06-22-11 - Watching the river run

06-22-11
Further and further from things that we've done,
Leaving them one by one.
And we have just begun watching the river run.
Listening and learning and yearning.
Run, river, run.
I don’t get a lot of sleep from the night before.
Realizing I’d lost th thread of the audio book that was plaing long before, I’d shut the computer down around 11pm and faded back to sleep. But I woke at 1pm to the sounds of the trucks that seem to be ever present in this town. There is a junction of at least two highways along Melrose’s “Main Street” and a few lots off the main road are lots filled with trucks and or trailers from various trucking companies. There is a Tyson’s food factory in town and maybe a lot of shipping by truck is from them. But I think it’s more just a waypoint town. The loud engine growl of 18 wheelers can be heard day and night from the campgrounds. The river runs thru the town but does not quiet it with the soothing sounds of its swift flowing effluence.
I think of things thru the early morning hours. The thoughts both prevent me from sleeping and give me something to do in sleeps absence. My nature abhors a vacuum. I think of past girlfriends, the loves of my life, back to elementary school - Margarita in 2nd grade at John Muir Elementary in Santa Monica and especially Cynthia in Mr. Silverstein’s 3rd grade class at Thomas A Edison school is a different part of Santa Monica. I think of the kid I was back then and the times that influenced me. I was confident and had the best friends then. I ran for class president and won! The 1960 elections had been televised almost to the exclusion of anything else so I watched that. We were republicans. I liked Ike and rooted for Nixon to win. But I also like that Kennedy guy. And they both won! (It was the primaries.) I listened to their speeches and thought about our class president speeches that usually went with the general format of “ If elected class president, I promise to do a good job and represent Mr. Silverstein’s 3rd grade class to the best of my ability.” I had never run before but on a lark I decided to try it. Those speeches were pretty meaningless and everybody pretty much said the same thing. I was going to run on a platform and make campaign promises!
The main reason for being class president was to be chalkboard monitor for the month and to be able to be team captain for the sports teams. I’d been listening too to the complaints about the corruption in the office by the past title holders. The president would appoint themselves or their friends “Chalk board monitor” and their friends would get to bat first and more frequently. It was Cynthia, representing the nascent woman’s caucus that had brought up the inequity of girls getting to bat. So, when It camp my turn to mumble my standard “election speech” I said If elected, I will give everyone a fair chance to be chalkboard monitor, and girls will get to play on the baseball team”…and I finished with the standard stuff about representing the class. I think the whole “Chalkboard-gate’ had gotten me fired up in it’s unfairness, I wan’t running for myself, it was to redress the unfair practices of past presidents.
I won by a landslide.
Then the hard job of keeping my word and keeping my friends. I decided that I would not seek nor accept the position again after the great Baseball debacle. Girls “Did” get to be on the team, but they often got to bat last…because we were playing other classes and “we wanted to win”. And many of the girls just weren’t as good as the guys who played all the time. My big failure was, in the last inning. We were close and could win with the right hitter. A girl, who was a notorious “whiffer” was due at bat, and my friend Chris (the best player on the team) pleased with me to put him in so we could win. I told the girl I was putting Chris I so we could win the game and she would be responsible for letting us win if she would let him bat ahead of her. She grudgingly agreed. Chris hit, we won, recess was over - and I’d lost. The trust of the girls, stature, though not friendship of Cynthia and my desire to be class president. I’d learned pleasing a lot of people could be a fractious task. I determined to pre-follow Ricky Nelsons’ future advice “you can’t please everyone, so you’ve got to please yourself. I found it was more important to be true to my friends that to campaign promises that I said to get elected, but had know idea how to implement them and still keep true to my intent.
These are some of the things that come to mind late at night. Especially on those nights where I’m trying to figure out how to keep the Journey moving forward. If the end is at hand and what to do then.
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I woke up this morning to a steady staccato of drizzling rain on the tent and a nearly deflated air mattress. I opened the tent to let Mischa out to explore and relieve herself (she at least got a full nights rest) and to see how the day fared. The rain was not as bad as it sounded, but I would till wait awhile before breaking camp to try to get the car loaded with as many dry things as possible.
I watched the river flow and thought of the Loggins & Messina song. I though of the large Hispanic community in this town and wondered why here and in Minnesota of all places. A question to ask today if I can. I grew up in Santa Monica and Orange County California and blacks, Hispanics, Asians they we all part of my background, classmates and friends. I never thought too much about it. Seeing a large population of Hispanics in Orange, El Modena, Santa Ana - it wouldn’t even make me think twice. But in the small town of Melrose, Minnesota…it makes me wonder. Why here? How long have they been here? Who were the pioneers for their community. Are they a majority population here? Close?! It is the first community I have seen since perhaps Page Arizona or Clarksdale, Ms where a large population of “people of color” (I hate that phrase - everyone is a “Person of color”), let me re-phrase people who are of predominantly “non-Caucasian” heritage. It makes me think of home. It makes me thing of America. At least the country I grew up in.
The things I think of in the daytime when I’m awake.
And it’s only 7:25 am.
What will the rest of today bring?
I head east planning to get close to The Twin Cities by days end. Best option seems to be a campsite in Victoria, west of Eden Prairie.
I drive towards St. Cloud for gas and internet access. The internet access in Melrose has been catch as catch can - highly unreliable and slow.
Before getting to St. Cloud I stop at a Freeway Rest Stop. I talk to a service attendant name Denny who works there. He’s been in Minnesota most of his life except for when he was in the service. Grew up in Albany where he lives now. Worked for many years in the Twin Cities. Moved back and bought a home with acreage in Albany. Went thru a divorce and moved to St. Cloud for a few years, then when the divorce was finalized, moved back and bought the farm back where he now lives. He said it’s been difficult getting work. He’s getting hours because he’s filling in for a sick co-worker. Though it’s a state rest stop, his services are from a concessionaire that has the government contract. In the days new broadcast there is constant reporting on the budget crisis in the state that seems to mirror yet loom larger than the similar budget crisis on the Federal level. Denny is working 9 hour work days - no overtime. And he is lucky if he gets close to full time. If the state budget does not get approved and the government shutdown begins…Denny is out of work.
I think of my situation…the possibility that this adventure ends in days and that both Denny and I may be competing for jobs soon. And Minnesota just announced an unexpected increase in unemployment claims.
I wonder if anyone in government at any level has an idea of what life is like these days for people like Denny and I. The lack in faith in elected representatives who live and work in the comfort of funding by all the Denny’s and people like myself who pay our taxes regardless of our personal economic plight expecting that the paycheck these elected public servants cash will focus the attention of these people to “promote the general welfare” for the people who provide the only legitimate income they earn while they are in public service. They clearly don’t get it. The income they earn with the position is clearly not enough for them. So they double dip. They take in millions of campaign contributions. How, as a nation, did we ever allow this situation to happen? If a person can’t live on the 173k income we pay them annually (this doesn’t include the per diem or other benefits - “Leadership” positions get and extra 20 grand!) then they should pursue a more lucrative form of employment elsewhere and leave the field of public service to those who understand the term. And they should serve no more than two consecutive terms in any one position. On the state level, they need to remember that, thought they are elected to represent the constituents from the district they were elected from, their paycheck comes from everyone in that state (Yes…your personal paycheck comes to you via socialism.) and you are obligated to represent the entire state…as you are working at a state level. Sure, you advocate hard for things that benefit your district and for it’s best self interest…but not when it is at odds with the interests of the entire state!
The same goes for servants representing their state at the federal level. If you are a Representative or
Senator from ANY state…your pay comes from the taxes of people from every state in the union. (Let’s face it folks, if the payroll money came from the states the representatives came from nearly half of the states could not afford their representation!) At the Federal level you have the responsibility to represent ALL the people of the united states FROM your state or state district. Yes, advocate for your state or state districts needs, but not at the cost of the needs of the whole country. The problems of most of the elected officials at the the federal and national level is that they have become far too provincial and insular over the last few decades. Too selfish and short sighted. Too much “Senator & Representative” and not enough “Public servant”. Too much focus on re-election campaigns and not enough on “earning their paychecks”.
We do have some hard working public servants in government at all levels. But not enough and even they may have overstayed their welcome in their current seats. It was never meant to be a permanent career, but a limited term of public spirited service.
I leave Denny to continue making the rest stop a clean, pleasant and welcoming location. True “public service” and I’m sure he’s not getting anything near 173k/year…though he may actually be more productive than those who do.
Getting to St. Cloud, It is a rambling city and the Garmin takes me a long way to the center of it looking for McINternet. I perhaps could have found a location closer to the Freeway…but I didn’t check the map and was lazy.
I spend about an hour or more trying to figure out what to do with my now limited and dwindling resources.
I have to pick up some mail that has been sent to me along the way. And I am not sure I’ll have funds to last out the week -for gas and camping. And it’s been raining for two days and expected for another. My mood mirrors the weather, gloomy and overcast. Threat of rain, immanent.
I’ve got a since of where to go. Victoria seems to be the place to go. I had hopes of a different city park a little further from the cities than Victoria because it was less expensive, but they prohibit tents. Leave me out…in the cold.
My tent is still wet from last night, this morning so putting it up again is not a happily anticipated idea, though probably necessary.
I am directed off the freeway at Monticello to go thru Buffalo, Rodgers, Wayzeta, Minnetrieste and finally into Victoria. I find the campgrounds and see that there are a few good options for a place to stay with good wind/rain shelter. But before pitching tent, I decide to find wifi and check my options again. I find a Starbucks but can’t get a strong enough signal from my car in the parking lot. I find signal eventually in a shopping center across the road via Caribou Coffee. I find many things that help me decide. It’s rainy and getting dark. I head back to the campsite and stop at a grocery store for food for dinner. I get a cheap loaf of bread and some sandwich meat. I feed Mischa and myself a little food and take off, not to the camp but to a Wal-mart. I’d been told that you can stay overnight in Walmart parking lots - truckers do it a lot. I go to the location in Eden Prairie (though there is a closer location in Shakopee). I find a space to stay for the night and Mischa is getting antsy. I take her for a walk and see a Walmart guy collecting carts and comment, “it’s true that people can sleep overnight at Walmarts across the country. He says, “Not here” he continues “It’s the city ordinance, not Walmart's!” I ask if the other Walmart’s might be ok? “Yeah, Shakopee - they’re open 24 hours.”
So I drive there…in the rain…freeway construction makes night driving dicey. I start hearing an engine sound. Damn, I’m overdue for adding oil…should have done it back in Fargo! I get to the Walmart - check out potential sleep spots then go into the store and buy two quarts of oil. I put them in, move to a darker spot and stop to try to sleep in the car around 11pm.
I must have been really exhausted. I make it thru with only a brief break in sleep around 1:45am. I finally wake at 5:45am. A little stiff, but not a bad nights sleep…’cuz I did sleep.