Seattle, May 26-30

The second day in Seattle opens with me meeting Nicholas. He's two months old and (despite what I might have been expecting based on my bias against infants) quite a blast to hang out with. The little dude quite fairly rocks the house. On the surface, you don't think that he's actually doing much, but if you pay close attention, you'll realize that those un-coordinated kicks and wild arm flashings...along with his facial expressions and occasional coo are part of an ongoing massive physical and mental adjustment. In a way, it's like he's creating the world around him.

It is interesting to observe the differences in Chris and Maureen's behavior around Nick. I've known them for about 10 years and it's like I'm meeting new people. Don't get me wrong. They're still as badass as they've always been. It's just that their quite formidable attentions are now both focused on the same thing and it's an impressive sight.

Later that day, Chris tells me that he and Maureen took part in this birthing group and that they've been having this regular dinner thing with two couples since the births of all of their children. "Oh...and tonight is our turn to host the dinner."

That evening was a whirlwind of babies, and talk about babies, and the changing of babies, and babies being fussy and babies, and babies, and babies. There was Sarah and Paul and baby Miles, Jacob and Carine and little Joris, and Chris, Mo, and Nicholas. Then there was me. Over the course of the evening, I observed all three couples performing a delicate balancing act who's sole purpose was focused on a baby. Talk about teamwork. Paul bounces Miles while Sarah eats. Carine feeds Joris while Jacob goes for seconds, Chris holds Nicholas as Maureen gets ready to feed him. Then Sarah burps Miles while Paul eats. Jacob changes Joris while Carine has some dessert. Maureen feeds Nick and Chris sets up the bouncy chair. And on and on and on and on. There's very little talk between the partners while this is going on, eveyone knows their job and they do it. In a way I guess you could say that at this point in the babies development, both parents will lose their identities at certain points during the day and (seriously) become this single entity working to aid and abet their child. Aaaaanyway...
All of the babies were pretty cool. Nick was, of course, the cutest. But then I'm pretty biased.

Dinner was, by the way, excellent. Chris made a superb Thai inspired meal and Carine brought an excellent tossed salad with Chicken in it. The main course was a red shredded chicken curry with snake green beans, a Masama with yellow curry, fried morning glory greens and rice. Paul and Sarah brought a key lime pie. It was excellent.
By the end of the evening I was strangely tired and so went off to bed.

On Sunday, the four of us hung out for a while and just chilled. Maureen's dad came over briefly with a piece of furniture for the livingroom. Nice guy. I continued to read Discarded Science: Ideas That Seemed Good at the Time, and tried to find out some info on whether my bike had been shipped out here yet or not. It hadn't. Chris and I did some walking around and checked out a couple of bike shops. Chris and Maureen told me they were glad I was at the dinner the previous night. Apparently, I helped keep the conversation moving along. Hey man, I haven't got any problems talking about myself, especially my upcoming trip. "It was the best get together yet," both Chris and Maureen declared.

Memorial Day was also quiet. Chris's parents and his brother Rob came over to visit with little Nick. I decided to go to downtown Seattle and check out the REI superstore and explore a little. The REI homestore is a retail behemoth. Beyond huge, the only piece of outdoor equipment this place was missing was Mt. Rainier itself. I managed to make my way to the waterproof jacket department and purchased a very nice (and surprisingly cheap) rain jacket for the ride. The jacket is made my Marmot (same as my tent). I also bought a couple of dry sacks, and a biking jersey (on clearance sale, woo!) and then headed out to explore the rest of the town. I found myself having a late lunch in the Panther Lounge at this place called Cyclops. When I told Chris about it, he was incredulous. It turns out he works directly beneath the restaurant I chose to eat in. Fancy that. I made my way to the Olympic Sculpture park and was blown away by the view of Mt. Rainier from there. It was also pretty cool to see Caulders "Eagles Flying" up close.

One Tuesday, I didn't do much of anything for most of the day except sit around the house. I did find out that my bike had been sent from NYC the previous Friday, so I made plans to go down to Recycled Bicycle on Wednesday and check things out. Chris and I went down to Capitol Hill to have a few beer with poet Doug N. He's also a cyclist and we chatted about my upcoming trip and his trip from Seattle down to San Francisco. He warned us against ever carrying smoked salmon with us on a bike trip. "I had to dump over a pound of smoked salmon," he said. "Yeah. One night I woke up and found out that I had a serious chipmunk problem." I certainly hope that my upcoming trip is chipmunk free. No salmon for me. No sir.

On Wednesday, I borrowed Chris's mountain bike and rode down to Recycled Cycles. My bike still hadn't arrived, but they said they'd call and let me know when it did. I picked up a Seattle biking map and decided to go for a little ride. I took the Burke-Gilman Trail from the shop up to this spot called Swamp creek. It was about a 13 or 14 mile ride up. I stopped at a park next to beautiful Lake Washington and watched sea planes land and take off for a while before heading back It was a short 30 mile ride, but was the first ride I had had in over a week. It felt good. I should have used some sunscreen though.
When I got back, Maureen and Nicholas were off for a doctors appointment. This appointment has something to do with (shudder) vaccinations. We're talking needles here. When they got back, I spent some time playing with a surprisingly happy Nick. Man, for a 13 pound critter, he sure gets heavy pretty fast. I was talking to Chris about this after he got home from work and he pulled back his sleeve to show me his "Papa Guns." Note to self: baby as workout method.

Seattle Images

Here's Nicholas. The newest addition to the Chris and Maureen's household. He's an Aries, likes long walks on the beach and if the other day was any indication, Godzilla movies. I gave him a primer on how the big lizard's radioactive breath turned against him in the lovely 2002 masterpiece Tokyo S.O.S. Godzilla vs. Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidora. He seemed to get the idea, even if he was asleep. Nick is pictured here in the magic, bouncy, vibra chair. If this thing were available to adults, I believe society as we know it would collapse. We'd all be asleep.

This hangs above my bed. No. I don't have nightmares about it. I'm not sure if that is a good thing.




A picture of Mount Rainier. It was a beautiful day in Seattle. The mountain was, as they say, "out."



An obligatory Seattle picture. The girl who took the photo for me wouldn't stop until she felt she got it right. She got it right, I guess, except the top of the Space Needle is missing.

Nick and me. Two baldies chillaxing on the couch. Do note the trucker onesie. Rad!












Fight the power...against bedtime. Note skeleton leg warmers. They make leg warmers for wee ones!

Seattle, Day 1: A Recap

Day 4 in Seattle and so it is time for an update. My lovely hosts Chris, Maureen, and Nicholas have seen to it that my time spent here has been a perfect blast. A little bit about the trip out here before I get to them.

The car arrived on Friday afternoon to pick up Coltrane and I. Our first stop was to drop off Coltrane at Jen and Allison's place, where he's staying the first week I'm away (more about Coltrane Fat Boy Burger Buns in a bit). Then we headed to JFK. While I was handing off the dog to Allison upstairs in their apartment, the driver was busy moving my luggage from the trunk of the car to the back seat. When I came back down, he motioned for me to ride in the front with him. GYPSY CAB!!! Oh no.

Well, I got in anyway (I had used this cab service before and there had been no problems) and we took off. In short order I learned that my driver's name was Omar and that he was from Moracco. Since it was Memorial Day Friday, he suggested that we take only local roads, so we did. The ride to the airport was a clinic in close calls and near misses, but it was interesting to ride through neighborhoods I knew nothing about. Brownsville is especially interesting.

So about 5 minutes away from the airport, my good buddy Omar opens up the storage compartment (you know, where you keep your 8-tracks and cassettes) next to him and asks me to deposit the fare in there before we get to the terminal. Dum-dum-dum! "So...you aren't legally allowed to take passengers to the airport?" I ask. "JFK requires special permits. We can't afford." Omar had been an affable cabbie and I felt for his situation in a way. We didn't hug or anything when I got out of the car, but it was a pleasant ride.

American Airlines Flight 246 to Seattle, however, was another story.

I landed at SeaTac last Friday around 10:30--2 full hours later than I was supposed to. I was hungry (no in-flight dinner during the trip) and just a little cranky. The in-flight movies were the Diane Keaton made for Lifetime TV movie travesty Because I Said So. *Shudder* I arrived at Chris and Mo's around 10:30 and we chit chat for a little while. I was excited to meet little Nicholas, but they had just put him to bed so, I would have to wait until the next day. I ended up going to sleep the first night at 1:30. Do the math, it was really 4:30 in the morning for me. Some of y'all are aware that for me, to be up until 4:30 isn't that uncommon, but after a trans-continental flight that took six hours, I was beat. And I was already thinking, it took me six hours to get here, it's going to take me more than 60 to get back. Oh boy.

Back on Track

At left: The Bike That Love Built

Last weekend's poetry reading raised over 800 dollars! More than enough to get this show back on the road. There is much thanks to go round but alas, my flight to Seattle leaves shortly and I still have some serious house cleaning to do. I'll address all of those lovelies who helped with the new bike from Seattle. See you on the left coast!

A Missing Update

There have been lots of folk writing me with their support. I'm confident that I will find a new bike and promise to keep a closer eye on this new one. My superfriends are banding together and check out the following...it's an email from one of the loveliest of lovelies, Allison Cobb.

Please put this out on your wires: Our dear friend and poet Ethan Fugate is about to embark on a three-month, 4,200-mile cross country trip on his bike, raising money for cancer research in memory of his mother.

This morning, his bike--all outfitted for the trip--was stolen. So we are having a fundraiser to help Ethan get a new bike. Please come to a reading this Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Zinc Bar (90 W. Houston between Thompson and LaGuardia). I and Katy Henriksen will read. Thanks to host Jim Behrle for agreeing the make the fundraiser part of the show.

Thanks indeed!

I'll post some of Al's work later.

MISSING!

Well...the timing of this could not be more absurd. My bike went missing sometime between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. from the hallway of my apartment building. I've parked my bike there for over a year and a half and it's never been molested. Not once. My neighbors are pretty diligent about who comes in and out of the building so I can't imagine what happened.

Today's entry was going to be about my last day at the NYU Child Study Cente; and that in exactly 1-week I'll be flying out to Seattle to visit my friends Chris and Maureen and their new baby Nick; and how I needed to ship my bike to Seattle this weekend; and the few items left on my list to purchase for the trip, rear-view mirror, waterproof jacket.

Instead--I need to figure out what in Sam Hill I'm supposed to do now. I have basically 5 days to build a new bike.

Any bright ideas are appreciated.

"Every rascal is not a thief, but every thief is a rascal." — Aristotle

Take a break, driver 8

Good thing I won't be riding throughMiami. According to an AutoVantage poll, Miami's horseless carriage drivers have the worst road rage.

Oops! Looks like New York City drivers won the #2 spot. Although I have had a few encounters:

Lady in car next to me at a stoplight: Get your &%#@ ass and your *%&$^# bike out of the street.

Me: Sorry, but I have a right to ride here.

Lady: It'll be a shame when I run you over.

Me: The shame of that particular scenario, ma'am, is that once you've been arrested and put in jail for sheer numb nuttery, the world will be bereft of your sparkling personality.

I normally find NYC drivers to be quite accomodating to cyclists. Maybe they're just rude to one another. If I had to spend 40 minutes trying to go 3 miles on the West-Side Highway, I'd be cranky too, I suppose.

1/3 of the way in barely 7 days!

I am overwhelmed by the good will shown by all y'all out there who have donated to the American Cancer Society fundraiser I've set up. It's only been 7 days and we're 33% fulfilled! Amazing!

Orange Light, Sailors Delight?

Woke up at 5:30 this morning to my apartment awash in this strange orange light. I rubbed my eyes thinking I was, perhaps, in some sort of dream state when I heard the tell-tell rumble of an approaching thunderstorm.

You've probably experienced the approach of an afternoon t-storm where the air turns cadaver green, the humidity suddenly switches to tropical, the taste of ozone flirts with the back of your tongue, and everything kind of slows down. It's an ominious moment, punctuated by schizophrenic rumbles from the sky, some low, some loud, some near, some far. It's almost unreal.

Swap the cadaver colored air with Amber Vision™ colored air and you've got what was going on this morning in Red Hook. I don't know how long the storm lasted because I went back to bed after going to the window to take a looksee, but there were some pretty impressive lightning/thunderclap combos.

It made me remember the fact that I have yet to obtain the final piece of my gear for the trip--the waterproof jacket. If anyone wants to recommend a lightweight option, a very lightweight option, let me know.

Pee Wee - Bicycle Race

One of the best movies--ever.
One of the best bands--ever.

Unfortuneately, you have to go directly to YouTube to see this. Boo.

Did I actually say that?

Environmental Defense ace reporter Leslie Valentine interviewed a bunch of folk across the country about urban commuting via bicycle last year. I was one of those lucky people.

Ms. Valentine wrote me last week to tell me that ED had decided to run the piece again b/c May is Bike Month in NYC. Cool beans. "The intricate ballet of bicycling in New York City" still goes on every morning and evening after work for me (at least for the next week it does) and the interview makes for some entertaining reading. Check it out if you get the chance.

nb--"non-sweaty physiology" = TMI.

Ay-yi-yi.

Poetic Interlude

Here's an excellent poem by Pablo Neruda—and not just because of the whole bicycle thing.

Ode to Bicycles

I was walking
down
a sizzling road:
the sun popped like
a field of blazing maize,
the
earth
was hot,
an infinite circle
with an empty
blue sky overhead.
A few bicycles
passed
me by,
the only
insects
in
that dry
moment of summer,
silent,
swift,
translucent;
they
barely stirred
the air.
Workers and girls
were riding to their
factories,
giving
their eyes
to summer,
their heads to the sky,
sitting on the
hard
beetle backs
of the whirling
bicycles
that whirred
as they rode by
bridges, rosebushes, brambles
and midday.
I thought about evening when
the boys
wash up,
sing, eat, raise
a cup
of wine
in honor
of love
and life,
and waiting
at the door,
the bicycle,
stilled,
because
only moving
does it have a soul,
and fallen there
it isn't
a translucent insect
humming
through summer
but
a cold
skeleton
that will return to
life
only
when it's needed,
when it's light,
that is,
with
the
resurrection
of each day.

Dispatch #2--Buzz!

It's all about aerodynamics.

Dispatch #1

Beginning the first week of June 2007, I am riding my bicycle 4,200 miles from Anacortes, Washington to Bar Harbor, Maine. This online journal will be a record of that journey.

I'm travelling by myself and will be camping for most of the trip. It is going to take me somewhere between 70 and 80 days to finish this ride and that includes "rest days."

The route I'm taking is a hybrid of the Northern Tier bike route, a bike path trailblazed by the Mizzoula, Montana company, Adventure Cycling. Here's what the Northern Tier looks like.

My route is exactly the same as the Northern Tier until I reach Fargo, ND. Instead of heading south east towards Minneapolis, I'm going straight across Wiscosin to Deluth. From Deluth, I'm heading into the UP of Michigan where I'll cross into Ontario at Sault Ste. Marie. When I reach Espanola, Ontario. I'll turn south and catch the ferry at South Baymouth on Lake Huron. At landfall in Tobermory, Ontario. I'll make a bee line for Niagra where I'll hook back up with the Nothern Tier Route.

Of course, this route is subject to change and I might decide to stick with the original route. We'll see. I'll have a lot of time to think about it.

I'm jumping ahead, but I've been playing with MapQuest and am envisioning what Day #1 of the ride is going to look like Here it is. 76.64 miles to Newhalem and the entrance to the Cascades National Park. Most of Day #1 is pretty flat. I go from sea level to about 900 feet above sea level. Not bad but I imagine I'll be watching the Cascade Mountains rearing up in front of me as I bike. That might be intimidating. I wanted to stop in Diablo b/c Diablo Lake looks incredibly cool. Glaciers in the park grind rock into suck a fine powder that when said powder is washed into the lake, it remains suspended in the water, giving it that crazy turquoise hue. According to my cycling maps, unfortunately, there are no campsites nearby. Tomorrow: A little bit about my bike and my checklist for the ride as well as some idea as to what all this is about.

Before I forget, I want to mention that I'm going to be raising money for the American Cancer Society in honor of my mother. Please visit my personal fundraising page to learn more about my efforts and to make a secure, online donation.