Weird Chickens

I drove up to Le Mars, Iowa on Wednesday to visit the Plymouth County Fair. I've never, to my recollection, been to a County Fair. After being to a County Fair, I think I'd remember if I had.

It was the first day of the Fair and the middle of the day on Wednesday so there were not too many people there. Mostly just the people that had brought animals to be judged, or sold, or, I'm guessing, eaten. There was a barn for each of your standard farm animals: sheep, goats, horses, pigs, chickens and other birds all classified by the sign "Poultry", and of course beef (cows). I did expect to see llamas and emus but maybe that's more of an Oregon thing.

The chickens though... I have never seen such a variety of chickens in my life. There were some weird chickens, very colorful, stylish, and yes weird, chickens.

Also, I'd hoped to find some 500 pound pig that I could hitch a ride on, but no, no such pig ride was available. Now I should visit a State Fair, maybe they'll have a pig for me to ride.

RAGBRAI 2007

10 days since my last post. I’ve been keeping pretty busy, busy enough that it now feels like I have a very short time left here in Sioux City, and so much left to do.

Earlier this week I headed off to see what RAGBRAI was all about. RAGBRAI stands for: Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. This year it is a 477 mile ride across Northern Iowa comprised of some 10000+ riders from all over the world. They start by dipping their tires in a river on the Western side of Iowa, ride for 5 days, and then dip their tires in an Eastern river to finish.

Sunday I arrived in Rock Rapids around 8am and the majority of riders had already set off on that day’s 77 mile leg. I drove back home for a few hours sleep and then set back out to see what the nightlife of a RAGBRAI stop was like. So back on the road to Spencer, I arrived about 7pm and saw fields and fields of tents and more bikes than I’d ever seen in one place.

The population of Spencer, IA had literally doubled that day. The evening’s festivities were held at the Fairgrounds – although I doubt there was a single parking lot or side street that wasn’t active – I ended up spending the night drinking and people-watching in the Fairground’s beer garden until it closed at 12:30am. I made my way back to the van in a nearby parking lot and passed out.

I awoke about 5:30am to find that everyone else was already up and on the move. I wiped the sleep from my eyes, hopped in the driver's seat, and headed off for a vantage point to get some pictures. I followed the route of the bikers, which meant I was driving with the tide. Literally it was like a stream of bikers flowing past me. I was the huge obstruction on their street and once I was in the path there was little to be done about getting out of it. I was surrounded on all sides and turning off to a side street just wasn’t an option. I didn’t get out of the mass until the route turned right and I was able to continue straight. I considered following the event to the next city but decided to drive back home instead.

I had a lot of fun that night and riding RAGBRAI is now something that is definitely on my list. I will really have to train up though, I’m nowhere near the physical shape I’d need to be to finish the ride, but hey, goals are good.

Bugs

There are an incredible amount of bugs in the Midwest, I’d say half of them are visiting my laptop right now. I’m on the back patio of a bar in Sioux City, alone, with a $5 pitcher of Bud, trying to control my urges to knock the bugs off my person and laptop. It does no good… they come back. At least if I leave them alone, maybe they won't tell their friends, so they can have that eerie glow all to themselves.

I can hear the stray bugs from the nearby safety light bouncing off the Coors umbrella attached to my table. It’s like a sporadic bit of insect rain.

The sounds around me are pretty impressive too, there is the machine gun fire of some, the long creaking Morse code of others, and the deafening noise that the Cicadas make. If you’ve never seen a Cicada they are an incredibly ugly bug.

Once while I was working in Maryland I found an intact molting of a Cicada laying in the grass. I was working with a couple of guys that were from India and hadn’t spent that much time in the US. Thinking I was funny I grabbed the shell, took it into the server room, and placed in on the keyboard of one of their laptops. From somewhere I could see I called out “hey, could you get me the password for this router?” Unsuspectingly he walked over to his laptop, poised his hands for typing, gasped, and promptly fell backward. He didn’t say anything or call out; instead he grabbed a pen and started poking at it. That was when I couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. Busted…

Small town USA

Open letter to middle America:

Acting tough is not the same as being tough. I was out with some friends tonight for a few beers. We talked of interesting things and mild Sioux City drama. Luckily the people I was drinking with didn't care much for the local pastime of gossip and intrigue. Last call comes and we make out way out to the van. What do we find? Some woman has been stabbed by another woman, and the crowds are circling to see the auxiliary fights that have broken out. Three to my count until the police show up and the dogs come out. My friend says to me "Welcome to 4th street". 4th Street is the place where the popular bars are in Sioux City. There are other bars in town, but this is where the weekend warriors come out to play. By weekend warriors I mean college kids and people who don't show up on a weekday because the odds of them finding a drunk member of the opposite sex willing to go home with them are so much lower. But this is Sioux City...

I'll never understand the mentality that goes into a bar fight or sidewalk stabbing.

So kids. Guys and Girls. It's simple, really it is. Be aware of your surroundings and try not to overstep your bounds. Know when an apology is the right thing to do. Respect women or men as the case may be, and know that whatever happened is an opportunity for you to exit. Exit the drama, exit the people who can't control themselves, exit the ego driven situation where the person offended is so sensitive that they have to hurt someone else.

Those aren't good people, however noble their intentions sound, those are small people, with fragile egos. Those are dangerous people who will find themselves in jail eventually. And I can't think of a better place for them. But then again, I've had my drinks tonight, I'm upset, and I think someone got blood on my van.

This is Sioux City, Iowa where the population is under 100K, and everyone has to be tough. Cause it matters... Whatever...

Friday the 13th

Today was supposed to be my ceremonial departure date. Originally it was supposed to be Friday the 13th of April, but I needed to be around to be the Best Man for my oldest friend who was getting married on 7/7/7 in Sioux City so I pushed it back, luckily there was a Friday the 13th in July as well.

You see, many significant things have happened for me on Friday the 13th: Graduation from High School, first overseas trip, and a few other things that have become foggy with time. I also kind of like bucking the unluckiness of the number but maybe that trend is drawing to a close as I will have seen both Friday the 13th’s pass without significance this year.

I’ve had a little trouble getting my head back into the trip since Summer went back to Portland. I miss her, a lot. This stop on the trip will be the single longest period of time I’m in one place for the duration of this journey - probably the longest time I’ve been in one place for a number of years - and it’s in a place full of memories that I don’t remember. I’ve been away for 10 years and have had an entirely different life during that time. I may have grown up here, but I feel the seeds that were planted grew into who I am because of my life in Portland.

I’m turning that lack of focus around now. I’m fighting my mind from becoming idle and spinning off down dark roads. I’ve got my maps back out, I’m consuming gallons of coffee in my old Sioux City haunts, and I’m adapting to the new initial European destination. I need to turn this time into opportunity, study my Russian language materials, fight my way through more European history, catch up with old friends, hang out with family, interview my grandparents, sleep…

So where do I go?

Since my original plan of Spain/Morocco/Portugal/France/Germany has been dashed and I’ve lost a full 30 days of summer weather I’ve been trying to reorient my path through Europe. Do I try like crazy to make it down to Spain to participate in La Tomatina, then run back up to Paris to see my Fiancé? Do I skip Spain until the winter months and explore Northern Europe before the snows come? Spain and Italy would have the best weather in the winter months; also they have a Carnival season that I just found out about. I’d only known about it in connection with Brazil. It isn’t something we celebrate in the United States but has a long history throughout Europe.

Tidbit: One theory on the origin of Carnival comes from the Latin “carne” (meat) and “vale” (farewell) as it is usually the last time of feasting prior to the fasting season of Lent.
No matter what I do, I will miss the International Regatta of Bathtubs in Belgium. (No, I wasn’t planning on attending, but after I found it I thought it would be fun.)

From worldeventsguide.com:

“More of a lark than a serious competition, this event is open to seaworthy bath tubs of all classes, from all nations. The exact rules are vague, but vessels can be of any design – seemingly the more bizarre the better – and there must be at least one bath tub providing buoyancy. Motors are strictly forbidden, so is the deliberate sinking of a fellow competitor. Prizes are awarded by an impartial panel of judges for speed, technical endeavour, beauty, novelty, and representation of the town. Even for non-boating visitors, Dinant, with its onion dome tower wedged between the river and a cliff, is sufficiently picturesque to be worth a visit. The annual "La Regate des Baignoires" makes it doubly so”

Ideas are welcome, I just booked my Hostel for Antwerp, so I at least have a place to get my land legs back for a few days, and then it’s off to explore the continent.

Anyway, happy Friday the 13th! I hope it is lucky for you.

Wanna Go For A Ride?

Starting in Albuquerque I filmed every mile of the drive to Sioux City in hopes of compiling it into a time lapse display of the drive. Well, here is my first shot at it. I had to cut out the night driving to make it fit, but you couldn't see that much in the dark anyway.

You might notice: The Royal Gorge, Pike's Peak, Cows, Parking under a bridge to avoid hail, me taking pictures, etc...

Here you go, hold on to something.

[flv:http://peopleinpassing.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/Drive_Flash.flv 500 375]

Photos Thus Far

The first batch of photos is up on my Flickr site.

The collection can be viewed here: Round the World

Individual Sets can be viewed by clicking on the names.

Redwoods

Death Valley

Zion National Park

Grand Canyon

Monument Valley

Road To New Mexico

Very Large Array

Road to Colorado

Royal Gorge

Pike's Peak

I hope you enjoy them. More to come.

VLA, Royal Gorge, Pike's Peak

Days 7 – 8 6/27-28

The Very Large Array in New Mexico is the world’s largest radio telescope. After seeing the movie “Contact” many years ago, I knew it was something I wanted to see. Driving out to the Plains of San Augustin I started seeing the dishes dotting the landscape from about 5 miles away. When you see them in the movies they all look very close together, that is thanks to some crafty computer graphics. They can be positioned all together to get a tighter “focus” on whatever they are looking at but it is no small feat. A double set of railroad tracks and a custom vehicle would have to pick up each dish and move them closer together. I didn’t ask, but I’m betting they weren’t going to reposition them to give me a better photo op.

The scale if each individual dish is massive and since they are all connected, the further they are set apart the bigger the collective instrument is as a whole.

After leaving the VLA I decided to start using my video camera to record the drive. Thanks to a “gorillapod” camera tripod and a power inverter I was able to record every mile of road. I thought it might make an interesting time-lapse project. We’ll see what I do with it… better to have the footage than wished I’d done it.

Day 7 included a scenic drive through Taos, NM on my sister’s recommendation. It was a beautiful drive and I came across some great weather to take pictures of. I’ll put a link up to the gallery when I get them all sorted out. 550 miles after I started I found a rest stop just outside of Pueblo, CO. It was a low mileage day so I sat in the rest stop and made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while watching South Park on some station the TV in the van picked up.

After a reasonable 6 hours of sleep I was awake and ready for the sights of Colorado. Directly across from the rest stop was a restaurant called Max’s Place. I thought it a fine spot to get some real breakfast. With a parking lot full of pickup trucks and a jeans and baseball cap clad clientele, I figured I’d fit right in (except for the laptop). The Max’s special was exactly what I was hoping for. Ham, 2 eggs, hash, biscuit w/gravy & coffee = Perfect

After dropping another $100 into the gas tank I was off to see the Royal Gorge and its famous “World’s Highest Suspension Bridge”. The bridge is 880 feet long but only 18 feet wide, with a wooden walkway with over 1000 planks. The bridge is suspended from towers that are 150 feet high. When I bought my ticket ($16 – early bird special) I was told by the seller that I could drive over the bridge and back. I asked what the weight limit was and was told “aw, couple million pounds I guess”. While I think his estimate was much exaggerated I was still ok with the attempt.

While walking on the bridge I became a little less confidant as I noticed how much the bridge shook with even the motorcycle and golf cart sized utility vehicles driving across it. Was this enough to dissuade me? Nope.

I drove across the bridge very slowly and heard the tap of every wooden plank as my 4ton van made its way across. The expressions on the faces of the other tourists on the bridge as I approached were, I have to say, priceless. I’ve got video of the crossing; maybe I’ll be able to take a few stills of the wide eyed pedestrians.

After that little adventure I was off to Pike’s Peak. My father has told me for years that if I ever find that I have itchy feet it’s because it’s in the blood. The blood connection is due to being a direct descendant of Zebulon Montgomery Pike.

Zebulon Montgomery Pike was a US Army Captain that was ordered to explore the South and West of the Louisiana Purchase. This expedition was about the same time as the Lewis and Clark Expedition but far less famous. After reading about his expedition a little I discovered that the anniversary of the end of his journey was 200 years ago last Sunday (July 1st 1807). Seems quite fortuitous to be on my trip and find this out.

It is a long drive up to the top of Pike’s Peak, sitting at 14,110 feet of elevation. (Mt. Hood in Oregon sits at 11,249). It is also a beautiful drive – totally without guardrails. Getting out at the top was a chilling experience, both in terms of temperature and my reaction to the altitude. The air was so thin at the top that I was wobbly and a little dizzy. I think my mountain climbing aspirations had a serious reality check that day. It was fun to realize that in the previous 7 days I had been to the lowest point in the United States at -282 ft. in Death Valley where it was 121degrees, crossed the continental divide, and was then standing on top of a 14,110 foot peak where it was snowing. Not bad for the first week.

"Be Flexible"

So the motto for freighter travel is "Be Flexible" and I have already learned what that means.

Last Friday, shortly after I arrived in Sioux City, I received a call from Joycene at Freighter World Cruises. She was calling to inform me that the cargo ship I had booked for my transatlantic passage had broken down and was canceling all it's North American stops. This was a bit of a shock. I had expected a day or two of delay due to loading problems or customs concerns, but not a full cancellation. She told me there might be some options available but due to the short notice she couldn't promise me anything. There was also nothing further she could find out until Monday as the German offices for the shipping company were closed for the weekend.

Over the past few days I've been scouring the Internet looking for any other ship passage that could get me to Europe in a similar time frame to what I had anticipated. Last minute booking for transatlantic passage? Not advisable.

I found a cruse ship that would take me in half the time for the same price (effectively double the price) but it wouldn't be leaving from New York until August 31st. I found a couple other freighter booking companies, but they seemed to operate the same lines that Freighter World does, and Freighter World has the best reputation from all the sources I've been able to review. I started considering changing the path of my trip by heading back to the West coast and going the transpacific route, but this would have created significant issues with all the Visas I would need to gather before my departure.

Finally I was starting to come to grips with the possibility that i might have to fly to get to Europe before the whole place turned into a rainy snowy mess.

About 20 minutes ago I received another call from Joycene and she had some good news and some options. There were two lines that had cabins available and one of those was run by the same company that had the money from my last ticket. Feeling that sticking with the same company and not having refunds, checks, and multiple Germany - United States FedEx deliveries was the way to go, I decided to stick with them. I'll still be leaving from Savannah, but now on August 12th instead of July 21st., and arriving in Antwerp instead of Valencia. It's a 10 day cruise instead of a 12 day so I'll make up a little time there. The question is... will I still be able to make it to La Tomatina in Spain?

This sets my departure back by nearly 22 days. Luckily I'm at my parents house in Iowa figuring all this out instead of on a pier in Savannah, Van-less, and having to figure out where to sleep. But this is the game, this is exactly what I signed up for and I knew it going in. Specific expectations will get you in trouble on the road, you must "be flexible".

Day 6

I'm still catching up here so hold on.

Day 6

I woke up at 5:30am to the sound of trucks starting up. I decided since the sun was up as well I should start driving. On the way I figured out that the South Rim of the Grand Canyon was still available to me, and probably only 20 miles out of my way. Wrong. 150 miles later I’m at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Impressive, but the awe was diminished by my miscalculation and the $25 I was required to pay to look at this scar in the earth. By the price of admission, you’d think the US Government dug the canyon themselves and were trying to recover the cost.

From there I was off to Monument Valley, Utah. While I appreciated the part of the Grand Canyon that I was able to see, Monument Valley was more beautiful to me. Maybe it was because the scale was smaller and I could take it in from the ground. While an aerial view would be a better way to take in the full grandeur of the Grand Canyon.

After Monument valley I pushed on to Socorro, NM to visit the Very Large Array. It was a 400 mile push that left me exhausted. In the end I’d put in about a thousand miles on three hours of sleep and decided I needed a real bed that night to catch up on some restful sleep. So I found a cheap Motel 6 in Socorro to get a hot shower and some real pillows. I found out what their slogan means that night. “We’ll leave a light on for you” yeah, at least in the case of my room the light was left on to spook the roaches away.

A good man is gone.

I received word a couple days ago that a friend had died suddenly. Michael Carnahan worked for the World Affairs Council of Oregon and was an integral part of the World Affairs Council Young Professionals of which I was a member of the Steering Committee. While I didn’t know him incredibly well I still considered him a friend and colleague. I had hoped I had many years to get to know him better and learn his stories, as he was a man who had many stories and a very diverse life. The last time I saw Michael was at my going away party he gave me a pair of comfortable running socks as a gift for my journey. Is it strange that those seemingly basic socks now have significant sentimental value?

As far as I’m concerned he was the heart of the World Affairs Council in Portland and was a mentor in international affairs to me. His support and advice helped guide me to the path I now find myself on.

My most sincere condolences go out to his family and his extended family at the World Affairs Council. His sudden death is a shocking blow to anyone who knew him. I’m sure anyone that knew him considered him a friend.

The world was a better place for him being in it, and there is a hole in it where he stood. This post doesn’t do justice to the life he lived or the lives he touched and for that I’m sorry.

Michael, we’ll miss you.