Minneapolis: I'm sure there's a good pun here, but I can't seem to think of one
At a gas station outside of Minneapolis, I met Squirley. I didn’t get a photo with Squirely, but picture a skinny guy in black with tattoo sleeves from his knuckles to the top of his neck and a bowler hat. Squirely came up to me to discuss the windshield and storage I had rigged up on Harriet as he also rides an Interceptor 650 among other bikes. We ended up getting into a real fun conversation about the new 750cc bike in the works that Royal Enfield has teased. The conversation was emblematic of a trend I’ve noticed on this trip: riding a motorcycle - particularly a classical styled, rarer/less mainstream bike like an Enfield - generates a ton of opportunities for conversation and connection that otherwise never would have happened.
In Minneapolis, I went to my friend from college, Maria’s, for dinner, where I caught some of the rain delayed Notre Dame game and met some her Minneapolis friends.
Maria was the one who gave me all the great Duluth and North Shore recommendations (she spent the first few years out of college in Duluth). She moved to the Twin Cities a year or two ago and currently works in accounting for a Catholic college, but is considering going back to school to transition to a more interpersonal career as she’s really more of a people person than a spreadsheet person. Maria grew up on a farm in Kansas and dreams of raising a family on a homestead in Wisconsin. One of her favorite activities in Minneapolis is the weekly Euchre club she attends, which sounds like it’s entertaining as much for the drama as it is for the actual gameplay. Maria plans to celebrate her 30th birthday next year by hosting a huge tailgate for Notre Dame - Wisconsin game at Lambeau; consider yourself invited.
Peter met Maria through church circles back when they were both in Duluth. He went to college originally intending to become a jazz pianist, but had a big faith revival in college that led him to the seminary. After a few years in the seminary, he realized that wasn’t the path God was calling him to and now he we works in sacred music at a handful of parishes. That’s actually what brought him to the Twin Cities, as there are many more sacred music jobs in the Twin Cities than there are in Duluth. In his free time, he’s an avid volleyball player.
Sherman is an arborist and was my host for the evening. He’s a regular in the young adult sports leagues organized by the diocese (softball, volleyball, etc). He recently bought a condo and got a puppy named Gus, who is a hunting golden retriever. I’m not always a fan of golden retrievers, but I am a big fan of Gus.
After dinner we went to the Northeast Palace for college football and drinks. While it was not the bar Maria remembered it being, it had fun local beers and the DJ had people grooving to old school tunes, so it did the trick for me.
The next morning, I met Maria and her friends Kendall and Katie for mass followed by brunch at Maria’s. The priest gave an interesting homily about how the realization that nothing beyond today is guaranteed inspired him to quit his job in insurance and join the seminary. It resonated with me as a similar realization (how short and unguaranteed life is) was at the heart of my choice to quit my job and take this motorcycle trip.
Kendall is a civil engineer who designs bridges for the highway department. The state is planning to redesign the Duluth-Superior bridge in the next couple years, and Kendall is hoping to end up on that project as it’d bring him back to his hometown and is almost certainly the biggest infrastructure project the Minnesota highway department will take on for the rest of his career. When he’s not designing bridges, he’s almost always fishing. He’s spent over 700 hours fishing this year and caught over 50 walleye on his last expedition to the Boundary Waters.
Katie is a scientist for the water department. She spends most of her time these days doing disaster mitigation planning: i.e. if an oiler tanker went off the tracks at such and such a location, how quickly would contaminants enter the water supply in the surrounding area and what could be done to mitigate and remediate damage. What truly keeps her up at night though is well water. Wells can easily get contaminated and much of the population that gets their water from a well source (which is significant in MN) fails to routinely test their water for contamination. When she’s not solving the world’s water problems, Katie likes going to knitting/crocheting club at a local brewery, which sounds maybe even more Minnesota than hockey and mullets.
After brunch Maria and I took a bike ride down to the Mississippi River. Here, only a few hundred miles from its source, it had already grown into a large river. The more of this country I see, the more I’m reminded of how much life, history, and civilization in this country are shaped by water.
Just Keep Swimming,
Dorey Kevin
Comments
Post a Comment