Deep River Runs Blue
She's a bird, she's the holder of all things...
I didn’t know what to expect as I was about to spend three weeks driving deep into Trump country. However, I wasn’t planning to engage in political conversations with anyone I met along the way. It would be fairly obvious just by looking at us how my wife and I voted. To be honest, I was more anxious about venturing into the Heart of Darkness...
Meat and Dairy Country!
Since the pandemic (actually, probably since the 2016 election), I have been reminding myself that I can only control what I can control. I can’t control how people vote, nor how they think.
But I can control the food that I eat.
I know it’s become a joke and a meme to make fun of vegans, so be it. Food is fuel for your body, and as the saying goes, “You are what you eat.” Good, nutritious, nourishing, healthy, home-cooked food is essential to us. And no, that doesn’t include vegan junk food or fake meats, neither of which grace our plates. It means exactly as it reads. Fresh, wholesome, natural food from the earth or that has been eaten for hundreds and thousands of years (tofu & tempeh).
Thankfully, we live in one of the best cities for vegans. However, similar to its far-left politics, once you leave Portland, it’s a different country out there.
So, we stocked our 25-foot rented RV (which we named “Rupert”) with fresh raw fruits & vegetables, multiple cans of beans, lentils, tempeh, tofu, couscous, farro, rice, spices, herbs, nuts, seeds, frozen fruit, tahini, our homemade hummus, a couple gallons of unsweetened almond milk, water, and a couple jars of crunchy, unsalted, unsweetened peanut butter. Because, even if you aren’t vegan, you always have to have peanut butter!
Fear & Loathing without the acid and amphetamines, but instead with a couple bottles of tequila, mezcal, and a healthy diet!
On The Road
The road story is deeply ingrained in the American spirit and consciousness. It’s part of our DNA. There is a sense of freedom with hitting the road and exploring vast, diverse landscapes. Countless books, songs, and films all take place on the road.
Having embarked on numerous road trips in my life, I knew I didn’t want to drive much more than eight hours each day. Knowing our first pre-booked campground wasn’t until several days into our trip, we looked at the map and traced our route backwards to figure out where we needed to be by the end of each day. We would then look for nearby state parks and try to book a spot the night before or the day of. If in doubt, we knew there would probably be an RV park we could rely on. And, if both fell through, we could always boondock for the night (i.e., find a quiet spot off the road, park, and sleep in the camper).
State parks, however, are ideal. Besides dry camping and roughing it in Yellowstone, most state parks offer sites equipped with electricity for your camper, as well as sometimes water hookups. They are also always significantly more spacious spots in a gorgeous natural setting. What is also always included is a picnic table and often a fire pit for your campfire.
Our goal was to spend five days on the southern shores of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, followed by five days camping in Wyoming at Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Everything in between was open to exploration.
Except for booking the state campgrounds in the Upper Peninsula and Wyoming, which we knew would fill months in advance, we left Portland not knowing where we would camp for much of the journey.
It was kinda like those old Choose Your Own Adventure games; we were choosing our own road adventure.
Deep River Runs Blue
Hugging the Columbia and Snake Rivers, we headed east. Both grand rivers meander and slice their way across magnificently picturesque landscapes. Living in Oregon means I have a very high standard for nature. Its spectacular coastline, lush temperate evergreen rainforest, the Columbia River Gorge, majestic volcanic mountain peaks reaching nearly 12,000 feet, waterfalls, and arid high desert with unique geological formations encompass just over 98,000 square miles, making it the ninth largest state (yet, with just under 4.3 million people).
Wyoming met my standards for natural beauty, and at times, it exceeded them! With every twist and turn of the road, the next bend revealed yet another breathtaking mountain landscape, stunning valleys, unspoiled rivers, and lush meadows that somehow, amazingly, rivaled the previous bend.
Being in the presence of herds of bison, grazing antelopes, elk, moose, elusive bears, a darting mink, two fleeting wolverines, and the many birds and raptors that soared and sang to us was an absolute honor and privilege.
Rivers featured a lot on our road trip. We crossed or followed numerous rivers, including the Columbia, Snake, Yellowstone, Missouri, Mississippi, Tahquamenon, and Platte (including both the North & South Platte). There is a powerful beauty to the lines rivers create as they carve and shape the land heading towards their mouth.
There are also endless songs about the symbolism and importance of rivers, but the one I kept playing on our journey was “Deep River Runs Blue” by Ron Elliott. Originally a member of the San Francisco band, The Beau Brummels, in 1970, Elliott recorded his lone, obscure solo album, ‘Candlestickmaker,’ for Warner Brothers. Bringing together a stellar lineup of West Coast musicians, Side A’s closing cut, “Deep River Runs Blue,” features Ry Cooder’s snaking slide guitar and Elliott’s impressive vocal range, which dips into a deep bass as he emphasizes “Blue” on the chorus. The song made for sublime moments of reflection while traveling across the expansive landscape.
Pushing further east, we drove through the arid, stacked, layered, and eroded rock towers of South Dakota’s Badlands. As we traversed the Missouri River into the endless farmlands and rolling prairies of the Great Plains, we could see for miles all around us. We eventually crossed the Mississippi and pushed north towards the heavily forested shoreline of Lake Superior.
In terms of size, Lake Superior is enormous. It’s approximately the same size as Austria and holds more water than the other four Great Lakes combined, making it the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and the third largest in volume. With no major cities and little industry on the lake, it is also the cleanest of the five Great Lakes.
Having grown up on Lake Erie, I have a deep affinity with the Great Lakes. Standing on the shores of Superior, watching the sunset, I felt comfortable and, strangely, at home.
On our return drive towards Yellowstone, we decided to push southwest towards the corn and wheat fields of Nebraska and Kansas. The heat emanating from the flat, empty, high plains of Western Kansas was so intense and hot that prairie rabbits sought shade underneath our camper.
That was also the calm before the storm because later that evening, an astonishing but terrifying storm hit. The sky surged with enormous electrical energy from constant flashes of violent sheet lightning, and an angry wind howled, rocking our RV. A fierce downpour of heavy rain and hail eventually blasted everything. I watched nervously for any sign of a tornado warning, ready to get the hell out of Dodge! Thankfully, after about thirty minutes, it pushed its way east.
The Holder
The Nez Perce originally inhabited what is now the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. They recognized the beauty of the land and lived in harmony with it for thousands of years. When European settlers arrived, they were initially welcomed and even assisted Lewis & Clark’s expedition. However, after the discovery of gold, the US government broke several treaties and forced the Nez Perce onto a small reservation in Idaho. This eventually led to the Nez Perce War in 1877, which was one of the most tragic conflicts in Native American history.
During our twelve-state, 6,332-mile drive, we saw many “Historical Marker” posts. These are small brown signs by the roadside that direct you to a layby where a larger sign details a historical event that occurred there. On this trip, several marked spots where terrible battles against Native Americans once happened.
It felt sadly fitting that the last day of our road trip was spent in the Wallowa Mountains of Northeastern Oregon, where the Nez Perce once called home, and Old Chief Joseph, who fought bravely for his people to remain, is buried.
On his 2022 solo album, ‘G.G. Ryder,’ the Australian cosmic folk musician Stephen Bailey crafts delicate, sunshine melodies that owe much to ‘60s and ‘70s musicians like Ron Elliott. Whether sitting underneath the canopy of a forest, standing on a cliff edge and looking out at a lush green mountain valley, at awe amongst hydrothermal pools, taking heed of the storm across the high plains, or watching the sunset on one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, it was hard not to hear Bailey’s love song to Mother Nature, “The Holder,” weave through my head.
Spirits of the Earth
For many, humans and nature are separate. And for some, nature is there to be conquered and exploited. However, I have always had a deep reverence for nature and believe that everything in this vast web of life is connected. I also think that nature is always trying to communicate with us.
However, we rarely listen to her, nor do we heed her warnings.
As I sat on a boat on Lake Superior, gazing at the intricate abstract lines, shapes, textures, and colors created by erosion and mineral deposits that have trickled down and stained the sculpted Pictured Rocks coastline over millions of years, it’s also clear to me that the greatest artist of all is Mother Nature.
Dude, that sounds amazing. It's incredible how beautiful this land we live with actually is.
I liked your post. Currently in Colorado and exploring more of this vast country of ours--some heartening, some disturbing. Some beautiful, some not so. I wanted to share another music reccomendation with you, gotten from a teenage busker in Victoria who liked zak's anti-Trump hat. Jesse Welles. He's a gen Z phil ochs. Has gotten very popular on you tube but also has several albums out