This memoir by Barbara Savage of her and her husband’s 28,000 mile ride around the world in the late ’70s has a strange tone: she’s forever classifying people, friendly/unfriendly, generous and stingy- this starts in the US where we learn how mean people are in North Dakota compared to the nice Michiganders. She is not an adept writer, but she is a dedicated one and you root for her while she builds stamina and grace under very difficult conditions.
My year so far has been thrilling in a quiet, easygoing way. My big move was into an apartment upstairs from Carina, lifelong friend. Then there’s the boyfriend- but falling for someone I already knew and cared about has been a fairly straightforward process (so far). This must be why I’m covertly engaged in the American national sport: Escapism. Daydreaming about the big adventure around the corner when I’m already well deep in the adventure of right now. I’ll be at the bike store 10AM tomorrow. And then I’ll start to explore the strange new world I moved to: Somerville.
