Blue Boat Home

Presented at Groveland UU Fellowship, Sunday, January 29, 2006

Chalice Lighting (by Ben Stallings, based on Gaia Theory)

Here's my annual newsletter from January 2006 and accompanying photo collage, featuring photos from the latter half of my 2004-05 bike trip.

In the summer of 2004, I sold or gave away most of my possessions from my apartment in Minneapolis and hit the road on my bicycle for a year, pu

This morning I enjoyed the luxury of a hot breakfast followed by the luxury of staying indoors while a thunderstorm passed by.

I had planned to ride northwest and cross the St. Croix River into Minnesota at Stillwater, the same way I came in August, and ride into St. Paul on the Gateway State Trail.  But I missed a turn and was in Hudson, Wisconsin before I knew it... and so it made more sense to just cross the river there.

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on June 24, 2005]

I made it! I'm writing from St. Paul, the end of my wheeled migration. Here's what happened in the final week...

All night I listened to the howling of the Interstate, wondering how I lived with that banshee in my backyard for four years!  It was much more noticeable after two quiet nights.

I hit the road very early, hoping to avoid the heat of the day, which was forecast to be in the mid-90s F.  I followed Route 12 west from Menomonie -- a road I had avoided on the way out because it's a US highway, but now that I read the maps better I knew it was low-traffic, and it was quite a nice ride.

There was a lot of rustling in the leaves last night, most of it raccoons.  I had brought my food into my tent because this didn't seem like a place where the raccoons would be tame, and they weren't, but then I heard the unmistakable roar of a bear not far away!  It seemed to be angry at the raccoons, if I may make such a judgment from the swatting and chattering that followed.

The campground was eerily silent last night -- no crickets or frogs singing; not a single sound except for the occasional rustle of some animal going about its business.

Today was not nearly as much fun as recent days have been.  It was hot and humid, and there was no shade to be had on the road I was riding.  Before that started, though, I stopped for groceries in Tomahawk and met a man in a wheelchair who's done some touring both in a racing chair and a hand-cranked trike.

Forests gave way to tree farms as I rode into Woodruff this morning.  Northwoods Unitarian Universalist Fellowship has its own building -- which they paid off after 7 years and are planning to double in size -- and a congregation of about 60, but they only have services alternate weeks.  This being an off week, we watched a video and discussed it.