T-46: The once and future city

Part of the reason we are taking our bike ride across the country is to see how other places operate, how they have weathered the disinvestment in public life that has been the norm for the last 25 years.  We have been so embedded in Detroit, which certainly is its own unique self.  We are interested to see if how it is in the big out-there.  Even so, very little riles me up quicker than folks who don't diddly about Detroit making big time pronouncements about how to "fix" the city. 

I recently read an article in which the writer was touting the influence and necessity of small entrepreneurs as the salvation of Detroit.  While it was a well researched article, it missed the boat because the writer was not much aware of the way in which life in Detroit has already left the 19^th century model of centralized commerce and government.  Detroit, both through choice and necessity, has found ways to invent key structures of daily life,  whether that is food, cash free economics, or a deeply rooted maker culture. 

One cannot tell the story of Detroit’s rebirth without discussing its central role in transforming the food economy.   With miles of open and incredibly fertile river bottom land, more than 2000 community gardens, and an active local food movement, Detroit is a the center of the urban agriculture movement.  It is not unreasonable to think it will be food self sufficient in 10 years.  And… this is a movement centered in the African-American community.

Another feature of life in this city is the robust social capital that keeps this place running.  There are time banks, thousands of grassroots block clubs and community groups which do everything from patrolling the streets, to tutoring kids, to running city parks.  Detroiters are past masters of “making a way out of no way”.  The resilience of the African-American community fuels this, of course.  The community has been ignored (or mistreated) by officials for so long, that other structures to solve problems are put in place.

This is what I call “the Auntie network”.  Battalions of kin and near kin organize the structures of life, from baptisms to funerals, from transportation to home repairs.  When you want something done, you engage families, not individuals, in this city.  When I say families, I don’t mean daddies and mommas and kids…. I mean grandma, grandpops, aunties, uncs, cuzzes (1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd) bros, sisters, and all their kin.  A typical family reunion can bring together hundreds of people…it is an organizing feature of the social, economic, and community life in the city.

Finally, one cannot omit the central role of the culture and arts in this city.  Singing, storytelling, painting, poetry, film, dance, and more... are daily occurrences made by all sorts of people.  With food being grown in the neighborhoods, folks that know how to get stuff done with little money or help, and super cheap housing, it is possible to live as an artist here.  I know this and see this every day, having founded and run a community based theatre for the past 22 years.   Matrix Theatre Company has employed thousands of artists and engaged tens of thousands of residents.  We see them go on to make art with and around us, year in and year out.

So, yes the structures of 19^th century commerce and government are broken and nearly gone in the city.  But a new, organic, self-determining and self-creating structure is already here.  Those who have eyes to see it, already do it.

T-88: A Home on the Road, Bedroom Version

Getting ready to be on the bike for months on end, on a self-supporting tour, means thinking about making the lightest, most comfortable home possible.  Oh yes, and make sure it weighs less than 70 pounds total.  This has been a big effort that is not quite done.

 

In our house, we have a kitchen, a living room, a dining room,  two bedrooms, an office,  a bathroom, and a full basement where we wash clothes, store food, and watch movies.  I assure you we have filled every room with furniture, art, tchotchkes, and the detritus of daily life.  Nearly all of the functions of our life in our house still have to continue when we are on the bike.  We will still need to eat and sleep and keep ourselves clean and healthy.  There will be hours in camp that have to be filled with reading or writing or maintaining ourselves, our relationships, and our gear.

Because we will be travelling for months, through wide and varied terrain, through all kinds of weather, we also have to have carry a closet.  We know from previous tours that bike problems are an inevitable; we have to carry a tool chest as well.

How to do all this without overloading these two fat old slow souls?  How to manage the need for both comfort and lightness?  It also important to consider durability and ease of repair. Being on the road is necessarily dirty and sometimes quite rough.  More than once, we have slept in sites no one would consider a beauty spot--on gravel or in the pouring rain.  Clothing, tents, and sleeping gear will take a beating on trip like this.

So what's a soul to do?  I have thought long and hard about the problem of the bedroom.  

From this...

In tours past, we have each taken one pad, a sleeping bag, and threw them in a good tent.  Even in our younger, fitter days, we would often face a poor night's sleep.  Always, Wes is a better sleeper than me, able to sleep sitting up on a moment's notice and wake up refreshed.  Me?  Not so much.  Even in my comfortable bed, I toss and turn and smash my pillow and struggle to find a position that keeps my slight spina bifida hips and back from throbbing or going numb.   Then it is another effort to shut down the chatter in my mind. 

In the past few years, while car camping, we have discovered that sleeping together, under a down comforter is infinitely preferable to snarling up in separate sleeping bags.  We can snuggle and share body heat if it is cold.  We can throw off the comforter if we get warm.  Usually, it's both.  I sleep cold and want Wes' warmth.  Wes sleeps hot and kicks the covers off his feet.   Ok.  So we want to use a down comforter instead sleeping bags. 

 But down comforters are usually surrounded by white cotton, a terrible choice in wet or dirty conditions.  So now we need to find a way to protect the comforter.  Solution: a double silk liner bag  (from Campmor) which will keep the comforter clean and somewhat protect from damp.  On a really cold night, we will be able to get in the liner for increased warmth.  Good.  What is the weight and size cost?  Oh my.  More than 9 pounds.  Even compressed the bag and liner are 21 inches by 8 inches by 6 inches.  Big.

We choose to keep that weight and size in recognition that we have to sleep well or we will not be able  to keep up the cycling day after day. 

The bedroom is not done.  We still need a bed and a bedroom.   We choose to take two pads EACH. Wes will take two closed cells, and I will take a closed cell and a Therma-rest pad.  More weight, more bulk.  Add two more rolls the same size of the comforter roll.  Weight cost: 4 pounds for Wes and 5 pounds for me.  Weight so far: 18 pounds.


To this...

Finally, looking at our tent, we have several choices.  The big cabin tent we use for car camping is obviously wrong.  The small tent we bought last year for the bike trip, although light and small, was extremely uncomfortable.  The few nights we spent in it were miserable, sleepless, body-aching wrecks.  The tent we took on the last bike trip won't do either, with its broken zippers and holey floor. 
That sets me on a search to find a tent.  Light, strong, roomy, easy to set up, able to survive big winds and big rain.  We have even found ourselves in snow.  After look, look, look, we are thrilled with a great tent from REI.  Good size with plenty of storage space.  Wonderful weight: only 7 pounds and very small package. 

We almost have a bedroom (although we are still debating what to do about pillows).  Size: total bulk of  21 x 25 x 6.  Whew!  Weight cost:  25 pounds.  These are big numbers.  Can we make up weight and size in other parts of our home on the road?