redtruckroadtrip

I decided this morning that it would be Cleveland or bust.

We got up early and went to the gym, had a good work out, then I dropped Lewis at Union, where he was teaching.  I made a quick trip back to the house with pulled pork and green beans from the Vermont Deli to leave for Lewis for dinner. (I have a guilty secret which is their tuna fish sandwich made on gluten free bun, so I picked up one of those as well).  Then I went home and did the dishes, just to leave them tidy before I left. I topped up the car with gas, loaded in my set of strap-on ankle weights, just in case I needed them and finally tore myself away at 8:46 this morning. I should say that I have as a guardian the monster from “Where the Wild Things Are”.  He is riding on the dashboard as a fierce protector.

Cleveland is officially 9 hrs and 59 minutes from Brattleboro, a convincing first day’s drive.  I am trying to work in visits along the way, but for this first part of the journey the timing has been off.  I wanted to stop in to see our Sundance friends Kevin and Dani near Rochester, but they weren’t there until after 6, long after the time I would be passing through so I am going to do that on the way back. I thought about going to see Auntie Grace and Uncle Lloyd (Our Sundance chief and his wife) but didn’t end up reaching them in time.  I sent a note the other day saying I was driving to Montana, wondering if anyone needed a ride, but I didn’t hear anything back, so I assume it’s just not the time for people to be driving to Montana, in winter, around Thanksgiving.  I will make better preparations for visiting on the way back, when time is not such an issue.  I am under some time constraints on the way out – I have to get to Becky by Wednesday, and then to Marion, MT by Thursday so I can load the truck on Friday morning. I have limited access to the space where the things are stored.  I have been told that they have had some snow so that it may take some time to get up the mountain road. Beyond that I don’t know much. I haven’t yet spoken directly to Sheryl, we have left each other messages by phone, working out timing.  I still don’t know the exact location, except it’s up a mountain in winter. Before I left we got out the chains and had a look at how you get them on the truck.

It was an interesting trip this first part and I know it well. Lewis did this trip every week for a year when he worked in Rochester and if I was around I went with him. There are familiar landmarks, the chainsaw tree-art place was having a sale (carved tree trunk, anyone?), Highway 7 is still under construction, the I90 still looks the same. The trees along the way have dropped their leaves so you can see huge nests in the wood lots along the Eerie Canal.  I’m always amazed at the old farm houses, evoking ghosts of battles fought along this fertile stretch – rich farmland has been cut through by the good old I90.  I didn’t see any turkey vultures as we did in the summer, but occasionally I was escorted by a hawk for part of the way.  I think part of the reason I wanted to get to Cleveland was to get past the things I’ve seen so much before and into the new land.  I haven’t driven west of Cleveland. In any case the drive was uneventful, assisted by coffee and water and the occasional ginseng shot.

I did eat the tuna sandwich and the salady things I had brought.  Michael Pollan says that you know you’re really hungry if you want to eat an apple, and I had two of the lovely co-op Gala apples I had with me.  Part of the reason I am severe about the road food is because I have been warned that Becky will provide food with extreme generosity.  She has kindly invited me to stay the night, to arrive on Wednesday and have dinner with them so we can have a good talk and get to know each other.  Her full name is Rebecca Three Stars Chief Eagle, and she is highly respected. The Stone Boy Women’s Society is a group working to promote health in young women. Our friend Mary is part of the One Spirit initiative, and they are thinking they might be able to merge some of the common goals with Stone Woman Society.  She is the one who told me about the cheese and maple syrup. Coyote Institute (our 501(c)3 – a charitable not-for-profit) is interested in seeing if we can help to get a grant to facilitate development of materials. Coyote Institute is dedicated to change and transformation in health care, through empowerment and education. The US is different from my country.  I am always struck when I come here by people’s health care struggles, the $5000 (annual) deductible that is the bottom line in every Vermont health care plan.  Not to mention the staggering cost of dentistry.  I wait until I get back home for check ups and like other people I have met here I use preventative methods to make sure I don’t need those medical services.  So bring on the apples!

Not much else to report, just driving along, trying to pick up NPR stations along the way, listening to reports on how the Super Committee cut neither spending nor taxes, a drug that should have been off the market but is still being used, illegal and outrageous use of pepper spray, thug-like interventions to shut down the Occupy movement, Egypt’s melt down, an in-depth report on Syria and performances and interviews with the string group called Goat Rodeo featuring YoYo Ma and some buddies who have an entertaining inter-species string quartet, bass, cello, fiddle and mandolin.  Occasionally I listen to something a little more current, Nikki Minaj and Rheanna seemed popular. I made a couple of business calls, I stopped at the Big Moose Deli and picked up a gallon of maple syrup, (on sale for half price – what could be wrong about that?) and enjoyed the drive.  Oh, I failed to find one of those cassette thingies that you can use to put an Ipod through the car speakers, so I wasn’t able to listen to my own soundtrack.  It’s a road trip tradition, however, to listen to the radio until the signal fades to static, then scroll the dial for whatever tunes in cleanest.

Of course, I did stop in at the Waterloo Outlet Mall, where I had a quick look at some rather nice shoes…

At the end of the day, I pulled over at a rest stop about half an hour out of Cleveland, went online and got a room through Hotwire. So here I am at 8:46 pm at the Hyatt in Independence, Ohio, 7 miles south of Cleveland, in a very glamorous two-room suite, for the rocking price of $57.00!  I have just eaten a salad from the things in the cooler, and plan a good night’s sleep before another long day’s driving.  Tomorrow is truly new territory, as on the advice of Google Maps I am switching to the I80, a superhighway I have never considered!  Exactly ten hours is half way between Iowa City and Des Moines.  Onward!

It’s the night before I leave for Montana.  In case you don’t know, part of the purpose of this road trip is to go and collect the things that have been sitting in Sheryl’s barn.  Some years ago, Lewis was trying to get his things into Canada, and ran into an existential problem.  First, he was asked to provide an inventory of all goods.  He did, but was told that he needed to provide it in English and in French. He did that, and was told that along with the inventory, he needed to provide original receipts for everything. Since ‘everything’ included the old tv, boxes of books and papers and an ikea desk, he never did end up completing the mission.  The things have been sitting in a barn in Montana since that time.  Now, Sheryl is moving, and she asked what we wanted to do with the things. We toyed with the idea of just leaving everything, but there are artworks, papers, personal things – letters, documents…

I’m on my way to South Dakota, so we decided that I would go to Montana since it’s not that much further.  Lewis is off to Hungary, and since I am not going there, it seemed like a much better idea than sitting around here.

The main point of the trip is different. For some years now, we have been trying to meet up with Rebecca. First, because there is the possibility of working with her on a women’s health initiative she has going where she lives in South Dakota. Also, though, it is possible that she has information about his family. It’s not that easy to get out to South Dakota, and these kinds of relationships are best developed through personal contact. As it turns out, Becky is home and willing to receive visitors, so I am going to visit her.

Tomorrow morning I set off with the truck loaded with all my winter gear. We have already been warned that there is lots of snow and lots of cold, so I have all the warm garments I have, my balaclava, my long underwear, outer snowsuit, the moon boots I bought in 1984, tights, leggings and Icelandic wool socks.  I also have a tin can with a candle in, a chocolate bar, a heat blanket, flares, a sleeping bag, studded tires, chains and 270 pounds of sand across the axle (we mean one day to sew them into clothing so that we can have a big sand-stuffed guy, but the shirt I tried with last year ripped immediately). I also have Lewis’s giant warm green snow jacket.

I have gifts with me. On the advice of our friend Mary, who is her soul sister, I have got for Becky two quarts of dark maple syrup and a giant block of Cabot cheese.  No one but Lewis knows Sheryl, but she sends pictures regularly of herself hiking across rugged mountains, so I have for her maple syrup and two bars of fair trade, dark chocolate.  They seem small offerings, for Becky for offering to help Lewis make family connections, and for Sheryl for keeping his things safe for five years, so I am also stopping at our favorite ‘everything moose’ store which is just over the border in Hoosick, NY, where I plan to get Becky a string of moose lights, and something for Sheryl, though I don’t know what yet.

For myself, I have a cooler, filled with the leftover coleslaw (I make great coleslaw) some feta cheese, gluten free raisin bread, apples, carrots (with peeler), chicken (cooked), three romaine heart lettuces and a bottle of pomegranate salad dressing. All this so that I can avoid high caloric road food.  And of course I have ropes, bungee cords, tarps and blankets, just in case anything needs protecting.

The plan is to leave tomorrow after a workout at the old cotton mill gym.  Meanwhile, we are just back from a fantastic weekend leading a workshop at Kripalu, the yoga retreat center.  We had 23 people and had a great time working with their stories. We have had dinner, packed the truck, and are about to go to bed to watch “Breaking and Entering”, and Anthony Minghella movie that we have watched bits of three times.  We tend to get up very early and then fall asleep watching movies. So we will try again tonight!