Wanderlust

It’s Nora, bringing you Friday morning group blogging, from a goldfish farm that is also a horse farm.

No one is entirely sure how we ended up here, but here we are – in Bunnlevel, North Carolina, at the Little River Trails horse camp and goldfish farm. We’re sitting in an enormous square dancing pavilion with more picnic tables than we know what to do with, and we realized last night how drastically our standards have fallen when we’re excited that a place we stay has both more than one shower and more than one electrical outlet. We may never leave.

In our last two weeks, we are traveling through almost as many states as we’ve passed through in the first three and a half. More than anything, this trip has Abeen a lesson in geography, and it makes me think about the ways that physical space determines our reality. A shocking amount of the country is full of not a whole lot, and we’ve spent more time than not traveling down deserted rural roads through farmlands and past abandoned country stores. Over the next two weeks, though, we’ll be riding into the Eastern Seaboard and thickly settled suburbs, through almost a state a day.

So from Wanderlustland, our thoughts on geography and the places we’ve been.

Mel and Elizabeth here, who don’t like Fayatteville. We had to ride Critical Mass thro the city because the cars apparently didn’t believe it possible that single file bicyclists and two lanes of traffic could coexist. And even the fuzzy navel sno-cone that Elizabeth got was gross. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Grapefull Sisters Vineyard is a Wanderlusty favorite. It was located in coastal North Carolina, and could be described as Paradise. We REALLY wanted to stay there forever! Amy and Sheila told us about their adventures taking out cotton on the family farm to replace it with native Muscodine grapes, which they then used to make amazing wine. We know, we got to do a wine-tasting. Sheila is getting into the SLOW food movement, and told us about her efforts to support and promote locally grown wines and grape varieties (check out ncwines.org). Amy stood in her kitchen while we were sampling the Southern Charm variety, and told us how she had hammered nails and set installation in every wall of the house, although we don’t know who installed the Futuristic Robot Shower and Bath Tub. It was complete with flashing blue lights, music, a radio, a mysterious lady bug button that we never figured out, shooting jets in every direction, and at least three Wanderlusties at any given moment (to save water, duh!).

Elizabeth says we find ourselves so much in the moment from place to place and the trend is for us to feel so elated when arriving safely at the next destination that we say “this is the best yet. Let’s stay here!” This has something to do with the weird way we experience time here, which is as a continuous time warp. Heather says “every day is a full experience unto itself and unique from the previous.” When trying to explain the nature of time on the trip, Elisa joined us to say “It’s like time is inverted and making love to itself.” We don’t know what day of the week it is, or what hour when we arrive at camp at the end of the day.

Mel loves watching the moon, which looks a little different from every camp site. Because we’re outside all evening, we can even watch it move across the sky. Other natural phenomena enjoyed by Wanderlusties are the Atlantic Ocean at Myrtle Beach, the varieties of birds and their night calls, and the insects.

Becky now…We all have different feelings about the bugs. Every location has its own variety of mosquitoes, ants, bees, beetles, moths, spiders, and odd flying creatures. We’ve all been bitten by mosquitoes and ants and hardly recognize our own legs because of the bite scars. The South Carolina mosquitoes were fat and black and totally immune to DEET. The bumblebees in North Carolina are huge. Horseflies sometimes follow us as we bike, nipping at our backs. But some of the night creatures have been fascinating and beautiful.

Speaking of night creatures, we heard our first bobcat cries when we were at Jones Lake. They sound like screaming women and it’s pretty spooky.

Here at the fish farm, we’ve enjoyed watching beautiful eastern bluebirds who have taken to dancing around the mirrors of our van.

Because we each take a turn driving the van every couple of weeks, it’s become clear how differently we see the world on bicycle than in a car. From a car, one sees lots of billboards, but from a bicycle those are barely noticed. Instead, a cyclist notices the road, its bumps and curves and hills and trash. A cyclist notices flowers and trees and cows and dogs and ducks. When driving the van, we mostly see buildings and road signs and distant landscape. It’s fun to travel so slowly, waving at people on their porches and appreciating what a diverse country we live in.

Vanessa Renee here now. Watching the landscape change from fields to trees, from skyscrapers to old abandoned barns is my favorite part of each day’s ride. Arriving at Grapefull Sister’s Vineyard two days ago to a beautiful view of corn fields and grape vines is a memory that will stay with me for a long time. Amy and Sheila have created a little piece of paradise on the land that I can’t wait to return to some day.

Shelby Knox, chiming in this morning. I left Texas for New York City about a week after graduation, happy to leave behind the politics, some of the people, and the long, hot, never ending stretches of road that dominated my childhood. Riding through South Carolina and then North Carolina, I have experienced an unexpected nostalgia biking past farms with flags and people waving from the porch, and going into the only grocery store in town, knowing that the owner will relay our visit to his family over dinner because we were the only outsiders to pop in for the day. I find myself for the first time since I moved away starting sentences with “In Texas, we…” or “Because I’m from Texas…”.

I feel in my bones and heart the gentle hospitality, the willingness to help, some of the judgment and the same fascination with people whose reality is almost unimaginable, which I felt for the first time when two New Yorkers came to my small Texas town to tell my story. I couldn’t imagine their life, or what mine would be just five years later, but I suddenly saw that my reality did not necessarily hold true everywhere – and set off on a journey to discover as many realities as possible, intuiting that was the way to make the world a more just place in some small way. This journey led me to feminism, to progressive politics, to the reproductive justice movement, and eventually to Wanderlust, where my reality has coincided with that of nine other amazing women, each of whom has taught me so much already and who I am honored to pedal, discuss, disagree and grow with everyday. Just as the geography changes as we ride, I can feel the geography of my heart and mind expanding, becoming hilly and mountainous in some places and flat and calm as the old Texas roads in others. I want to thank each Wanderlustie for creating a space in which this is possible – and encourage all of us and every person reading to continue to look past your own reality and inside of other people and their worlds. This is amazing, and there is no place I would rather be.

Kathleen here! Geography…hmmm…. Myrtle Beach was a challenge for me. It was so busy and congested. We busted out about 25 miles or so in a urban area crossing over in dangerous traffic on highways and bridges. I never felt my heart beat so fast before in my life! I loved the difference in scenery when we made our way to the Grapefull Sisters Vineyard. It was all pure farm land. Though I consider myself an “urban gal” it kinda made me want to settle down some place quiet and live on a farm and bake pies! The journey to the horse farm was not so peaceful. I had an anxiety attack biking through the thick traffic. It seemed as if the drivers wanted to drive us off the road! Why can’t we all share the road?

Speaking of the horse farm….This nice lady pulled up on a golf cart with a little brown dog. I asked her what kind of dog it is and she said she had no clue but the dog showed up about a year ago. (I’LL UP DATE MORE ON THIS STORY LATER WHEN I HAVE MORE TIME TO TYPE….)

Today we are making our way up to the Chapel Hill vicinity and I’ll blog later on what the terrain was like!