May seem unremarkable. But look close. Real close. See it? Yeah, that's snow alright.
With our sixth day behind us, it seems shocking that the trip has flown by like it has. And then I (Fedelma) think about Connecticut, and I reconsider the word “flown”. A beautiful state, and one of several places I call home, but I don’t think I had actually ever stopped to contemplate how the beautiful rolling hills could hit a biker’s leg muscles like a load of very big, dense bricks. But it was beautiful nonetheless, and at one exhausted and goofy point on a downhill slope of a quaint little Connecticut town, we stopped to chat and stretch, and realized to our surprise and delight (and horror) that it was in fact, snowing. We thought it had felt cold.
But then the cold, rainy, pretty hills gave way to a much-needed day of rest and then long, smooth, graceful fields of agricultural New York. Practically hysterical with delight, we turned around one slow, lazy corner and there were pumpkins. Fields of pumpkins, as far as the eye could see. Co-mingling with our awe of the pumpkins stretching out like Dorothy’s fields of poppies, was a slight discomfort at the thought of anyone actually having to pick those hulking orange behemoths (both Janice and I have worked as farmworker advocates). But the thoughts of pumpkin picking swept past with the landscape and sooner than we expected we were able to roll into our destination, on much-needed, long, flat roads.
In terms of people, apart from the wonderful families we’ve stayed with, and the hospitality, care and enthusiasm we’ve encountered, one of the really inspiring encounters we were caught off guard with was with the small but engaged group of students we met with at Vassar. Partially unexpected because it was the Saturday night of a Halloween party, and partly unexpected because of the spiritual and even (dare I say it) religious depth of the conversation, there in the bastion of secularism: Vassar. So, several cups of hot chocolate down, we had our expectations pleasantly blown away yet again, and talked not only about Colombian politics (one young woman, Ximena, will actually be in Bogotá with Janice...a friend!) but engaging activism, pacifism and international power dynamics and privilege through a spiritually motivated lens. It was great.
Well, more than halfway (I think), and still in one piece, we giddily look forward to Philadelphia, Swarthmore, and eventually D.C.! The weather looks promising, so we’re just sticking to prayers of enough hills to keep us awake, but not more than our poor, destroyed-by-soccer knees can take. (I am now convinced that the old Irish “blessing” that starts “May the road rise up to meet you...” can be nothing but a thinly veiled curse. I would much rather have the road slope gently down at my feet, or stretch out before me, or anything but rising up to meet me! My tires can sink to its level, honestly, its no trouble!)
Thanks to everyone who has kept us warm and fed, and supported us in all those different, good ways.
Janice and Fedelma stop at a "castle" in the middle of Connecticut. ??
