….”All Aboard”???… Drawing by Jennifer Hershey. Follow her work on Instagram at deeofo.
Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.
Mary Shelley
It’s been over five months since you’ve seen a post from carbonstories.org. The most recent was published just before Jenny Hershey and I arrived into Pennsylvania Station, New York, from San Antonio in late February. Although we had read about Covid before we arrived back home, we weren’t at all prepared for what was about to happen to so many people in our beloved city, and across the globe (in other hot spots). And we didn’t know that over time so many other areas outside New York City would eventually become kindling for the same cruel virus fueled by poverty, indiscriminate and irresponsible behavior, and poor leadership.
“No exotic “Kung Flu” here. Only fresh lychees and strawberries”! Drawing by Jennifer Hershey. Follow her work on Instagram at deeofo.
But you know the story only too well, since you are living it as well. I’m sure that no matter where you are, your life has been upended and you see only the smallest glimpses of light at the end of the tunnel. And all things come to an end, and this pandemic will eventually.
Bikes overlooking Lake Lewey in the Adirondacks.
The primary focus of this blog has been how different communities in America are dealing with, or failing to deal with climate change, as seen through the eyes and ears of several long distance cyclists. That’s still the case, although it's difficult to travel by bicycle when in lockdown, or when amenities are limited because of social distancing. But some weeks ago we ventured out, towing our bikes on a bike rack in the back of a car, thinking the car could be a shelter of last resort if we weren’t able to find an open motel or campground.
A view of Lake Champlain near Ausable Marsh, NY.
We got lucky in the Adirondacks and found one place operating on a cash only basis (the owner didn’t want to officially open because he didn’t want to follow state regulations regarding temperature testing and contact tracing). We stayed there anyway, since he and his wife wanted to keep their distance and run a very small operation. Later, near Indian Lake, we found a place that had officially opened several days before we showed up in late June. The proprietor, Mary, was just learning how to use a temperature gun. It took her several tries to get ours right, varying from 94 to 104 degrees…. but finally she “shot” us both at 98.6…
“Please stay back until I get my mask on. I’m 74. …I survived breast cancer. I just need to take your temperature and fill out these forms”. Drawing by Jennifer Hershey. Follow her work on Instagram at deeofo.
And that was only the beginning. We ventured out again in mid-July, and our travels this time have taken us to other places in the Adirondacks, Lake Champlain on both the New York and Vermont borders, up to Newport, Vermont, on the Canadian border, into the White Mountains in New Hampshire, and into western Maine. The Maine coast is next, and then back west across into the Green Mountains of Vermont before heading back home to New York City. Hopefully, that will cure our wanderlust for a short while. Unless things really fall apart across the US, the next time out we’ll leave the car behind. Even in these fragile times, we’ve learned it is possible to travel reasonably safely by bicycle if one is resilient and ingenuous.
Near Farmington, Maine.
There is some comfort traveling in one of the least beleaguered parts of the US while Covid cases are rising so rapidly in many other communities. But we take nothing for granted. While Vermont requires masks in all public establishments by law, New Hampshire does not, and we have walked out of more than one gasmart where neither the proprietor nor customers bothered to wear them. Honestly, such dismissive behavior does little to inspire my acceptance toward people protecting their “freedom.” Have these folks not read about what is happening in Florida, Georgia, Texas or Arizona? Is it not apparent they could be next if they don’t use common sense? I find this adolescent reaction to jurisdictional “authority” quite a head scratcher.
Seen by the roadside on Isle la Motte, Vermont.
Yet, the deeper structural issues that have been made more raw by the spread of Covid are much more truculent and long lasting. No matter where you are, you are living through several interrelated crises. If you're an American, you are seeing wildly varied, often lurching and highly politicized responses across the country to the threat of Covid transmission. You’ve watched some American citizens respond with caution and even terror, while others have been wildly cavalier and dismissive. And you’ve read about - or personally know about - people growing ill and dying on both sides of that behavioral divide.
“I can’t deal with all these “Trumpies” around me. If New Hampshire doesn’t go blue, they’re gonna have to deal with me and my scissors!” Drawing by Jennifer Hershey. Follow her work on Instagram at deeofo.
Still, our front line responders remain characteristically heroic in the face of extraordinary unrelenting pressure and hardship. At the same time, I wish I felt more pride in our collective national response. It has been hard to watch other regions of the US make poor choices from the perspective of a devastated New York City. Frankly, I think we have shown the world that we are quite ordinary and unexceptional. I don’t think that’s who Americans are deep down, but it’s who we have have been of late. Our confusion is palpable.
Seen in a rustic rural area near Mt Vernon, Maine.
Collectively, we’re witnessing an extraordinary resurgence of pushback against the inequities exposed by historically persistent structural racism, income inequality, and a public health system created out of those inequities. It’s more obvious than ever that things that didn’t work so well before Covid don’t work at all during Covid. There’s a takeaway in all this. An unreflective society that races along when things are “good” (aka, strong employment figures based on an unsustainable reliance on fossil fuels, low taxes (especially for the wealthy) and large public debt, and fails to create resilience for that inevitable time when things are “not good,” is a society that comes apart rapidly when difficulties show up.
Seen outside Littleton, New Hampshire in the White Mountains. .
It’s time for a significant self-reckoning. And it’s time for an election. The choices of direction are stark. Make no mistake though. Reasonable people must not relax and assume common sense will win the day. The far right news bubble led by Fox and Breitbart News is hard at work discrediting the free press as “fake,” downplaying the truth about the dangers of Covid, subverting the righteous intent of those who resist structural racism, pushing back hard on our hard-won democratic right to free and fair elections (including using mail-in ballots during the pandemic; they can work - talk to the Republican party in Utah), and obfuscating the very credible science of climate change. They have no intention of letting up, and have already proven they can trick the more gullible among us.
Seen by the roadside on Isle la Motte, Vermont.
Stay vigilant! Thanks for reading. More to come.
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