Go West to Go North: Let the Rising Up Begin
The Rise Up Ride 2022: Days 3-7
Go West to Go North: Let the Rising Up Begin
Date: April 25, 2022
Start Location: Chicago, Il
End Location: Ceres, Ca
Distance/mode: 3527 km/train and bicycle
Time: 4 days
Latitude: 37° 36′ N
On Saturday I boarded the Zephyr Express in Chicago bound for the West Coast and family visits. The Amtrak Superliner has a cozy coach-class compartment downstairs if you can book it, with less foot traffic and noise. Two nights later, my brother, John Schulze, was waiting at the station in Martinez with a pickup for the panniers, my bike, a short ride to a cheap motel, and some catch-up over Mexican food. John held on to some of my cold weather clothes and camping gear while I multimodaled by train and bicycle to Ceres, in the San Juaquin Valley, to spend time with my mother’s people.
Aunt Jean, who had a peach ranch in Ceres, had a sister, my grandmother Avis, and both women had daughters who were best friends. One of the cousins was my Aunt Marge and the other was my mother, who passed away suddenly a few years ago while on her way home after exploring in Namibia. There’s no time like the present to preserve the past. Marge sat in front of my video camera for an hour, talking about Mom. It’ll be a treasured digital gift to my sons and nephews one day.
Today, I’m starting the journey north, beginning at 37° 36′ N and headed, eventually, to Tuktoyaktuk, on the Arctic Ocean, at 69° 27′ N. I’ll pedal to the Modesto Amtrak station, stop off in Martinez to change trains, get gear from John, have dinner with a high school friend and start clicking off degrees of latitude on my way to Eugene. Let the rising up begin in earnest!
