2023 Bear Hunt Day 1 - Travels with Steinbeck

After a fitful night of sleep, I woke up way too early.  I tried to get back to sleep but once my brain started thinking about work, I had no choice but get up and make a cup of hotel-room coffee to start the day.  Stupid brain...
There was no reason to dither, so I got up and packed up as quietly as I could to hit the road.

Traffic was predictably low at the early hour and it was nice just poking along barely above the speed limit.  Winds all day trended from the north, so my mileage suffered; slowing down did help.

Temperatures were cool and they dropped all day.  There was a bit of rain in northern Wisconsin and into Minnesota, but never enough to really matter.

I listened to Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck almost the whole day.  I had downloaded this book quite some time ago, but with my canine issues the previous year, I just couldn't bring myself to listen to it.  I'm glad I didn't force it then since it ended up being the right book at the right time (mostly).  There were so many parts of the book that Steinbeck lyrically wrote about road trips - and sights and sounds and smells - that I could relate to so well.  There were also many quotes I tried to save, but I'm sure I lost a few.

The overall theme of the book is that one can't know America (or any country) by external means.  And looking internally will be affected by the what that is looked at and the external conditions and forces at that time.  I find this so true; some of the best meals of my life have been with SO while on Motorcycle trips - but were so good mostly because of the entirety of the day.  And as much as I've been to the same areas many times, they have never been the same experience.

Yellowstone is no more representative of America than is Disneyland.

Steinbeck also talks about how much the Redwoods, his former home area, had changed.  Having just taken a trip near my former stomping grounds, this is something I live frequently.  I loved that he didn't come to any conclusions or right/wrong about this.  But this builds on the theme of knowing a place and how it is experienced is affected by time.

[On Redwood Trees] Can it be that we do not love to be reminded that we are very young and callow in a world that was old when we came into it? And could there be a strong resistance to the certainty that a living world will continue its stately way when we no longer inhabit it?

Not all of the book was positive however.

Early in the book he talks about hunters in the most negative terms possible which was disappointing.  This ends up being hypocritical when late in the book he considers shooting a coyote but decides not to - suggesting only that he is too old to do this.  I guess since I'm headed out on a hunting trip, this whole bit about how terrible hunters are seemed hopelessly myopic.

I was excited when he started to talk about the Midwest since I think there are many areas which, while maybe not gems, are unsung.  But instead he goes on and on about mobile homes.  Granted this was a fairly new thing in the early 1960s and Steinbeck does talk about them quite positively, but it was disappointing that that was so much of what he wrote about.  Later he does talk about the hoards of them springing up in his beloved California as well, so I guess it isn't so bad.  He also talks about the genuine friendliness of the Midwest - which is something I truly believe having traveled around the country so much.

The book ends on a total downer when he spends about 15% of the text dwelling on racism in the South.  Granted his experience in 1962 was radically different than what I've experienced, but it was sad so much was devoted to this when - even then - the South was more than this.  Racism was also something he specifically looked for.  One would hope that if Steinbeck were traveling around with a poodle now, there would still be plenty of flaws to be discussed, but spending so much to end on the negative would take more effort.  Syntax is everything in writing.  I'll also argue a poodle was not the right choice in 1962, and would not be the right choice today.

Even with the negatives, the book made the drive go, if not always quickly, at least pleasantly.  There were hardly any slowdowns until ... Duluth.  Oh Duluth - what a mess you are for at least the third year in a row.  I'm convinced trying to follow the detour signs for US53 in Duluth is impossible.  At one point, there were 2 detour signs pointing in opposite directions.  As I have previously done, I ended up using a mix of GPS and dead reckoning to get where I want to go.  I did have an epiphany when I realized the reason Duluth drivers go sooooo sssslllllooooowwwwww - they must have learned that one wrong turn in a construction area could mean being stuck in an infinite loop that it is impossible to get out of - so every decision must be made with great deliberation.

Once through Duluth the drive got more northy.  I continued putzing along since I knew I was on target to get to the hotel way too early.  Trees were starting to change already giving me hope that the previous year's lack of bear activity might not be repeated?  Maybe that is a hopeful leap.

Once into International Falls I found my hotel - the same place I stayed in 2014.  I can't say the place has improved in the last decade, but it was good enough.  Since I was able to park right outside my door, I brought almost everything in - which looked ridiculous for one night in a hotel.  It is a bit hard to believe so much junk can fit in a Maverick.  So hunting trips go.