Map of the places I have slept, prepared by Michael Angerman. Click on the link below to open an interactive version of the above map, where you can zoom and pan.
I pushed eastward through Oklahoma, through strong winds, hail
and tornado warnings—Elk City, Weatherford, Yukon, Oklahoma City. And even here in the big city the TV screams “Tornado
Warning—Take Shelter!”
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| Elk city during the tornado of 5/16/17, the night after I slept here. (not my photo) |
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| Elk city during the tornado of 5/16/17, the night after I slept here. (not my photo) |
Elk City tornado pictures.
Steady, strong wind all day. This video shows wind in a wheat field:
It's a sad decision I have made, between failure and wisdom. In the end it depends on emotion. How will giving up affect the future of what I
do? Will it set a pattern against what I
am--one who pushes on? In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang describe how seemingly opposite or contrary forces
may actually be complementary, interconnected.
It was in this quandary that I placed a call to Amtrak and
booked a train home. I will leave
Oklahoma City on Monday.
I for one am quite relieved.
ReplyDeleteI for one am also relieved, Mr. Unknown
DeleteGerri & I are impressed to no end by your 30-day bike trip to Oklahoma. Your collected experiences of that month-long trek will stay with you for a long time & will be a source of inspiration for years to come. They'll ooze out of your helmet in rich stanzas. Thanks for allowing us to trail you in our office reclining chairs... and enjoying the lightning dazzling your gaze and thunder rumbling under your seat.
ReplyDeleteActually, Alex, it was 43 days. And you have already, just by saying it, caused inspiration to "ooze out of my helmet in rich stanzas."
DeletePart of yin and yang is being able to yield to its wisdom. If Los Angeles was suddenly hit by a tornado, I wouldn't grab a bike and rush into its eye unless I had a death wish. You have made a wise choice and your travels have made us all the more rich for it. x
ReplyDeleteThanks Lois, for confirming what I think--that wisdom leans to calling it off here in Oklahoma city.
DeleteWise decision. I, for one, welcome you back home with open arms!
ReplyDeleteUn abrazo, Taura! Can I still borrow Bagdad Cafe?
DeleteYou could rent a car, but then what's in Chicago anyway, The Cubs? From recent pictures of the marinas there, I don' think the sailing season has even begun. A-plus for effort though! Dacia, Taura, and I will have to clean up after all the parties we've had at your place while you were gone. See you soon!
ReplyDeleteAs long as you leave no trace, Dalton. Carry on.
DeleteI join in with the comments of others, and will be glad to see you back here, safe and sound!
ReplyDeleteThanks Erika, It will be good to be home.
DeleteYou are AMAZING im sure you made the right choice...hope to see you soon
ReplyDeleteGood to see you here Tresa. I didn't know you were following. See you soon at the Reyn.
DeleteI'm glad you missed the disaster like that photo in Elk City and decided to go home. I like 46 better than 60 because 60 is too round and simple. To my ear and eye, 46 days on Route 66 sounds better than 60 on 66!
ReplyDelete46 days on Route 66, like "get your kicks on Route 66"
DeleteSharon, I am so excited that you are coming home. The trek that you've made and its impact on you and the world around you and all of us who follow your journey is amazing. Just as amazing as your decision to turn around and come home. I had you coming back on the Amtrak a little sooner than this but I think you made the right choice, the wise choice, the absolute adventurous choice. It sounds like you're calling it 'giving up' but I don't think it's giving up, I think it is 'giving in' to what is the wisest choice that you could make and so there's no place like home. You're about to discover that, something new for you and you always like something new!
ReplyDeleteThanks Junnie for all your kind and insightful comments all along this adventure.
DeleteStill, and as always, what an adventure you have taken us on! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteStevie, I appreciate your following me on this photographic trek. You are the real photographer.
DeleteWonderful wise decision I am sure! Thank you for being able to make it! We may arrive home close to the same day?! See you soon... ! Love and hugs from Taiwan... we arrive on the 28th. What is your expected arrival date? There is a great Bolton Hall reading that day at 4:30... but I am unsure we can make it because of our landing time at around 3 pm... maybe time will fly faster!
ReplyDeleteI will be home on the 24th.
DeleteWise decision ......which means more adventure in the future for you and for us sitting at home to enjoy .
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for taking us along your exciting adventures.
-Muhsin
Thanks for following, Muhsin. I have enjoyed your company.
Deletethe answer, my friend
ReplyDeletewas blowin' in the wind
rails blaze trails
lit by California Sun
and the awaiting FUN
of friends who will
delight in the sight of you
Yes Junnie, it will be fun to be home with friends. I'm becoming more at ease with my decision as the days pass. Right now I am in Tucson, AZ, a stop on Amtrak's Texas Eagle. Home tomorrow.
DeleteHope you are having a good train ride home. Glad you made the safe choice.
ReplyDeleteIt has been a good train ride so far, Mary. Great food, cozy roomette.
DeleteComparisons. Loser. Failure. Missed opportunity. Irretrievable loss of success. Limits. Weakness. Aging. Decline. Mortality. Do or die trying. Better dead than red - after all God is a capitalist, don't you know?
ReplyDeleteWhat do your commentators and correspondents mean by "wise" decision? That self preservation and survival seem to be good alternatives this time at least? He who turns and runs away lives to fight another day? Ten thousand sunrises elsewhere will beat a couple in Chicago.
I am reminded of the opening remarks on western culture by D.T. Suzuki in his first talk to the Eranos Foundation, Ascona, Switzerland. The then 91 year old stood and looked out at his audience, both hands on his hips, and said, “God against man. Man against God. Man against nature. Nature against man. Nature against God. God against nature. Very funny religion!”
Buddhists recommend not being too attached to specific outcomes. Goals can still be set, and plans and mid-course corrections for reaching them can still be made. Nevertheless, often times reality and our mental models of the world don't comport sufficiently, and we can be happier through accepting new realizations and relishing the alternative joys they bring instead.
Neither do the purposes and enjoyments of dance and music lie predominantly in reaching the originally foreseen final step or note, but rather in enjoying the experiences coming before from moving together through space and vibrations, closenesses and resonances - some of them pleasantly surprising even thrillingly intense, turns, reversals, changes of pace, improvisations with new directions, etc.
I won't be surprised if you have some thrills and satisfactions during a wonderful train ride, with different people, passing through different landscapes, while you mull over the deliciously provocative apparent consequences of your decision.
Paul, Altadena.
Can't say that I fully grasp what you say, Paul. And on this brief stop in Tucson I cant give the time you deserve. Will talk to you soon when I get home Wednesday.
DeletePaul, To answer your question and comments about responses I have received to my decision to cut the trip short, I offer this:
DeleteYour comments delve into many possible branches that might have led like rivulets down to the final outwash of decision. Your comments make interesting reading, especially your humorous twists, like eddies in the backwater and side budges of a flowing river, like water flowing upstream against physics.
If I had had a strong reason to continue the trip, I would have, but this trip was not about goals, destinations, or compelling purpose, it was about journey. I did not feel that I was abdicating any cause by quitting, not did I think it a wise decision. It was just a decision—neither wise nor stupid. I made it with as much emotion as logic. But I like the romantic tone in which people commented, a tone of concern for me, of relief that I had decided not to continue in what seemed to them like unreasonable risk. It’s good to be cared for, and I feel that I was.
I am glad to read your posts and imagine riding the open road too! I've done my share of riding back in the day. But it was always in or near the city. I remember the feel of the wind on my face and the feeling of satisfaction from a good ride. You took a four month leave of absence from your trip, a very well deserved one, I'd say! Thanks for sharing all this with us. Rosie
ReplyDeleteRosie, my biker friend, We'll have to pedal the paths of Pasadena together. Singing that "Ain't got a barrel of money" song.
Delete