September 16, 2015
by David Ryan
4 Comments
If there is one thing that this website is all about, it is that you can wander anywhere! When you allow yourself to see what is already here, you can have an amazing adventure no matter where you are!
I found this out once again last week when I wandered by the sunflower patch in a corner of the cohousing community where I live. One of my neighbors was hoeing weeds, and I thought I would help out by asking how she was doing.
The Sunflower Patch
August 28, 2015
by David Ryan
1 Comment
Now that I have walked both the Camino de Santiago and the Appalachian Trail, I have been asked by many people which one I liked better. Making that choice would be as hard as picking a favorite child or pet. They both are great places to take a long distance walk.
For purposes of this discussion, a long distance walk is one long enough to become a lifestyle rather than a brief interruption of your life. The biggest obstacle for most of us in attempting a long distance walk is finding the time to do it. And if you can’t swing the time for a long walk, the shorter walk that you can find time for can be just as wonderful. The Camino and Appalachian Trail are also great places for shorter walks.
But if you can find the time for a long distance walk, it will become what you do, day after day, week after week. It will be a lifestyle of simplicity, clarity, equality, and freedom. It will be a wonderful experience and may be one of the best things you will ever do! Continue Reading →
July 25, 2015
by David Ryan
6 Comments
Two years ago my dog Petey and I traveled to the Mississippi River area and found several public stairways in Dubuque, Iowa; Redwing, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Stillwater, Minnesota; Alma, Wisconsin; and Galena, Illinois. All of those stairways were described in previous posts in this blog.
Two weeks ago we returned to the Mississippi River area to see if we could find more stairways. We did find some stairways. We also ran into some very hot weather.
Our first stop was the historic river town of Alton, Illinois. Alton was the site of the seventh and final Lincoln-Douglas Debate of 1858. Today the town is within commuting distance to St. Louis and almost every other car had a bumper sticker celebrating the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Alton cemetery has a monument to Elijah P. Lovejoy. He was a Presbyterian minister who ran an anti-slavery newspaper. He was killed by a pro-slavery mob in 1837. Some people consider him to be the first casualty of the Civil War.