Trip Log – Day 333 – Walsenburg CO to San Luis CO

Posted on October 6, 2016 by paulefallon

to-san-luisOctober 3, 2016 – Sun, 70 degrees

Miles Today: 29

Miles to Date: 17,293

States to Date: 45

 

One look outside my motel room in Walsenburg told me things had changed. Yesterday’s gentle stir of the trees had become a steady sway. I packed and left and rolled through town still not quite sure of the strong wind’s direction – until I turned west on US 160 and it hit me in the face. I settled into a Zen pace. I logged seven miles in the first hour. At this rate, I would spend hours in the shadow of Spanish Peaks and arrive in San Luis about 6:00 p.m. My Zen thoughts turned mathematical. Perhaps I should just get to Fort Garland? What if the wind got worse and I was stranded? Perhaps it will shift and my prospects improve?

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I kept pedaling. It was still morning and adventure lay in moving forward. Five miles per hour. Four miles per hour. The gusts were strong. One caught me quick and I had to drop my feet to the ground. After it passed, I restabilized and pedaled on.

img_7583Twelve miles out, where Colorado Highway 12 veers to the south, I ground to a halt. The wind was steady at twenty-five to thirty miles per hour. Gusts were forty, maybe fifty miles per hour. Even when I could move forward, I was weaving too much to be safe. I dismounted, pushed Tom a few hundred feet, lodged him against a ‘Road Closed’ gate, thanked the fates it wasn’t snowing or raining, braced myself against the wind, and stuck out my thumb.

I am inpatient by nature, so rather dislike hitchhiking. It’s so passive. I waved at cars and trucks that could not accommodate a guy with a bike, and sprouted a big thumb to pick-up trucks. After fifteen minutes that felt like two hours, a red Toyota came up the rise. I knew intuitively he would stop.

imagesBuddy Lane and I wedged Tom among the equipment in his bed. He drove me 35 miles to Fort Garland, over the spectacular Le Veta Pass. The orange Aspens were in peak foliage, bright against their evergreen neighbors. I might have bemoaned the pleasure of cycling through such splendor; except the wind was so strong I knew it was impossible.

Trucks travel so fast. Despite the wind rocking the two-ton vehicle, we were in Fort Garland in no time. Buddy and I hit it off; we sat and talked in Fort Garland awhile before going our own ways. After being so pressed for time against nature, I was only sixteen miles from San Luis at noon.

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San Luis is directly south of Fort Garland, so my headwind turned into a crosswind; a different kind of challenge. Luckily, I enjoyed a big shoulder and little traffic, but riding was still difficult. I stopped every few miles to steady my nerves and absorb the amazing views.

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By 2:30 I arrived at my motel. A very short travel day in terms of miles cycled, but an exhausting day in terms of energy spent. The lowest average speed of my entire trip: slower even than the day I ascended Loveland Pass: 6.9 miles per hour. Colorado is a fabulous state to bicycle, but it makes you pay for its glory.

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Profile Response: Scott Myers, Executive Director, Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Birmingham, AL

Posted on October 6, 2016 by paulefallon

HWWLT Logo on yellowJoe Louis, Bart Starr, Joe Namath, Donald Hutson, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Carl Lewis, Mia Hamm. All sports legends born or made great in Alabama. Not to mention the equally famous coaches, Bear Bryant, or John William Heisman, father of football’s most famous trophy. All are enshrined in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame; over 300 inductees showcasing 6,000 items of memorabilia since it began in 1967. Every year, eight inductees get a plaque and a showcase of memorabilia. The ASHOF has no permanent collection; each inductee selects his/her own memorabilia and can get it back at any time.

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images-1Scott Myers was a three-season high school athlete, played football at nearby Samford University, and spent a year in missionary work with street kids in Costa Rica, before returning to Birmingham for a career in sports administration, the last eight as Executive Director of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. Among the biggest changes he’s seen, “America’s pastime was baseball; now it’s football. Alabama has a long baseball history, but it’s now a football state. Collegiate basketball is big, but collegiate football drives all of college sports. The upside of collegiate football is huge. It is the front porch of the universities. It is the revenue producer that enables all of the other sports to happen.” At the time of our conversation, University of Alabama was ranked #1 in college football.

 

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Scott spearheaded the effort to bring the 2021 World Games to Birmingham, only the second time they have been held in the U.S since their inception in 1981. “The World Games are sports at the highest level that are not included in the Olympics, for example certain gymnastic styles and Lacrosse. We will host 4,000 athletes from over one hundred countries in 35 sports.” Unlike the recent Olympic bid in Boston, which faltered for lack of public support, the City of Birmingham is fully behind this endeavor “We did two economic impact studies; the numbers work fine. We partnered with Samford, UAB and Alabama Southern to house the athletes, we don’t have to build any new venues.” Birmingham has a huge stadium, Legions Field, that’s already seen world class action: as a soccer location during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. “This is a great opportunity for the city of Birmingham to represent the country.”

How will we live tomorrow?

screen-shot-2016-10-02-at-6-53-52-pm“It’s a great question. I don’t think we spend a lot of time thinking about how we will live tomorrow. What will sport look like tomorrow? Just as football took over baseball in the later 20th century, what will the sport of the future be? The athletes have changed. They are bigger, stronger, more adapted to their sport.

“My fourth grader plays football. On the way to practice he asked if people could have superpowers. I told him we only use a small part of our brain, maybe 10 percent. If God let us use 12 or even 15 percent, we could have more powers.”

 

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Trip Log – Day 332 – Pueblo CO to Walsenburg CO

Posted on October 5, 2016 by paulefallon

to-walsenburgOctober 2, 2016 – Sun and clouds, 75 degrees

Miles Today: 57

Miles to Date: 17,264

States to Date: 45

screen-shot-2016-10-02-at-5-47-19-pmI woke this morning to rosy pink light highlighting the stucco surfaces of the houses in the new subdivision north of Pueblo. As I admired the light my eyes fell on the emerald oval of grass, a front lawn sparkling wet from dawn-timed sprinklers. The brilliant green, so false in this high desert, left a sour taste in my psyche. My hosts are conscientious people; recycling advocates new to an area of the country where recycling is still news. But if you move to Pueblo and buy a subdivision house, it will be big, it will have conventional heat and air conditioning, it won’t be oriented for solar, and it will have a lawn. Unsustainable development is not just allowed. It is the norm. It is all that’s available.

img_7570My remedy for feeling adrift is, of course, riding my bike. I began with fourteen miles of delightful Sunday cycling traversing the length of Pueblo from its northern limit through empty downtown past the riverwalk (the Arkansas River runs through Pueblo), along historic Union Street and the Victorian mansions of South Pueblo.

By the time I passed a gas station / convenience store cloaked in stylized font as ‘Mindful Eating’ that also touted 99 cent fountain Pepsi and free lighters with cigarettes, my endorphins had pressed me into  good enough mood to laugh at such folly. Obviously, the proprietors have never read Michael Pollen’s In Defense of Food which contains the sage advice, “Never fill up your car and your stomach at the same place.”

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Finally, the pavement gave out and I had to ride the I-25 shoulder. Okay, okay, I didn’t HAVE to ride the I-25 shoulder. But when the three options to cycle from Pueblo to Walsenburg are: a) 119 miles on two lane mountain roads, b) 75 miles of dirt roads in the plains, or c) 55 miles of smooth pavement, half along I-25, I opted for the easy choice. On a Sunday morning with a faint tailwind and excellent shoulder, I-25 was as good as Interstate riding gets. I tuned out the passing noise and focused on the breathtaking landscape beyond.

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Walsenburg is a sweet little town that gained some notoriety a few years ago for downzoning to accommodate tiny house neighborhoods. I rode to the areas where the proposed tiny house villages would be built: nothing yet. Still, the town has a cool library carved out of a defunct school and nice mom and pop motels that beat the chains. No sprinklered lawns here.

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Profile Response: Randy Gorman, Mountain Brook, AL

Posted on October 5, 2016 by paulefallon

HWWLT Logo on yellowIf I loaded all the books Randy Gorman recommended for me to read in my saddlebags, they would probably slow me down a full mile per hour. Randy is an upbeat guy with a can-do attitude and a trove of useful books, videos, and philosophies to stay on track as a businessman, a father, a Christian, and a worthy human being. “You have to have a positive attitude. Balance it with realism, but stay positive.”

There’s nothing preachy about the Auburn educated SAE who served cocktails on the outdoor deck on the late summer evening I stayed with Randy and his wife Cleo (a longtime friend of mine) and their daughter Ellie. Randy’s a jazz lover with a poetic spirit. “Jazz makes me wonder who we are. Cicadas remind me of summer.”

img_7261Randy’s had a variety of careers – banking, employee leasing, financial planning, and commercial insurance. Currently, he represents a national firm that provides energy and preservation tax credit and depreciation guidance for commercial properties. I don’t know where he finds time to work given the number of books he recommended to me. Fortunately, Cleo reminded him I travel light.

So, he started quoting his favorites directly. I had never heard the Optimist Creed. When he quoted it, I decided it describes Randy perfectly.

Promise yourself:

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble

How will we live tomorrow?

screen-shot-2016-10-02-at-3-51-42-pm“I’ve got a pretty good book you might like to take on your journey, A Man in the Mirror. It’s really good. Another is Half Time by Bob Buford. It’s you, it’s what you’ve done; a Biblically based book on how to apply yourself wherever you are.”

 

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Profile Response: David Propst, Anniston AL

Posted on October 4, 2016 by paulefallon

HWWLT Logo on yellowDavid Propst lives, once again, in his boyhood home, a generous ranch on a hillside with a fantastic view of the valley beyond Anniston, AL. In between David went to college and graduate school, served in the Peace Crops in Yeman and Poland, and taught English all over the world. “You move around and get paid for it.”

Four years ago, while he was living in Marrakesh, David decided to return to Anniston and manage care of his aging parents. “Every place I’ve lived is good; even my hometown is good. It’s changed, but it’s still good. Everything changes. You infer it as you remember. But our country takes its toll. When you are in Morocco, or Haiti, you are closer to the ground.”

screen-shot-2016-10-02-at-3-37-47-pmDavid’s mother’s dementia has evolved over twenty years from occasional memory lapses to the point where she requires a constant companion. His father, who practiced law for thirty-three before serving as the Federal Judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama even longer, has had a series of physical ailments. The day I visited David, his brother Steve was visiting from Atlanta and coordinating his father’s recent transfer from a rehab facility to the local hospital, while David provided his mother’s direct care after her day attendant’s shift ended.

img_6828David is a gentle and patient man, comfortable with his decision to return home and manage his parents. care. “It’s too bad it’s become part of the medical system. It would be more interesting to look at aging and dying as an architectural issue rather than a medical one. How space and relationships can adapt to aging. As soon as someone says, ‘This is for your own good,’ be wary.”

I asked David how caring for his parents has evolved over the past four years. “On a day-to-day basis it seems like nothing changes, but when I think of what my mother could do four years ago, the change is real. Everything works at a different scale. You only know what’s optimal when it’s passed. You never know what works; you only know what doesn’t work. It’s best to let my mother do as much as she wants.”

img_6827David sleeps in the same room as his mother, wakes to her needs, and provides direct care for twelve nighttime hours. During the day he runs the household while a daytime aide is at her side. I wondered how he took care of himself. “If you’re engaged with what you’re doing, and you’re okay with it, you take care of yourself. It just happens as part of the process.”

How will we live tomorrow?

screen-shot-2016-10-02-at-3-41-45-pm“It’s always the same, constantly changing but repeating the same patterns. The way I see my house and how it’s evolving now, its slowly accommodating two people whose lives are slowing down. Yet as I manage that slowdown, I have to react fast to stay ahead of their changes.

“You know what’s going to happen. What is material will break down. The mystery is the timing. That’s what we cannot know.

“For me, I see that things don’t work institutionally. Everything is broken into categories. We are all myopic about things. But in the end, that’s not how we go.

“My mother is really just like everyone else. She has her wants and needs. The challenge is that she needs constant attention and management so you are much more involved in another person’s reality. She can’t change her perspective, you have to change yours.”

 

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Trip Log – Day 330 – Colorado Springs CO to Pueblo CO

Posted on October 3, 2016 by paulefallon

to-puebloSeptember 30, 2016 – Sun, 80 degrees

Miles Today: 48

Miles to Date: 17,192

States to Date: 45

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A beautiful day of rolling south with the mountains on my left and high desert on my right. My Colorado Springs host Kyle rode me to the end of the pavement, then I had fourteen miles of gravel before returning to blacktop outside of Pueblo. The Colorado plains are short of paved roads beyond the Interstate!

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Las Carnales serves up the best carne asada burrito on earth. After lunch I spent the afternoon at a busy, friendly library, then I explored Pueblo: a county courthouse worthy of a European nation, a $7 dollar buzz cut at a ‘cosmetology school and salon’, a drive-in convenience store where cars line up for ten minutes or more rather than park and walk into the store. Is there any limit to how lazy we can be?

imgresI stayed with a very agreeable host who lives opposite the coolest skate park I’ve seen on my journey. Allen is a retiree who moved to Colorado from Delaware in large part to indulge in the liberal marijuana laws. 420 sure does make a man mellow.

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Profile Response: Amarali Parman, Marietta GA

Posted on October 3, 2016 by paulefallon

HWWLT Logo on yellow“I live on Facebook. Messenger is convenient, and all-inclusive; my friends are there, my salespeople are there. I run my life and my business off Facebook.” Indeed, whenever I sent Amarali a Facebook message to arrange our meeting, he responded within a minute. In his home, he sat in a swivel chair with his feet up and Facebook on the screen while he talked. The line between physical and online conservation was a blur. What appeared on his Facebook page became part of our conversation and I imagine our discourse nourished his feed.

Ali is a 42-year-old Iranian whose parents immigrated to the US when he was a child during the Revolution. He owns a pair of Hookah shops outside of Atlanta; “It’s something to do.” His real passions are raising his three-year-old son Jacob, mastering Brazilian Jujitsu as a means to better physical health after swelling beyond 200 pounds, and coming to terms with dual relationship blows: first Jacob’s mother, followed by a recent fiancé. “After the pity party I decided to make a change. First, I put Jacob in a marital arts class. Then I joined as well. I go to nine or ten classes a week.” To meet Ali today, you’d never guess he weighed so much or ever hosted a pity party. Though, when I asked him my question, it was clear the guy has spent quite a bit of time reflecting.

How will we live tomorrow?

“In what sense? Environmentalism? Socialism? World impact? How deep do you want me to get?

“Racism will disappear as people integrate. That will not be a problem. Racism is fueled by culture. Tolerance and social equality will prevail. Ethno-centric beliefs will evaporate as we integrate and assimilate. Education has to change. Better education leads to better social connections.

But the difference between corporate wealth and the poor has to change. The multi-billionaires own the world and there are people starving. There is no balance. Over generations there will be fewer people in the world and the standard of living will rise. There may be a time when there are only rich people left. In the meantime, the more people there are, and the more people who are on fringes, the more crazy people there will be who act out and instigate killing.

imgres“We have to stop polluting the planet. Look at the Georgia Guide stones. They offer good direction.

“If society wizens up, technology will be the currency of tomorrow.

“They’re doing something called neuroimaging. You can fly a drone with your mental process alone. When machines learn to read our minds, then they will be able to read our memories. Then they will read our personalities. We will be able to upload our essence on a disk.

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“You know what a singularity is? If there’s an alien singularity in the universe, we could simply be existing in their thoughts. If we reach a singularity state, say we become a thousand times more intelligent than we are today, how much more complex will our dreams be? We could have dreams so complex we could envision our entire world in a dream. Perhaps we are nothing more than what is in their dreams? That’s what we call God.

“I don’t really know how we will live tomorrow. But it will get worse before it gets better.”

 

 

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Trip Log – Day 329 – Denver CO to Colorado Springs CO

Posted on October 2, 2016 by paulefallon

to-colorado-springsSeptember 29, 2016 – Sun, 80 degrees

Miles Today: 83

Miles to Date: 17,144

States to Date: 45

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My first day of fall foliage! Golden leaves along the South Platte as I headed south out of Denver. I followed the greenway all the way beyond the out loop (E-470) and then climbed to the Chatfield Reservoir. Like most water in the West, it sits high and offers spectacular views in all directions.

 

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After another unavoidable segment on gravel, which included carrying Tom over two railroad tracks, I followed the shoulder of US 85 for a short time until I turned onto Colorado 105 south for thirty miles of exquisite mountain scenery. Just as the noon siren sounded in Sedalia the wind picked up hard and fast and blew straight at me while I climbed 2,000 feet to Palmer Lake. By the time I reached Monument my thighs were burning. Still, I was astonished when the Colorado Springs Valley opened before me. The hazy sprawl that extends more than twenty-five miles along the I-25 corridor was a shock after miles of pristine countryside.

img_7546I navigated most of that distance on unfriendly six-lane roads lined with big-box stores. Eventually, I reached the Pike’s Peak Greenway, which follows Monument Creek in the shadow of I-25 through downtown, incidental as that is. Colorado Springs is a transient town with four military bases where everything appears to have been built in the last ten years, at SUV scale. I didn’t see any place pedestrian friendly or rooted in history. By the time I reached my host’s apartment on the far south side of town I was ready for a hot shower, good food, and stimulating conversation. All of which Lilly and Kyle provided.

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Responses: How will we live tomorrow?

Posted on October 2, 2016 by paulefallon

How will we live tomorrow?

“The signs around here say, ‘Let’s stop killing each other.’ They need to say, ‘Let’s start loving each other.’ We need more diversity. The coasts are more diverse than the Midwest. In St. Louis we have people moving to the suburbs in the west because they’re afraid. We have to build bridges instead of sprawl.

“Educated students make all the difference. They get educated and return here and make this community strong.”

Bob McCartland, father of Robbie McCartland, shot and killed five years ago, founder of Robbie McGartland Memorial Scholarship Fund, Ferguson, MO

How will we live tomorrow?

“Crappy. I have to work to pay the light bill.”

Jessica, big smiler, Mount Vernon, IN

How will we live tomorrow?

“I’m just trying to get through today.”

Elsie, VW peace van on T-shirt, Louisville, KY

How will we live tomorrow?

“Better than today.”

Aaron, Iran man competitor, Louisville, KY

How will we live tomorrow?

“I get up every morning and put one foot in front of the other. I thank God for what I have. I great everybody as positive as I can.”

Maria, Hawaii-born, St. Croix, IN

How will we live tomorrow?

“I will get up and kiss my grandbabies, then kiss my daughter, then feed my pets, then thank Jesus for the day. I’ll thank him for making me ten years clean. Without Him, I’m nowhere.”

Tracy, Citco Convenience, Santa Claus, IN

How will we live tomorrow?

“The best we can. That’s all be can do.”

Aunt Mary, works at Louisville Slugger since 1948, Louisville, KY

How will we live tomorrow?

“I think it ultimately boils down to what you decide, as an individual, to do with Jesus Christ.  He is the only person who ever claimed that “all authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me” and the only leader to ever apparently rise from the dead. All of that is either a myth, a fabrication or it’s the truth!  If it’s a myth or a fabrication, then it is of no consequence to us, but if it is true, then it changes everything.

“Personally, I’m convinced that all other questions pale by comparison to that one.  And we’ll not really know the right answers to all the other questions in life until we deal with the person for whom our calendar was reestablished.”

Dick Richard, Birmingham, AL

How will we live tomorrow?

“I hope I’ll live it good.”

Linda, Dollar Tree, Evansville, IN

How will we live tomorrow?

“Don’t know. You cannot judge what tomorrow will bring.”

Visnu Tailor, Hindi, Benton, IL

How will we live tomorrow?

“Tomorrow we will eat breakfast.”

Cora Bloom, age 8, Corydon, IN

How will we live tomorrow?

“People will drive cars without steering.”

Cora Bloom, whose imagination soars with a bit of prompting, Corydon, IN

How will we live tomorrow?

“The church library will look different.”

Gilead Bloom, age 5, Corydon, IN

How will we live tomorrow?

“Six feet under.”

Denise, Grandmother, Corydon, IN

How will we live tomorrow?

“We’re working to make Ferguson a triumph. It’s a challenge. We want to be a model community for integration. We thought we were, but we still have along way to go. We travel the world, wear our ‘I Heart Ferguson’ shirts, and tell people that our community is not what the media portrayed.”

Sue Ankenbrand, civic booster, Ferguson, MO

How will we live tomorrow?

“We still have to work out the policy issues. Now it’s hard to get ticketed, not just in Ferguson but in area communities as well. There is an incestuous relationship between prosecutors in some cities as judges in other cities. We are starting to clean that up.”

Ank Ankenbrand, ‘Keep Smiling and Stay Calm’ T-shirt, Ferguson, MO

How will we live tomorrow?

“More conscientious of our environment. Be gentle to Mother Earth.”

Jean Baer, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Church, Ferguson, MO

How will we live tomorrow?

“More freedom, less government.”

John Baer, Farmer’s Market shopper, Ferguson, MO

How will we live tomorrow?

“Being considerate. Everybody needs respect. In this community, a lot of young people just needed help. We just came together.”

Pam, founder of ‘I Heart Ferguson’, Ferguson, MO

How will we live tomorrow?

“Just barely.”

Sue, voter registrar, Ferguson, MO

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Trip Log – Day 328 – Denver CO

Posted on October 1, 2016 by paulefallon

to-denverSeptember 28, 2016 – Sun, 75 degrees

Miles Today: 2

Miles to Date: 17,061

States to Date: 45

img_7533I picked up Tom from his overhaul – he’s good as new. Maybe better, since we’ve had over 4,000 miles to get to know each other.

As we wound our way along the residential streets from Bike Source to my sisters, I thought about the creatures the two of us have met along the shoulder. Most of them, of course, are dead. Highway shoulders are where possums, squirrels, snakes, the occasional deer, and the tragic dog come to rest until the vultures descend to act out their role in the circle of life. But in Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado we also shared the shoulder with a parade of very alive creatures I’d never seen before: small, fuzzy centipedes that slither along the shoulder.

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One day I stopped and studied one of these fellows: a pair of curious creatures with plenty of time. He climbed up from the gravel and scurried along the shoulder. Like me, he stayed outside the white line. However, if he ventured into the traffic lane he wasn’t run over: he’s so light a passing vehicle simply tosses him in the air, lands him in the rubble, and then he climbed back on the shoulder again.

These crawlies are more prevalent on sunny days, which makes me think they’re attracted to the warm surface. I don’t know what they eat, because there can’t be much nourishment on the shoulder and they constantly struggle to get back on it rather than settle into the grass beyond. I don’t even know what they’re called – I cannot find a name to correspond to their appearance on Google.

Nevertheless, Tom and I are happy to have them around. It’s a pleasant diversion to dodge something other than carcasses.

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