Aryn Adventures

There seem to be a lot of bike trails in this state. I was on path most of the day. I mistook a couple of turns (some overzealous turning, incomplete backtracking, some hoping for the best, and some streets on my cue sheet that maybe didn’t actually exist) but it was mostly a straightforward ride. I’m staying here with Charles and Tara for a little bit.  

Who am I and what am I doing out here? There is no doubt that walking out and going on a personal adventure is a selfish choice, but is it a choice which improves my self? I get stressed sometimes, and feel like I am in the wrong place or doing the wrong things, or not enough, and that the problems of my world are so much bigger than I can have any impact on and where should one start… How, you may ask, is dropping everything and traveling for an extended period of time to help this? That is a good question. My goal is to step back, to be more patient and more honest, to meet more people and have a broader perspective. This is all lofty and theoretical, perhaps. I am moving most of the time. I think a lot, occasionally in a semiproductive way, though mostly I am just entertaining myself. It is too soon to say if I am building good habits for myself out here in the world, but I am definitely going places I’ve never been and meeting new people and visiting friends I haven’t seen in some time. 

This is a most important thing to master: Don’t worry.

I’m not in a hurry, so there is no reason to stress about needing or wanting a break, having a short day or a day off. It is easy to change plans, if they affect other people, just let them know. I’m not on any kind of time line where a couple days will matter. 

I’ll camp when I can, but if it seems unpleasant or is hard to find a spot, I should not let myself worry about whether it is the right time to find some indoor sleeping option. I should use good judgement, but I shold not let fear dictate decisions. If information or sense comes to me after the fact I will do my best to not overthink what I should have done differently. Learn and grow, don’t regret. 

Note: Making the best available choices may be affected by previous choices, and this is what it is, there is no sense in worrying about how a thing could have been different. 

Assumptions: here is where I’m starting when I think about things, it is an incomplete list

Stress is unhealthy and largely unhelpful.

I believe that it is good to be out of doors at least a some portion of time.

I have one life to live and it is good to enjoy it and to do as much as I can with it. I do not believe that there is a higher power or luck involved in my existence, but rather that it is by chance, which is plenty to appreciate.

Choices can only be made once. Sometimes something similar may come up, so it isn’t bad to think about what I could have done differently if it I’m not happy with the outcome, but is unhelpful to dwell on how things could have turned out differently.

Privilege, discrimination, vast injustices, and human driven environmental destruction are real and are problems.

I try to have faith that other people do what they think is right or good, and though we may not come from the same place or have the same base assumptions and so may have very different ideas of what “right” means I try to assume good intentions. (I don’t mean that I’m perfect at this, only that it is how I want to live) 

Ok? Here are some pictures.  

Taking breaks is important for remembering that there is no rush

These are some interesting clouds I saw (from the swing in the above playground)

Another place where a break may be taken. I ducked in here and hung out a bit out of the rain, picked up a book.

I stopped early enough in the evening when I got to Lake Michigan to hike around the dunes in The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

This is a water creature I saw

Breakfast on the beach!

I broke a thing! I was trying to slip past a truck parked on the side of the street as I was leaving Chicago, but was too cose and snagged my front pannier on the truck. The bag stayed and pulled the rack with it as I continued forward (until I fell over) and this was not good for the rack. Fortunately I was able to quickly replace the piece.

Last morning sleeping next to Lake Michigan. The sun seems to come up from the horizon so quickly, it was neat to watch.

I tried it, so in case you wanted to do it too:

How exciting that there is a route that will go from where I was to where I wanted to be! As, I’m sure, with any long muti-state route, the conditions were quite varied. Sometimes two lanes, sometimes it was more, sometimes busy, some chunks very quiet, at times there was an awesome shoulder, and others none to speak of, sometimes it was even marked as a bike lane. 

I had almost no trouble with drivers in Detroit. All the roads there were huge and most people seemed to have no problem using a different lane than the one I was in. Not as much in the immediate suburbs. But, it wasn’t too bad. For the most part in rural areas I was not bothered, though I was probably passed closely by trucks a few more times than ideal. 

As I approached Ypsilanti 12 splits and there is the option to take Business 12. This is the right choice, which I did not make. 12 then merges with I-94. I was surprised by this. Don’t panic, it worked out ok. I got off at the next exit and had to do some guessing and some backtracking and eventually got back on route, but it meant going east a ways to get on the west bound again. 

I had a day of going in the right direction, through largely rural Michigan. Then you get to Niles and it suddenly turns and becomes a four lane only motor vehicles highway… just for a little bit, you know? So I stopped in a gas station… the detour is simply go a few miles north up to the center of Niles where you can cross the river, then come back south to get back on 12. I found a spoon.  (I have a collection of flatwear I’ve found in the road, various states of mangled, I picked up five things in Michigan and saw two that I let go. If I mention finding things, this is what I’m talking about.)

12 goes almost up to the shore of Lake Michigan, through many little lakeside towns, through the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Park. It gets a little confusing as you get closer to Chicago, it was and was not the same path as US 20 for bits, sometimes only one would be marked for a stretch which made me feel confused (it may not have if I had looked well at a map ahead of time). 

It got big and busy (though not illegal to be on as far as I could tell) south of Chicago and I ditched it for a bike path when it was offered to me- we saw each other a couple times after that, but it is definitely over between us for now.