Family and Friends in the Midwest

It's been quite awhile since my last post and I have a bit of catching up to do! After all the sight-seeing in the Anasazi / Four-Corners region I've been primarily busy with friends and family: not the kind of stuff I thought would be interesting for a broad audience. More specifically, reconnecting with family and friends has been cause for reflection and soul-searching that (at times) I'm not entirely comfortable posting to a broad audience. Nonetheless, here's a recap of some of my recent adventures -- so that I don't forget, and just in case anyone out there is interested. For anyone who was concerned about my lack of Twitter/Facebook posts... I apologize. But I'll admit it was nice to just turn off the phone for awhile.

(UPDATE: Slideshow added at the end.)

Milwaukee
Max and I had great visit with my mom Vicki and her husband at their home in Milwaukee, even though they were tied up the first two days of our stay working at the Bastille Days Festival, where they sell sunglasses at a trade booth. My brother and his girlfriend Donna were in Milwaukee at the same time so we managed to explore a bit together. It was bad timing on our parts, but seemed to work out in the end. Paul and Donna visited the Harley-Davidson museum and explored in town, and I was able to simply relax, take care of some basic van maintenance, and read a little. We also made it to the festival, had some great meals, and toured the Lakefront Brewery (well worth it!)

Toward Minneapolis
By mid-week we all said good-bye to Vicki and packed into the van for our trip to Minneapolis. We made it a two-day trip and stopped along the way to check out the Cave of the Mounds (sparkly) and Frank Lloyd Wright's compound near Spring Green called Taliesin. I'd been to Taliesin before and really enjoyed going back to see some of the new restoration work on the site. It was also an interesting comparison to Arcosanti from earlier in this road trip. Two very different idealistic architects with commune-style compounds... but Taliesin feels like a functional, beautiful well-considered place while Arcosanti (as I said in a previous post) felt like an out-dated moderately-good idea that should have been shut down years ago. The visit to Taliesin reinforced my impressions of Arcosanti.

Our late departure from Milwaukee and tourist stops along the way necessitated an overnight stay in La Crosse WI, and I was very pleased to catch up with my friend Wess Roberts (whom I met in Honduras), who was visiting his dad in the area. (More about Wess later.)

Minneapolis
As I may have mentioned in an earlier post, the only fixed date in my entire road trip was the Dressel Family Reunion on July 19 near Minneapolis. As has become tradition, I stayed with my sister April and her family (husband Bo, kids Philip and Timothy) for a few days surrounding the reunion. This time my Dad and stepmom were also staying at the house, and with my brother in town nearby we had our own little reunion for the immediate family a few days before the grand gathering with extended relatives. On the 19th we caravan-ed up to Maple Grove for the big reunion; rather smallish this year with only 40(?) people. The guest list is generally my great-great-grandfather's offspring, which has been over 100 in attendance at times. This year it seemed that all of the oldest generation, with the most senior attendee a sprightly septuagenarian. It was great to reconnect once again with all the second-cousins and see how all the children have grown in the two years since I last attended. And we'll all be back again next year in mid-July for another one!

UP Michigan and Southwest Wisconsin
After the reunion I drove up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and met up again with Wess, this time with his family at THEIR annual reunion. Instead of a BBQ in someones suburban backyard (like my family), they all meet at the Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival in Marquette MI. I pulled in near the end of the festival and popped open my camper van, where Max and I were welcomed into a great hippy music scene. Over the next several days we went to a nearly beach and jumped off cliffs into an icy Lake Superior, hiked up a nearby mountain (and got lost on the way back to the parking lot), climbed some great sand dunes, hiked to Chapel Rock and Chapel Beach in the Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore, found several waterfalls, visited Naubinway for some local live music, found my namesake Borgstrom Road, ate pasties, and generally had a grand time. Heading southwest from the UP, we stopped with Wess' uncle Paul and fiance Rachel in Green Bay WI for more swimming, then continued down to La Crosse WI for more summertime fun: camping at Goose Island, two days at the Kickapoo Country Fair with folk music, food and a visit to an organic permaculture farm; a few stops at grocery co-ops, and visits to some great bars and restaurants in La Crosse. And of course dinner and game night with Willy, Penny, Emma and Wess at their house in Stoddard WI. I'm grateful for being included in such a great week of vacation with Wess and his family.

This morning Wess left on a train back to his home in North Carolina. From there, he'll be relocating to Central America in early September. I wish my friend the very best as he journeys back down to the troubled nation of Honduras. To Wess: thanks for sharing your friends and family and traditions with me. I'm glad we were able to reconnect however briefly before you leave the country. Be well, my friend, and keep in touch!


(Link to slides)

RECAP

8-9 July
- Transit across the prairies; flat tire near York NE
11-14 July
- Milwaukee, WI (at my Mom's house)
- Bastille Days festival
- Lakefront brewery tour
15 July
- Cave of the Mounds
- Taliesin / Frank Lloyd Wright compound
- La Crosse, WI (Guest House Inn w/ Paul and Donna)
16-18 July
- Lakeville, MN (at my sister's house)
- Dressel annual family reunion (my Dad's side of the family)
19 July
- Marquette, MI (camping)
- Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival
20-22 July
- exploring Upper Peninsula MI
23 July
- Green Bay WI
24-26 July
- exploring around La Crosse, WI
- Kickapoo Country Festival


NEXT UP (subject to change)
- Denver area
- Return to Seattle

Another flat tire

Yesterday on I-80 about an hour west of Lincoln NE, my right-rear tire blew out.

If you knew me two years ago, you may remember the trouble I had with tires on my van when I first drove it home. I bought my camper on eBay from a guy in Atlanta GA. (Eurovan campers are somewhat hard to find, and this was the best I could find at t he time.) I flew down Thanksgiving week 2007 to pick it up. The seller met me at the airport, showed me all the features and controls, I took him back to his house and then I started on my 3900 mile journey back to Seattle.

Outside of Shawneee OK the right-rear tire delaminated. That means it got all wobbly and herniated but didn''t actually blow out. I was able to pull off the freeway and into a tire dealer without much trouble, where they sold me a pair of replacement tires. They put the new ones on front, rotated the old ones to tbe back, and I was on my way again.

I continued on with my journey and picked up Zach in Moab Utah for the rest of the trip back. Near Boise ID the right-rear tire blew out, this time into smithereens. I pulled to the side of the road unharmed, and Zach swapped out the shredded tire for the spare. At a tire dealer in Boise I learned that I need 6-ply commercial tires, due to the heavy weight of the vehicle (as specified in the door panel and in any computer system specifying tires for this vehicle, which the guys in Shawnee didn't bother to check.). The first two dealers I stopped at simply wouldn't sell me replacements for the 'normal" 4-ply tires currently on the van (as the dealer in Shawnee had).

Unfortunately the size I need is unusual, so they'd have to be special ordered. And I'd need a complete set of four. So, sending Zach on his way with another friend passing through town, I stayed the night at a trailer park outside of Boise waiting for four very expensive new tires that were being shipped FedEx (on my dime). It was one of the low points in all my US travels.

Since then I've been pretty OCD about my tires. I check the pressure all the time, always do a visual check, all the stuff you're supposed to do to keep the tires safe. They didn't give me any trouble on my six-week trip around the US in 2008.

And so yesterday on I-80 about an hour west of Lincoln NE, the right-rear tire blew out. All the anxiety and frustration and self-pity that I remember from the 2007 trip flooded back. For about two minutes. Then I pulled out the tire tools, changed to the spare, drove into the nearest tire shop and ordered a pair of my fancy tires (no, they don't carry 'em in York NE neither, but at least the shop covered the shipping this time). Then I checked into a motel (with AC, Wi-Fi, a kitchenette, and full breakfast included), stopped at the grocery store (for Hoegaarden beer, Marie Callendar's frozen dinner, and Ben & Jerry's ice cream) and settled in to watch cable-TV movies with Max. Not a bad evening overall :)

Later this morning I'll head back to the tire shop to have the new ones installed (fingers crossed), and then we'll head out again, no worse for the experience. I should still make it to Milwaukee sometime on the 11th.

Archeological sites in the four-corners area

If you've been following this blog you may remember that I visited several indigenous communities in Latin America where people live much as they had prior to the arrival of Europeans. I also visited Mayan and Incan (and pre-Mayan, pre-Incan) ruins and heard theories about life prior to the decline of these cultures. I realized that I'd never been to the pre-Columbian sites in the USA, and decided to make these visits during my current road trip.

Unfortunately the addition of Mad Max the Road Kitten to my travels this summer has meant that I couldn't take as much time exploring as I might have traveling solo. I couldn't leave him in the car to cook, so I had him along with me in a little cat carrier. Kittens don't thermo-regulate very well, so even when the heat wasn't too much for me, little Max panting and wilting and crying to get out. He also has the bladder of a child; he doesn't know he needs to go until he needs to go RIGHT NOW. Poor thing. So... we only took the shorter outdoor walking tours, explored the air-conditioned museums, and I made short stops on the driving tour loop around Mesa Verde. I ended up staying two nights in Santa Fe so Max could stay in the hotel room while I explored Bandelier.

Mesa Verde National Park, CO
(600 AD - 1300 AD) Ancient pueblan communities (Anasazi) lived in structures built on the mesas, in caves and alcoves in the Mesa Verde region of present-day Colorado. The park has 4500 archeological sites including 600 cliff dwellings. I only saw a few of the more easily accessible sites.

(Link to slides of Mesa Verde)

Chaco Culture National Historic Site, NM
(800 AD - 1200 AD) The structures of the Chaco people were different from the other communities in the region, generally constructed in giannt D-shaped walled communities that appeared to be planed from the beginning rather than haphazardly evolved over time. The Chaco were unique in the region with evidence of widespread social structires joining far-reaching communities throughout preent-day northwestern New Mexico. Archeologists believe that in 1050 AD Chaco was the ceremonial, administrative and economic capital of the San Juan Basin, but then the culture died out or moved away shortly later.

(Link to slides of Chaco)

Bandelier National Monument, NM
(1100 AD to 1500 AD) Slightly later than the other sites I visited, the Bandelier region holds over 3000 archeological sites dated from Large villages are the found on the valley floor, with dwellings also carved into the soft canyon walls.

(Link to slides of Bandelier)

Taos Pueblo, NM
While the ancient ruins were interesting enough, I was most moved by my visit to Taos Pueblo. This UNESCO World Heritage site is the oldest continuously inhabited community in the USA, with two five-story adobe structures that are 1000 years old. The Taos people are very protective of their religion and culture, but invite tourists in to guided tours in portions of the ancient pueblo. With no electricity or running water, the villagers use propane or wood for cooking and heat, and drink from the clean river that runs through the pueblo. Only a few hundred people live within the ancient pueblo walls and the remainder of the 2800 community members live primarily within a 3-mile radius of the pueblo. This is the only example I've seen in the USA where a culture has been preserved through Spanish and American colonization and settlement. This very proud community has earned my respect, and I'm encouraged to learn that such spirit has survived.
(Link to slides of Taos Pueblo)

RECAP
2 July
- Arcosanti, Cordes Junction, AZ (guest accomodations)
3 July
- Mesa Verde Natl Park CO(camping)
4 July
- Chaco Culture Natl Historic Park NM
- Farmington NM (camping)
5-6 July
- Santa Fe Motel & Inn (2 nights hotel)
- Bandelier Natl Monument
7 July
- Taos Pueblo, NM
- Eagle Creek CO (camping)

NEXT UP (subject to change)
- Colorado Springs CO
- Milwaukee WI
- Minneapolis MN

Surviving Arcosanti

This road trip will include visits to many of the UNESCO World Heritage sites in the USA, so that I can look for similarities between cultures that developed in North America compared to those I learned about in central and South America. (More about this in a later post.) One aspect of indigenous life in the Americas is a community and living structure that is more in harmony with nature. Arcosanti is a 1970s-era experiment in ecologically responsible living, and seemed like a logical first stop on my way to the Anasazi ruins in the Four Corners region. Besides, it's only an hour north of Phoenix.

"Arcology is a term coined by Paolo Soleri to describe the concept of architecture and ecology working together as one integral process to produce urban habitats. Arcosanti... is a Soleri-designed prototype arcology under construction that, when completed will house 5000 people by combining compact urban structure with large-scale solar greenhouses on 25 acres of a 4000 acre preserve."

Arcosanti hosts music festivals, sells Soleri-designed wind bells, and offers seminars, conferences and workshops for students and professionals interested in Arcology. During a tour ($10 donation) we watched a bronze pour in the bell-making smelter area, and learned about the history and future plans for the site.

It seems like a great Utopian ideal, but I have the sense that Soleri's ideas have been expanded upon by later visionaries incorporating newer materials for a more efficient and livable community. How many people really want to live in the desert in spartan 8'x8'x8' cement cubes with shared utilities and no air-conditioning? Nonetheless, the community has ~100 full-time residents devoted to the dream and new people continuously revolving through their residential programs. I met a cute 9-year-old named Angela who moved there with her father in June; s she told me they would be living on site "for 10 years, maybe longer. Daddy is here working on the heat tunnel." The guide said the place can't really take off and become a viable community until they have ~250 permanent residents. That will provide sufficient population for a school retail stores, and the other services that make a town into a town. After nearly 40 years, I wonder if that will ever happen. My overall impression of the place is a colony of artisans carrying out a 40-year-old experiment that should have ended 20 years ago.

Rather than breeze through in a hurry I decided to take my time with the visit and checked into their inexpensive no-frills guest accommodations for the night. For $30 I had a bedroom (shared bath, no air conditioning) with an amazing view of the valley. After a yummy buffet dinner in the communal cafe ($8.95) Max and I explored the grounds a bit and returned to the room just after dark in time to enjoy a spectacular thunder-and-lightening storm that blew through the valley. I can't remember the last time I saw a proper thunderstorm. It was GREAT. And Max was mesmerized by the whole experience. He's fearless!

(Link to slides of Arcosanti)

At around 2:30 AM, I woke up with this thing on my head. According to my Facebook research assistants, it's a giant black-headed centipede (Scolopendra heros arizonensis). It crawled over my neck into the hair over my ear. At first I thought my kitten was being snuggly, but then Max pounced on my head to "save me" from the critter. Not knowing at the time what the thing was, I separated Max from his new toy, snapped a few photos and removed the nine-inch (?) beast from my room. Ewwwwww. My creep-out sensors are still on alert after several days. A stray hair on my arm makes me twitch, and any time I see Max wresting with one of his toys or chasing his tail I first assume it's another giant bug. Especially when he's wrestling with... whatever... on the bed next to me at night.

Traveling with Max: Pacific Coast and Phoenix

I soooo enjoy being back out on the road! A month in Seattle hanging out with Keith-n-Sarah and getting to know Savas was a ton of fun, but after five weeks I was getting restless to continue on my journey. Here's the first post of what may become another six-week roadtrip.

Max in the Van

Traveling with a kitten is certainly a new experience. I need to stop every few hours for play-time to keep him engaged and happy. (Admittedly I don't mind the play breaks!) The van is kitten-configured: a covered litter box is on the floor in front of the passenger seat; a large soft-sided carrier is on the seat, generally unzipped for free access; and a custom "cat shelf" of 1/2 plywood rests between the dashboard and passenger seat-back, affixed with Velcro and clothesline. This carpet-covered shelf gives Max a scratching surface as well as a view out the windows. It generally keeps him off the dashboard -- the only place with a better view of the road. In between the front bucket seats there's as cushiony cat bed in the air-condition stream. In the back there's a food and water dish in the door-well of the back slider, where they won't make a mess if they spill (not a problem so far).

Yes, I let him roam free in the van while I'm driving. Generally he hangs out in the large carrier on the front seat or on the counter-top behind the driver's seat. He's free to grab food or drink or use the litter box as needed, and overall seems pretty content while we're driving. If he gets restless and needs to play, we just pull into a rest stop for a break. I've been getting him out for a bit of exploration on his harness most days, which he seems to REALLY enjoy. I'm becoming convinced that you can train a cat to do pretty much anything a dog can do. Cats are far more portable than most people believe.

Fearless Max and our new dog friends

We've been exploring all sorts of new places. Since I don't have a permanent home base right now, we get to stay with a bunch of different people under different circumstances. As a result, Max has been exposed to a variety of other animals -- with great results. I'm hoping for my Mad Max to be a cautious but fearless cat and so far he's exceeded my expectations.

In Salem OR we stayed with Sarah and her grandmother and two energetic young shitzu pups. (I believe this was Max's first-ever dog encounter.) At first we left him in his carrier so everyone could share their smells. He hissed and spitted and struck out (in his carrier) a bit at first, so we kept the animals separated during the visit. A few days later we stayed at Ken Lewis' place in Danville CA with three high-energy kids and an even more high energy chihuahua/terrier mix. Max was out of his carrier and roaming freely around the house with the dog, but he pretty much kept his distance. The last few days we've been staying with Donna and her dog Haley in Scottsdale AZ. After just a few skittish moments, Max discovered that a well-behaved dog can be fun to play with. They play hide-n-seek and swat-the-tail and hide-in-the-toy-basket. In another day or two I could imagine them sleeping in the same bed. They're adorable.

Non-cat-related encounters

I'm so pleased to have such great friends and family all over the country. I've been looking forward to a visit with Marina and Harry for ages, and finally getting back to San Luis Obispo for a visit makes me feel recharged and hopeful and well, just connected. The feeling is hard to describe but I am SO grateful that they are part of my family.

I'm also extremely lucky to have such a great brother. Paul drove 90 minutes to rescue me after a VERY stupid and dangerous mistake, when I ran out of gas on I-10 outside of Phoenix. Though I could have phoned the auto service, Paul and Donna drove into the night to meet me at a rest stop with a gas can. Then Donna -- whom I'd just met -- hosted Max and me VERY comfortably in her gorgeous new home. I couldn't have imagined a nicer welcome and I can only hope to repay the favor someday soon.

I debated about even coming to Phoenix for a visit. I left after high school graduation in 1988 and only came back for a few brief visits in the past 20 years. Due to the magic of Facebook, I've been in touch with a handful of old high-school friends recently and we arranged to connect in person over drinks while I was in town. It's amazing how little folks change after 20 years! It's been a lifetime since we last spoke, but I really enjoyed our easy conversation over a few beers even after all this time. I hope to stay connected and possibly reconnect with a few more really old friends in a future visit. I'm glad I made the stop. (Photos of these folks posted to Facebook.)

RECAP
24 June

- Depart Seattle area

- Portland OR: visit with Sue Gemmell and family (2 kids, 2 chickens, guinea pig, lizard, frog)

- Salem OR: stay the night with Sarah Willsey's grandparents (2 Shitzu puppies)

25 June

- Redwood Natl Park, CA: camping

26 June

- Danville CA: stay the night with Ken Lewis and family (3 kids, terrier/chihuahua mix)

27-29 June

- San Luis Obispo CA: visit with Marina Borgstrom/Harry Gilmore

30 June- 1 July

- Phoenix AZ: visit with brother Paul Dressel and GF Donna Wagoner (and dog Haley)

- Reunion with HS friends Lee Geller, Michele Rua, Dennis Putscher

- Lemonade with Zach's brother Jonathan Price

NEXT UP (subject to change)
- Arcosanti AZ

- Mesa Verde CO

- Chaco Valley NM

- Santa Fe NM

- Taos NM