Carrington's Blog

Sumpm Good

2012-01-02T07:15:00.000-05:00

OK, a little truth telling. Going to New Orleans was noble but the need for the food pantry I was helping out at has basically passed. Going to Joplin, Missouri to help with the rebuilding effort was noble but the second time I went there really wasn't anything to do since it either required skilled labor or a college group to latch on to. So when it became evident that I was needed back in Maine to help my brother Jim recover from a particularly tough round of mental illness it wasn't a hard decision.

At first I had complete confidence in the local hospital and was worried that I would be bored staying in a house in the country with no TV. Turns out I had it backwards. The local hospital was ill suited to the task, unwilling to admit it and as a result my life was anything but boring. Once we finally got my brother transferred my life got a lot easier and I'm now settling in to life in Midcoast Maine.

It's actually not so bad. My brother's house is a sweet place to stay. I get to see old friends from my High School days who I haven't seen in years and winter in Maine can be quite pretty from a nice warm car. Going to Rockland gives me some nice looks at Penobscot Bay and going to Bangor I get a nice drive up the Penobscot River passing through some pretty little towns along the way. Traveling can wait. This is what I need to be doing and truth be told...it's not that bad.

When Time Isn't Money

2011-11-28T22:14:00.000-05:00

In the upside down world of retirement where lack of demands leads to stress over what to do and where one's schedule can quickly fill up faster than it ever did when the occupied sign was lit outside your door, traveling takes on a similar counter-intuitive logic of its own. When face with a fixed monthly budget (more like a target in my case), long days and long mileage are a financial disaster. Too much money on gas, increased reliance on fast food and less time to score a free place to spend the night. How to make those travel dollars go farther? Lately, it's been to go slower.

Welcome to the wonderful world of camping in America's National Forests, picnic lunches at all those underused picnic tables and FINALLY getting caught up on my reading. It's kind of nice in its own way. The National Forests are more geared toward hunting and fishing. There are a lot more houses than hiking trails so finding an appropriate spot is more of a challenge but it's doable (just look for the official campsites on a roadmap and then improvise). All of this is to explain my choice of route from New Orleans to Joplin.

Pensacola Beach was just to relive a nice memory. Not as much fun this time since the spray from the surf forced me to cover my tent and miss out on some nice stargazing.

DeSoto National Forest (South of Hattiesburg, MS)
Homochito National Forest (East of Natchez, MS)
Kisatchie National Forest (Homer, LA)
Ouachita National Forest (Hot Springs AR)

Then it got cold and rainy and I had saved enough to justify a night in a motel although quite frankly I would have been fine with another night outside. Arkansas isn't the alps but the western mountains were a nice change and I wouldn't mind a return trip to hike the 244 mile Ouachita (pronounced like Wichita with a WATCH IT) Trail. Another even slower trip for another time.

Moving On From New Orleans

2011-11-27T21:19:00.000-05:00

In September of 2005 when I decided to retire, the Epiphany came in two parts. One part was that my winter work paid for...well, work (apartment, gas etc) and that getting rid of both would be a wash. The other part of it was watching the aftermath of Katrina and feeling the way so many people felt that we had to collectively step up and help the recovery effort. Seeing the world was and is great. Hiking has been a real pass ion of mine the last twenty years or so but what gave the whole enterprise some semblance of a noble purpose was Katrina.
So it is with some sadness that I realized the time had come to move on. Businesses have returned, the Saints have given the region a sense of pride and resurgence. Local government is back to its lowdown ways and the need for a food pantry is more or less that of any other American city. Most clients' circumstances have improved so that other than trying to score a free turkey for Thanksgiving there isn't a lot of interest. In the grand scheme of things, this is good. The region has recovered and they can take it from here. But it's a little sad to say goodbye to such a unique moment in American life when ordinary people stepped up and helped their fellow citizens when the government failed.

The Future of Syn-Fuels

2011-11-09T18:18:00.001-05:00

My first reaction to NPR's story about airlines using bio-fuels was 'Uh-Oh, might pose a threat to the refineries down here in the Big Easy' (click here for story). But then I stopped myself and asked if I wasn't giving New Orlineans enough credit. Surely they worry about the environment as much as everyone else having lost such huge volume of land to coastal erosion even before BP went express in bringing Gulf oil to the America.

But then I had to take it even a step further than that. A friend once told me "don't look at what you like, look at what you do" when trying to decide on a career. What do people in New Orleans do? They talk about food. They're crazy about it. They go on for hours. They more you've never heard of it, the more of an opinion they have. Drinking and football are simply the excuse for cooking, eating and talking about both. I've had people go off for 15 minutes about New Orleans coffee, what should be in it, its history, toxicology and most important why other people don't make it right.

Can you just imagine a similar conversation about what should be in the ideal bio-fuel? French fry cooking oil or oil from deep frying shrimp? How about oil from the cajun turkey deep fried in a barrel in the back yard? Texas would no doubt want a piece of the action since they already deep-fry everything they can get their hands on and will probably resort to deep frying felons when they get bored with the death penalty. Your car won't just be responding to you but to your choice of what to feed it. Car sales emphasizing care, feeding and bonding. Amish finally seizing control of the US economy once they corner the market on corn based fuels. I'm telling ya', bio-fuels are going to be as American as apple pie...if we let them.

For more idle conjecture see Carrington's Shameless Blog

Mississippi Mudslinging

2011-11-06T13:00:00.000-05:00

FINALLY, something about New Orleans that makes sense. Something the rest of the country might even benefit from. Something to do with...politics. Good old corrupt, grafting, name calling Louisiana patronage politics. It's the runoff election.

The way it works is that all the candidates run against each other even and if someone gets more than 50% of the vote, they're in. If no one gets to 50%, there's a runoff between the top two (?) candidates. At first glance it's just another opportunity for mudslinging, the more savvy candidates saving the best dirt for the runoff.

But think about it, the major parties are their own worst enemy when it comes to choosing candidates. They either have to appeal to their extremists due to voter apathy or end up in the pocket of campaign donors. Putting all the candidates on the ballot allows the full electorate to vote on the full slate. Candidates hoping to appeal to a broader spectrum of voters moves the discussion more toward the center. Voters in states with one dominant party get more choices and not just the anointed candidate.

New Orleans politics has a well earned reputation for venality and childishness but I'm starting to see the light when it comes to runoff elections.

Joplin, Missouri

2011-10-20T21:26:00.000-04:00

If you're like me you've never invested a lot of mental energy learning about Missouri. It's not a huge state like Texas or California, it's not a basket case like Mississippi or West Virginia. St Louis probably isn't the first city you mention when talking about major American cities. Kansas City borrows another state's name for God's sake. It's a bit southern or maybe western. It doesn't cause much trouble and gave us the amiable Dick Gephardt and the much less amiable John Ashcroft (who had the unique distinction of losing an election to somebody who was dead before becoming George W Bush's Attorney General). So Missouri just tends to languish in the category of pleasantly-average-but-not-very-interesting" states in the public consciousness. I'm not out to change any of that. I bring it up only to say that I had no impression of what Joplin Missouri would or should be like. I just knew there had been a horrible tornado last May and that this was an opportunity to help.

The first surprise was the size, Joplin boasts a population of 50,000 in the city itself and 176,000 counting the surrounding communities as of the 2010 census. It's closer to Tulsa and Fayetteville than it is to Kansas City and is very much a regional hub serving the area where Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma all meet. So it was never just a dot on the map, it was and is the cultural and retail center for a significant area complete with its own branch of the State University.

The second surprise was when I first drove into town from the northeast, I saw no damage at all. The houses, downtown and malls all looked pretty much like any other American town. But after I found where I was staying I saw the tornado zone and it was staggering. An area of roughly 4 square miles virtually empty. Houses, trees vehicles all wiped off with only the streets marking what were once tightly packed residential neighborhoods. Here and there a few houses were going up on the foundations of the old and here and there a few houses waiting to be demolished stood in tatters. Other than that just street after street of empty lots and miscellaneous pieces of concrete. I tried to imagine what it would be like to lose everything. Sure, we all have too much stuff but some of it means a lot and just knowing it's there can mean a lot. What would it be like to have most or all of it destroyed and not have time to grieve in the chaos of trying to survive or locate friends and family.

The town has come a long way. The High School is up and running. News stories help keep the volunteers coming. Extreme Home Makeover is building seven homes in seven days. But for the other seven hundred homes destroyed by the tornado there's still a long way to go. As a volunteer you sometimes feel like your contribution is kind of small. On this trip I found myself wanting to make more of an emotional connection and at least try to imagine what it was like. It was after all the worst tornado in the US since 1947, seventh worst ever in the US overall measuring a mile wide at its peak and its peak strength was in a densely populated area. The few trees left standing in the tornado zone are stripped of their bark and the upper limbs are snapped off. The cost will run somewhere around 2 billion, the human toll incalculable. One can't help but pause and reflect at the enormity of the destruction and hope that America will show the same kind of compassion and support that it did showed New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Each volunteer's contribution may only be a drop in the bucket but enough drops and we've really made a difference.

Road Trip 2011

2011-10-16T21:09:00.000-04:00

On the road again...

Friends to visit, things to see, opportunities to improvise.

Valley Forge- I promised my former landlady that I would visit on a week-end so we could see more of Philadelphia. This time instead of plunging into the middle of town we headed over to the much more peaceful Valley Forge. For all the associations with the hardships that Washington's men endured (exaggerated slightly to build support for the Revolutionary cause) it's a beautiful place. It's also pretty big. It had to house the entire Continental army and provide a deterrent so there's a lot of room. Many of the old buildings have been preserved and there's the obligatory Visitors Center and educational programs. Mostly I just appreciated a beautiful stretch of land in the middle of the greater Philadelphia suburban sprawl like the joggers making the five mile loop around the park.

Newseum- I promised myself I'd go the next time I was anywhere close to Washington. It's a museum of American News in its various formats mostly since the 1800s. There was the every newspaper from everywhere collection, obviously much too big to spread out. Front pages spread along the street would have to do. It was some of the smaller exhibits that were more interesting. Daniel Pearl's travel gear. The accounts of those who lost their lives because of their reporting. The Pulitzer Prize winning photographs. The wall of headlines from 9/11 facing a piece of the wreckage from the World Trade Center.

Natchez Trace- I first saw this listed on a map of National Scenic Trails. It's not really a trail at all but a parkway run the National Park Service. Think Blue Ridge Parkway without the mountains (or the Merritt Parkway without any cars). That being said it's a lovely drive down a beautifully cared for route that stretches from Nashville to Natchez and was once a trading route to bypass taxes levied by the Spanish. The other interesting feature is the Native American mounds that date back to around the years 800-1300 of the common era. Their function seems to have been both religious and political. I couldn't help but notice a sign that listed their religious objects as crude when European art around that time still had a way to go.

Graceland- When a friend invited me up to St Louis I couldn't go through Memphis without visiting the Rock N Roll shrine known as Graceland. With Paul Simon and the Talking Heads ringing in my ears I shelled out more money than I had for the Newseum and braced for the kitsch-fest.
It was actually much more normal than I expected. The outside of the house is a beautiful neo-colonial while the inside looks like a comfortable time capsule from the 60s. A few extras to be sure but Elvis generally hired people to design his rooms for him and he chose well. The throngs of visitors assemble at a kind of Elvis mall across the street and take shuttles up to the mansion. This allows for some control over the flow of visitors as well as providing opportunities to sell stuff (an Elvis clothing store-genius). Even the music was better than I expected. Instead of the over-orchestrated later songs it was pretty much straight ahead Rock N Roll from his earlier period that dominated the play list while I was there. I've never been a big fan but I came away pleasantly surprised.

And Finally...The Arch- Gateway to the God knows what in my case but very impressive when seen live. I'm sure I frightened more than one motorist trying to snap pictures from my car on Interstate 70 before plunging into the bowels of East St Louis to try and get a picture from across the Mississippi.

For more entries check out Carrington's Shameless Blog

Visiting Beigette

2011-10-13T16:26:00.000-04:00

It seemed like such a grand idea at the time but suddenly I had no idea what I was going to say wandering the long hospital corridors that would lead eventually to the small room. I had no idea how I was going to start the conversation. What do you say to someone who has been paralyzed in a bike accident riding with her husband and two young children?
"Could have been worse" (Not really).
"How's it going?" (Fine if you like being in a wheelchair for the rest of your life).

For someone like me who has had more than his share of conversational disasters over the years the possibilities were daunting. Then there were my emotions to worry about. Everyone who knew Beigette was upset when they heard about her accident. It just didn't seem right that someone who quietly gave so much to others and a mother to two young children should have this happen. How unfair that someone who makes a living helping children feel at home in the outdoors should have her own ability to ever enjoy it again thrown into doubt. I was afraid I might fall apart instead of offering support. For as much as Fernwood Cove is now their life, Jim and Beigette met and married at Fernwood in what had to be one of the most unique ceremonies of all time. (Jim proposed at morning assembly, arranged for a Justice of the Peace to come to camp and perform the ceremony at rest hour in front of the entire camp all in one day).

A marriage is official essentially because two people say so in the presence of witnesses. We were the witnesses. We were the ones who danced the hora and picked them up on chairs not the civil flunky who couldn't understand why our mostly Jewish congregation pray to Jesus so as happy as I am that things have worked out as well as they have at the Cove, I feel like part of them is still part of us.

So as I wandered the halls of the Shepherd Center in Atlanta I tried to think of what I might say., deathly afraid I'd say something stupid or upsetting. I was more than a little relieved to find Beigette's mother sitting in her room with Beigette out at some class or other. This made it far easier to take care of the basic questions without the awkwardness of asking directly. I shouldn't have worried. Beigette came zipping down the hall in a motorized wheelchair a few minutes later with a beautiful smile and we had a very pleasant conversation. She talked about her accident as if it was yesterday's breakfast. Any worry about her two children or mourning for her loss of motion was not in evidence. I was stunned. I don't think I could ever be strong enough to handle it that well.

The visit was a short one since the center keeps them deliberately busy. But even the few minutes I had left me with a lot to think about. As of my visit, she has motion in both arms, can grip with the left hand but not the right. There is sensation in her lower limbs but no movement so perhaps there is hope for future mobility but it's a long way off at best. Every once in a while there are moments that make you stop and evaluate yourself. I went to offer comfort and was met with far greater strength of character. It was never about what I had to say after all. It was about what Beigette's courage said to me.

After Soaking at Baxter's

2011-09-13T16:28:00.000-04:00

OK. Most of you aren't old enough for the Jefferson Airplane reference. I was amused.

Anyway, my original plan was to hike Baxter State Park from top to bottom and then continue on the Appalachian Trail all the way to New Hampshire. What I didn't count on was having to return home to have some stitches removed from minor surgery. As it turned out I was quite happy to return home after five days of wet feet and more than a couple of strenuous days.

The trip started at the much quieter northern entrance to the park for a hike along the Freezeout Trail. Fernwood has done this as a three-day backpacking trip so I've always been curious what it was like. The trail meanders through the woods above the shores of Lake Matagamon before coming out on the Lakeside at Northwest Cove. It then follows Webster Stream then loops back down to the park road. When I was there the trail was quite wet and given that there's a lot of length and not a lot of traffic it was more like a shallow stream for several stretches. However it also meant that Webster Stream was riding high and the Grand Pitch falls were really roaring.

The next big attraction was an extinct volcano called The Traveler. There was even a talk by a state geologist the night before at the campground to point out some of the local features. By now the lingering showers from hurricanes Katia and Lee had passed and the weather going over the three peaks was quite nice. The two trails up the main peaks have now been connected to form a very scenic if challenging loop with views of Katahdin, Lake Matagamon and the East Branch of the Penobscot.

Finally a hike up Katahdin from the northwest staying the night at the Davis Pond Lean-To. It's much like Chimney Pond with a lot more solitude. Initially when I got above treeline I was in the clouds all the way up to Hamlin Peak. But as I approached the Saddle the weather cleared and I had unlimited visibility for the rest of the day.

And just to give myself a little icing on the cake I descended using the Abol Slide. It's a rockslide that involves more than a little creative route finding within the slide area. It's also REALLY steep at the top. There were several sit-downs and a couple of backpack tosses involved getting down but I can now say I've done all the trails on Katahdin as well as having hiked the entire length of the park.

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