Have you noticed that there is a second (or third or fourth) back-to-the-land movement among young people? While most young people are leaving their family’s farm and small town in droves, some urbanites are leaving big cities and establishing organic and more or less self-sufficient outposts in smaller towns and rural areas, living out their … More Visiting an Urban Homestead
In 1965 I spent six months as a college student in the Loire Valley of France, completing my sophomore year and an additional summer quarter. That would later allow me to graduate early in 1967, get a short job at Stanford Research Institute cannulating a colony of monkeys for blood pressure research, and then marry … More A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Gallics (smirk)
The music flows like the water through Louisiana–through every river, swamp and bayou. In our two weeks there we went to five music venues. Plus, one of our AirBnB hosts in Lafayette serenaded us with his cajun accordian during his happy hour orientation to Cajun Country. In between we heard nature. I put together a … More Big Muddy Meander: Louisiana Soundscape
Well, we’re back home now. We made a mad dash two days early, April 2, to avoid snow and ice storms coming down from the north. After 3 and 1/2 weeks following the Mississippi to the bottom of Louisiana and back up, I know a lot more about this river that, if stretched out, would … More Big Muddy Meander: Chapter 3-from the Delta Blues to the Chicago Blues
Before leaving Minneapolis a friend who had been there said she had taken a bike tour in New Orleans and it was fun. We brought our road bikes on this monthlong trip down the Mississippi River, along with our kayaks. We booked an AirB&B in the Lake View neighborhood, which is near Lake Ponchartrain and … More Biking New Orleans
(Title thanks to Paul Simon) A week after starting our meander we arrived in Louisiana, camped on the northside of Lake Ponchartrain, kayaked the Tchefuncte River, spent three days biking ALL around New Orleans, and finally landed on the south end of Cajun Country in a gorgeous restored bank AirB&B in Patterson on Bayou Teche. … More One Man’s Ceiling is Another Man’s Floor: Big Muddy Meander chapter 2
A week ago, we set off down the Mississippi River flyway on a one month road trip. We loaded the car with two kayaks, two bikes and camping equipment. We were fleeing the soul-killing mid-March Minnesota weather: fresh heavy snow and a driveway covered in four inches of black ice. With any luck, we’ll find … More Big Muddy Meander: Chapter 1
This cartoon is courtesy of the New Yorker. It’s been one year now since I started this travel blog. 31 posts by me; 4 guest bloggers; 735 visitors reading from 16 countries; over 1600 views. Google analytics says the most popular time to view is Monday at 6 am!! That can’t be true. If any … More “I had my own blog for a while, but I decided to go back to just pointless, incessant barking.” (not!)
In mid-summer 2013 my son brought his new love and her preteen daughter to visit us for a couple of weeks from Medellin, Colombia. If you are trying to sell Minneapolis to denizens of “the city of eternal spring” (Medellin), a July visit is a good tactic. Having visited Medellin and its gorgeous mountainous environs … More Adventure Travel in the Colombian Andes: It’s payback time!
On day 8 of our month long road trip through the American Southwest we reached our campsite at Lake Mead near Hoover Dam. Hoover Dam was the first dam on the Colorado River built during FDR’s presidency. This water recreation area on the Arizona border is a short tourist bus ride from arid Las Vegas. … More Southwest Road Trip: Chapter 2-Busted Flat at Hoover Dam (with thanks to Janis Joplin)
Other states, other lives, other souls 