of the highway. The heat right now can be a killer which has forced them to walk more in the relatively cool morning. On the day we met them they were hunkering down at a motel. Most nights, however, have been spent camping on public land, in backyards, and wherever else the road leads.

This journey is in part an effort to raise awareness and fundraise for the homeless (Abby and Danny first met while working with a non-profit via AmeriCorps).  But they are also walking in order to meet people, gain insight into our country, and for the mental and physical challenge. From their webpage (walkacrossamerica2017.com) they also seek to slow down their experiences and call walking the “poetry of transportation.”

Among the many funny experiences they have had while walking the road has been repeatedly being upstaged by a goat. Apparently a man, with a goat, recently walked across American. Several times at the beginning of their trip, Abby and Danny walked into a town recently visited by this unusual pair. Each time the town folks asked is they were traveling with any animals and then were disappointed when told they were not.

After meeting Abby and Danny, the three of traveled the one hundred miles or so between Green River and Salina, Utah where we stopped for ice cream and coffee. Other than several rest stops, there are no services on this lonely stretch of Interstate. The speed limit is 80 miles per hour. It will take Abby and Danny at least four and likely five or six days to cover the same distance. We worry about whether they will find good shelter as well as water and food. In doing so, we also cannot help but think of the millions of homeless living both on the streets of the U.S. as well as in refugee camps around the world. Maybe, just maybe, their voyage will raise empathy as well as money.

 

DSC_0412

Route 50 in Utah (imagine walking this stretch for days)

 

You can follow Abby and Danny’s amazing journey via their webpage here. You can also follow them on Facebook or help the homeless by donating to JOIN: Connecting the Street to a Home which is a non-profit serving the Portland, Oregon community.

 

 

 

 

It took us a little over two hours to travel the one hundred miles from Green River to Salina, Utah. This stretch of Interstate 70 has several rest stops, but no other services. It will take Abby and Danny at least four days to travel the same distance. Whereas we sped along at 80 miles per hour on the good four lane highway, they will be walking along the shoulder. Between them they have a modified stroller which is overburdened with essential gear such as sleeping bags, a tent, and lots of water and food. Every two hours or so they trade places pushing the stroller along.

 

 

 

Santa Fe to Ouray, CO

Posted on by
1

 

upload for blog

At Meow Wolf

 

Before leaving Santa Fe we visited Meow Wolf which is sort of like a fun house meets contemporary art meets the Upside Down World from Stranger Things. It was awesome.

Afterwards we drove about ten miles and camped above Santa Fe in Hyde Park. Despite being just a crazy downhill bike ride from the Plaza, the state park felt remote and offered up many cool trails into the mountains. There was no running water but most sites had a pretty nifty three sided picnic shelter. While camping there we discovered two tears in the rain flap. Not good. But a few days later we bought Henna a sewing kit and she fixed the problem. Thanks Mrs. Cecilia!

Then we headed to Ghost Ranch where Georgia O’Keeffe completed a lot of her work. A lot of movies including Silverado and City Slickers were also filmed here. It’s now a sprawling campus of multiple museums, lots of trails, and a lot of different ways to spend the night. We though chose to move along and drove some of the loneliest miles we have ever driven to Bloomfield, NM where we camped at a former KOA. The place was nice but was surrounded by too many angry/barking dogs to be peaceful. And then we drove to Ouray.

 

IMG_9899

Hiking at Ghost Ranch

 

The Million Dollar highway, so called either for its views or for the value of the ore extracted from the surrounding rock, drops down from Durango to Ouray. It is a scary white knuckle ride even in the best of conditions. We began in a light rain that soon turned to hail and a downpour. Waterfalls ran heavy to the road and I hoped the AWD would keep the car from skidding. Worse were the rocks which came down in one section and cracked our new windshield and dented our hood.

 

IMG_9921

The former mining town of Silverton which rests at over 9,000 feet

 

The rain continued in Ouray and we sat a long time at the KOA debating what to do. At one point I went to the bathroom (individual unisex stalls) and was locked in. It took a few minutes of me banging on the wall before someone was able to get me out.

 

IMG_9960

Along the Perimeter Trail in Ouray

 

The rain eventually stopped and we had a great dinner at a Brew Pub. We also, for the first time in a week and a half, spent two days in one place. It felt good holding still.

IMG_9914

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Posted on by
Reply

FullSizeRender

The clues were as follows: a citronella candle, a few sticks of firewood, a half finished “Polynesian” flavored barbeque bottle, a bottle of bug spray, and a bit of charcoal. All items were found within the campsite’s bear box (a metal box with a trick lock that both frustrates hungry bears and, due to it’s loud creaky noise, is guaranteed to wake up anyone sleeping within a seven campsite radius). We took a pass on the sauce, but the firewood came in handy. What did we do to deserve such generous gifts?

The campsite’s other riddle was easier to solve. To our annoyance, several very large boulders were scattered about like Stonehenge exactly where we hoped to set up our tent. So first we had to move the rocks, then we set up our tent, and then we attempted to stake it all down. But sand makes a very poor foundation and, thus, we had to pick up those same pesky boulders, which by this time where heavier, and use them to keep down the tent.

So back to the clues. After a long day of sand hiking, sand sitting, and sand staring we proceeded to make a fire. Dinner was fine and then, like a plague out of Egypt, the mosquitoes descended upon us. The smart one, Henna, retired to the tent but Corey and I valiantly lit our one citronella candle (thanks Tim and Linnea) which seemed to do nothing but irritate the little buggers. Defeated we joined Henna.

A few hours later came the winds. Powerful winds that blew sand into our tent and at times actually seemed to almost lift the tent a millimeter up. Our poorly grounded rain flap became unbound and flapped like a loud bird. Corey and I had to yell to be heard and twice we courageously ventured outside only to return with sand in our eyes. It was immediately after one of these episodes that we suddenly understood the true nature of the objects. They were not gifts so much as objects left behind in fright.

 

DSC_0236

DSC_0238

 

Kansas City to Dodge City

Posted on by
Reply

 

IMG_9620(1)

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve located in the Flint Hills of Kansas

Man we have never seen fireworks like we did last night. The city of Dodge, Kansas puts on a great show (which we saw seated in lawn chairs while Henna tooled around in the Best Western parking lot on her long board). But starting a couple of hours before sunset and then lasting past midnight the citizens of Dodge launched a non-stop onslaught of professional grade fireworks. OK, we are from Illinois where fireworks are harder to purchase than firearms, but a man from Indiana (home of cheap gas, tobacco, and, yes, fireworks) told me had never seen this type of fireworks in the hands of amateurs. It was insane. And fun to watch.

IMG_9658

Dodge, by the way, is a pretty laid back kind of quirky little town. All within a few blocks is the nicely restored Front Street (which sells the typical Western touristy things) and Boot Hill. The latter was once an informal paupers cemetery where frozen to death buffalo hunters, gun fight victims, and “dancing girls” often were buried without a coffin. The skeletons have long since been interred elsewhere and now is a recreated cemetery/mini town that features frequent gun fights and a nightly variety show.

Other things to do in Kansas include visiting the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Made possible by the Nature Conservancy, the preserve consists of the largest remaining strand of never plowed over native tallgrass prairie. Keeping the system in check are prescribed fires and a bison herd.

 

DSC_0183

A Texas horned lizard

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Springfield to KC

Posted on by
Reply

 

cahokia mounds

Henna begins the hike up Monks Mound in Cahokia Mounds (just north of St. Louis on Interstate 55). The Cahokia settlement was a pre-Columbian city estimated, in the 13th century, to be larger than then London. As of 2017, admission is free.

 

It’s raining south of Kansas City. Yesterday, not too far from here, we met a couple outside a gas station. They saw our plates and wanted to talk about the Cubs. He, a friendly fellow dressed in overalls, told us several stories about him and his relatives catching the Cubs nearly a decade ago when they played the Royals in inter-league play. His pick up truck had a Cubs border around the license plate. And he also has a signed Ron Santo rookie card. Nice people.

mother jones monument

Born outside Cork, Ireland in 1837, Marry Harris “Mother” Jones endured the Civil War, the Chicago Fire, and the death of her husband and four children to yellow fever. A champion of miner rights she was once called the “most dangerous woman in America.” She died in 1930 and was buried along side many of the victims of a late 19th century labor strike/massacre.

Near the end of our conversation, with dark clouds forming above, a crazy looking man with a Scooby Doo inflection in his voice (like the cranky caretaker when he pretends to be a ghost) asked us which way the clouds were heading. The man then kind of chortled when I said had no idea and then, kind of like a prophecy, he warned the fourth may be ruined. I guess maybe he was right.

I have to admit I was a little skeptical when Corey first broached her “no plan” idea for this summer. But yesterday, with no commitments in our future, we stopped several times at places we might have otherwise driven by. And thank you Tom, the Bird Man of Edison Park, for recommending we check out the Mother Jones Monument and Cahokia Mounds. The latter was truly awesome and should be considered on par to Mesa Verde.

 

20170703_113105

What to do when your local high school closes? How about repurposing the building as one giant, permanent flea market. That’s what they did in Livingston, Illinois and it makes for a pretty cool stop.

 

The rain here does not seem willing to move on. But we are. Will catch you up when we get there (wherever that may be).