T he Hot, Slow Route East
First cross country excursion in summer
Sidewalk Tour, Skate Travel Journals
August 2010
to Surface Motion Skate Tour
Sidewalk Tour August 2010
Intro
Overloaded tour plans: SC CA
Aug 9 3 PM
Rte to lost sta: SF CA
Aug 9 7 PM
Limbo in foud sta: SF CA
Aug 10 3 AM
Hitch in prfct ride: Scrmnto CA
Aug 10 9:30 AM
Photo ops Nev stops: Lvelck NV
Aug 11 8:30 AM
Co and Denvr revisted: Denver CO
Aug 11 2:30 PM
Sights in Nebrska: N Platte NE
Aug 11 4 PM
Obstcl to food: Lexington NE
Aug 12 2 AM
Emrgng fr west: Dvnprt IA
Aug 12 9 AM
Gary didn't hold still: Gary IN
Aug 12 10 AM
Bottl egg & lndmks: Btn Harb IN
Aug 16
Optimistic sign: Ann Arbr MI
Aug 17 12:30 AM
Lt nght touring: Ann Arbr MI
Aug 17 4 AM
Lt nght touring: Ann Arbr MI
Aug 17 11 AM
Seeds of doubt: Ann Arbr MI
Sidewalk Tour Feb-Mar 2010
Sidewalk Tour 2009
Tour Inventory 2009
Backpacks
Clothes
Gear
Boards
Phone/PDA
Mobile blogging
Northwest: June 2009
South: Mar-Apr 2009
East: March 2009
Bridge Skate Training
Oct 08-Mar 09
August 9 - 12, 2010: Baking on highways east
California, Nevada, Colorado, Nebraska, Illinois, Michigan
August 2010 Eastward tour Intro
Santa Cruz, CA. This was to be my fourth traverse of the United States in under a year and a half. It was the first undertaken in summer. In the past I have often shown a preference for winter travel, and winter activity in general. It's usually less crowded, cheaper, and not that uncomfortable, if you bring the right gear.
This trip was a bit of a pain, because I was carrying a lot of stuff. I planned to do some videography work for on of my projects, and I was carrying gear and written materials. I had sent in advance a box of goods for the project to my friend HW in Detroit. To bulk up my bag all the more, I was carrying some extra clothing for winter, in case I stayed back east a long time.
When I started sidewalk tour in October of '08, it was my only creative project. It was all I was interested in doing and in some ways, was all I could do, since I had a kind of burnout problem stemming from my last two years in New York, which were a period of slowly realizing that I needed to let go the city, or at least rid myself of the apartment and business I had been stuck in for many years. Whether that meant that I wanted to reconnect with my old life in California or find some new life elsewhere was not clear. As it turned out I managed to do both. I lived in California, recovered my health and spirits somewhat, traveled north to Oregon, and came back to spend more time in Santa Cruz.
In fall and winter of '09 I prepared for more travels by supplementing my technical gear. Whereas the first tour was documented with a cel phone camera, in preparation for the 2010 tours I bought camera and computer gear and started to make an effort to shore up my technique with photography and image development.
Sidewalk tour, the practice of skateboarding whenever possible on my travels, searching for sidewalk textures and good roads to carve, and seeking odd places where skating beat walking, was on the agenda for this trip, as with the cross country trips and trips to the northwest of '09 and '10. But sidewalk exploring was starting to become more of a side project to other writing and film projects I was doing. Still, I tried to keep some of the aesthetic process and goals alive. I meant to break the board out a few times during the bus ride, and while in Michigan, go off on a trip devoted to longboard touring, as I had done in many cities in the past two years. I would write about what I saw and who I met, and take pictures as good subjects and locales presented themselves.
Monday, August 9, 2010 - Route to the lost bus station
On the Caltrain to SF, north of San Jose, CA.
8.9 3 PM Leaving Santa Cruz for San Jose. Took the Highway 17 bus out of Santa Cruz as an alternative to the Greyhound. The hound out of Santa Cruz has been notoriously late and unreliable every time I've tried the last 2 or 3 tours.
The Highway 17 is fast and comfortable. I caught the bus at 3 PM. Then I took Cal Train and made it to SF by about 5:30, had some time to sit in the Caltrain station and eat one of Nina's sandwiches. Then I set off for the walk over to the Greyhound station on Mission and 1st, balancing my heavy bag on my new BE 40 skateboard, and carrying my computer and camera gear in another pack on my back.
5:30 PM SF Caltrain station, 4th St. A couple of things threw off my sidewalk tour of San Francisco. In SF people grasp for every little bit of sun. The west side of 4th street was pretty shady. Maybe I should have walked on that side, it was a lot less crowded. On the sunny side of the street it seemed like every imaginable obstacle blocked me. Double strollers, a line of sidewalk cement trawlers making the walk even more narrow. There were some power cords strung for their tools. Every sort of pedestrian vehicle, bicycles, scooters.
On Mission street the sidewalk madness proved that it wasn't confined to the east side of 4th st. A young guy leaned so far over his date, kissing her, that he couldn't see where he was going and blocked her view. I had to stop to avoid them. Groups two wide managed to take up all the sidewalk, and those four wide made a wall of bodies.
I wish I'd taken the time to get a few pictures, to support my diary observations. I was a bit harried by all the sidewalk traffic, enough so that I didn't want to add holding a camera to the difficulty. Since I had two fairly large bags, one on my back and the larger one on my board, it was tough going.
Monday, August 9, 2010 - Limbo in the found bus station
8.9 7 PM SF temporary bus station. I knew right where to go for the Greyhound station, since I'd just been there just a month ago coming down from Oregon (for a work project not covered as a sidewalk tour). Approaching it, I saw a couple of guys handing out flyers announcing it was closed. What was this, another hitch, throwing me off. They had moved the station while plans were underway for a large and modernized transit center housing 8 to 10 different rail and bus lines. They had set up a bus station on Folsom in a temporary, tent like structure. The temporary station was pretty nice, lots of open space, although, some of that stemmed from there not being enough chairs. Unfortunately the departure for points east was 1 AM, leaving lots of hours to kill.
An old veteran was telling war stories to a younger, streetier looking guy. The young guy had a weird short haircut, with a big patch shaved off his temple, as if off a wound. He looks like a veteran or otherwise wounded individual. The old guy was pretty loud, probably partially deaf. He announced his name as Roy. As it turned out, Roy would pop on my buses all the way east. He managed to befriend people constantly, which was an essential thing for him, as he kept making mistakes and needed people to help him out with his luggage, tickets, and directional sense.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - A hitch in the perfect bus ride
8.10 3 AM Sacramento. At the Sacramento station I went over to the location where I knew by now a water fountain was located. It was completely blocked by a guy stretched out sleeping. A spot poorly chosen if you dont want to be interrupted, or get your picture taken by a blogger. I leaned over him and filled my water bottle.
Sleeping guy blocking water fountain, bus station, Sacramento, CA.
This bus was so easy to sleep on. Dark, quiet, and I have a whole seat. Only problem was it was a little cold. Slept from Oakland all the way to Sacra.
Woops, got complacent. A screwup, driver change and new one called in sick. Now we're laid over for an extra hour while they search the whole area trying to get a driver to come to work at 3 in the morning. After about 45 minutes one showed up and announced that he had been woken up and asked to come in and drive us to Reno.
Motel near bus station, Reno, NV.
Creek and esplanade near bus station, Reno, NV.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - Photo ops at Nevada stops
9:30 AM Lovelock, NV. We're about an hour late due to delay in Sacramento. Lovelock was scheduled for 8:40.
Towering sign post, Lovelock, NV.
the rest stop in Lovelock Nevada was warm and sunny. Good coffee, nice Nevada postcards. A giant, tall post with the golden arches on top, signaling truckers all around. Two old guys in chaps shot the breeze outside the convenience store, ready to roar off on highway ready motorcycles. Perhaps they were a gay couple, locked on a motorcycle seat in the town of Lovelock.
Two guys in chaps freshen up for a bike ride, Lovelock, NV.
Salt flat, NV.
Shadows of clouds on hills, NV.
11:30 AM Winnemucca NV. Lots of cool little faux western stores and cute hotels. Most interesting shot I got was as a crew were setting up a big tent for an event, one guy with a yellow ladder did a sort of dance. I fumbled the button and the shot was not in perfect focus, but the pose was perfect. Makes me wonder if it's better to shoot rapidly or take a moment to compose. That time I wish I'd shot more, for context shots, but the waiting got me the most interesting guy in the group.
Tent crew and ladder dance, Winnemucca, NV.
5 PM time zone change. Wendover, NE. Large Pilot parking lot filled with huge trucks. Took my board and went to one corner and skated some carves. Searing heat close to 100. climbed a little gravelly bank and shot pics of a big cowboy sign against the hills.
Will the cowboy, Wendover, NV.
Will the cowboy, Wendover, NV.
From up on the embankment I looked over the parking lot and shot pictures of trucks and signs, and the high heat seemed to bake the colors into a brighter intensity.
View of truck in rest stop lot, Wendover, NV.
Salt Lake had cool salt flats coming in and an odd red cliff.
Salt flats or salt lake outside Salt Lake City, UT.
SLC to Denver bus went thru mountains all at night, unfortunately. Hard to sleep with seat in front a bit cramped, my knees sore. My seat mate told me that jobs working on Louisiana boats pay well, 30 days on, two weeks off. He said those jobs dried up with the spill.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 - Colorado and Denver revisited
8.11 8:30 AM Denver I asked the girl at the counter if she remembered the storm in March that made the bus turn back but she only remembered a storm two years back. Here in Denver I changed my route again. I had planned on going all the way to Toronto to see my friend RL, but the journey seemed too long to make in one long stretch. She helped me reroute to a closer destination, Detroit MI.
11:30 AM Eastern Colorado and Nebraska. This bus is pretty new and has an AC outlet located right at my feet. I put together my laptop with difficulty, because it's big and seating is cramped. It worked fine until a stretch of road where the texture caused some vibration. My keyboard and mice were so rattled I could barely open a file. Managed to rename a bunch of photos, scaled a couple, and posted three good shots on Facebook. I also downloaded the schedule for my rerouted trip.
Another thing this bus has is an extremely load speaker system and TV. The severity of the volume wouldn't have been so uncomfortable were it not for the ponderousness of the bus driver. He was extremely long winded and prone to stretching out common announcements with embellishment, detail, and repetitious rephrasing of the messages. So at least they didnt blast us with with a movie, but the driver deafened us frequently and at length.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 - Odd sights in the Nebraska heat
Time zone change a few miles back. This new bus has a pretty good feature. Although the seats have an annoying safety belt buckle shoulder harness attachment that pokes you, the actual headrest is designed with a curve and works pretty well. It keeps your head in place. Usually the reason I cant sleep is that my head lolls around, and this headrest steadies it.
Cows in pasture, CO.
Tent or teepee, CO.
2:30 PM North Platte NE There was a super quaint Java Junction tiny railroad car or caboose. It looked like a toy. The flags and lanterns in front of the caboose lined up perfectly with another toy from the childhood of many Americans, a green Sinclair dinosaur in the background. It struck me that you can play with such toys as a green brontosaur, and never realize you're handling an advertisement, essentially, until you grow up and travel and see the same symbol in the midwest, on gas station roofs.
Cafe and Sinclair dinosaur, North Platte, NE.
Sinclair dinosaur, North Platte, NE.
Heading into a rest stop at Lexington, Nebraska. A mirage befitting the heat on this road trip. A giant object on a truck that looked like a huge, white golf tee. The guys I'd talked to in the row in front of me said it was a windmill shaft, from one of the new high tech windmills. Not like one of the wooden ones in Holland or Disney films, definitely. I was very lucky the truck turned off to the right ahead of the bus so I could get it all in the frame.
Windmill shaft on flatbed truck, Lexington, NE.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 - Major obstacle to food
4 PM Lexington NE. Surrounded by food growing everywhere, but hard to get any to eat. We're stopping at Lexington for ten minutes, but the good food is over a four lane hiway. So the driver tells us with electronic overemphasis over the blaring loudspeaker. He says we can take our chances running across the highway for the better food, but we have no recourse to sue if we're hit. In fact, he will testify in a court of law that he made this announcement. I got the message and abandoned any hope of getting a nice McDonald's salad or a Wendy's burger, and set about looking for more odd structures to photograph.
Tractor and hotel passageway, Lexington, NE.
There was a row of A frames I wanted to photgraph for RL, because we'd sent some photos back and forth with pyramid shapes. I pointed the camera but when I looked at the picture on the LCD screen I saw a cool paint chipped red trim box in front. I'd caught the actual subject of the shot almost by mistake.
Wooden box and A frames, Lexington, NE.
Green inn and satellite dish, Lexington, NE.
