Somewhere else

                                                                         Dropping off a table on the road to Arcadia.

You just have to trust.

We got out of town just in time to meet the bad weather up in northern Michigan last week. It was cold, windy and damp. But the scenery was different; the house had been professionally cleaned; and it was just really nice to be somewhere else. We saw no one but grocery clerks, played Scrabble with a real board and wooden pieces, and actually conversed on topics beyond politics for minutes at a time. 

We were going to take the Milwaukee ferry on Sunday morning, but when we arrived at 5 a.m. the ferry had been cancelled because the lake was kicking up 9-foot seas. So we drove up through the UP, the calming, scenic route, and I did get a bike ride in during a one-day break in the weather. It was a lot of climbing, and, if I wasn't such a sissy, the descents would have been chaotically fast. We took the ferry on the way back, and it was harrowing, the boat lurching and slamming from side to side. They should have cancelled that one, too, and I will never ride the Lake Express again.

I feel good on a bike. Normal. With my feet locked in, pushing down is no problem. It's just walking I find difficult. My MD-afflicted ankles are such a mess. In a strange house, I lurch from counter to table to wall, pull myself up stairways with the railing and hold on tight coming down. Getting up from a couch requires a push down with my fists, which makes me feel like a very old man. Wearing boots I can do pretty well, walk for miles, but in tennis shoes or just socks I walk with care, or just sit. Do I need a cane? Boy, I hope not. 

Here's a few pix. 

The scenic overlook

Down the other side

About to topple?

(Ms. V photo)

  

Work barge near the lighthouse

(Ms. V photo)

Tough bird

Home and away

                                                                                            Pinewoods Campground

                                                                                               Kettle Moraine South

     

                                          

I planned weeks in advance and got approval from the woman in Human Resources (Ms. V) to take a little overnight bike ride to a campground near Dousman, about 40 biking miles west. Left Tuesday midmorning and had clear blue skies, temps in the 60s, a full load of gear, and a tolerable headwind. I rode the trails -- the Hank Aaron to the Oak Leaf to the New Berlin to the Glacial Drumlin. I stopped for tamales in Waukesha, took a longer break in Wales, and, at Waterville Road, followed the hilly country lane to the campground and set up in site #6. I saw just one other person, and my site was passed by just  three or four cars in the evening and the next morning. 

I texted and called and emailed Ms. V that I had arrived safe and sound -- her sole requirement -- but I was out of range, and I thought, "Well, what can I do? I'm sure it will be fine."

Famous last words.

Site #6

So I ate a freeze-dried meal, went to bed before 8 p.m., and listened to the vice presidential debate with earbuds on a little transistor radio. 

In the morning I got up, made oatmeal and packed up. I waited for the weather to warm up a little bit, and, near the campground entry, called Ms. V. 

"I've had a great time," I said. 

"Where are you?"

"I'm leaving the campground."

"Where?"

"I'm leaving the campground."

"Where are you right now?"

My connection was bad, she said, but it was the fixation on where I was that stuck with me. 

When I got home I called her at work, and said again I'd had a great time, no problems.

And she said, "Well, let me tell you about my day."

Now, just so we understand, she's a woman suffering PTSD from my bike crash of last summer. So she and my solo bike trips are not on the best of terms. (Even though she gave me pro-forma approval for this one.) In any event, she was up most of the night, and called Ahna, our daughter, who also disapproves and also was involved in the bike-crash recovery, and I suppose they got a little revved up.

So, by 6:40 a.m., Ms. V was driving to the Southern Kettle Moraine. Ah! the fixation! She went first to the wrong campground, got directions to the right one, and didn't find me, though I was still there. She was certainly one of those few cars that drove by my site in the morning. 

I should say that I had cleverly camped in a little wooded thicket, completely screened from the road -- because who wants to be seen from the road?  

So she reported to work late, and had to explain it to her boss, and by the time she got home, I had showered and was settling down to rest. In the end, I went and got us take-out to make amends.

Next time I'll bring a GPS.

*

Besides the damage to my relationships, when I got home I couldn't turn this light off and it later burned out, dammit: 

  

What an awful week

Sideways

Welcome to Milwaukee, gateway to Kenosha. I used to be a reporter in Kenosha, and it was the kind of place where new and different feature stories were hard to come by, but you could always count on the common council for a shouting match. The aldermen would even yell at me from time to time, in the middle of the meeting, for things I had written, which, among reporters, is a badge of honor.

But I'm glad I'm not there today. Trump, though specifically disinvited, is due to arrive any time, and people will be out in force, throwing things, shouting things, shooting things, and the truth of anything said will be measured, not by factual accuracy, but by the volume at which it is shouted.

I fully expect that Flight for Life and Froedtert will be busy tonight, and that injured and even dying Black protestors will be shackled to their hospital beds, and that white kids who show up with automatic rifles will be thanked by the feckless police, the national guard and the sheriff's department for their service, and sent safely home, where their mothers can feed them and tell them how proud they were for what they did.

All that, and I think it's going to rain.

My bile, unleashed.

Reading the road

Jefferson and Wells,  downtown

Well, I've biked about 1,750 miles on Sally Ride so far this year, and hope to hit 3,000 before the snow flies. For me, this is pretty good. I usually ride about five days a week, between 20 and 30-something miles at a go, with a goal of 100 a week. I did one longer ride to Port Washington, 60 miles roundtrip, and suffered for it, but I'll try that again when I get my gumption up.

Sally Ride is a truck, as bikes go, made of steel and thus heavy -- built for loaded touring -- and I am routinely passed by hotshots on featherweight bikes. And then again, I'm not the rider I used to be. But none of this really bugs me. I see it as not about speed so much as a way of exploring, a way to keep in touch with the world, a way to be out in it. This is also why I really prefer to ride alone -- I can putter if I want: sit and watch the boats at South Shore Marina; do a hill twice in a row to get a little work in; watch the anglers at Kletsch Park; grab Chinese take-out for dinner; whatever. This would drive some riders crazy.

What I think holds a serious Milwaukee rider back -- someone who rides from home and can't spend all day at it -- is the lack of challenging hills hereabouts. My friend Bruce, who rode with me last summer, takes daily rides in northern Michigan and gets in 1,000-foot climbs on a regular basis -- and there's nothing better than that to get you in tip-top shape.

When I started my cross-country ride last summer, I thought I was in pretty good shape, but I was only in good Milwaukee shape, and I was easily the slowest and weakest rider among the four of us, really struggling on the hills. It took two weeks of mountain riding to abate my dread of climbs, and by the end, I wasn't daunted by much. Even so, there were a few ridiculous hills -- like climbing out of Fort Benton, Montana -- where I had to take a break, or two, or three, on the way up -- but I knew by then I could make the top.

A few findings from recent rides.

Okay, I confess, this is not from the road, but from the roof

Protestors on State Street

There's a story here somewhere

Scripture is good for the soul, they say, though I do think it's "vengeance."

62

I had a birthday a couple days ago, and many thanks to all those adherents of Facebook who wished me well! Here's the card I got from the puckish Ms. V:

Inside it said, "Why is it the older we get, the more babylike we look? Happy Birthday."

Babylike or not, it was a startlingly good fit.

My dad at my age now was still running his medical practice. It was at about this time, late in his practice, that he had to start writing things down. Of course, as a doctor, there are a million details, and keeping a record is essential. But over the next few years his loss of memory became more pronounced, to the point where he had to quit some of the volunteer things he loved, like the School Ship project he worked on, and a mentoring program for young pastoral students. I heard him making that phone call to the coordinator: "It's too complicated for me."

As the years went on, he was prevented from driving, but he kept trying. My mother described him out at the garage, punching codes in to open the garage door, code after code after code. It angered him that he couldn't get it right, that anyone would have the temerity to keep him from his car.  Finally he got to be too much for my mom to handle, and we found a place for him at Huron Woods, a placement for memory loss patients. One of the worst decisions I've ever made was to stay there that first night with him. We went round and round. He would say, "Why are we here? Let's just go, let's go home." And I would say, "I'm staying here tonight. Why don't you stay with me." Over and over again. At one point I gave him a playful punch -- just a soft acknowledgment -- and he slugged me hard on the chest, and I was startled -- I had never, ever known him to be violent.

Mom came and got me the next day, and we talked lightly and went to the mall to look at bedspreads and sheets.

The door to his floor at Huron Woods was locked, and Dad would stand at it, twisting the handle and  shouting and pounding, pounding, pounding. He was strong and he fought with the caretakers and hurt at least one woman who tried  to wash him and change his clothes. He could not stand being fussed with like that and every change was a battle, sometimes requiring several aides. Finally he had to leave, and we found another place, closer to Detroit. A young male aide befriended him there, spent hours with him. He would walk with him, talk to him, engage him, and they developed a kind of method, a rapport, a feeling of trust. He was able to do the things that needed to be done.

As time went on Dad grew less willful -- he couldn't hold on to anger or frustration, what he cared about, or even what he liked or not. We brought him back. Mom hired Catherine and her family to care of him, and they kept coming, even beyond his death, to take care of Mom, till she moved here, nearby, when her own decline accelerated.

I hope it's easier for me.
   

The wages of biking

Biking has a spiritual quality, and, down by the Grant Park Golf Course, a biblical quality. For years I've encountered these chalked passages, always in the same place, always freshly and carefully written. They appear one at a time, and when rain or use erases them, a new one is provided. They're always taken from the King James Version, with its powerful, crunchy, 17th-century syntax. They make me think, not just of the message, but of those who went before us -- Joshua, Paul, King David.  People who didn't have bikes or cars. David surely had a chariot, but nearly everybody else walked or sailed almost everywhere they went.

Quarantine and the law

We're zooming and zooming. Above, a family birthday celebration. If you study it, you might find "Happy 25th Maya!!!" spelled out, but it takes a little work. Ms. V and  I make up "HA," if you see what I mean. Post-It notes for an "H" on a grocery bag are kind of pricey, but nothing is too good.

Ms. V and I are getting along pretty well. Staying out of each other's way is part of it. She's working from home. The other day she said, "Tomorrow's my first evidentiary hearing from the bedroom -- not a sentence I ever thought I'd say."

And I'm pretty happy in my office/bike shop. Two days of rain have kept me in the house. I'm pining for a day I can ride.

Da commish at work

The chaos I prefer

One more time, with feeling

Let's see what happens this time:

Black horses and a bicycle

I used to have a picture here of three cops on horses but Blogger, or maybe Google, or the MPD removed it. Disturbing!

Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
The fourth, hopefully, is indefinitely delayed. 

As if to increase our isolation, our internet punked out last week, and I am writing in the lounge area downstairs, wearing a mask, looking up with hostility at any who dare enter. 

I kind of wondered yesterday, when this entourage passed, why the officers would bring out their horses, usually reserved for parades. Maybe it's a kind of "show the flag" duty? But black horses do match the End Times mood, and, with everybody at home, at least they're unlikely to be hit by a car. 

I've been biking pretty regularly, and have discovered new routes. Many days in a row I've gone to Grant Park, through a couple miles of city streets, then into industrial backlots, past Groppi's on the south side, through the South Shore Marina and the trails beyond it, with water slapping at the rocks. Then up a couple of sharp hills and into the park itself, which winds and curls through trees and fields and goes and goes and goes and finally ends at the golf course, with its lovely ramshackle clubhouse. Yesterday -- was it yesterday? -- the sun shone and families with kids and dogs were out, walking carefully, not bothering to keep a distance -- they probably live together anyway -- and looking around as if it was all new to them. 

I don't mind it too much, this pause. (I won't mind it till I get sick.) It's pretty much the pace I live at anyway. 

Today is our 35th anniversary. Who woulda thunk it? It still works. For dinner, probably, we'll break out our best cereal, with an option of brown sugar.   

Day-glo, mirror, headlamp and, I don't think that's a tongue, really, but it sure does look like one. 

The empty city

The abandoned lakefront

You can walks for miles here and not see another human. Life is like a post- apocalyptic movie, maybe "On The Beach." Even lone pedestrians and dog-walkers are rare, though, as Ms. V says, in this scenario, "pups win!" with owners home all day and itching to get out.

Stay well. Stay in. Wash your grimy hands!

The Riverwalk

Two lone souls, plus dog

Keeping my social distance

Every day is a winding road
(was it Sheryl Crow?) 

How are you all out there in cyberland? Hope you are safely ensconced in your hermetically sealed house with, say, just one friend you don't mind getting sick with. If you can get by without the illness part, congratulations, you're doing better than Tom Hanks.

We've been washing our hands many times a day and trying not to touch our faces. But when you remember that you shouldn't touch your face, what do you do? Touch your face. Then you have to wash your hands again.

We made a plan to escape the winter blahs some months ago. We thought we'd fly to Atlanta and ride with Sister S and b-i-l J to the artsy little mountain town of Asheville, NC, for some walking and light shopping. But when it came to it, us over-60 old fogies, and me with gimp health, we cashed in our tickets and drove. It was 12 hours in the car each way -- Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina -- but it was the right decision. Ms. V heroically drove every mile both ways, not so much because I'm a bad driver but, the way I see it, because she's a bad passenger.

We stayed in a little hillside house in the woods, had one eat-out brunch, and ate take-out Thai. In town we checked out the art shops along the river -- virtually deserted, because of the damp weather, or the coronavirus, one. I chatted with a woman in a shop laboring over a 3-D found-object piece, and watched a veteran glass artist working her torch about a tube of glass, instructing an apprentice, and I wanted to say to the young woman, "Maybe a career in IT is a better choice?"

So now we're home, picking up the pieces.

*

I did 100 miles in my first new-bike week, then the weather went punk, my spirits sagged, and we went on our little trip.

*

And the DNC? I went to a meeting a couple weeks back. It was very organized, an hour and a half, and we listened as four presenters discussed the convention and what kind of help they need. They had set a goal of 15,000 volunteers -- about 10,000 had already signed up (though "we never stop recruiting") -- and they expect 50,000 people to attend. They liked Milwaukee for the relatively regular grid pattern of its streets, making for easy navigation, and the fact that the Milwaukee Theater and Fiserv Forum -- and, for that matter, most downtown hotels -- are just blocks from each other. An improvement over Philadelphia, where venues were miles apart.

But now the coronavirus has arrived, so I wonder if they'll even hold it.

        

Tough little North Carolina vine

Asheville

Sally Ride

I wanted a new drug, so I bought a new bike. Disc brakes, fenders, taillight, cargo rack -- the whole shebang. I rode it in the parking lot, but the weather's unbefitting, so I won't sully it proper till it's nicer out.

It's got a macho look, doesn't it? But I'm going to call it Sally -- Sally Ride.

Ben's Cycle here in town set me up nice. The whole process -- choosing, paying, outfitting it -- had a ceremonial feel, which is, I know, ridiculous, but there are just so many new bikes in a life so you kind of have to savor it. Smell the oil!

So my plan is to finish my ride a year from now, spring of 2021. I would pick it up somewhere  in Michigan, and ride across Ontario. Ms. V and I have kind of a busy summer, and I don't think I'd be ready if I tried to do it this year.

I feel fortunate to still be able to bike, and to afford such a bike!

*

I'm volunteering for the DNC convention, held here in Milwaukee this year. The first meeting is tonight, so we'll see what that's like. I hope this doesn't shock any of my Trumpist readers out there, but, well, I'll let the chips fall.