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After 20 days on the road I’m on the on-ramp to

After 20 days on the road I’m on the on-ramp to my normal life as a writer and editor. The re-entry zone is much easier for me as a motorcyclist than it ever was before I learned about wind therapy.

Do you see the little saying on the cushion of my window chair? “You never see a motorcycle parked outside of a psychiatrist’s office.” It was given to me by someone who was moved by the talk I gave to her professional association of occupational therapists.

I’m not sure the saying is accurate, because I’ve certainly ridden my motorcycle to a therapy session or two, but the sentiment is spot on. Not because of something inherent to the motorcycle but rather because it’s something that I love. I’m fortunate to have found something that brings me so much joy.

Why the motorcycle? I love being a part of my environment instead of encased in a vehicle like a visitor in an amusement park. I like the smells of the landscape that are otherwise filtered out by the heating and cooling systems of the car. I can often smell water before I see it, just like when I rode my banana-seat bicycle over country roads as a child. Yes, that means I ride through rain occasionally, and that’s a price I gladly pay for the overall experience of leaning into a curve, watching a hawk circle above me, and crossing a covered bridge where sunshine filters through the boards and spangles the tarmac below.

Road magic. That’s what it is. I hope you find you magic in whatever life brings you today, friends.

#motorcyclelife #motorcycle #bmwmotorrad #gsgirls #wisdom #roadmagic #grateful #travel #traveler #roadtrip #myoffice #currentsituation #swivelchair

I awoke to this tableau on the last day of travel.

I awoke to this tableau on the last day of travel. Now I’m home in the re-entry zone of laundry, correspondence, and list-making.

Has anyone else seen this view? Hint: North Carolina.

#bmwmotorrad #bmwgs #bmwg650gs #gsgirls #gsgirl #adventurebike #ontheroad #travelwithtamela

Spent the last week being mentored by the award-wi

Spent the last week being mentored by the award-winning memoirist Sonja Livingston at the Appalachian Writers Workshop. Laying over at my home-away-from-home in Little Switzerland while I finish her book, “Ghostbread.”

Insightful lines in “Ghostbread” include, “The scent of male tragedy clung to her.” Hoping some of that brilliance transfers to me in some small measure.

Sonja had great ideas about structuring my Ohio River book and she said I had a “confident” voice in the sample chapters she read. I’ll take that!

Last night at the Appalachian Writers Workshop farewell dinner, the author of Big Stone Gap (and a jillion other projects) Adriana Trigiani reminded us that writing is sacred work and we haven’t a moment to waste. Hoping some of her mojo would rub off on me, I stopped for gas in Big Stone Gap on my way home.

#amreading #amwriting #memoir #layover #blueridgemountains #blueridgeparkway #littleswitzerland #travelwithtamela #ncmountains

The Appalachian Writers Workshop is much more than

The Appalachian Writers Workshop is much more than the title implies. Here, fellow writers cheer each other instead of trying to put ourselves forward. We teach each other new songs, how to clog and flatfoot, and the history of an old tune. We swap ancestor stories and compare recipes.

Today we had a big laugh about the “right” way to pronounce Vienna sausages. Growing up I called them “Vi-ee-nee.” Now I use the pronunciation of the Austrian city, but my friends here debate my slide into conformity. “This is the sure path of cultural destruction.”

I had the great good fortune of growing up with hillbilly grandparents who were too busy getting on with life to worry what outsiders thought of their speech and food ways. Hillbilly proud. As I emerged from childhood I adopted America’s disdain for anything that would mark me as a hillbilly too.

My annual sojourns here in Kentucky help me embrace the richness of my own heritage, while unlearning the prejudice my country holds for toward other reviled subcultures.

Would you think any less of me if I reverted to the hillbilly pronunciation of Vienna? Why should I care?

Baha’u’llah says, “The light of a good character surpasseth the light of the sun and the radiance thereof.” Amen.

#hillbilly #hillbillies #appalachia #appalachian #viennasausage #bluegrass #bluegrassmusic #grandparents #hindmansettlementschool #appalachianwritersworkshop #amwriting #oldtimemusic #writersworkshop

After visiting the confluence of the Ohio and Miss

After visiting the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, I took a loop around Cairo, Illinois.

Pronounced “Care-o” by the locals, it was once an important steamboat port, as goods and supplies were moved further south to New Orleans.

In 1859, the city shipped six million pounds of cotton and wool, 7,000 barrels of molasses, and 15,000 casks of sugar, so it’s no surprise that it became Alexander County’s seat.

Prior to the Civil War, the city also became an important transfer station on the Underground Railroad. After the completion of the Illinois Central Railroad, fugitives were shipped north on the river before being transferred to railroad lines headed toward Chicago.

In June 1998, Cairo city workers discovered what appeared to be storage bins under the sidewalk along the 600 block of Levee Street. The Illinois Central Railroad originally ran down the street and the structures date back to the late 1850s. Physical evidence suggests that the rooms and an adjoining tunnel ran for five or six blocks along the street used to hide and move fugitive slaves.

During the Civil War, a number of businesses were established for the soldiers and citizens including stables, a hospital, and a wheelwright shop. Along the west side of the Ohio River, a number of saloons and brothels sprang up that served the military personnel until they were closed.

I didn’t stop for pictures of the beautiful old, and mostly abandoned, buildings erected during its heyday. Is this a ‘57 model Dodge Sierra?

#ohioriver #mississippiriver #illinois #americanhistory #travelwithtamela #cairo #rivertown #rivertowns #antiquecar #antiquecars #dodge

From this point at Fort Defiance, Illinois, the Oh

From this point at Fort Defiance, Illinois, the Ohio merges with the Mississippi. Now I am headed to the Appalachian Writers Workshop in Hindman, Kentucky.

#ohioriver #mississippiriver #fortdefiance #riverconfluence #travelwithtamela #riverrat #ohiohistory #cairoillinois

Flood wall murals of Paducah, Kentucky. By the sam

Flood wall murals of Paducah, Kentucky. By the same artist who did the Portsmouth, Ohio murals, Robert Dafford.

A story about chance encounters on the road.. Almo

A story about chance encounters on the road.. Almost at the end of my Ohio River discovery tour. Met some new friends I’d like to tell you about.

Ohio River Oxbow at Leavenworth, IN. Little update

Ohio River Oxbow at Leavenworth, IN. Little update on my Ohio Ricer Discovery Tour

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