Trip Log – Day 254 –Poughkeepsie, NY to New York, NY

Posted on July 19, 2016 by paulefallon

Poughkeepsie to NYCJuly 16, 2016 – Sun, 90 degrees

Miles Today: 80

Miles to Date: 13,220

States to Date: 33

 IMG_6860In the west, I counted how many times I crossed the Continental Divide (six total). In the East, I’m tallying how often I cross the Appalachian Trail (three times to date). Today I met up with a through hiker, trail name Shaggy, at a convenience store during a Gatorade stop. Shaggy was heading north, traveling solo and looking forward to entering Connecticut, while I continued south to The Big Apple.

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The day was hot, but I had many miles of very nice rail trail. Unfortunately, I got off track at the snarly intersection of I-287 and I-87 (a bike path gets lost in all that spaghetti). So, I simply rode west until I hit the Hudson and came into the city on US 9 south, through lovely river towns along the Palisades.

IMG_6864When I reached The Bronx, I stopped for a well-deserved malt at the first old school luncheonette I came upon. My waitress, Rudi, was a great introduction to the city: a sassy immigrant grandmother with great stories about tomorrow.

I meandered through Riverdale to my host’s for the night. Hillary Brown is a fellow architect and Haiti enthusiast. Lucky me, Hilary has an apartment with a lovely garden, where we enjoyed appetizers, an outdoor pool, where we took a refreshing swim, and a balcony with phenomenal Hudson views, where we ate a leisurely supper and talked and talked until, all of sudden, it was late.

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Profile Response: Alice Rubin, General Manager, Willimantic Food Coop, Willimantic, CT

Posted on July 19, 2016 by paulefallon

HWWLT Logo on yellowNot many businesses would fill in the front parking with native plants and a patio. But the whole point of cooperatives is to do business differently. The green front yard in front of the former A&P turned Willimantic Food Coop is a welcome relief from the adjacent hard surface streets.

 

The Willimantic Food Coop began in 1980 and has been in its current location for ten years. Alice, who joined Connecticut’s largest coop in 1984 and has been here ever since, has witnessed our country’s evolution toward embracing healthier eating and more organic foods. “The Alar scareIMG_6803 in 1987 focused attention on organics. There’s been increasing interest ever since.” However, the organic market represents a small portion of the food sold in this country. “We are lucky here. We don’t have direct competition. The nearest Whole Foods is thirty minutes away in Glastonbury.” Still, Alice is not inclined to rest in that position. “Our objective is to make high quality food affordable to everyone. We really try to keep our prices in line.”

Screen Shot 2016-07-18 at 12.51.41 PMAlice explained that a cooperative is a not-for profit, which is not the same as a non-profit. The Coop has a governing board and charges lower prices to members, but it pays taxes like any other business. The challenge is to make some profit, but not too much. “Last year we made $15,000 on $5 million in sales, which is a good target. Profits are not distributed to members; Connecticut’s cooperative law, dating from 1897, forbids that. Instead, profits are distributed as staff bonuses, capital improvements, or charitable donations.

 

 

IMG_6797Willimantic Food Coop is more than a thriving business with 32 employees in an economically challenged region. It is also a catalyst for local and organic farmers. “There is a resurgence in farming. It’s difficult in Connecticut, where plots are small and land prices high. A decade or two ago, older farmers got out of the business and no one wanted to do that work. Now, there are more people interested in farming.”

How will we live tomorrow?

IMG_6801“I’m more of a futures person. I’d like us to scale back and live more simply. I hardly buy anything. I hardly drive. But I don’t see others doing the same.”

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Trip Log – Day 253 – Danbury, CT to Poughkeepsie, NY

Posted on July 18, 2016 by paulefallon

to PoughkeepsieJuly 15, 2016 – Sun, 90 degrees

Miles Today: 55

Miles to Date: 13,140

States to Date: 33

 IMG_6843Connecticut is a state of beautiful, hilly terrain, lavish suburbs, and poor cities. ‘Home rule’ is big in this corner of New England; it shows through giant contrasts from place to place. I managed to get turned around in Danbury today (I seem to tack on five miles of misdirection every day) but rather enjoyed the inner core of this city rich in Brazilian immigrants. Fortunately, Danbury is not nearly so desolate as other Connecticut cities. Entrepreneurism triumphs, as in this house with a front yard cornfield.

IMG_6844As soon as I crossed the New York State line, I was happy to leave the serpentine climbs through dense woods as the landscape opened up to the majesty of the Hudson River Valley. The slogan, ‘Empire State’ seems appropriate.

 

 

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I reached Hyde Park after one, and treated myself to an incredible lunch at the Culinary Institute of America. My Danbury host studied cooking there and recommended the Apple Pie Cafe. Food so good even a guy who ‘eats to fuel’ can appreciate. CIA is as much tourist attraction as school – the place was hopping on a Friday afternoon.

imgresTwo miles upriver, I visited the FDR Museum and Library, where I met with an archivist at the first presidential library to talk about their work.

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Profile Response – Kristin, Capeway Convenience, Middleboro, MA

Posted on July 18, 2016 by paulefallon

HWWLT Logo on yellow“I’m so sorry, the kitchen is closed on Sunday.” Kristin explained with great concern in her voice, the moment I walked in the store. Obviously, I looked hungry. I found a few packaged items that I could call lunch. She rang them up, rounded my total down to skip any change, and we started chatting.

“We all have to take responsibility. We all have to work together. It isn’t about gun control, it’s about people.” The recent spate of murders; unarmed black men killed by police in St. Paul and Baton Rouge followed five police officers in Dallas doesn’t even get referenced. The new round of shootings has eclipsed last week’s Orlando massacre in everyone’s mind.

IMG_6754Kristin’s been working at Capeway Convenience for five years. Four years ago Henry Patel, an immigrant from India, took over the place. “I love working for him. He has great ideas; I learn new stuff every day.”

Kristin has a way of finding the bright side of any situation. She suffers from lupus, has had a series of close friends die of addiction, and her daughter died a few months after she was born. “That put my life in a whole new perspective.” She counters each setback by coming back, stronger. “My parents have been married 54 years. They are my rock.” Last week, another friend died of an overdose, leaving two young daughters. “What is going to happen to them? They are starting life at a disadvantage. The chain doesn’t break.”

“The poorest people on this earth are always the nicest. I work in a convenience store, but when people ask me how I am, I say ‘I’m living the dream.’ I always stay upbeat.”

How will we live tomorrow?

IMG_6752“We all need to sit down and talk. People need to start getting along.”

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Trip Log – Day 252 – Hartford CT to Danbury, CT

Posted on July 17, 2016 by paulefallon

to NewtownJuly 14, 2016 – Clouds, 85 degrees

Miles Today: 79

Miles to Date: 13,085

States to Date: 33

My navigation strategy – plotting a route on goggle maps for bicycles the night before, writing it down in my small pad to cement it to memory and provide a written reference as I ride – works pretty well everywhere but in the Northeast, where traffic on the main roads is fierce and unmarked side roads twist upon themselves like wisteria vines. I left Hartford with four pages of directions, and knew it would be a day of constant reference to my pad and my phone as I missed turn after turn.

IMG_6836I visited several more post-industrial cities in this land of bygone manufacturing. Waterbury, the Brass City which I explored in depth for my novel, Weekends in Holy Land, is toothless as the glazed over people with bad teeth wandering its streets. The drug problems here are immense.

I rode to Newtown for the incompatible objectives of visiting Sandy Hook Elementary School and eating at the Blue Colony Diner, one of my all time favorites. Unfortunately, I hit so many snags on my route I couldn’t stall my hunger that long. I ate lunch on a bench along the bikIMG_6838e path in Middlebury, but held out for an awesome Blue Colony dessert when I got there about 3 p.m.
A light rain began to fall by the time I got to Sandy Hook, which has been renamed and has no reference or memorial that I could decipher. A full-blown thundershower followed. By the time I got to Newtown Center, I was drenched. Then, the sun came out. I wrung everything out and dried off during my final ten miles to Danbury.

My host, Rick, is a chef. After a shower that washed away the trials of travel, we enjoyed a superb dinner, including homemade brew. Good food and good company evaporate hardship.

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Responses – How will we live tomorrow?

Posted on July 17, 2016 by paulefallon

HWWLT Logo on yellowHow will we live tomorrow?

“We need more respect. We need respect for our President, no matter what you think of his program. I’m hoping people will wake up and take care of what’s around us. We need the UN to be stronger, to work toward one world. People have so much prejudice and ignorance, which is the same thing. Trump goes off, then thinks better of it and apologizes. You can’t do that as President. If you’re going to criticize the Pope, how are you going to deal with Putin?”

Gene Broussard, retired from Shell oil, Jeanerette, LA

How will we live tomorrow?

“I was so responsible in my twenties. Then I said you have to fun every day. You live each day, as the cliché says, like its your last. You enjoy every moment with nature and interaction with people.”

Angie Troutman, skydiver, Ocean Springs, LA

How will we live tomorrow?

“We are planning Mississippi’s first dragon boat race: one drummer, twenty rowers and a guy on the tiller.”

Charlie, contractor, Ocean Springs, LA

How will we live tomorrow?

“We need to get back to conversations. Texting and social media have cramped our social ability. You can spin everything.”

Diane, coffee drinker, Ocean Springs, LA

How will we live tomorrow?

“We need a balance between introverts and extroverts. Our society has revered extroverts for too long.”

Sue, self-described introvert, Ocean Springs, LA

How will we live tomorrow?

“You have to live for today. You have to have goals for tomorrow. The goals have to be achievable but you have to work toward them.”

Diane, iPhone expert user, Ocean Springs, LA

How will we live tomorrow?

“Everything we do is empowering communities to a lifetime of service with the homeless. We are not transactional. We are about community. Communities create relationships, which restore dignity. It’s a messy business.”

Thomas Aitchison, Community First, Austin, TX

How will we live tomorrow?

“Very carefully if we don’t shape up.”

Bobby Sapers, Community First carpenter, Austin, TX

How will we live tomorrow?

“My biggest worry is the political realm. It’s a bunch of crazy people. They are batshit and yet people are listening to them.”

Cynthia Beeman, Historian, Austin, TX

How will we live tomorrow?

“I want to be more positive and more open-minded to other people and other people lives.”

Max Anderson, cyclist, Austin, TX

How will we live tomorrow?

“I will live with great sadness in my heart, but I am grateful to be here. I am grateful for life. I hope that one day I will not be sad, but I don’t know when that will be. My dad died in 2007, my brother in 2013, and I never allowed myself to be sad for them.”

Mita, whose mother recently died, Austin, TX

How will we live tomorrow?

“Similar to how we live today, but little more friendly.”

Carlos, Deepak Chopra devotee, Austin, TX

How will we live tomorrow?

“This craziness we are seeing is a chaotic transfer to a new level of understanding.”

Steve Paul Stamos, juice lover, Austin, TX

How will we live tomorrow?

“From my world, I am going to live as I do today. I have a work I like. I have a family I look after. As time goes by I might take up other things I enjoy. I shepherd my family as much as I can. As far as the world is concerned I’d like to live in a Bernie Sanders world with political power. I want our social world to be more open than it is now.”

Mark Burr, physician, Austin, TX

How will we live tomorrow?

“I live for today. Tomorrow doesn’t exist.”

Sam Burr, student, Austin, TX

How will we live tomorrow?

“Community is important. My world of work dominates my life. They’ve downsized and we have less free time. I’d like to go back to Haiti, to be freer, to be more of a free spirit.”

Lisa Burr, clinician, Austin, TX

How will we live tomorrow?

“Scares me to death. Not for me, I’ll be dead. I worry for my grandchildren.”

Mary Smith, volunteer, George Bush Library, College Station, TX

How will we live tomorrow?

“What’s on my mind is to acknowledge truth in biology and algebra, my favorite subjects. I struggle with English because I am challenged by syntax intense. We need education to create a better tomorrow.”

Tommy Hudson, ninth-grade students with cystic fibrosis, College Station, TX

How will we live tomorrow?

“I am going to follow my artistic pursuits.”

Dave Hudson, landscape architect, College Station, TX

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Trip Log – Day 251 –Mansfield, CT to Hartford CT

Posted on July 16, 2016 by paulefallon

to HartfordJuly 13, 2016 – Sun, 90 degrees

Miles Today: 36

Miles to Date: 13,006

States to Date: 33

IMG_6808The only thing better than a solid breakfast – is two solid breakfasts. My vegan host Tony made me an awesome smoothie with so many ingredients I can’t begin to recall: thick and creamy and just a tad chocolaty. Then I pushed myself over one hill to enjoy another breakfast with an immigrant mom and her daughter at the Thread City Diner in Willimantic, which makes the largest and tastiest pancakes anywhere.

imagesBy the time I rolled out of town the day was already hot, so I opted against the paved route along US 6 for the gravel bike path through Bolton Center. Not speedy, but shady and cool. I persevered East Hartford and took the snazzy pedestrian bridge over the Connecticut Rive to downtown Hartford. I had an afternoon appointment at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, which is unique among house museums in having a strong focus on social justice and putting the author and abolitionist’s work in today’s context.

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Trip Log – Day 250 – North Kingstown, RI to Mansfield, CT

Posted on July 15, 2016 by paulefallon

to WillimanticJuly 12, 2016 – Clouds, 75 degrees

Miles Today: 63

Miles to Date: 12,770

States to Date: 33

I thought today was going to be about hills, but it turned out to be about Pokémon Go and Rumanian moonshine.

IMG_6784I faced a half-mile of vertical rise over sixty miles; a good workout on a clear, warm summer day. Riding west in this land of north/south valleys means hill after hill. In the middle I did have seven beautiful miles on the Coventry and Trestle bike paths, but even they were a solid upgrade.

Rhode Island must have been unhappy I only planned one day there; I got massively lost searching for a bike path that didn’t exist, and spun another five miles in Little Big Rhody before reaching the Connecticut line.

IMG_6789I needed a serious lunch, so camped out in Riverview Restaurant in Plainfield. A big fried chicken sandwich with French fries served up with loud country music. Then I pedaled twenty more hard miles to reach Willimantic by four, where I talked with the General Manager of Connecticut’s largest coop about how will we live tomorrow.

By the time I reached my warmshowers’ host in Mansfield, the preliminaries of day were over and party time began. Tony Malloy, a vegan body builder and IT guru for UConn Library, invited several friends for some of the best food of my trip. This vitamix magician made a great Mexican dinner of gazpacho, lentil/walnut/tomato paste as a hearty meat alternative, and all kinds of toppings, plus Corona, Modelo and Plum Palinka, a Rumanian liquor so strong the vapors alone knocked me back.

IMG_6795Although our dinner conversation kicked off with a typically academic discussion of the value of ‘Open Education’ textbooks, we soon got to truly important stuff, like how Pokémon Go has captivated the world in five short days. Even me, on my bike, had heard of it and seen people wandering aimlessly with their eyes glued to their phone. Two people in our group downloaded the app then and there and proceeded to ball toss the imaginary Pokémon who appeared on the dining room table and in the corner of the kitchen. Anyone feeling Alpha male barked at Tony’s Amazon Alexa, who could play any song we could think of at any volume, and seemed pleased to be yelled at.

Quote of note: “Cats are good practice for dealing with people on their own terms.”

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Trip Log – Day 249 – Berkley, MA to North Kingstown, RI

Posted on July 14, 2016 by paulefallon

to WarwickJuly 11, 2016 – Clouds, 80 degrees

Miles Today: 47

Miles to Date: 12,707

States to Date: 32

 IMG_6764I enjoyed another fifteen miles of bucolic Southeast Massachusetts before landing – kerplunk – on the hot streets of East Providence, a hard surfaced Italian community bisected by I-195. The new pedestrian / bicycle bridge over the Seekonk River is a terrific addition and makes getting into Providence very easy.

 

IMG_6766I pedaled through Federal Hill and Brown University. Brown caught a wave of publicity as few years ago, both positive and not so, when it addressed how the slave trade benefitted the university. One upshot was the creation of the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. I contacted the group but, alas, academicians are pretty much gone in July. I did seek out the slave trade monument, which includes a tablet that describes Brown’s relationship to the slave trade. It concludes, “Brown University was a beneficiary of this trade.” I am not sure of the impact a monument like this has, but applaud its attempt to link past grievances with current reality. The university also has a simple, but very effective monument to alumni war dead. I liked that balance as well.

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None of the ‘official’ connections I tried to make in Providence panned out, so I spent the afternoon outside Serendipity Gourmet, where I met all kinds of locals, cafe style. Providence is a livable city with a good urban feel. And lunch costs about half of what it would in Boston.

There is a great bike path that leads out of town. I cycled most of the way with a friendly commuter. Then seven miles on US Route 1, which was not the most fun part o the day. It’s been more than a year since I was on US 1 in Maine. I imagine I will be on it many more times as I head down the East Coast.

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My host for the night, Sharon Pickering, lives in Wickford Point, a ‘New Urbanism’ development with charming houses that sit quite close and share amenities like a dock and beach. Sharon moved there from a big house on two acres in Massachusetts. I am always interested in people who choose to live closer to others. Wickford Point is hardly dense, but it is very well designed to support community while maintaining privacy.

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Trip Log – Day 248 – Onset, MA to Berkley, MA

Posted on July 13, 2016 by paulefallon

 

to BerkleyJuly 10, 2016 – Clouds, 60 degrees

Miles Today: 36

Miles to Date: 12,660

States to Date: 31

Southeast Massachusetts is probably the least appreciated sector of my home state. Fall River, New Bedford, and Taunton are often considered maritime has-beens, currently home to Cape Verdeans, Portuguese, and other immigrants. The countryside is considered less vibrant than Cape Cod, less dramatic than the Berkshires, and less tony than the North Shore. Like all stereotypes, these are incomplete truths.

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I started the day with a morning walk through Onset, which has all the enchanting light and mood of the Cape without having to cross those dang bridges. I spent the day traveling obscure country roads past soggy bogs, pristine period houses, and a good deal of funk. Since Southeast Massachusetts is much less expensive than the rest of the state, the counter culture element is more real than imagined.

By the time I reached Berkley I had traversed into another geologic zone. Onset is a sandbar with houses a few feet above the water. Berkley sits on one of the many granite ridges that define New England’s mainland: long peninsula’s separated by deep rivers run north/south, as if scratched out of the land like giant fingers squeezed down on a chalkboard. My friend Ted lives high above the Assonet River: 68 granite steps descend from his house to his boat.

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