Hello from Lake Nona, Orlando! This is primarily a week of rest for me, with not much nature nearby, and infrastructure not conducive to cycling nor transit. So I am going to use this time to catch you up on the rest of the incredible natural beauty I experienced in Sarasota.
My cat sit was situated near a lovely little local nature park called Red Bug Slough Preserve. I spent several peaceful visits sitting on benches under trees or next to the water there. On the final such visit, I met a really cool woman named Barb (Barb, I hope you’re reading this!) and we chatted about life and travels for quite some time.
The place was also just about a five-minute bike ride away from the Legacy Trail, the 20-mile (32 km) paved car-free path that runs from downtown Sarasota in the north to the Historic Venice Train Depot in the south. I made ample use of this trail in both directions, covering every mile at least once. Once I even saw a tortoise next to the trail!
On two occasions, I visited Oscar Scherer State Park, right along the trail to the south of town, and soaked up some classic Florida nature scenes.
Another day, I met up with a local woman who took me to Myakka River State Park, east of town. We saw some egrets and gators, and even got to walk a suspension bridge and climb a lookout tower—necessary in that flat area if you want to see any sort of view!
Toward the end of my stay, I took the Legacy Trail all the way to its origin point at the Historic Venice Train Depot. After that, another car free path continued a few more miles south to another nature park. Then on the way back, I biked through Venice, Florida, and enjoyed the pretty car-free path through the park blocks along Venice Blvd, some of which contained beautiful banyan trees.
On another of my last days, another local woman—a Servas day host, Dori—took me out to the beach at Siesta Key. Considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the country, its sand was white and silky, and it never gets too hot because it is made of quartz. I enjoyed watching the sun descend in the sky over 70-degree (21 C) temperatures.
My journey here to Orlando from Sarasota was a long one. First, I bicycled about an hour to the gas station that serves as an Amtrak bus stop. (Along the way, I passed a beautiful cloud reflection on a small creek. Florida is chock-full of waterways!)
Then I took that bus for more than two hours, through St. Petersburg, to Tampa. At the Amtrak station, I waited an hour, then boarded the train to Orlando. After about an hour and a half on the train, my cat-sitting hosts picked me up and drove me the remaining half hour to their home here in Lake Nona, southeast of the airport.
I was rewarded with the affections of this beautiful, snuggly kitty named Lucy.
In the next post, I’ll cover my brief time here in Lake Nona, and share my ever-evolving itinerary for the rest of my winter travels here in Florida.
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Well… our nation continues its descent into hell, with our government wreaking unspeakable havoc both domestically and internationally. It is hard to even find words to write about it at this point, but in the midst of my fun travelogues, I want to at least briefly acknowledge this deeply dark point in history. When I was learning about civics in high school in the 1980s, I could never have imagined the things that are unfolding in the White House and Congress today. I am hoping that this new year will bring some transformative changes politically and socially/culturally. I am holding a vision that we will collectively reach some sort of tipping point, where we soundly denounce racism, xenophobia, warmongering, sexism, homo- and transphobia, Islamophobia, antisemitism, destruction of the earth, and the wanton and crass dismantling of the many institutions, public and private, that have provided economic, social, and cultural support to millions of people, domestically and abroad. (I am probably forgetting some things in this list—there are too many to enumerate, but I trust you get my intent.) I am holding a vision that we are on the cusp of a new chapter of humanity, where people respect and care for each other, for animals, and for the earth and its ecosystems.
May it be so.
With that… here is another chapter in my travelogue, with some pretty pics to share of Sarasota so far.
I’ve been here for about three weeks, and I have just a few more days before I take a bike/bus/train/carpool combo to reach my next weeklong cat sitting destination in the Lake Nona area of Orlando.
I’ve got too many photos of beautiful places here in the Sarasota area to share in one post, so I’ll add another soon.
I always make a point to try to connect with locals wherever I stay, using a variety of methods. In this case, I have met up with at least five different local folks to see various sights.
One of these people, a woman named Judy whom I met in the local vegan Facebook group, took me to two beautiful destinations, which I’ll share here: the Marie Selby Botanical Garden and the Ringling Museum and Beach House. I have been loving all the banyan trees in this area—so magical!
And, of course, the reason for my stay here is the care of these two sweet kitties, the elder statesman Cat King Cole and his young compatriot Pinecone.
More Sarasota beauty to come soon.
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Hello, and happy end-of-year! We are in the thick of the holiday season, and about to turn a new year. May it bring healing, transformation, and joy to this world.
I’m a little late in making this follow-up post about my time at the monkey sanctuary, Jungle Friends. It was a unique and powerful experience for me, and I have been nervous that my writing wouldn’t be able to encapsulate it well enough. Perhaps that is true, but I definitely want to share some of my experiences, so here goes:
When we left off, I had spent a couple of days caring for the “munchkins”—the smallest monkeys at the sanctuary, marmosets and tamarins.
The munchkins are susceptible to “cross-contamination” by contact with the other monkeys (and also by any clothing contact with cats, so I had to do a load of laundry before I could work with them.) So, as a volunteer, you always get started with the munchkins, and then you move on to the larger monkeys: squirrel, spider, and capuchin.
After my three days with the munchkins, I began working with the squirrel monkeys. I requested to work with them first, because the cuteness of the shape and size of their heads and faces and bodies was almost too much for me to bear! In my life, whenever I have ever thought of the word “monkey,” it has been the image of a squirrel monkey that has come to mind.
There are 33 of them at Jungle Friends, housed in two buildings. All monkeys at the sanctuary have an indoor cage (usually shared with one other monkey) as well as an attached/enclosed outdoor habitat. I loved simply walking around the squirrel monkey houses and overhead walkways, marveling at their cuteness.
Daily work during my four-hour morning shift (7-11 am, eek!) usually consisted of first helping to prepare the “diets” (food bowls), then distributing them, and then cleaning the indoor areas. For the smaller monkeys—munchkins and squirrels—we could clean the indoor areas with the monkeys present in their cages. This is often necessary, in fact, because those smaller monkeys must be kept inside their heated habitats when the outdoor temperature dips below 50F/10C (for the squirrels) or 60F/15C (for the munchkins.) Most of these small monkeys are pretty chill, and except for one notorious character—a marmoset named Jolene—they do not attempt to pull your hair or harm you in any way. (When cleaning around Jolene’s cage, though, you’d better keep your distance, ducking if necessary!)
For the larger monkeys—the capuchins and spider monkeys—they must be locked out of their indoor areas before we can clean those. Otherwise, we would definitely risk having chunks of our hair pulled out, scratches on our hands, etc. (There are still exceptions if the outside temperature gets extra low, near freezing—I assume that in these cases, the seasoned pros do their best to clean while remaining intact.)
The daily cleaning involves making sure water bottles are clean and refilled; changing the newspaper from beneath each cage (surprisingly, the small squirrel monkeys are by far the messiest in this regard); and sweeping, then mopping, the floors.
I did most of this work while accompanied by staff members. I got to work with a number of different staff during my stay, which was cool. I have the utmost respect for these folks! They work from 7 am to 4 pm, five days a week. (And some of them commute from as much as an hour away!) Since the sanctuary is a nonprofit, pay is unfortunately not high, and the work can be messy and tiring… and a bit dangerous at times, if some of the monkeys are feeling feisty. (You always have to maintain a 3-foot buffer zone, but this can be tricky when distributing or retrieving food bowls, especially when some cages and overhead runways are close to each other.)
All the staff I met were extremely dedicated and hardworking, and you could tell how much they cared about the monkeys.
The food prep was really interesting to me. I was shocked by how healthy and varied the monkeys’ diets are! They each (177 monkeys) receive a bowl with eight to ten different items, once or twice a day, as well as a “biscuit bowl” with fun snacks like popcorn and monkey biscuits. The fresh foods rotate, so they don’t get the same things every day. (They do always get grapes, though! I was surprised to observe that grapes seem to be the favorite food of almost all the monkeys. Most times when I provided a bowl and watched a monkey start to eat, the first thing they would do is dig around in the bowl and find the grape—or in the munchkins’ case, the ¼ of a grape that staff had cut up for them!—and eat it first.) They get fruit salad, raw vegetable salad, cooked sweet potatoes, canned “monkey chow,” oatmeal, mandarin orange segments, corn, squash… lots of variety!
I was also impressed by how much time and effort goes into taking care of the monkeys’ various health and dietary issues. As rescued animals, many of them do have health issues. For example, I would estimate that about 10-15% of them are diabetic. For those monkeys, the fruit in their color-coded bowls is limited, and some also take insulin. This often has happened because the people who kept them as pets fed them lots of marshmallows or gummy bears. Many other monkeys have few or no teeth—again, often because they had bitten their previous captors, who then had had at least their canine teeth extracted, and sometimes all of their teeth. Their foods are softer. Other monkeys are allergic to citrus, so their color-coded bowls don’t contain oranges or limes.
First thing in the morning, staff work together to make all the food bowls, and then they split up into different golf carts to go to different parts of the compound to feed the different kinds of monkeys. Before the food bowls are distributed, the staff administer medication to the monkeys who need it. They usually put the meds on various kinds of treats, such as a banana slice or a piece of cereal such as Chex. They have to watch and make sure each monkey finishes the medicated treat before feeding begins.
For most of my time there, my interactions with the monkeys were brief, as I fed them or cleaned near them. But there were a few with whom I got to interact a bit more, and three capuchins in particular captured my heart.
One was Skotty, one of three capuchins who shared the large habitat right outside the Healing Center—the guest house where I was staying.
I would walk out in the morning and say hello to Skotty, and sometimes his habitat-mate Harriet.
(Kooda was more reclusive, less often seen.) Skotty’s history was a painful one. He is two years old now, and arrived at Jungle Friends at only six months. Tragically, his system was full of methamphetamine and caffeine when he arrived. Staff were unable to even hand him to the “foster mom” capuchins—Monkers and Zumie—because although they would have been willing to help raise him as their own, he was physically unable to cling to their backs because of the drugs in his system.
As a result, human staff members took 8-hour shifts with him to provide round-the-clock care, bottle-feeding him and caring for him as needed.
He is now thriving. He allowed me to hold his hand several times. I loved saying hello to him each time I left or returned to the house.
The other two monkeys I felt a bond with were those “foster mom” capuchins, Monkers and Zumie. They are sisters, but one had served as a foster mother to the other during their early years. Now they are habitat-mates, and when new baby monkeys arrive at the sanctuary, they help to raise them.
I didn’t see any babies (nor any other new monkeys) arrive during my time there, but Monkers and Zumie love humans, too. I had been told that when a monkey feels close or warm toward you, they might show it via two forms of body language: moving their lips in a sort of kiss-like motion, and/or putting a hand over their heart. I was also told that I could do one or both of these things back, or even to try to initiate a connection. (This reminded me of the “slow-blink” interaction one can have with a cat.)
Sure enough, both Monkers and Zumie were happy to engage with me in these ways, virtually every time I passed their habitat. I remember one time when one of them was doing the “kissing,” and the other placed her hand over her heart while tilting her head left and then right to maintain eye contact with me. I was so touched, and placed my hand over my heart too. At that point, she placed her other hand over her heart as well! My own heart nearly burst at this.
Another thing those two would do—as would some of the much larger spider monkeys—was offer their prehensile tail outside the fencing. You could place your finger near the tip of their tail, and they would hold onto it.
This could be simply a sweet sign of affection, but sometimes it could also be a trap: the spider monkeys, in particular, could use their very strong tail to pull you in, and then reach out a hand and grab your glasses, jewelry, phone, or anything else they could reach. Monkeys love to take things! Fortunately, my experiences with their tails seemed to be only friendly. Here is Gizmo, a spider monkey:
I need to mention one more monkey by name, because he is a legend! Nearly every person I talked to who was aware of Jungle Friends, upon hearing that I was working there, said, “Have you met Udi yet??” Udi is a spider monkey with an outsized personality. One staffer, Julia, described his schtick to me as “hazing”—he would always haze new people he met by grabbing or scratching them in some way. This might happen a few times, or maybe for a week or so… and then he would decide they were friends, and he wouldn’t do it anymore.
Sure enough, the first (and only!) time I was instructed to give Udi (and his two “girlfriends,” Goldie and Lizzy, who share his habitat) his food bowl, he reached out and scratched my hand. It was a relatively superficial scratch, but about two weeks later now, the scab is still healing. I kept my distance from Udi after that, but he has a strange charm: despite these behaviors, he seemed to be the favorite monkey of nearly anyone who had met him.
And here is Goldie! She first walked out towards me with the blanket on her back, then tucked it under herself to cushion the cage bars:
I met some wonderful, magical people during my time at Jungle Friends, too, including staff, volunteers, and also some local Gainesville folks I met through the Gainesville Vegans Facebook group. I met up with four locals—two of whom, a couple, had worked and/or volunteered at Jungle Friends before, and asked after Udi. These various folks took me to a number of beautiful nature parks nearby. I don’t want to overwhelm this post with pictures; maybe I can post some of the nature ones later. But the Gainesville area is home to nature parks too numerous for me to visit all of them. I really hope I can return and see more of them!
Kari, the founder of the sanctuary, was wonderfully warm and welcoming to me, and we shared several meals together. Sara, a longtime staffer who has been involved almost since the beginning, gave me a tour when I arrived, and helped me out several times during my stay, loaning me a pair of work boots when the grounds got muddy from rain and helping to get the heat repaired in the house when it went out.
I met some amazing fellow traveling volunteers—Colleen, Jim, and Drea. They were all snowbirds, and had volunteered at the sanctuary before. Unlike me, they did specialized work, including reiki and socialization work with the monkeys. Drea and I had some “magical meeting” talks when we shared the house, and I’m looking forward to more! I also had some “magical meeting” talks with a friend of a friend named Tia, who had actually been visiting Oregon when I first arrived in Gainesville! Tia took me out to the Sweetwater Preserve one evening, where we saw many birds, an alligator, some turtles, and even an armadillo! She then very graciously gave me a ride to the bus stop in town on my last day, saving me a long and not entirely safe bike ride. (In fact, I arrived at the sanctuary my first day in Jim’s truck! After I had biked about eight of the ten miles out there, he spotted me on the side of the road with my rig, and surmised that I must be the volunteer who was due to arrive that day!)
All in all, it was an amazing time at the sanctuary, and I’m so grateful to all the humans and monkeys who made it so.
If you know of anyone looking for a wonderful volunteer vacation, please keep Jungle Friends in mind. They are always welcoming volunteers, for any duration of stay. All vegan food and housing is provided, in exchange for 20 hours per week of work. They even have RV parking available; some people, like Colleen and Jim, park their RVs on site and live there while volunteering.
You can also follow Jungle Friends on various social media sites; they post frequent updates and cute videos.
Now I’m in Sarasota, absolutely loving the perfect weather here! My cat sit here is for three and a half weeks, and then I’ll head to Orlando. I’ll write a post soon about my time here.
Happy new year! I wish the best for all of you in the coming year.
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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a free, no-strings one-hour phone or video call with me!
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Hello from Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary! This place, just north of Gainesville, provides a permanent home to (at present) 177 monkeys, including capuchins, marmosets, tamarins, squirrel monkeys, and spider monkeys. These monkeys have been surrendered from people who used to keep them as pets; surrendered from animal-testing labs; and confiscated from people who had kept them as pets while engaging in various illegal activities that eventually got them arrested. The monkeys then live out the rest of their days here, with 18 staff members and rotating volunteers helping them to have the best possible quality of life.
I arrived here a few days ago, and plan to stay about another week, before I head south to Sarasota for my next cat sit.
I am volunteering four hours per day, in exchange for room and (all vegan!) board. So far, on my two work days, I have been helping with the “munchkins”: the tamarins and marmosets, who are the smallest residents here. I will plan to take more photos of the other monkeys for my next post, but for now, enjoy these few munchkins (and one capuchin, a larger species who lives outside my door here in the guest house.)
My duties so far have included preparing monkey meals, which are incredibly varied! Their food bowls are slightly different each day, and include fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, canned monkey food, and “monkey biscuits.” Each day the bowls have contained at least eight different foods, including mixed fruit and veggie salads! The favorite food of all the monkeys I’ve seen is grapes. The munchkins receive ¼ of a grape in their breakfast bowls, and every single monkey I saw reached in and pulled out the sliver of grape to eat first.
I’ve also been helping with cleaning the cages and indoor enclosures. All monkeys here have access to both indoor and outdoor spaces. On cold days (which, surprisingly to me, do happen here in the Gainesville area—sometimes temps even dip below freezing) they have to be brought indoors for their own safety.
Last night it rained all night, and today it is raining all day (high of 63F/17C) so I’ve chosen this as a day off, and I’m staying inside.
In the past few days, though, when the weather was drier and a bit warmer, I was able to visit several nature parks. The Gainesville area is home to a surprisingly large number of nature parks, springs, etc.
The first one, Alfred A. Ring, I visited on my bike ride from my hotel to the sanctuary, and although it was a small park—mostly just a trail—it felt delightful to walk in the lush foliage.
Then yesterday afternoon, a local woman named Lora and her husband Mike—both of whom used to work or volunteer here, years ago—picked me up and took me to a couple other parks.
First we visited Poe Springs, which is a popular swimming hole in the summer. We were wearing sweaters, but we did see a couple of intrepid young people dunking themselves in the water anyway.
Next, we went to O’Leno State Park, where the drought has left the water level lower than Lora and Mike had ever seen. Just in the past week, an algae bloom had covered all the water in the creek. I know that is not healthy for the aquatic life, but it was very beautifully surreal to see.
Afterward, we all returned to Jungle Friends and met up with its founder, Kari, who shared vegan apple pie and ice cream with us as we all chatted, and the three of them got to catch up on the times they had spent together.
I’m looking forward to meeting many more of the monkeys in the coming week, and also visiting some more nature parks. (I keep hearing good things about Devil’s Millhopper Geological State Park, which consists primarily of a giant sinkhole.)
If you’d like to learn more about monkeys, or Jungle Friends specifically, take a look at their comprehensive website, which includes some great videos as well.
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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a free, no-strings one-hour phone or video call with me!
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I have just concluded my second-ever visit to Savannah. For years before I had ever visited, I had had a romantic idea of what the city would look and feel like. I couldn’t wait to experience it. When I finally did get to go for the first time, in spring of 2022, I was not disappointed. I spent several days soaking in the feel of all those amazing parks with their live oak and magnolia trees draped in Spanish moss. I was sad when it was time to leave.
So I was pretty excited to be able to visit again!
This time the weather was cooler, and my first and third/final day were overcast, a bit windy, and not too warm, with highs around 55F (13C). But the middle day hit the sweet spot, with a high of 71 degrees (22C) and sunny, balmy skies.
As before, I spent most of my time enjoying the many parks in town, primarily the large, central Forsyth Park, but also a number of the 16(!) smaller parks north of Forsyth and south of the tourist-popular river district. I hope these photos can provide a general sense of the feeling of being there, though I really don’t think they do the atmosphere full justice.
One day, I was out and about and saw on Google Maps a small park called “Neighborhood Cat Garden.” Wow!! Of course I hastened over to experience it. Sure enough, in what appeared to be someone’s front yard was a sort of plaza with a sign saying that the cats were adoptable, and asking for donations of cat food and money… and about a half dozen cats lounging and walking around the area. Most of them were quite friendly, coming up to rub against me.
A couple other passersby on their bikes saw me snuggling with the cats and pulled over themselves. It turns out they were also visiting town for just a few days, from their new home in Albany, New York… where they had recently moved after two years in downtown Portland! What a small world. The cats enjoyed them too.
Another day, I visited Bonaventure Cemetery, which was massive and very photogenic.
I stayed two of my four nights with Robert, my Warmshowers host from my first time in Savannah in 2022. He had moved to a new house, but it was fun to see him again, and I even attended a musical performance of his—he was on stage with about a dozen other local musicians for a benefit concert. As I pedaled up to the venue, I heard the strains of Take Me Home, Country Roads, by John Denver, which was delightful and poignant: that is the first song I ever remember being aware of by title and artist, at about age 3 or 4. (We lived near the Shenandoah River.)
Robert also helped me with an Amtrak snafu: They misplaced my baggage (my de-wheeled bike trailer with my suitcase in it with all my clothes) for about six hours, which—since those hours were 9:30 pm to 3:30 am—resulted in my being without those things for about 24 hours. This cascaded into my also needing to take a Lyft to my hotel, then to Robert’s place in the morning, when I had intended to bike all of that distance. (The one silver lining? When we arrived that night around 9:30, the temperature was 39F/4C, so it was a relief to take a 10-minute car ride rather than a half-hour bike ride.) These Lyfts cost me more than $30, though, which I could ill afford.
The next day, I spent an hour and a half(!!) on the phone with Amtrak customer service, trying to get a reiumbursement plus some sort of voucher for the inconvenience. Eventually, the agent agreed to issue me a $40 voucher. I was certainly underwhelmed by this, but still grateful to have the Lyft cost covered, and more importantly, to have received everything back intact.
Robert—bless his heart—drove me in his truck after the concert (probably close to midnight) to pick it all up. I am so grateful to the Warmshowers community, and to all the kind people I encounter in my travels.
I was also happy to meet up socially with three different folks in my three days in town.
The first was Lisa, a woman I had met in 2022 during my travels in Durham, NC. She and her friend Tamara are fellow progressive rock fans, and at that time we all met up for a lovely dinner before they attended a Steve Hackett concert in Durham.
This time, I had hoped to meet up with them both in the Raleigh/Durham area, but my Thanksgiving visit with my aunt and uncle—sandwiched between my stops in Charleston and Savannah—ended up lasting only two full days, so there was no time for a get-together. But as it happened, Lisa and her mother (who lives in Mt. Pleasant, the Charleston suburb where I had just done a weeklong cat sit) were visiting Savannah for one day, to see the Christmas boats on the river.
I met up with them at their hotel, which happened to have a beautiful collection of enormous geodes on display in the lobby. Lisa’s mother snapped a photo of us in front of one of the largest ones.
Then I met a woman from the Savannah Vegans Facebook group. Monique and I took a nice walk in Forsyth Park, and she gave me some good tips on where to find tasty vegan pastries in town.
The following day, I met up with another local, Steve—a recent transplant from Asheville, NC—whom I had met in another Facebook group. We chatted over coffee and a walk, and then took a bike ride the following day on a nice 3-mile car free bike path.
So, my time in Savannah was very full and rich. I even spent several hours on that warm day just sitting by myself in the benches in several of those beautiful parks, simply savoring the experience of the place.
Now I’m in Gainesville, Florida—my first time! I arrived this afternoon by bus from Orlando, where I had taken the train from Savannah yesterday. Tomorrow I begin my week (or possibly a bit more) of volunteering at Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary, home to 200 monkeys! I suspect I am in for a unique adventure.
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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a free, no-strings one-hour phone or video call with me!
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Want to support my vision financially? I am in a continual process of manifesting $50,000 per year in lieu of a “salary” for the unconventional work I do in the world. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons, contributors, and godfunders!)
As promised, here are the photos from the amazing excursion my Servas host Stacy and her daughter took me on the other day, to a state historic park called Charles Towne Landing. The Lowcountry botanical aesthetic was on full display, with live oaks and Spanish moss in abundance, among other wonders. I had been looking forward to experiencing these sorts of views in this area, and this park did not disappoint. What did surprise and delight me, though, was how autumnal some of the trees were. The reflections in the pond were like nothing I had seen; it felt like entering another world.
We strolled the park from mid-afternoon until the light began to fade, and the views kept pace. What a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Meanwhile, I thoroughly enjoyed my two-night stay with Stacy (pictured in the tree above.) She has been a Servas traveler and host for decades, and has traveled extensively in Europe—especially France—and other places around the globe. She is a French and Montessori teacher, but perhaps the most amazing thing about her life at the moment is that she shares her home with eleven cats(!!) This all happened in the course of the past year, when her three rescue cats were joined by two more… both of whom turned out to be pregnant with three kittens each.
We had actually discussed the possibility of my staying to sit for the cats over the holiday weekend after my Servas visit, so that Stacy could take a well-earned vacation after painstakingly nurturing these six young cats since their kittenhoods, six and eight months ago. Unfortunately, although I found myself smitten by their adorableness, after witnessing just how challenging it is to care for all these cats (including an unexpected medical issue as well as navigating a recent coyote in the neighborhood) I regretfully declined. But here are a few photos, so that you can all experience the cuteness.
I’m writing this post from the small Selma, North Carolina train station, waiting to transfer from the Amtrak Palmetto train that brought me here from Charleston this morning to the Carolinian train to Cary, outside of Raleigh, where my aunt and uncle will receive me at the station to spend the holiday weekend with them.
Thank you all, as always, for following along on my adventures. It multiplies my enjoyment of traveling when I can share it with all of you.
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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a free, no-strings one-hour phone or video call with me!
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This is the first of two posts I will make about the Charleston area. This one will cover my first week in this area, which I spent mostly in the suburb of Mount Pleasant. The second will cover my amazing trip to a beautiful place called Charles Towne Landing. (And a lot of cats!) Right now, I’m in a hotel near the train station, preparing to embark in the morning for points north, visiting my aunt and uncle near Raleigh, North Carolina.
First things first.
I arrived from Washington, DC to the Amtrak station in North Charleston in the late evening of Friday, November 14th. I had a rather harrowing bike ride to my hotel in the dark, crossing a few freeways and major roads with very minimal bicycle infrastructure.
When I arrived at the hotel, though, it was much swankier than my usual fleabag-type cheapest-place-in-town motels. This was because I had found a good deal on Google Maps for the Crowne Plaza. When I rolled into the lobby, I felt woefully underdressed in my travel-ragamuffin attire and mile-worn rig. But the woman at the front desk—with her meticulously manicured nails and hair—was very friendly and welcoming, which I appreciated. I was excited when I arrived to my “fancy” room, and decided to continue the splurge by getting a cocktail at the hotel bar downstairs. I was also hoping to find some locals there to chat with.
Over my Frangelico on the rocks, I did find one very chatty woman, and she recommended that during my cat sit in Mount Pleasant I visit a local bar called Red’s Ice House, right on the canal near Shem Creek. She told me that around Happy Hour each day, you could often see dolphins! Never having seen a dolphin in my life, I filed away this information.
The next morning, I took my time to bicycle to Mount Pleasant, which would have taken about an hour if I had done it all in one stretch. I moseyed about some of the parks in North Charleston first, knowing I probably wouldn’t have another chance to do so during my stay.
At one such pretty place, called Riverside Park, imagine my surprise when a man walked by me and my rig, seeming to take in the Brompton, and sat down on the next bench. Soon after, as I started to put on my helmet to leave, he struck up a conversation, commenting on the bike… and that is when I found out that he is also a traveling pet sitter (mostly dogs) and had also recently taken the train across the country from Oregon(!!)
What are the odds? More travel magic. (Shoutout to Aaron, if you’re reading this!)
We exchanged contact info, and the following evening, we met up at Red’s to see if we could see any dolphins. Almost as soon as we sat down, I did see one for a brief splash, although unfortunately that was to be my only sighting. But there were also many pelicans, and we watched them skim majestically across the water as the sun began to set.
I had walked along the boardwalk across the canal at Shem Creek earlier that afternoon, when I had taken a few photos of the pelicans.
Jumping backwards in time, though, after I met Aaron in the park, I did pedal south to meet my soon-to-be Servas host, Stacy, in downtown Charleston. I got to chat with her and meet some of her 11 cats(!) and then just before sunset, I headed across the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, which is a very long span to bike across! The crossing took me about twenty minutes. Fortunately, it has a nice bike and pedestrian path on the south side, which reminded me of the one on the Golden Gate Bridge. And I was there just in time to get a nice shot of the sun going down.
Then I arrived at my cat sit, and met the two cuties who would keep me company for the next week, Marie and Sophie.
Despite their young ages (both roughly a year old) these two were very mature, and stayed both calm and snuggly for my whole time there. They were a delight. Sophie even slept right up near my head each night, and never awakened me before I woke up naturally.
One day during that sit, I trekked back across the bridge to check out downtown Charleston, which was very picturesque. I visited “Rainbow Row” and the French Quarter, including Waterfront Park.
There is a pineapple fountain in that park!
On my last day in Mount Pleasant, I biked down to the beach at Sullivan’s Island, passing some more classic Lowcountry scenery, including an extra beautiful dusk scene across the canal for one last time.
Next up: stunning scenery from my time with Stacy and her daughter at Charles Towne Landing.
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Hello from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina! I’m sitting for two cute kitties here in the Charleston area. Of course I’ll be posting about this soon, but now I need to catch up and share my time with my parents in the house where I grew up just outside of Waterford, Virginia.
I’ll mostly tell the story in pictures. I spent about a week and a half with great company, reminiscing about childhood memories, and once again marveling at how a beautiful fall season seems to have been following me across the country.
When I arrived at the homestead, most leaves had already fallen from the trees surrounding the house, but some beautiful ones remained. By the end of my stay, after several sunny but very windy days, those were gone too.
But one day, my mom and I took a walk for just about a mile, out to the edge of our field and into the neighboring lane, and we were stunned to encounter a full autumn wonderland!
We ran into some “new” neighbors, and had a nice conversation. We even found some hickory nuts(!) and snacked on them back home after finding heavy enough implements to crack the shells.
The sky clouded up on our walk back, which led to some beautiful views as a few raindrops started to fall.
It was great to see my folks—it had been two years since I had seen them in person, back on Vancouver Island. I’m hoping I can make it back again to Waterford in April, before I return to Portland for the season.
On our way out of town, I made my customary stop at the adorable post office from my childhood, right in the heart of the historic village of Waterford.
My parents dropped me off in the northern Virginia suburb of Reston, where I stayed a night with my Portland friend Michelle and her two adorable dogs, Gretta and Peanut. It was cool to catch up!
The next morning, I had a short but lovely bike ride to the Reston Metro station.
There I loaded my rig on a train to Washington, DC’s Union Station again. (Isn’t the DC subway cool-looking?)
Now I’m here in South Carolina, and it’s going to be 77 degrees today (25C)! I plan to bike across the bridge to check out Charleston proper. Pics in the next post!
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This will be a short post, mostly photos. I’m here in Virginia, about to wrap up a lovely week and a half with my parents. (Photos from this beautiful place in the next post!)
But for now, please enjoy these views from Chicago to Washington.
Here in the east, Amtrak switches from the beautiful double-decker Superliner trains of the west to the single-level Viewliners. This is because of old rail tunnels here in the east that cannot accommodate the height of the Superliners.
Understandable, but sad for me, because Viewliners lack the wonderful sightseer lounge car. They do have a lounge car, but seating is much more limited, making it much more difficult to strike up a conversation. The Viewliners also don’t have luggage racks in the sleeper accommodations, so for the first time ever (not sure how I avoided this in my year of travels, since I did take several Viewliners) I ended up having to scrunch my bike into my little roomette with me! Fortunately there was a strap to attach luggage to the wall, so I didn’t have to worry (too much) about it crashing over and falling onto me during the night. (I did check the trailer into the baggage car–no way that would have fit into the roomette!)
Lastly, some Viewliner cars—including this one—have a toilet and sink right in the roomette. This can be more convenient than traipsing down the hall for these amenities, but I don’t really like having that plumbing right next to my seat or bed.
One bright spot: I found the dining car on this train to be more “fancy” and cool than the more modern and streamlined ones on the Superliners. I enjoyed my evening meal and conversation in this dining car.
And I still got lots of lovely views from my seat in the roomette. We boarded in the evening in Chicago, and arrived in DC in the early afternoon.
I love the architecture both inside and out of the DC Union Station. I think it may be the most beautiful Amtrak station in the country.
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Want to support my vision financially? I am in a continual process of manifesting $50,000 per year in lieu of a “salary” for the unconventional work I do in the world. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons, contributors, and godfunders!)
Hello from Waterford, Virginia! I am here for about a week with my parents, looking forward to (very low-key) celebrating my birthday the day after tomorrow, on the 8th.
I’ll be sharing photos soon from the scenic train ride here from Chicago, and of course some photos of the homestead here, as well.
But I’m behind on documenting my travels, so today, I’m sharing the splendor of Warrenville, Illinois, about 30 miles (50 km) west of Chicago.
I had visited Warrenville once before, in 2022 during my year of travels. My Warrenville friend Gill had introduced me to her friend Terri, and Terri’s husband Jim, who graciously hosted me for nearly a week back then. This time I was on a bit of a deadline to head east, then south, trying to outrun the chilly fall weather in various regions. So I just stayed for three nights and two full days.
When I was here that first time—in summertime—I found myself enchanted by all the nature preserves surrounding this small city of 15,000. There are beautifully graded and maintained bike baths running through them all. I was doubly impressed when Terri told me that many of these nature preserves had previously been garbage dumps, in decades past. One would never guess it now.
This year, I arrived into town—and later, exited—by way of these paths. I landed in Naperville on the Amtrak Southwest Chief train from Galesburg in the afternoon, which was perfect timing to catch the sunlight through the trees as I pedaled about seven miles (11 km) north to their home. Seeing the paths in the fall season added a new layer of magic to them, and the air temperature was quite pleasant.
The next day, I climbed into the van of my friend Gill and her husband Jeremy, who live nearby, to once again visit the Morton Arboretum, outside of town. The arboretum had some cool displays, including beautiful autumn veggies and an artist’s installation of large sculptures of native animals.
I got a kick out of noticing how color-coordinated I was with the squirrel!
The snail stole the show with its vibrant rainbow coloration. (Both Gill and I identify strongly with rainbows and their colors, so it seemed extra poignant to pose in front of it.)
Terri has volunteered in cat rescue and fostering for many years. I was happy to see that she was fostering two cats during my stay—Angelo and Sasha. Both of them greeted me enthusiastically shortly after I entered their bedroom.
On my third and final morning, I embarked on my bicycle journey to Chicago’s Union Station. The route was to take me 34 miles (55 km) and I hadn’t biked more than about half of that in one day for many months, possibly even years. The route was almost entirely flat, but I secretly worried I might be pretty out of shape, and hoped I would be able to make the journey OK without struggling. Terri generously offered to come and rescue me if I were to get stuck in any way, but fortunately, I biked it all easily, and was thoroughly glad to have undertaken such a scenic ride, along the Illinois Prairie Path. I had made the ride in reverse when I visited them in 2022, but in the fall everything looked totally different.
At one point, I realized I would need a restroom stop. I found a trail map at a resting point with a bench, and it showed that there was a public restroom just about three blocks later.
I searched for it—heading left off the trail onto a neighborhood street—but couldn’t see any sign of it. A suburban father was removing the cobweb decorations from his house since Halloween was over, and I asked him if he knew where the restroom was. He did not, but he very graciously offered that I could use his.
He held back the large dog, and pointed me to the bathroom while his young children looked on.
Upon opening the bathroom door, I was startled and delighted to see a framed image of King Crimson’s In the Court of the Crimson King album cover on the wall.
What are the odds? You never know when and where you might encounter a fellow prog fan. All part of the magic of the journey…
Thus refreshed, I continued my trek toward Chicago.
It remained a beautiful ride until I got into the city, at which point there was a several-mile stretch that felt dicey, along a busy road whose drivers seemed quite unconcerned with the safety of a bicyclist, perhaps especially a slow cyclist towing a wide trailer. Fortunately, the last segment of the ride was calmer, on downtown city streets but somehow with calmer traffic.
The total ride—including a few short breaks—took me almost exactly five hours. Out of an abundance of caution, I had allotted myself seven and a half hours. Therefore, I had about three rather unremarkable hours to sit and chill in the first-class lounge at Union Station. I was surprised and pleased to notice that my legs and body didn’t particularly feel tired, though I also noticed that my mind did feel a bit overextended and sleepy. I dozed off and on until it was time to board just after 6:00 pm.
Photos from that overnight journey from Chicago to Washington, DC in the next post!
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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a free, no-strings one-hour phone or video call with me!
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Want to support my vision financially? I am in a continual process of manifesting $50,000 per year in lieu of a “salary” for the unconventional work I do in the world. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons, contributors, and godfunders!)
