Social, pop culture, and arts musings from a literary humanist.
To begin is to form a side that begs an end; so our time concludes. It was cold. The forecast called for rain, and even when it wasn’t raining, the air was thick with a mist that seemed to saturate anything that dared be outside. So when I was dropped off in Brainerd by my […]
Read More All good things must come to an endA familiar face returns in the night; sign of life’s revolution. Every turn onto the next road, and each town I passed through, was a discovery. With few exceptions, such as when I finally arrived in Minneapolis at the end of my first week on the road, this trip was only defined by experiences in […]
Read More The return of things previously seenA gentle vibe runs quickly down the rails, the speed of sound through cold steel. There’s something classic about train travel. In the modern world, the US hasn’t figured out how to keep up with the rest of the planet in terms of rail travel, but we were the country that made the train a […]
Read More Trying out the railsViews of the river glean memories not my own. It flows history. When considering what this trip was all about, I never came to a solid answer. I knew there were many things that it was for, but I haven’t been able to distill the various purposes into a single reason. Research for the novel […]
Read More A St. Louis TouristThe corners of a city curve with each look; blunts by discovery. After arriving in St. Louis, my first thought was that I had no idea what the hell to do. I had spent three weeks slowly completing this journey, and then, one day, I was there. Fortunately, I at least had an initial stopping […]
Read More Meeting St. Louisriding bicycles is man’s enhancement with it we are supermen On Monday, September 18, I rode through the northern suburbs of St. Louis. Despite the fact that I knew where I was, I couldn’t help but feel like it was just another day on the road. There was nothing about the ride that suggested anything […]
Read More The destination, but not arrivalOne rides to arrive. Another just to survive. I, to be alive. With each stroke of the pedal, through an endless rolling landscape, under a cloudless sky with 90 degree heat, one can feel themselves getting a little fatigued. You could chalk it up to road exhaustion, but more than anything else, I just need […]
Read More Reflections while restingStrangers wait in the daylight. Motives of kindness give travelers homes. “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” -Blanche DuBois Despite the dark tone the above quote has at the ending of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire,” I’ve certainly found that Blanche gave some inadvertently good advice. My time on the road […]
Read More To the friends not yet metSight of stars begs us relax in silence, resting in the shade of earth. There has been very few days of this trip where I knew where I was going to sleep at the start of each day. That’s new to me. In fact, I often don’t know where that will be until I finally […]
Read More To sleep perchance to dreamThe feeling of wind in your face suggests moments of life in movement Pieces of my old life often interrupt me while I live the new one, such as with the reminder of Labor Day that I mentioned in the last post. But memories emerge often unexpectedly, and in strange ways. While riding through […]
Read More Memories from the road