The Myth & The Majesty

I've made a few too many acquisitions in the last month and a half, due in large part because of the book fair in Virginia . Then, just for fun, I paged through  Voices From Chernobyl while I was killing a little time at Mitzi's  ... and had to go back the very next day and get it because I couldn't stop thinking about it. Fascinating, sad, and absolutely jarring. Don't read it in public if you have a hard time controlling your reactions to things. Anyway! It seems I have my work cut out for me this summer. During all of that free time I have. Hm.

Quick plug: I've finally made my way to a (relatively) new coffee shop in Rapid after multiple recommendations. Essence of Coffee occupies a spot on Main Street and 9th (kitty-corner from Murphy's, if that helps) and it is... well, delicious. On a Coffea level, and there are people who wouldn't believe that I just said that. Let me put it this way: I've now had regular coffee, fancy coffee, cold-brew coffee with a nitrogen tap, and food, and I haven't found a thing yet that I haven't enjoyed. I may even be looking for excuses to stop by just to keep working my way through their menu. The owners are also lots of fun (and full of suggestions if you walk in unsure of what you want to drink) and the atmosphere is excellent. More importantly -- at least, to me -- I could take up a table for a couple of hours and not feel like they were going to get annoyed and chase me off. Hey, sometimes it's the little things. If you're curious, park a block do

I live in a fantastic city. In all fairness, there aren't a lot of people who would agree with me, whether they think their city is better or they live here and they think I'm full of crap. Rapid City has a reputation -- wry, a little dirty, blue collar, and generally not wealthy. It is, in most respects, a working class town, filled with modest houses of a certain age and surprisingly low on Starbucks locations (at least on a per capita basis). Any formal event will bring people out in what I call "Black Hills fancy" -- the good jeans, a clean button-up shirt, boots that have been cleaned and oiled recently. And so help you, if you express an opinion to a local you'd best expect a response. The view from the trails along Skyline Drive As far as I'm concerned, that all works in its favor. I enjoy the honesty of Rapid and the simple fact that I never feel like I have to put on a show, something that hasn't been true in other places. I get a kick

Boy. Just when I'm having a bad case of writer's block, Randall Munroe provides a post-able comic . Again. .... Huh.

1. If this week is an indicator of my energy level for the summer, I'm in big trouble. 2. Spent some quality time on the challenge course and in the mine the last couple days. My words are rusty, but it all went well. 3. Actually, I've been playing tour guide a lot lately, and you know what? It's a lot of fun. 4. Hiked Little Devil's Tower on Monday and even took the Actual Camera along for the first time in months. (It needed a new battery, among other things.) Speaking of rusty... Okay, it turned out better than I thought. The gorgeous day certainly helped. 5. I'm really sore today, but I'm happy to report it has nothing to do with hiking and everything to do with dumb luck and age. Ugh. 6. So much to do, so little ... eh, I've got time. As usual, it's more about the inclination.

If there is one thing I would do differently, it would be spending more time in Kentucky. We made it to Kentucky on Mr. Rogers' fourth day of riding, hitting Breaks Interstate Park at the VA/KY border before noon. At this point, our paths re-converged; his knees were done and, well, my schedule was dependent on his. And so it was that I got an hour to hang out in said park ... and then we hit the road. ... Apparently I have a hammock uniform. Anyway! We aimed for Corbin, Kentucky, home of the original KFC. Why? Well ...  Creepy. ... because we could, I guess? This was easily the kitschiest stop we made, but it was also recommended by a bunch of people and was kind of fun. I mean, we ate fried chicken in a museum. So there's that. From there, we aimed to Frankfort (note: if you map this, we are clearly insane) and the Buffalo Trace Distillery , a bourbon distillery that offered crazy awesome tours. And delicious bourbon cream. Among other things.

As it turns out, I'm not great at holding still. Mr. Rogers got an early start on his first day of riding (Monday morning) and I headed back to the motel to pack up, reorganize, and make my way northeast. We had covered a lot of miles in three days ... but now I had a mission that required a couple hundred extra. The evening before, I had perused the brochure stand in the lobby and tripped over something of particular interest. The Green Valley Book Fair  is just south of Harrisonburg, Virginia, and is only open five times a year for a few weeks each time. It is essentially an enormous overstock sale, and ... well. As some of you may remember, I have a book store ... thing. It was the original purpose behind my trip to Portland and I try to work at least one interesting store into each trip. I was in luck: the book fair had opened just a couple days earlier and was within shooting distance of Mr. Rogers' take-off spot. This time, I had to set both a spen

We sit, once again, on the brink of the summer season. This poses some challenges as it does every year. The schedule is about to get insane. The pace even crazier. Hours are long, days are hot (or wet, or windy, or scary) and the introduction of summer staff to the mix means the dynamics are completely different. Am I ready for it? Does it matter? Really, in two weeks it won't even occur to me. The phrase we used when we got back from Russia eleven (!) years ago was "assimilator." There were all sorts of different ways of dealing with plunging back into normal life -- there were those who dwelled on what once was and had a hard time, there were others who could jump in and enjoy both normal life and the memories of where they'd been, and then there were assimilators. We're the ones that, when put in a new situation, tend to forget about the old one and barge on ahead with what needs to be done right now. Handy at times, but it means that I'

May's hike is in the books! Just in time, too. Went up yesterday morning and the weather was absolutely perfect. Four hours later it started raining and it hasn't yet stopped. Goal for next month: get a different angle on the tower...

... I'm just here this morning to make you jealous. Quick walk creekside last night. This is my backyard. It is lovely. Now, on to the rest of today's adventures.

We're at THAT stage of the game. You know. You've gotten back from vacation. You were feeling pretty good about where you left things -- but that doesn't matter. Your email exploded while you were gone, or something brand new and terrifying came up, or there are new people visiting that you didn't know of, or you just plain forgot what month it was. Lucky for me, the "new and terrifying" didn't happen. The rest of it ... Well. It's May. May means two things for me. 1. It's almost time for summer so the big push starts. 2. All of the family things are happening. There is a three week span from the end of April till ... now, that includes four birthdays in the immediate family (4 of 7, to be exact), one anniversary, and Mother's Day. It's always been on the verge of utter chaos, since May also tends to bring graduations and moves and who knows what else. This year isn't awful. I'm still behind. And I admit, I find mys

Going through my pictures from the trip and I realize I just about have a hammock uniform. ... I do love those sandals.

Once upon a time, I stayed in a five-star Crowne Plaza in Beijing. It was a gorgeous place. No rooms below a junior suite level, linens eight steps above what I buy myself, marble everywhere, enormous meals with every kind of food imaginable. I, of course, walked in fresh off the refinery in clothes I'd worn every day that week, smelling funky and caked in the kind of grime you only find in industrial China. Balance. It is of no surprise to anyone that knows me that if left to my own devices, I will do things a bit differently. Really, the big issue for me is that the hotel is rarely the destination. If I plan ahead, I'll most likely be staying with friends or camping along the way. [I am a well-practiced couch surfer.]  If I don't plan ahead, I'll be driving as far as I can manage and finding a hotel or motel to crash when I get the chance. More to the point, if I'm spending less than twelve hours there, I'm not exactly looking for something fancy. W

I wrote this in my journal Wednesday as I relaxed in Viriginia... * It's raining today -- started about 10:00 last night and has been steady since. More to the point, my head started pounding about the same time and kept on aching until ... well, it's still aching. So there's that. Between the weather and my head, we got a late start. Mr. Rogers hit the trail after 8:00; I got back to the hotel at 8:45 and had a helluva time keeping myself moving. Breakfast, a long shower, a little more loitering, and it was after 10:00 when I hit the road. Damascus, Virginia, sits at the crossroads of a lot of long distance trails. The Appalachian Trail (AT) crosses into Virginia here from Tennessee. The TransAmerica Trail -- #76, the one Mr. Rogers is riding -- passes through here, as does the hilariously named Virginia Creeper Trail, a cross-state bike trail. As such, it's a surprisingly bustling square mile of locals, hikers, bikers, hostels, and one lone weirdo from South

When I drove to Portland a couple years back, I did something dumb. I didn't give myself any recovery time. And I mean any. I drove back into camp, parked my car, started a load of laundry -- and then walked up to the kitchen to join in on supper. When I say I started work right away, I mean within fifteen minutes. Tonight, after another long-haul day, I find myself in Denver. I'm going to make my drive tomorrow a bit more leisurely ... and then I'll have a couple of days to clean house, do laundry, and for crying out loud, get caught up. Relax. Hike. Write. Read. Find a place for the hammock, weather permitting. And get a some work done a little bit at a time, as the opportunity and inclination strike. It's been an excellent last couple weeks, but I'm not done just yet.

I'm still trying to sort out exactly how this trip will get written, aside from yesterday's post. Plus, you know, I'm still on it. So for now .... here's a picture from one of yesterday's stops. Easily the kitschiest thing so far (but also pretty fun and kind of hilarious).

Do you have one of those places you regularly visit where you never wake up rested? I have that issue at Shorty's current residence. It's not the house or the occupants -- it's the neighbors. The cars that go by. The people up talking and arguing in their yards. The freaking rooster a few houses down. Friday morning, I woke up in that very house. I'd driven down the afternoon before, had dinner with Other Brother (because he rocks and made burgers), and crashed. And when that rooster started crowing, I was up and moving. The goal for the day? Cover as much ground as possible on the way to Virginia. Mr. Rogers was aiming for a Sunday morning start to his bike trip ... but there were also 1,600 detour-less miles between us and that starting line. Egads. Friday wasn't exactly exciting. By 8AM, I'd made it to his house and we'd gotten everything loaded. Then came ... over 13 solid hours of travel. Across Kansas. In the sun. M

What do you do for your birthday? I ask this because this morning I awoke and I was officially 32. I've been accidentally telling people I'm 32 since roughly Thanksgiving, but today I'm actually correct. I don't feel 32, whatever that's supposed to mean. I don't exactly feel 20, either (thankfully -- been there, done that), but I get the feeling I'm supposed to ... feel old? Something like this. And maybe there's something to that. I have summer staffers now who are actually less than half my age. The "middle-aged" line is rapidly approaching.  [That's a John Green trick I learned. You're not middle-aged until you triple your age and it seems unlikely. So at 30, that was 90 -- and I fully expect to live that long, provided I don't get hit by a bus. But 96 is getting up there.] And by all accounts, my joints don't always work like they used to. But I digress. What do you do for your birthday? I've been pretty l

Say what you might about Starbucks coffee, but I have a great experience almost every time I visit one. I'm not sure I can say that about any other chain.  Backing up! Today is a rest day, of sorts. After four solid days of GOING, my body needs a break and so does Sophie -- and as I'm on vacation, dangnabbit, I'm getting that break. And some internet. And an oil change for Sophie. And ... groceries. Okay, so I'm not great at resting. But it's a start. Anyway! After delivering Mr. Rogers to this morning's start point, I aimed up the highway toward the next city with sufficient resources. In this case, that would be Bristol, Virginia. (Coincidentally attached to Bristol, Tennessee.) I was not in a great mood, the weather seemed to match my crankiness, and I was overthinking everything I possibly could early in the morning. But hey, I had a birthday reward waiting for me at Starbucks and I knew I could find some wifi there. By the time I pulled into Bristol (

I would love to write for real. I would. But oh my goodness, the exhaustion is extreme. 54 hours in and over 1800 miles so far. (Day 2 was ... long.) One tour. One somewhat random run-in. Two early mornings. Two late nights. And roughly 16 different music genres in rapid succession. Just the beginning.

And we're off! Well, we will be. As soon as I finish my coffee. I'd forgotten about Shorty's neighbors with the rooster. The caffeine will be ... necessary. Added bonus: I got my new laptop yesterday (actually, I paced and waited for it to arrive) and so far it's pretty awesome. Went the HP route this time and got the extra-huge screen (17") so right at this very moment I feel like I'm typing for someone incredibly far-sighted. I could bump up the screen zoom and you could read this thing from space. I love the feel of a new keyboard. So smooth. So many possibilities. So little cookie crumb interference. Now, to enjoy the mountains for a couple minutes before a long drive across ... Kansas. Hm.

Departure days always end up sending me down road trip rabbit holes as I try to pack.  The places I've gone. The things I've seen. Storms as they pass. The Tetons - August 2005 And old cities. Bath, England - February 2009 Moscow - July 2005  And a bucket list item or two . The Great Wall - March 2010 Powell's City of Books - September 2013 Wide open spaces. Somewhere in Colorado - May 2010 I-90 in the middle of South Dakota. Could have been taken on a lot of different days. Lakes. Lake Michigan - July 2009 Sunrise near Humboldt, SD - July 2012 (I think)  Oceans. Oregon coastline - September 2013  Deserts. Near Moab, Utah - September 2013 Canyons. Grand Canyon - November 2015 Big freaking waterfalls. Niagara Falls - September 2014 Mountains , of various shapes and sizes.  Harney Peak - September 2014 Mount Saint Helens - September 2013 And some weirder stuff. Yes, tha