Greetings from central Indiana!

Wow, a lot of time has crept in between last post and this one, as well as three more intervening states.  But I have been journaling faithfully.  During this time I have been blessed to have many great reunions With previous benefactors, and and made lots of wine offerings, among various other types. Very gratifying and right in the spirit of this venture.  And speaking of 'spirit' -- it's really felt as if I am being properly looked after, through forces great and small. THANK YOU! -- A sentiment I notice feeling daily, if not hourly at times.

The last entry came at the start of the plains, and it's been agribusiness ever since...  Animal agriculture especially continues to be the very troubling norm.  Have the feed lots expanded?  And is the land devoted to growing animal feed (and ethanol) vaster than ever?  There seems to be growing awareness of plant-based food choices, but as mentioned already, a growing population - both in size and numbers - may be canceling out the gains in nutrition consciousness!   

One can find surprisingly good produce and 'vegan-ish' products in obscure places.  Many folks I've met share a concern about the future of the planet and of humanity.  Can I hold concern (sometimes bordering on despair) and gratitude, together at the same time?  Apparently so.  The other day I woke up to birdsong and a morning cup of tea in a beautiful camping spot at the Indiana Dunes Nat'l Park.  And thought - can't I just be grateful for what we still have?  Instead of obsessing about what is being lost?  Both are important, no doubt.  

I find myself thinking, somewhat cynically,  as I observe acres of construction  happening in some places (commercial, residential and highway infrastructure) - well, burgeoning humanity has to have something to do!  Sadly, there are also many depressed areas falling to bits...  The farther east I get, the older the average age of many structures.  It's interesting and kind of sad to see the contrast between ones that are tidy and beautifully restored, and the ones with peeling paint and hanging shutters (shutters?).  Deferred maintenance!  What about salvaging some boards from those buildings that are listing precariously and ready to fall? This sort of question may have to pass to the next generation...  But I can see lots of potential for the salvage industry.

Better quit now; I'm rambling.

Post Earth Day notes

 Did I forget to mention that I'm driving this time??  Maybe so, but you've figured that out, of course.  This is a trip that I've been planning for some years now.  It took time to acquire funds, vehicle, camper top, and pull the thing together.  At this point, the blog is just for me.  I have progressed on a loose plan to publish a transcription of my walk notes, whenever I can figure out how to include photos - with captions(!).  The entries from this year will serve as a last chapter, or postscript.  

Wild camping near Moab, UT, and an awe inspiring drive along the Colorado River canyon.  Had another couple of great reunions with friends near SLC and later in Glenwood Canyon.  Made it over the high mountain passes (Vail and Loveland) after a day's pause with the GC couple in their very cool house at a few thousand feet higher up.  Took a break visiting a hot spring spa, which I did again in Idaho Springs on the way down from the mountains.  I must say that the Interstate highway has really taken a beating from a long winter's weather and maintenance that hasn't begun.  Some of those holes were so deep that I felt I might be bounced into the next lane!

Earth Day was yesterday!  I am feeling various regrets about the state of the Earth, and the awareness that this week I'll depart from Ft. Collins, CO and be driving through beef stockyard country, and onward to the agri-business plains of eastern Colorado and points beyond.  Have heard/seen various recent media reports about the connection between animal agriculture and bird flu type viruses.  Also the hope that we might partially mitigate the damage we are causing on the planet by adopting plant-based eating.  Do I see reasons for encouragement??  Sure, there are pockets of awareness everywhere, but there is also so much more humanity, that it feels like a very uphill struggle!  Nevertheless, she persisted...  Maybe I can (cautiously) advance the VHEMT philosophy here and there!  I don't kid myself that this trip is meant to elevate that climate conversation in any way.  It is so far addressing my curiosity, as well as giving me a chance to express gratitude to/for the many generous folks I met last time, and am meeting now for the first time!  

Other photos will have to wait.  But here's 'Bob'!  (Enjoying sunset in one of our wild camping spots.)

Gratitude Mission -- And the Wildflowers are Rioting

 Never expected to hear from me again?  Neither did I!  But here I am on a followup mission, retracing my walk route and calling on as many folks as I can who helped me navigate, sleep, eat etc. on my last trip through here and generally offered walk-sustaining moral support.  Intention is to express thanks and make some small offerings.   Am now in Spanish Fork, UT.

Challenges this time, as one would expect, are very different.  But let me start in California...  Awesome visits with my friends/sponsors on the ranch in the Central Valley, as well as another friend on the Coast and yet another in Kernville.  So I saw some of the fallout from winter flooding inland and on the central coast, and also got to enjoy some ocean waves before starting inland.  As mentioned above, many of the hillsides all along the way were totally carpeted with wildflowers, so much so that it could be seen from space in satellite view!  

People were pulled off the road everywhere gawking and taking photos of the masses of yellow, orange blue.  These photos hardly capture the drama of the expanses.  After a ride up Route 395 on the east side of the Sierras I branched off to Route 6 after Bishop, CA.  All of the passes over the Sierras were closed that far north, and the trailhead park for the PCT is not going to open until June(!), when they think they can clear all of the snow. 

In the Nevada desert I was guided to a very remote hot spring that I never would have found without help. No signs at all.  Got lucky, I guess.  Heard later that the campsite can be overrun by herds of noisy and inconsiderate campers.  But the one guy(Mike) I spoke with at any length was great.  Then on to Tonopah where I had a reunion with Kevin and his family, who had sheltered me on the walk.  And later met up with two Carols, also my gracious hosts on the remote stretch of Route 6.

Weather very changeable.  In Tonopah I was in a T-shirt during the day.  But that night the tempurature dropped into the 20's!!  I barely stayed warm in my pop-up tent and didn't try to heat water in the AM.  It was stingingly cold and I had some trouble just pulling down my tent top with stiffly painful fingers.  The next day it continued cold enough that I stayed indoors overnight at the now-less-well-run Border Inn at the Utah state line.  Which brings me to the relative, occasional poignance of this version of my last decade's walk -  the graphic examples of the 'arising and passing away' of the stuff of our material world.  While I am 'chuffed' to see some of the places where I camped or remembered for various reasons, there are also those places that have suffered closures/abandonment, either through attrition or the Covid years.  Let alone the intense winter that seems to have been felt throughout the western states.  The mountains are looking amazing and forbidding; snow is everywhere and at pretty low elevations.  It'll be interesting (possibly scary?) to see what weather conditions I'll encounter along the way.

SAFE TRAVELS! as everyone says.