Days Two and Three

Just discovered WiFi at an Iowa rest stop, so here's a report from yesterday, Wednesday, April 6th:

Day two on the road. Frayed nerves and doubt. What have I gotten myself into? Coast to coast is a long stretch of road! I’m grappling with the reality that I’m a nomad now, that I’ve got no home, no routine. I miss Bear Mountain as much as I suspect Gus does—all those familiar sights and smells. I’ve always been a homebody, comfortable in routine. I find serenity in knowing where I can kick up my feet. So it’s no wonder I’m anxious and have been feeling waves of nausea. How do traveling businessmen do it? A different bed, shower, toilet every night; road food; semis passing with their towering loads. Yet, there’s a sense of independence and freedom I feel from the journey so far. There’s nothing tying me down, I’m journeying all the way across America by myself. What have I learned so far? Time passes differently in a moving vehicle—not necessarily faster or slower but with something like less awareness of its passage. Lost in a few songs, you check your mileage and you’ve gone 70 miles and an hour’s passed. It certainly seems as though I could have been an hour, so it didn’t fly by. You just haven’t been all that aware of the fact that you’re sitting behind the wheel driving.

I made it to Indiana today. I’d hoped to get as far as Elkhart, but I was tired and poor Gus had been strapped in his harness long enough. I’m lying in bed at a motel in Fremont, Indiana, a miserable little town with nothing more than an outlet mall and a smattering of hotels and bad restaurants. Over soup and salad dinner at a little dive down the road, the two old couples next to me were bashing liberals. It was all I could do not to tell them that not everyone believes abortion is evil, war is good, fear-mongers and spendthrifts and lying capitalists make great leaders. I’m traveling through Bush country. Maybe tomorrow I’ll wear my tee shirt that reads “Save the Trees Not the Bushes.”

There’s no WiFi here, just dial-up, and of course it’s not working. But it’s probably just as well. I’m tired. I’m going to read a few pages in the Ambrose book on Meriwether Lewis and then call it a night. Talk about a guy blazing a trail to the west! I’m glad Mike Hegs lent the book to me.

4/6/2005

My first stop in Iowa has reminded me what a great state it is! It's by far the cleanest facility I've stopped at---and it has free WiFi! It's sunny, breezy and warm. The grass is green, the hills all corn stubble not yet tilled. Gus and I walked around looking for morels, but no luck. Might be too early here still. It kills me to think that they're past their prime in Oregon, and that I'll miss them in New York. But I'm determined to find at least some between here and Dutch Henry Homestead.

Okay, onward and upward. I'm hoping to make it to Nebraska by dark. I've decided to skip the visit to Ames. I'd rather get the miles behind me and have more time in Portland next week.

Pictures to come soon.