Today I met up with my friend Hillary Rettig and her partner Jan. I had met Hillary nine years ago, back when I began my East Coast Empathy Tour in Boston, where she was living at the time; she and her housemates hosted me for a few nights. Shortly afterward, she moved to Kalamazoo to be with Jan, who teaches at a local university, and then she founded Vegan Kalamazoo, which has built up a thriving vegan community in this small city. (Hillary will be organizing the city’s first vegan festival in September!)
They picked me up from the home of my Warmshowers host south of town, and took me first to the local farmers market, then to lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant. Then we went for a brief walk in downtown Kalamazoo, including a vegan ice cream cone at a local shop.
Then we headed out for a tour of their friend’s permaculture farm, but first we drove through a neighborhood full of houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and then past the Kalamazoo College Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, a cool building designed by architect Jeanne Gang. Her design was influenced by Native American design elements, including the logs in the walls.
Afterward, we continued out to the small town of Lawton, to see the four-acre edible forest garden their friend PJ has been building and maintaining for the past twelve years. He gave an interesting and informative tour, although it was challenging because the day felt very hot and humid, and there wasn’t much shade. There were probably about a dozen people in our tour group, most of them local folks who were interested in permaculture for their own properties; some of them had been practicing it for some time.
There wasn’t much edible stuff growing at this time—we just missed the window on several fruits, including peaches, pears, apples, and service berries—but I did get to sample a couple new-to-me berries, including a white blackberry(!) which was developed by Luther Burbank, whose name I remember from my time in Santa Rosa.
After the tour, we decided I would spend tonight at their place, since it’s much closer to the train station than my Warmshowers host’s place. That should make it easier to get to my 10:26 am train to Chicago.
I plan to spend a week or so in Chicago, but the first three nights I’ll be taking some “downtime” from the frenetic pace of my travels, hanging out with a friend. So, I may take a break from blogging for the next few days, but then I’ll be back with some sights and tales of Chicago!
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I’m in Portage now, just south of Kalamazoo. I took the bus from the Grand Rapids Amtrak station to Kalamazoo this afternoon, then biked to the home of my Warmshowers host here. It was a pleasant ride, and I had some cool conversations with the bus driver and fellow passengers when I disembarked with my rig.
I didn’t take many photos today, though; I wanted to instead share more of yesterday’s beauty.
After the Meijer gardens, Karleen and I visited Grand Haven, a little beach town on Lake Michigan. I’m still getting used to the fact that the Great Lakes look like the ocean, with surfable waves and expansive sandy beaches. We walked the boardwalk down toward the lighthouse, and I took a few photos there.
Then we went to a beautiful nature park called Grand Ravines. Shortly after we started along the path from the parking lot, we saw people with fancy cameras aiming them up toward a tree. There was a bald eagle up there! I’m including my poor phone camera just to prove that I saw it, but of course I’m sure the “real” photographers got some much better shots.
After we passed the eagle, we walked through beautiful shaded paths, then emerged into sunny meadows and even a cornfield. (This is the Midwest, after all!)
It was a wonderful way to wind down my time in Grand Rapids.
I’ve got one full day with friends in Kalamazoo tomorrow (we’ll be touring a permaculture farm) and then I’ll be continuing on to Chicago. Michigan has been a wonderful portion of this journey.
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My friend Karleen and I visited several different places today, and I can’t possibly fit all the photos of the beauty we saw into one post, so I’m just going to focus on this garden today (and mostly the Japanese garden portion of it) and then maybe tomorrow I can post the photos of our other destinations.
I met Karleen in Portland, some years ago, but a few years later she moved back to her home state of Michigan, specifically the Grand Rapids area. I hadn’t seen her in a few years, but today she picked me up in the late morning—after the early morning rain had stopped—and we headed out to the garden.
Most of you know what a Japanese garden aficionado I am. I have visited probably close to two dozen of them on this year’s journey alone. But this one—new to me—was especially poignant, because the man who designed it, Hoichi Kurisu, is the same master Japanese garden designer who designed (and re-designed, over and over) and then helped to build, the Japanese healing garden at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Many of you also know that my then-romantic-partner (and now close friend) Johnny Cofer—who is still incarcerated at OSP, 24 years into his two concurrent 26-to-life sentences—dreamed up the idea of this garden back in 2014, and the two of us spent the following five years advocating to the administration to build it, and then putting together a wonderful team of inside and outside supporters and volunteers to make it a reality.
I had previously visited another of Mr. Kurisu’s creations: Anderson Gardens, in Rockford, Illinois. (I will probably visit there again in a couple of weeks, in fact.) It is beautiful, so I was excited to also see the Meijer garden.
And it was glorious, especially with today’s sunshine, blue sky, and puffy clouds to reflect on the pond.
I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.
After the Japanese garden, we walked the path of the adjacent sculpture garden, which included many impressive works of art, including a replica of a horse sculpture designed by Leonardo da Vinci.
Tomorrow I’ll board a bus to Kalamazoo for the next segment of my journey. Tomorrow evening I’ll probably post the photos from the rest of Karleen’s and my explorations today.
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Today was a day of bicycling around to different parks, plus a vegan bakery.
It was a good day.
First I stopped at a nearby locally owned natural food store, Harvest Health Foods, where I discovered a very decadent locally made cookie called a Fugly Chocolate Chipple. (Any old-time vegans reading remember those amazing Liz Lovely cookies? This was similar… and made right here in Grand Rapids!)
Then I headed north to Riverside Park, which my friend Karleen had recommended. It was lush and beautiful, with a great bridge in the middle and Canada geese roaming around. I sat on several benches and enjoyed the feel of the place.
Then I went back south, toward downtown, to grab some late lunch.
I had hoped to hit up the vegetarian Egyptian restaurant A Taste of Cairo, but sadly when I arrived at 4:10, the owners were just leaving. (Google Maps had erroneously told me they were open until 6:00.) I grabbed a hummus and fatoush wrap at another nearby restaurant, and then biked west to reach the vegan (and gluten free) bakery called Rise Authentic Baking Company. The large selection in their two cases made it hard to decide, but I finally landed on a “Mostess” cupcake, and enjoyed it while recharging my phone.
Then I was able to reach my next destination of Millennium Park, about a half-hour ride away, entirely on car-free paths through adjoining parks, which was very pleasant.
Millennium did not disappoint. It is a huge park with many forested trails, beautiful bridges, and sunny areas near various lakes and creeks. I basked in the feel of it for a couple of hours, alternating between relaxing on benches and pedaling around the various paths.
By the time I got ready to leave, I found myself in a golden-hour paradise along the creek. The tree groves were absolutely magical in that light.
Tomorrow I will meet up with Karleen, to visit the Meijer Gardens and the beach town of Grand Haven. We also plan to visit a vegan Ethiopian restaurant for lunch. The rain early tomorrow morning is forecast to clear up before we head out. Should be a great day!
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Wow, what a beautiful day it was today. The weather was perfect for riding, and the scenery was incredible, in a variety of different ways. And, I even had some company for more than half of the 40-mile ride!
I awoke in Allegan this morning, and had a leisurely and delicious granola-and-fresh-fruit breakfast with my hosts Rian and Paula, while we talked more about travels and life.
After breakfast, I packed up my rig, and so did Rian! He decided to come along with me for a good chunk of my ride today, which used to be his occasional commute when he worked in Grand Rapids. He also brought along his own bike trailer, so we were kind of “bike twins” out on the road, which was fun. The auto traffic along most of the rural roads was pretty quiet, so we were able to ride side by side and chat for a good portion of the ride.
At one point, I thought I heard something a bit “off” from the trailer. I looked back, assuming the rain/visibility cover had shifted itself over and started rubbing against one of the tires, which it does sometimes, creating drag and an audible sound.
But when I scoped out the situation, I found instead a large screw embedded in the trailer’s tire! It had been flat for the past mile or two, we estimated, because Rian noted that he had seen something bright and seemingly flashing in the tire when he was riding behind me to let cars pass.
Argh… but I was so grateful for Rian’s presence and bike-mechanical expertise! We pulled over into the shade of a tree in the yard of a rural house. (Fortunately we never experienced the dog a sign posted to a tree warned us to beware of.) I dug around in my trailer bags and backpack, pulling out my Tern multitool, some tire irons, a spare tube, and my full-sized tire pump. Meanwhile, Rian quickly and expertly put all these tools to use, fixing the flat in short order. (Rian, if you are reading this, thank you again for saving the day!!)
We packed everything up again, and got back on the road. Before too long, the road turned into a lovely shaded bike path. It reminded me a bit of the 21-mile Banks-Vernonia rail trail, just west of Portland. At one point, the path passed through a golf course, and we saw some golfers heading across the “overpass” in a cart! It was kind of funny.
Once we got through a tunnel, Rian decided to turn around and head back home, having already traveled about 30 of the 40 miles I needed to go. We said farewell, and I continued along the path until it opened up into roads again.
Before much longer, I reached another beautiful shaded bike path, also along the side of a park that included a golf course.
When I stopped in the park for a much-needed restroom break, I was blown away by the quality of light against the trees and grass. The scale and spacing of the trees—mostly oaks, I think—reminded me of the otherworldly feel of the oak grove in Salem, Oregon’s Bush’s Pasture Park. In both cases, I stood mesmerized for some time, doing my best to capture the feeling in photos, but not quite succeeding.
Just before I was ready to leave, I glanced down at my feet and saw a tiny, adorable toad hopping around in the grass. They were probably about the size of half of my thumb. The photo quality isn’t great, but you can get the gist.
Soon thereafter, I encountered yet more friendly-looking wildlife, as I came upon a deer having a snack near a creek.
Then I went through a city park, with lush rolling hills and trees on the edge. It was a whole different park aesthetic, and I loved it too.
Soon afterward, I arrived at the home of my Grand Rapids Warmshowers hosts, Diane and Skip. They had just had a large family meal last night, and the leftovers were plentiful and delicious, so we feasted on a wide variety of healthy dishes while we talked about family (they have six grown children, and many grandchildren) and traveling.
After dinner, I wanted to enjoy the perfect weather and light a bit longer, so I walked three blocks to their neighborhood park, which I reached just at golden hour. I basked on a bench, savoring the slow waning of the day.
Tomorrow it might rain; we’ll see. I hope to get out and begin exploring the city of Grand Rapids. In the evening, I might join Diane and Skip at a bike race 20 miles away that their son is organizing; we’ll see how things unfold.
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Today was another multimodal travel day. This morning I boarded the train from Ann Arbor to Kalamazoo (and oof, was it a tight squeeze loading everything into the sold-out coach car, with two wheelchairs already in the car!) Then I biked 25 miles from Kalamazoo up to the small town of Allegan, Michigan, partway to Grand Rapids.
I’ll mostly let the photos speak for themselves. I did stop for lunch at Kalamazoo’s co-op (since 1970!) which was cool.
When I arrived in Allegan, I was met by the coolest Warmshowers couple, Rian and Paula, and their two adorable cats, sisters Thelma and Louise, in their beautiful 1936 house overlooking the river. (I always take note of houses built in the 1930s, since that was such a rare occurrence during the Depression. I remember staying in a really cool 1936 house in San Francisco, too… and that is the same year the Golden Gate Bridge was completed.)
The three of us shared some great conversation about bicycling, traveling, and life, and they fed me abundantly, including a decadent dish of vegan So Delicious ice cream! It was a perfect evening, after a near-perfect day of beautiful mild sunny cycling weather and lovely bike paths.
Tomorrow, on to Grand Rapids!
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I have visited many arboretums in my travels. (Arboreta?) I usually make a point to go see the local one in each new town, if it has one. Usually it will have an official name, such as the Hoyt Arboretum in Portland, or the Dominion Arboretum in Ottawa. But generally people just refer to them generically: “Have you been to the arboretum?”
Never have I heard that word shortened to “the arb” until I arrived here in Ann Arbor. Perhaps it’s because the city’s name itself is related, but that’s what everyone calls it here, and I think it’s adorable.
It had been on my list to see while I was here, and I did so today. I was very glad for its shady trees; the day was very hot and muggy.
First, I bade farewell to my Warmshowers hosts on the southern edge of town, Emma and Benny. Around noon I set out on a ride of about an hour from their place to the northern edge of town, to meet my new Warmshowers hosts Rod and Amy. I passed some pretty scenery on the way.
After I arrived and had a brief chat with Rod about travels, both domestic and international, he gave me a ride back downtown—with the bike folded in the back of the car so I could pedal back—so that I could see a bit more of the art fair on its last day. However, the crowds soon felt like more than I wanted to navigate, so I headed a few blocks north to enjoy another lunch at the all-vegan Vedge cafe (not to be confused with the non-affiliated vegan restaurant of the same name in Philadelphia) where I enjoyed a delicious BLTA and some potato salad.
Then I biked over to the arboretum, where I met up with a local fellow I met on Bumble, and we ambled through the shady paths for an hour or two. The trees were towering and beautiful.
After we said goodbye, I pedaled back downtown to grab some dinner at the co-op and a treat at the local Cinnaholic. (It had been a long time since I’d visited a city with a Cinnaholic! Fort Worth, perhaps…? The one in Cary, NC was sadly closed when I visited.)
The way back to Rod and Amy’s place was beautiful, especially in the waning light. It’s such a pleasure to be able to travel by bike, taking in all the natural beauty without any filter.
Tomorrow I will drag myself out of bed early to receive a woefully overdue professional massage, and then see what else might be in store for me on my last day in Ann Arbor!
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It was a bit hot and humid for my taste, but I guess that’s true for most of the continental US right now.
I slept later than I had intended, but it felt good to catch up on some much-needed rest.
After an oatmeal breakfast with local maple syrup and fresh strawberries, I headed out to the nearby town of Ypsilanti, mostly because my hosts had told me there was a nice bike path to get there, as well as a co-op in that town. (Those are two of my magic words!)
I found it to be indeed a pleasant bike path, mostly along the river.
I enjoyed a nice lunch, al fresco, from the co-op deli.
Then I turned right back around, to go to the Ann Arbor art fair. I wanted to see the PCAP event at 3:30, where formerly incarcerated people read aloud their poetry and prose, and sometimes also creative writings from other people who are currently incarcerated. There were about seven or eight performers, and I enjoyed all of them.
After that, I found a lush nearby park, and relaxed on a bench for a while.
I took the opportunity to call my mother, whose 80th birthday was today! I felt glad to be able to connect with her, despite our physical distance.
Then I made my way south of town—on the way back to my hosts’ place—to REI, to buy some new socks. I have been wearing my favorite brand and style of socks (Endura Coolmax, which for years I had to order from England) for well over a decade now. My thick toenails have kept poking holes in them, and I have darned these few pairs of socks for years, including these three or four pairs I have with me on this journey. I have been slowly coming to terms with the fact that they are becoming threadbare enough that I really should probably replace them. Sadly, though, that particular style is no longer available. I have been putting off buying new ones, because I am not confident that any other product can live up to these.
But at some point, we have to just take action. So I walked into REI at 8 pm—still light out!—and encountered a dizzying array of socks. I asked an employee for help, but then I ended up doing most of the talking, eventually talking myself into a new pair, with only a small amount of input from her.
These new ones look almost the same as my existing ones, and they are made from recycled plastic, so I feel good about that. (Wool is off the table for me as a vegan, and cotton is not practical since it can get wet and feel cold and miserable.) I will test them out soon, maybe tomorrow. If I like them, I should be able to easily get more, since there are REI stores in most major US cities.
I returned to my hosts’ place just after dark, in time to chat a bit before they turned in. I’ll turn in soon, too, and then tomorrow I’ll head north a bit, to my new hosts’ place. If the weather is good, I hope to also check out the arboretum.
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After one full day of mostly walking around Buffalo looking for WiFi so that I could find hosting in Ann Arbor (and publish my previous blog post), my Warmshowers host Tyler was kind enough to drive me the eight miles to the train station in Depew for my “midnight train” (12:39 am) to Chicago.
While I was in the park in the late afternoon publishing that last post, I took a picture of the very striking armory building with the sun hiding behind it. There were many beautiful buildings in Buffalo, and I’m glad I got to see a few of them.
I arrived at the train station with my familiar anxiety about my ability to talk my way onto the train with all my stuff. What if they refused me? What on earth could be my backup plan, at midnight, if I were told I could not board that train that needed to take me all the way to Chicago?
But what I’m finding on this journey is that there seems to be an odd, inverse relationship between how much trouble station agents and conductors give me about whether I’ll be able to board, and how difficult it actually is to board.
When I’m sitting in a station and an agent approaches me disapprovingly, saying something like, “You’re not taking all that on the train,” I find that after I go through a careful song and dance (persistent, but never crossing the line into rudeness or entitlement) I find that when I actually board that train, it is easy-peasy, and I always kind of roll my eyes at the overprotectiveness of those staff.
Conversely, when I get to a station where it seems like it might actually be rather tricky to board, I find that often no one bats an eye. Multiple staff members look right at the rig, and say nothing. They don’t even look concerned. And yet when I then actually try to board, sometimes it is a nightmare.
Such was the case in Buffalo. I even approached the staffer at the desk to ask him how I should prepare my items for boarding. (I knew that both Depew and Chicago Union Station would require loading and unloading things up and down that steep narrow staircase I’ve come to know so well… and this time I had a sleeper car, which on a single-level train requires maneuvering around multiple tight corners.) He said they would not check my things onto the baggage car because Chicago was not my final destination, and to just carry everything on. He appeared supremely relaxed.
On the platform, I passed a conductor, who glanced at the rig and seemed similarly unconcerned. I asked him which way the sleeper cars were, and he pointed me toward them.
Once I did reach the sleeper car, the car attendant did show a bit of alarm when I said I would need a bit of time to load everything. She said she didn’t know where I could put all those things. I said, “Isn’t there a baggage rack, or area?” She said no.
Then I started to feel some alarm. Where was I going to put all of this stuff?
She said I would have to put it into my roomette, “and it is tiny.”
Oh, I knew it was tiny. I couldn’t imagine any way I could possibly squeeze all my stuff in there. Furthermore, to get to it, I would have to turn three sharp, narrow corners, and walk down two extremely narrow corridors.
Yikes.
But at least I was on the train. She closed the door. One way or another, we were all going to Chicago.
As I started to pick up the first item to try to squeeze down the hallway—without waking up the “neighbors”—that attendant did something for which I immediately felt eternally grateful. She opened up a door right before the first turn, right in front of us. She said it was the conductors’ room, but that I could squeeze the bike and trailer up against the wall in there.
Hallelujah!! Thank you!! (I was so glad I had made a point of going back into the co-op earlier that day to make sure I had the right cash on hand to leave a good tip for her.)
I put those bulky items in there, as snugly as I could against the wall, and then proceeded down the hall to my roomette with just my two backpacks. Totally manageable.
She had already made up my bed, so I quickly climbed into it, and let the rolling of the rails rock me to sleep.
The next morning, I awakened in Indiana, and we passed some pretty scenery in the next few hours before arriving in Chicago.
My layover there was only a couple of hours. I went to the first-class lounge, using a coupon my wonderful Charlotte host Pam had gifted me. (My first-class privileges from the trip I had just taken expired when I stepped off the train, I believe, and my connecting train to Ann Arbor was a coach seat.)
I used the coupon to stash the trailer in their parcel check, so that I wouldn’t have to lug it around while out finding lunch.
My Happycow app showed me that one of my favorite vegan spots I had discovered in New York, Plant Junkie, also had a location in The Loop! It was only about a ten-minute bike ride, and I got the Sri Lankan bowl again, which was every bit as delicious as I had recalled.
I got back to the station just in time to board a new-to-me train, the Wolverine, from Chicago to Ann Arbor. The scenery was pretty along that way, too.
One thing that did take me aback, when I went to the café car to enjoy my signature Amtrak cocktail, was that only three tables remained in the modified café car. One half of the car had been made into a small business-class section, and the other half was split between tables and bike racks.
I was glad to see that there was space for people with non-folding bikes to take them on board, but I was dismayed that rather than putting them in a baggage car or other designated bike car, like some Amtrak trains and several commuter-rail lines around the country do, they were taking up space that could otherwise have provided passengers on this completely booked train to relax and socialize with others. Given that the pandemic is still going strong, that is probably for the best these days, public-health-wise. But I would like to see a full bike car, as well as a full café car, in the future. I don’t know if I will.
We pulled into Ann Arbor at about 8:00 pm. I had dozed a bit on the train. When I got off, and began the slow process of reconfiguring my rig, I was surprised when the station attendant asked me to move several yards away, behind the yellow line, because the train platform was going to recede!
Sure enough, I moved away, and when the train pulled away, the platform pulled itself back from where it had been. I’m not sure what purpose that serves, but I’m sure there is one, and I was kind of delighted by the ingenuity.
My first Ann Arbor Warmshowers hosts, Gaia and Beth, lived just a few blocks away from the station, so it was easy to get to their house. Gaia had set aside a handmade burrito for me—he had made them for the residents of his adjoining community house—but I was full from snacking, so I saved it until breakfast.
This morning, I went out to the huge annual art fair that happened to be starting today. It will span at least three days, and draw tens of thousands of visitors to Ann Arbor. It takes over the whole downtown.
I met up there with a Servas couple who live in a suburb about 15 miles out of town. They had declined to host me since they had just returned to town from a trip to Texas, and will be leaving on another trip in the next few days, but they indicated that we could meet at the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) booth to see a powerful art exhibition of prisoners from the UK, called We Bear.
We did meet up there, and talked about our various experiences working on prison issues and prison reform over the years, while we snaked around block after block of artists and their wares. The fair was very cool, but overwhelming: we walked for well over an hour, and didn’t even cover half of the artists’ booths.
After we parted ways, I wanted to go to the Brompton-certified bike shop in town—the only one in the whole state of Michigan, from what I could see—Sic Transit Cycles. I wanted to have a mechanic take a look at the bike and see if there was anything that needed fixing or adjusting, especially the left-hand shifter that had given me trouble after the big rainstorm the other day.
The mechanic was cheerful and available to immediately put the bike up on the stand to take a look. His diagnosis? I just needed to lube the chain. This was a bit embarrassing, but a big relief. He did it for me, and also tweaked the rear shifter/internal hub a bit, since he said he noticed it was a bit off. Otherwise, he gave the bike a clean bill of health. The cost was $10, and it was well worth it for my peace of mind. I may be doing my first 50-mile day in a few days, from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids, so it’s good to know the bike is in good shape.
After that I stopped at the local co-op and picked up a few items.
Then I went back to the house, said goodbye to Beth, and packed up to head a few miles south to my new hosts, Emma and Benny. They welcomed me with a homecooked meal of tofu and sautéed veggies (and even some vegan Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food!) and we talked about bikes and travel.
Tomorrow I may check out the neighboring town of Ypsilanti; we’ll see how my energy holds up!
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Want to support my vision financially? I am in the process of manifesting $50,000 in lieu of a “salary” for the year of this journey. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons and supporters!)
Wow. Yesterday was quite a day. It was capped by discovering that my Warmshowers host’s place doesn’t have WiFi, so even getting this post out is quite a challenge; I hope I can do it before the library closes in a couple of hours. (His place, while incredibly charming inside and out as an apartment inside a huge old historic home, also has no air conditioning, and is up three flights of stairs. Oof.)
The day started when I checked out of my Niagara Falls hotel in a light drizzle. I knew I had twenty miles to bike during the day, and rain was forecast for much of the day. I hoped to avoid it as best I could. One factor I had on my side was time: I had to check out of the hotel at 11, and my host wouldn’t be ready to meet me until about 4:30. So I figured maybe I could find a covered area at a park along the way to wait out the rain if need be.
I was also planning to stop about halfway to Buffalo, in the little town of North Tonawanda, to visit a vegan grocery store (quite surprising to find in such a small town) and vegan coffee shop, as well as a carousel museum(!)
I was looking forward to a fun day.
After maybe 30 or 40 minutes of riding, mostly in light mist, I did find a park with an area of covered tables and benches. The shelter had a nice view of the river. I decided to rest there for a while until the rain let up. (My phone’s weather app kept changing its mind as to when that might be, and for how long.)
I enjoyed the downtime. I took the opportunity to do some dreaming into next year, brainstorming a few specifics to help my dream seem more concrete. (For example, what if I aim to fund 10-12 godfundees at $40-50K each? Would that mean 10-12 godfunders, too? Or might there be some overlap? Maybe 6-10 godfunders…? It felt good to start playing with numbers.)
I even pulled out my laptop and wrote down some of it. I also sat and thought deeply about my dream, and my fears about it, and some self-doubts. The thoughts turned emotional, and I started to cry about some of my fears and concerns. I have hardly cried at all this year, which seems a bit odd considering how challenging, and sometimes stressful, my travels have been.
In that moment, I let myself feel gratitude for the deserted, private natural place for me to just feel everything, let some tears fall, and not need to rush.
By the time I set out from that shelter, I had gone through a range of emotions and thoughts, and had written some things down and come up with some plans.
I felt refreshed and energized, and ready to brave the mist until the next shelter.
That shelter was another pretty one, and also private, and sure enough, the rain was coming down a little harder once I reached it. I was a little bit “thinked out,” so I just kind of sat quietly and wished the rain would let up.
Finally it did, and the sun started to come out. I was close to North Tonawanda by then, so I looked forward to my destinations.
The Vegan Grocery Store was incredible! It seemed such an odd sight in this small town with conservative political lawn signs, but the young woman inside was very friendly, saying that she and her husband had opened the shop because they had both grown up in town there, and were raising their child there now.
The shop was chock-full of all kinds of wonderful things, including some sweets imported from England! I stocked up on treats.
Sadly, as I left, I discovered that the carousel museum was set to close in only fifteen minutes! I rushed over there, with just ten minutes to spare. The woman in the gift shop kindly said she would not charge me admission, but she also made a point to mention that she could not therefore give me a token to ride the carousel. I understood, and instead enjoyed just a very brief glance around the museum. I do hope I can return sometime to get the full guided tour; the museum (which used to be a carousel factory!) seemed extensive, and I caught the tail end of the guided tour, which sounded very informative.
Then I went over to the vegan coffee shop, Little Black Heart, where I snagged the last brownie in the case, and the barista even gave me a discount since it was the last one! It weighed more than any brownie I’ve ever held, and induced quite the sugar coma later that evening when I savored it.
It was then time to press on south to Buffalo.
The bike path along the river was breathtaking. The light play in the sky was incredible, with sun breaks peeking out from behind the big puffy white clouds, and sometimes curtains of gray.
Unfortunately, however, those curtains of gray soon caught up with me, despite my weather app’s assurances that no more rain was to come that day.
It poured.
I mean, it poured.
First I took shelter under a tree, for about 15 minutes. It provided a surprising amount of protection from the rain, but certainly not 100%. I knew that time was marching on. After having messaged my host that I would arrive about 5:00, he had reminded me that he would be leaving for a community bike ride at 5:30. He had invited me to join him, but after the day of cycling, and starting to feel rather damp, I was thinking I would sit it out.
While I waited under the tree, I was very aware that time was ticking.
I decided to press on, even though the rain hadn’t stopped yet. It was no longer pelting, and I could see the curtain of gray slowly moving forward. I was willing to gamble that it was almost over.
I pedaled out from under the tree, into a long stretch with no shelter.
That’s when the sky really opened up.
I was pounded by huge raindrops. They were getting behind my glasses and stinging my eyes. My rain gear proved a weak match for nature’s force. Gahhh! These were not my preferred cycling conditions.
I finally reached a freeway overpass, and some blessed shelter. As I stood there and tried to use my phone—with no effect because the rain wouldn’t let the touchscreen sense my fingertips—I noticed another bedraggled cyclist. I struck up a conversation: turns out he was cycling straight across the US, from San Diego to Maine, over the course of two and a half months. That is hardcore!! I was very impressed. He said he lives in Denver, and we talked about my hope to bicycle around Denver and Boulder at some point. I wondered if I should try to make that happen in October. (Would it already be too cold for my taste by then? I bet the aspens would be spectacular…)
When the rain finally let up again, we went our separate ways. It was already 5:30, and my host called me to work out what we would do. I was thoroughly drenched; there was no way I was going to join the ride. He agreed to give me the code to his place so I could let myself in after he left, since he wouldn’t be returning until after 9:00. I was very grateful.
A passerby stopped me as soon as I got off the phone, to enthusiastically endorse my bike-and-trailer combo: “You got it, girlfriend!! I want to do that too!!”
I smiled, although my squishy shoes were reminding me of that miserable day when I rode for hours in a soaking rain from Ventura to Moorpark, California, back in December.
As I pushed off to finish the last four miles, I soon found that I was now also having mechanical trouble: my left-hand shifter didn’t let me shift into the low/default gear. I had to use the higher gear. I could somewhat compensate by using the right-hand (internal-hub) shifter, but my heart sank with yet one more new obstacle. Was there a Brompton dealer in Buffalo? I didn’t think so. (I later confirmed: no.) Probably another bike shop could handle it, though… but this was a lot to deal with after a very complex day, when I was still drenched.
I continued forward. At least the rain had finally stopped.
When I arrived at the house, I was thoroughly impressed with its appearance. In fact, I noticed many such huge, amazing Victorian houses in the neighborhood.
It was a challenge to carry everything—wet—up to the attic turret. It took at least four trips up the three flights of winding stairs.
But I made it, and I relaxed as best I could.
I got a phone call from a friend, and after a few hours, my host and his girlfriend returned from their ride. (They had entirely avoided the rain!)
It turns out that my host works for Reddy, the Buffalo bike-sharing company! What a small world, after my visit with Kevin McLaughlin of Zygg the other day in Toronto.
Today I had a few more obstacles, including plumbing issues and a maddening series of challenges finding Wifi. I finally found it here at the second library branch I tried; the first was closed on Tuesdays.
Meanwhile, I plan to board the train after midnight tonight for an overnight trip to Chicago, immediately followed by an afternoon train to Ann Arbor.
With all my internet challenges, I haven’t found a host in Ann Arbor yet. I’m doing my best to trust life, and to relax and appreciate each moment, rather than freaking out or getting cranky, though I admit I have not been entirely successful in that goal.
Life does keep offering me magic, though… yesterday after my crying jag and dreaming/planning session, I checked my phone to find that a new friend had just sent me a generous donation, “for a hotel or scrumptious vegan snacks.”
Wow.
People are amazing. We are all in this together, aren’t we?
(Oh, one more edit: I just now see that I did get a Warmshowers hosting offer in Ann Arbor! The magic happens when it happens. I just need to trust it.)
Thanks again to all of you for following me, and joining me, on my journey.
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Want to support my vision financially? I am in the process of manifesting $50,000 in lieu of a “salary” for the year of this journey. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons and supporters!)
