Connor Coyne

Lovely Bancroft, Michigan. (StreetView)

Okay, so my early planning has perhaps left something to be desired.  I was so worried about getting to Folwerville — even though I had a place to crash lined up in Fowlerville — that I neglected to think much about the next day.  I figured I’d just stay at whatever hotel I could find in the next town up.  Well the “next town up” was Bancroft, Michigan, and it really *was* just a speck.  Much moreso than Fowlerville.

Chris made me breakfast and we ended up sitting down to watch Smokey and the Bandit and so I didn’t hit the road until almost 1 PM.  Fowlerville soon gave way to snow-blasted wheat and snow fields.  The wind was sharp, but I’d by-and-large left the hills behind, so I thought I was making good time.  There wasn’t anywhere to rest, but I didn’t really want to stop since I figured the exercise was keeping me warm.  Although I wouldn’t have minded a gas station for a bathroom break in there somewhere… fortunately, I hadn’t hit the coffee too hard that morning.  It felt pretty bitter cold to me (even if it was in the upper teens) but I didn’t really start to get worried until it was getting dark out, and I had no idea how far I was from Bancroft.

I picked up the pace as quickly as I could, but it got dark fast and there weren’t any streetlamps to speak of, just floodlights out on the occasional barn and farmhouse.  This was country.  Then again, it was startling and lovely to see and feel, having those open spaces drop away on either side into a purple empty… and farms stripped bare by the winter just to be replanted in a few months.  I got into Bancroft a little bit after six, and didn’t find much there… no motels, and not really much by way of restaurants or gas stations. The downtown was a strip of five or six buildings, many of them empty and boarded up.

The police let me use their bathroom, though, and told me that the nearest hotel was in the next town up the road, Durand.  When they asked why I was in Bancroft without a car looking for a hotel I told them part of the truth: that I wanted to see the world, so I was walking from my mom’s house in Arkaic to my friend’s house in Kearsley outside of Flint.

“That’s sixty miles!” said one of the officers (I learned his name was Bert).  Actually, it’s more like 65.

They were kind of puzzled that I’d even want to take a trip like this, and especially in the dead of winter, but they were nice about it, and gave me some coffee, and since it was a slow night (I imagine most nights are in Bancroft), Bert offered to drive me to the Quality Inn in Durand.  Hey, I’m not going to be a purist about this… I’ve already walked about 35 miles in two days.  I’ve still got plenty of walking ahead of me.  I said “yes.”

I was happy for that the rest of the night was uneventful.  Durand was only another five or six miles, but it was nice to rest my feet and get in before it was completely late. I checked into the hotel without any trouble, and after thinking for a few minutes about going out to explore Durand, I decided to stay in and order a pizza.  Evidently there’s some cool stuff to see and do in Durand and the last leg of this walk (Durand to Kearsley) is about 25 miles, so I’m going to take tomorrow off and explore around here.  I’ll start up again on Friday, and plan on getting into Kearsley on Friday night. Anyway, I don’t know exactly how much money Dr. Galitz has left me so I’m going to have to be carefully I burn through it if I don’t want to be left in the lurch.  It’s only been two days and I’ve already spent almost a one-fifty, including my supplies.

What is this?

It’s an experiment!

Not too long ago I finished compiling a multiyear project: a list of the places I’d like to live before I die. Now I’m busy here in Flint raising a family, keeping a house, and launching a writing career; there’s no way I’m going to have the chance to visit most of these places. So instead, I’m sending one of my characters on the trek for me. Crystal Galitz was a character from my unfinished novel Urbantasm which I drafted in 1996-1997. I’m still working on Urbantasm sixteen years later, but that can’t stop me from drafting Crystal to explore the world and report her findings. Let it be known that Crystal set out from her childhood home of Arkaic, Michigan on January 2nd, 2012. She’ll share her discoveries and adventures through the power of technology and the magic of imagination. We’ll see what she has to say.

Fowlerville, Michigan.

No specific complaints about my sixteen mile trek from Arkaic yesterday… well, I guess I could complain that it was cold out, but I’ve got to expect that.  It’s winter, after all. It was a shrill, blustery day as I crossed the expressway overpass, and maybe the expressway is the reason why I’m traveling.  An interstate is a port, filled with people coming, going, moving, in motion, to and from exotic places.  Okay, so mostly from somewhere between Flint and South Bend, but there are some further travelers.

The wind up there was stronger and sharper than I felt it anywhere else, yesterday, before or after.

I’m sure I’ll get nostalgic about Arkaic in the weeks to come (because I do think this voyage is going to take me some weeks, at least).  But for the moment, I’m just ready to go.  I’ve been here for a long time.  I’ve been here for too long.  I’ve got to get going. I followed the icy tracks on East Street until I got out of town.  From then on, it was all stony road shoulders and birch and pine trees.  After about three hours I got to Livingston County and not too long after that I got to Fowlerville on Grand River Ave., just as the sun was going down (I guess, cloud cover) and everything started to turn gray and purple.

Fowlerville is bigger than I expected it to be.  I had heard it was a speck, but it’s a small stone, at least.  And it was quiet that evening, with the cold and the wind whipping about.  The outskirts of the town looked metallic and provisional, like it had just been set up recently, even though I know that this town is as old as most of the bigger cities in Michigan.  But downtown there were several blocks of graced old brick buildings, some of them empty but all pretty well kept-up.  I’ll probably be passing through a lot of small towns that look like this.

When I got to Chris’ house on 2nd Street, I was ready for a break.  He was asking me about Jasmine and my walk, why I’m taking it… “just getting restless,” I said, but there are other reasons I didn’t tell him of course.  I fell asleep (accidentally!) for about a half-hour in the chair there, but then he poked me and offered to treat me to dinner.  I thought that sounded good, so we got take out Chinese and put on the Matrix.  I didn’t feel like staying up long after that.  Today’s even colder and I have to make it all the way to Bancroft in Shiawasee County.

What is this?

It’s an experiment!

Not too long ago I finished compiling a multiyear project: a list of the places I’d like to live before I die. Now I’m busy here in Flint raising a family, keeping a house, and launching a writing career; there’s no way I’m going to have the chance to visit most of these places. So instead, I’m sending one of my characters on the trek for me. Crystal Galitz was a character from my unfinished novel Urbantasm which I drafted in 1996-1997. I’m still working on Urbantasm sixteen years later, but that can’t stop me from drafting Crystal to explore the world and report her findings. Let it be known that Crystal set out from her childhood home of Arkaic, Michigan on January 2nd, 2012. She’ll share her discoveries and adventures through the power of technology and the magic of imagination. We’ll see what she has to say.

Cold as hell today. A crappy way to start the meandering life. But I’ve got to start sometime and today makes sense to me. I’m allowing myself one backpack, although it’s a real hiking pack, so I won’t be short for room. I’ve got plenty of cold weather clothes, sweaters, socks, layers and layers. I’ve got nuts and trail mix and canned hot dogs in tins and apples and bananas, just like I’m stomping off into Yellowstone. And I’ve got my Kindle and my journal, and an atlas. I think I’m ready, at least for the next week or two.

Leaving Arkaic, Michigan today. I’m 32 years old, and I’ve lived in the same house on the East Side for 29 of those years. Here’s what it looks like, according to StreetView:

Of course, that’s during better weather, a stormy season, and I’m setting out in dead cold. I’ll cross the expressway and walk until I reach East Street, and from there I can just follow the signs. After I get out of Arkaic, it’s only about a 16 mile walk to Fowlerville, where Jasmine’s friend Chris is putting me up for the night. So today is going to be a fairly easy trek, weather notwithstanding. I’ll wrap my scarf tight, and wear my white coat so that all the cars can see me as I walk along the shoulder. Maybe this’ll be a long adventure, and maybe not, but either way: adventure, here I come.

What is this?

It’s an experiment!

Not too long ago I finished compiling a multiyear project: a list of the places I’d like to live before I die. Now I’m busy here in Flint raising a family, keeping a house, and launching a writing career; there’s no way I’m going to have the chance to visit most of these places. So instead, I’m sending one of my characters on the trek for me. Crystal Galitz was a character from my unfinished novel Urbantasm which I drafted in 1996-1997. I’m still working on Urbantasm sixteen years later, but that can’t stop me from drafting Crystal to explore the world and report her findings. Let it be known that Crystal set out from her childhood home of Arkaic, Michigan on January 2nd, 2012. She’ll share her discoveries and adventures through the power of technology and the magic of imagination. We’ll see what she has to say.

This morning I was invited onto Holly Baker’s show on Flint Talk Radio.  The video is embedded below, if you’d like to watch.

According to the original description:

Host Holly Baker talks with author Connor Coyne about the gift of storytelling and how this gift can be used to help bring families together, keep family stories alive, and as a creative but less commercialized gift idea.