The wind conditions did not favor him today.
Mom, you would have loved Cheryl. She brought me out a bag of drinks and healthy snacks when I arrived, but made sure I washed my hands before digging in. Later in the evening she cooked me dinner while the three of us sat and talked, and I found out Rob is quite a character. He's a fixture on the UW campus in Madison playing his sax outside in the warmer months. He's really gotten into his new blood sugar meter, and measured my blood sugar (75 mg/dL, I think it was, before dinner) to show me how it works. (The prick is painless and the reading is almost instantaneous.) This morning he showed me a few other interesting hobbies of his while Cheryl packed me up a breakfast for the road. (Photos to come.)
Day 56
He also plays the flute!
May 21st, 2010
This is "Nature Boy". He dedicated it to me and told me to look up the lyrics:
There was a boy
A very strange enchanted boy
They say he wandered very far, very far
Over land and sea
A little shy
And sad of eye
But very wise
Was he
And then one day
A magic day he passed my way
And while we spoke of many things, fools and kings
This he said to me
"The greatest thing
You'll ever learn
Is just to love
And be loved
In return"
Handmade and portable!
I also got a good shot of the "whirlyjigs" (wooden lawn ornaments that spin in the breeze) he makes, but accidentally deleted it.
In the Wisconsin school system, they combine driver's ed and trigonometry.
Do they just reuse lumber as mulch or do they actually turn the wood chips into particle board or something like that? Anyone know?
Dave, my buddy from New York, walked the last ten miles of the day with me yesterday and then bought us some beer at the Terrace (part of UW's student union) to celebrate my first 1000 miles.
My friend Moses used to live at this co-op in Madison, and he told me I should call them up for a place to stay. I got to share Shabbat dinner with them, as well as breakfast this morning, and they gave me a futon to crash on for the evening. Special thanks to Jeff for being my official sponsor, and to Tracy and Nicole for making all sorts of delicious food.
Also: Isn't that list of ingredients scary?
David, a Vietnam vet, has done about 150 "peace walks" since late 2002, carrying his sign three and a half miles along this rural stretch of US 14. We walked side by side for a while, chatting. A bunch of people waved to David or honked in support, but he said people used to throw things at him when he first started.
He is also the editor of the local paper and a painter (both canvas and mural).
This isn't the first time I've seen this version of Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima with firemen, but with the flag missing it just looks like they're having a fistfight.
While I was futilely trying to get a good photo of an emu, I looked down and saw this image on my phone screen.
My conversation with Steve, a man of infectiously unbridled enthusiasm, started something like this:
Steve: Where the hell are you going?!
Me: Oregon!
Steve: HOLY CRAPOLA! That's awesome!
Me: Thanks!
Steve: Where'd you start?
Me: New York City!
Steve: HOLY CRAPOLA! Well, welcome to southern Wisconsin!
I'd always wanted to know but been too embarrassed to ask.
These horrible monsters are all over southern Wisconsin right now. I bet I literally saw half a million of them smushed on the road today.
