Chapter 8- Bowling for Bicyclists
After getting lost several times trying to find Holly’s house, I swallowed my pride and called her. She was waiting for me outside (I had to call several times for the right directions). After getting settled, she took me to the community garden in St. Cloud to pick veggies. We then met up with her friends, Maggie and Paul. We cooked dinner with produce that we gathered from the garden and drank local beer (this was a common theme amongst my Couchsurfing hosts, I basically got to sample beer from all over the country). It got late quickly but before I went to bed, I made plans to meet up with Paul and Maggie in the morning as Holly was busy.
I met them at the local coffee shop, Meeting Grounds, at around noon and I met another friend, Kelly, who worked there. Holly joined us there for lunch and when Maggie had to leave for an appointment, Paul and I went shopping at local bookstores and vintage shops. I found a bunch of old vintage greeting cards and a handmade journal so that I could start writing everything by hand. I was having an increasingly difficult time trying to write without my glasses, which I had left in Washington State and hoped Ian would mail to me one day. We went over to Paul’s house and listened to old classic records, and tons of David Bowie. Maggie got home and we snacked on bagels topped with cream cheese and purple kimchee. I wanted to make Eggplant Parmesan dinner for everyone, so I called Holly and asked her to pick four ripe eggplants from the garden on her way home from work and a bunch of basil. We went to the grocery store for supplies and rushed back to Holly’s to get started on the preparations. Paul and Maggie were a great help, I don’t think I would have finished the massive feast before midnight otherwise.
I suggested that we go bowling that night because there was a special that I saw on a sign for that night ($15 for bowling until midnight, plus free pizza and beer). Kay, who was the other most active Couchsurfing hostess in town, came over for the dinner and we began a long night of debauchery. She had made arrangements for me to stay with some friends of hers in St. Paul, and urged me to spend a few days there. I had no problems with that suggestion because when one is travelling alone, those choices become easy.
After eating dinner, everyone happened to have bicycles and so we rode our bike posse over to the bowling alley, all the while singing ridiculous songs and dodging cars. We drank beer as fast as we could in order to get our monies' worth and played three action packed games of bowling. We were the loudest bunch there and did synchronized bowling, took hilarious pictures and had raunchy conversations. These were some of the funniest moments I had so far, bowling balls were being tossed in the air, we swiveled bowling alley chairs over and over, spilling beer everywhere. We returned to the house, and hung out a bit longer, even though Holly had to leave early that morning for work. She was generous and even let me have her bed, she slept on the floor in her living room (who does that? Holly of course, one of the best hosts I have met). I was up extra early that morning, my body was used to rising with the sun during those summer days. It took me hours to get all my things together, probably because I was very hungover. I stopped by the coffee shop on the way out of town, said goodbye to Kay and Kelly who both worked there and was on my way.
The countryside was once again a maze of corn and soybeans. There was a bald eagle just hanging out, munching on a dead raccoon in the middle of the street. It was a funny scene, but mostly because I hadn't seen a car in a half hour, so the road was a perfectly good place for an eagle to have an afternoon snack. I made up a song about Amish people, to keep myself entertained between hours of just practicing being in the moment, taking in all the sights and sounds. All this was fine until I got lost. I was in the midst of one of the millions of ever-changing country roads had a different name every five miles, there was no way of me knowing which road I was on, all I had was a flip phone and a hand drawn map (I usually drew maps when I was in a town for the next couple hundred miles, but that way no help in this case).
At that point, I saw a highway sign and decided to just follow Highway 10 into St. Paul, I didn't even have a decent map of the area so this seemed just fine to me. The bike maps that I did have would have taken me far north of St. Paul, and I had a place to stay so I figured it was fine. I followed my internal compass, heading south for about ten miles. I found the freeway and pit stopped at a town called Becker for a salad buffet, I found out that two full plates of salad and a bowl of soup can really stuff a hungry man. My eating habits were still not very healthy at this stage but I didn't have a budget of more than $20 a day for every possible thing I needed, so cheap buffets and greasy diners became attractive. I never spent money at campgrounds if I could help it, choosing to be creative or camping in the wild. I always ate one meal in the morning out and cooked and snacked the rest on my camping stove. There were many times that I didn't spend a single penny for several days in a row and when I got to a town, I could buy a beer to celebrate with hosts or a meal out, or groceries. The highway was uneventful for a long time, but soon the shoulder disappeared as I reached each town, so I weaved through traffic as I needed to. As I got closer to “The Cities”, I became very nervous about the Highway I was on because there were on-ramps about every half mile, meaning I had to cross lanes of fast moving cars on the highway. I realized that this was no longer the country highway, when I passed a sign that read “no bikes allowed” in a town called Coon Rapids. I had to remove myself from that insanity, cars blaring horns, and I realized then why my bike maps took me far north of St. Paul.
I spotted a White Castle, so I broke my no fast food rule and ordered some hormone-pumped beef sliders. I wasn’t really sure how I was going to get to St. Paul that night, and I didn't want to spend money on a map from the gas station. After my meaty gut bomb, I found a park-and-ride nearby and waited for a bus to come. The bus driver informed me that this was an express route and I was at the end of his route. I explained to him my stuck situation and luckily his bus was heading back to the terminal in St. Paul, and he was a nice guy. I still had to pay the man five dollars, but that was better than being stuck out twenty miles or more from my destination. So here was one moment where I didn't pedal my bike due to the city not having a clear bike route in, and there are plenty of places like this in the USA)
I called Holly's friends, Stephanie and James, and told them that I was on a bus heading their direction. The bus dropped me off about five miles away from their house. On the way there, I was riding around a very large park on East side of town and I met a man who had a monkey on his shoulder; he had the monkey defanged and it was wearing swimming shorts, go figure. I didn't know monkeys had fangs, either. Stephanie and James were waiting on their front stoop for me to arrive, and I was exhausted at that point. They offered me yet another variety of Minnesota beer, and we made dinner together, this time is was fried green tomatoes. They had made up a nice futon on the floor upstairs for me, and I was very happy to have yet another comfortable bed to sleep in. Other than camping, the entire trip was made possible by a website called Couchsurfing.org. In order to join, you had to get verified to prove you aren't a creep and then a host would put you up for a night or two for free. I almost always brought a gift for them. I had hosted many people before leaving Seattle, so I had many positive reviews, making it easy for me to find hosts as they trusted my reviews. Now that's some great social credit!
I was excited for the next day because this was the first town that I had been to that had more than fifty thousand people since I embarked on my adventure. Holly informed me that Daniel Johnston was performing at the famous First Avenue music venue that coming night. That day I wanted to explore the city on foot, so I left my bike at the house and got a ride into downtown Minneapolis from Stephanie and had coffee at Dunn Brothers; one of the employees, a very hyper, slightly chubby guy who was probably very caffeinated gave me directions to some of the local places in town to check out.
I walked across town to Electric Fetus to buy tickets for James, Holly and me. I strolled over to the Art Institute (which was free that day). The first thing that I saw was the Doryphorus, apparently this was one of four copies of the statue of David of which the others are located in places such as the Vatican. The museum had an extensive collection of art from all over the world, spanning thousands of years of history.
My favorite exhibits were a series of hanging scrolls from China depicting mountains, villages and floral motifs. There was also an excellent collection of Buddhist art, sculptures, and artifacts, art deco, modern art and local art. I left the museum nearly four hours later, ate delicious Vietnamese food, and caught a bus to the Sculpture Park near the Walker Museum.
The park was beautiful and unique; it had interactive sculptures including a large kinetic metal installation made of I-beams and thick wire. I climbed on and used my weight to make the heavy beams move. The park also had a giant spoon bridge with ten foot cherry on top, a large glass-scaled fish sculpture in a greenhouse and carved marble poetry.
The best spot in the park was where I meditated for about an hour under a very straight row of birch trees that had hundreds of wind chimes strung up throughout them, the sound was mesmerizing, and was probably the second time I felt I could have left my body if I wanted to. I watched as people would just stop in their tracks as they neared the symphony of sounds. It was an ever-changing dance of high and low pitches, hollow and ringing as the wind moved through the leaves and pushed against the bells. Time ceased to exist. It went on forever. This is how to find peace in the middle of a metropolis.
On this trip, I lived on very little money. I had no bills except to pay for my flip phone, no keys, and about $3,000 in my bank from selling my car and possessions. I had a return ticket out of JFK for mid October, which gave me plenty of time to explore the country and still be able to come back to Seattle. Since I had been laid off from my job in Seattle, I was also receiving small unemployment deposits (first time in my life I had received these benefits). There was no plan but to make it across the country and not run out of money and to find a new career outside of Architecture.
One of my goals on this trip was to make it as far as Boston and then go to Martha’s Vineyard, as I always wanted to go there for some reason. I talked with my close friend Sandra, who lived on Martha‘s Vineyard, about finding a little work on the island, but no luck. I did plan to go there anyway and stay with Sandra for a while. Stephanie called me and came to pick me up. We went back to the house and met Holly there, who came down from St. Cloud to come to the show that night. We made Caprese sandwiches and had a couple of brews before we rode bicycles down to the show. Daniel Johnston was incredible, he doesn't sing on key very well which is part of his charm and he can't play the guitar to save his life but some would say that this is exactly what makes him special. He has a tenacity that most people don't, most would give up trying given the mental and physical limitations that he has; he put on a great show that night. Daniel was only able to strum about five songs on his guitar and he had a guitarist strum the rest of the songs for him as he sang.
Holly introduced a friend of hers to me at the show, who just so happened to be the hyper guy that I talked to earlier at the coffee shop. It was just another reminder of how connected people are to this world in every way, even small coincidences. James and I reminisced about old Nintendo games throughout the show.
On the way back, we rode our bikes over the stone arch bridge, which overlooks the Guthrie Theater and the old mill that was the backbone of the city back during its’ formative years. The rivers of this part of the country really made is possible for the American Midwest to be so successful, they turned the mills that ground the wheat and allowed for lumber to be transported far distances. It made some people very rich, as the resources of this country were easily exploited. It was very interesting to follow rivers and follow history as they are closely tied. I slept well again on the comfy futon, Holly also stayed. In the morning, we hit the town. We went to the local swimming hole called Hidden Lake and enjoyed basking in the sun. There just so happened to be a mud hole that you can jump in and cover your body in the muck. We got completely covered in the grayish colored soupy mess and walked back over to the beach to people watch, Minnesotans were very pasty white. I myself had developed an interesting tan from my bicycle shorts, socks and gloves (my fingers were noticeably darker than the back of my hand).
There was a band called Vampire Hands playing at the Turf Room that night, and this time Stephanie decided to come out instead of James. The opening band hadn’t started yet so we went to the bar across the street and played pinball and pool. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed playing pinball. There was so much playing and having fun with this group of friends. I had no doubts that I would have fit in really well.
Something I began to notice was that I enjoyed writing by hand instead of typing. It brought my attention to the fact that the digital age transformed people into out of touch humans, it really seemed to me that we had become more similar to robots than natural beings. My generation doesn't write letters to each other, what happened to practicing penmanship, we now text on a keypad, not even taking the time to hear the voices of our friends and loved ones on the phone anymore, all by text now. Most people now live in the suburbs, and have a routine like this: They get up in the morning and are outside just long enough to get to the car. and not say hello to the neighbor, stop at a fast food restaurant for breakfast, drive in traffic with thousands of other angry, rushing motorists only to get to the office cubicle, put on an earpiece or headphones, and check emails before typing away all day, staring at a computer screen only to do the same thing in reverse, get home, have a beer, eat a microwaved tv dinner and turn on the television which is telling people what is the latest gadget to buy and what terrorist groups to be afraid of or the latest disease that we needed to be afraid of, then fall asleep and do it again. What?! Is this reality?! I want to know what happened to community, borrowing a cup of milk from the neighbor and spending more time with other human beings, the power of touch and hugs. It can be that way again, but we all have to change. Maybe that is what 2012 is all about, the great awakening! Only time will tell. This idea that we know as Capitalism, our throw away, wasteful society isn't doing anything but destroy the planet in an ever increasing pace. Why don't products have the ability to adapt to new technology? Why can't I buy a cell phone and have it built so well that it will last me my life time, we have the ability to use the same cell phone and put in the new technology as we improve it, but we don't. And the reason is MONEY. It has always been about the control and power that money brings, but until we wake up as a collective society, nothing will change. We can make things that last, we can help our neighbors out when they need it and they will do the same for us. We are all in this together. When we went back to the show, the second band was playing and the venue was packed like a can of sardines. I enjoyed the music, it made me want to stomp around and clap my hands. When Vampire Hands came on, I moved closer to the stage; I was within punching distance of the stage and in full stomp mode. I just released my inhibitions, I didn't care what I looked like. All I cared about was how it felt to just let go and fully let the music take control. I can’t remember having so much fun dancing around; it was nice to be in a large city again with all the nightlife surrounding me. We walked the mile back to Stephanie’s house and Holly, their friend Andy and I crashed hard on the floor, sharing the same carpet space.
The next day was a little harder getting going, and we went down to the Farmer’s Market in St. Paul to get some local produce. I bought jerky, broccoli, and a fresh loaf of bread. It was Saturday, and there were two barbeques going on that night; I went with Holly, and I met a large group of women who had prepared some delicious sausages, veggies, and desserts. I talked with some of them about my adventures and how my trip had led me to St.Paul. We then moved on to a second barbeque where Stephanie and James were at; there was Minnesota sweet corn, ribs, and more sausage. I was tired, and had trouble keeping my eyes open the whole evening. We made it safely back to the house and slept hard once more, this was starting to become a pattern and I told them earlier that if I didn’t leave the next day then I would never leave. How can one group of people have so much fun? It was going to be hard, and I really liked Holly but my trip was 100% about being celibate. In the morning, we all went to the NE Minneapolis neighborhood that James and Steph were going to move to and ate breakfast at the local bar (which had bloody mary’s with meat sticks in them, yuck). They dropped me back at the house and it took me a while to get ready because James gave me a set of attachable handle bars that you can rest your forearms on, also known as aero bars. I had been experiencing severe numbness in both of my hands’ fingertips, so this contraption was supposed to help with that.
I left town at around 4 pm and rode East along the convenient bike path to the beautiful town of Stillwater, on the St. Croix River. I tried to make it to Red Wing before dark, but had to stop a few miles north of Prescott because it was getting too hard to see. I slept under a picnic shelter that evening at the deserted Regional Park, because I didn’t want to pay the $15 to stay at the campground. As I finished setting my tent up, I noticed that there were little glowing lights floating around the area. I had no idea what they were, at first I thought that wild animals were staring at me, but when I saw the same, eerie flashes in the trees, I figured out that they were some sort of glowing insect. There were also green eyes looking at me in the dark, I remembered that Holly told me to not keep my food with me in my tent because there were cougars, I had just remembered that as I was trying to fall asleep. Then I couldn’t sleep because I kept hearing things moving in the nearby bushes, so I moved my tent to the middle of the picnic shelter, with my bike on one side and the bench on the other and put my food about thirty feet away behind the trash cans. I then felt safe enough, and promptly fell asleep. This was my last day in Minnesota.
This section of my travels really taught me about slowing down and enjoying friends, even though I didn't have a friend to ride with on this journey, I had friends everywhere I looked. This is something that I had trouble with my whole life, slowing down. This trip had a massive end goal: get to the other side, figure out who I am and what I want to accomplish in this life but it was a ton of pressure to put on myself. The more that I let go of my desires to get something done, the happier I became. Some of the happiest people in the world have the least amount of money, but they have extreme wealth by deeply caring for family and friends and get a huge reward that money can't buy.