Asbury, IA

Chavenelle Trail

Run Time: 63:43 + 2-minute kick

I never really made it to the Pond Loop, and after the insect debacle the day before, I was a little wary of marsh terrain. I was looking at trails near the Mississippi River, but then I noticed there was a “trail” that ran right past my hotel. Really, it was just a sidewalk, but it had a name, and there were lane lines and arrows painted on the cement, so convenience won me over.

I made it through one leg of the Loop at the turnaround point. I was just north of US 20, my old friend. I thought I might actually run alongside of US 20, but then the trail diverted west one signal light short. I’ll bet no one has ever run the full length of US 20. You’d need an Angel on each shoulder and your head on a swivel. US 20 is blue-collar rust-belt working-class low-fi analog.

Dropped into Eastern Iowa for a day and a half at the end of the trip. The corn was in full bloom. One wonders what the chemical composition of Iowa soil is at this point. It sure looks dark and rich, but even the color might be artificial. Apple Maps diverted me onto gravel twice, something that usually happens in Iowa. It always reminds me of Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” It’s a short story — you’ll have to read it to understand the reference.

I do not recommend sidewalk running, although it likely has a beneficial antifragility component. It is the random trash and debris that is mentally oppressive. How the hell will we ever reduce the amount of sidewalk and ditch trash when we continually increase the amount of potential trash? Everything from ground coffee to toys to fast food is individually plasticized. If Wendy’s served their food in the loose Amazon packing paper that their employees saved from their home deliveries, I would be fine with that. If any packaging negatively impacts the environment, let’s just illegalize it and let the market find something carbon-neutral.

It takes supreme, perpetual, and aggressively diligent self-discipline to control one’s own carbon footprint. The morality of making this a key point of one’s personal agenda is justifiably attractive, but what appeals to me is the harmony of leaving the lightest of traces. How do we commodify that harmony, so that the market carries the wave?

Twenty years is likely about what I have left, so the grim reality is that my individual actions, positive or negative, are likely meaningless in the great scope of human activity. Meaning would seem to be very important, given how much time and effort we spend inventing it. What if meaning is not important at all? What if it is an illusion? Can we find a different motivation?

Cast off meaning. Choose harmony.