Again, it might have been the American tendency in travel. One goes, not so much to see but to tell afterward. John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley in Search of America Looking at her cell phone the next morning, she found smoke alarm alerts, then Bjorn’s text message conversation with Olaf (their two phones were inextricablyContinue reading “The Dakotas: Stand-Off at Devil’s Tower, and Carved in Stone”
Author Archives: ajtanek
The Dakotas: Fear, Wild Horses, and The Best Place to Cut a Narrative
An equine scream, rife with fear and anger, shot through the air like lightning to wake Astrid from almost-sleep, set her heart and mind racing. It was a high-pitched, but throaty roar of what sounded like a very wild and nearby horse. **Just a little note for next time- this is the best, better place toContinue reading “The Dakotas: Fear, Wild Horses, and The Best Place to Cut a Narrative”
The Dakotas: Through Amber Waves to The Badlands
Power lines … hills … cows … giant eagle nest … dead white tree … eagle … sunflowers … plains … Boyhood Home of Louis L’Amour … cell tower … bright gold wheat field … fields of round bails … soybean field … black cows … grain silos … piles of round balesContinue reading “The Dakotas: Through Amber Waves to The Badlands”
Out of Myself I Go: Beauty for Ashes Pt. 2
Beauty for Ashes Pt. 2 After a 105r portage the next morning, G2 entered the many-islanded Lake Insula. As always, Astrid had read what she considered to be a relevant book before the trip. This time it was The Voyageur by Grace Lee Nute, a historical study on the men who moved productsContinue reading “Out of Myself I Go: Beauty for Ashes Pt. 2”
Out of Myself I Go: Beauty for Ashes Pt. 1
Beauty for Ashes* Pt. 1 On the way back from an early morning shower, Astrid had been lured down a trail leading to a lake by burning orange light filtering through the trees. The skies wanted to give her something. She crouched at the edge of the lake, distracted by wispy little footprints running towardContinue reading “Out of Myself I Go: Beauty for Ashes Pt. 1”
Out of Myself I Go: Prologue
Theodore Roosevelt National Park “ ‘Out of my country and myself I go*’. I wish to take a dive among new conditions for a while, as into another element. I have nothing to do with my friends or my affections for the time; when I came away, I left my heart at home in aContinue reading “Out of Myself I Go: Prologue”
Hiking The Manistee River Trail Loop Solo, But Never Alone
Manistee River Trail Bluff “Sometimes you just have to walk,” Astrid said. She was talking to her brother on his front porch as his sweet little girls raced by in their plastic cars. He had recalled the time when he walked home from a wedding in town, on a long back road in the darkContinue reading “Hiking The Manistee River Trail Loop Solo, But Never Alone”
OR: The Chipmunk’s Trap, and Three Sisters
“Is that a Blockbuster?” Astrid asked in disbelief. “A real Blockbuster?” They had exited highway 97 North to refuel the car and pick up lunch to go. “Oh, yeah … right. It’s the last Blockbuster store in the U.S. I forgot it’s in Oregon,” Bjorn said, craning his neck to get a good look atContinue reading “OR: The Chipmunk’s Trap, and Three Sisters”
OR: And the Darkness Has Not Overcome It*
Starlight over Crater Lake The road into Crater Lake National Park thread through a fire-bitten, young pine forest, the ground underneath the pathetic trees patched with snow. It was going to be cold at the top of the mountain. They stopped and paid the entrance fee to the park, then, as it is in soContinue reading “OR: And the Darkness Has Not Overcome It*”
OR: Incomprehensible Giants
Olaf was home, working for the summer, and Snorri was in Florida with a friend for the week. They were kidless. Not since Astrid and Bjorn had traveled to Europe in 2000 had the stars aligned for them to take a trip together. It wasn’t much different than traveling with children; Astrid still worried about herContinue reading “OR: Incomprehensible Giants”
Not I 