Senior Project: Fostering a Connection to Landscape through Human Motion

Title:

Fostering a Connection to Landscape through Human Motion

A narrative description of the study plan, including a description of the project, clear learning objectives (both concepts and skills), and supporting activities.

I will explore how I connect with the landscape of this country. As a way to bring a culmination to my experience at Sterling College, I will ride my bicycle ~2400 miles to North Central Wyoming in the Big Horn Mountain, I will take part in a 100 mile endurance run in the Big Horn Mountains, and I will get back on my bicycle and continue exploring new places until, at the end of August, I land in my new home in Madison, Wisconsin.

This trip will be an exploration of the country’s land, and what makes a place memorable. The Culminating of this trip will be an evaluation of what places through the trip I have connected most with, and what ties these different places together.

Desired Outcomes (what I want to happen):

-To inspire and be inspired

Move through a variety of landscapes over the course of the summer via human motion

-Acquire knowledge about the country’s landscapes

-Interact with strangers in a friendly approachable manner

-To further develop my confidence in trip design and plan
-Develop a fuller view of what a sense of place is, and what makes a place

-Share my experiences in order to encourage others to interact with the environment in the ways that I’ve found meaningful

-Explore, with an open receptiveness, all types of environments (cities, towns, mountains, prairies, rivers, campgrounds, etc…)

-Delve into the factors of becoming a better person, and continue becoming a better person

Some essential questions for this project include but are not limited to:

-How do I connect to a landscape?

-How do others connect to a landscape?

-What, in a landscape, are we connecting to?

-How do towns and cities cater to human powered transportation?

-Why is it important to be connecting to the place(s) that I live or move through?

-What makes up my passion for exploration?

-How does moving through a landscape via my own power shape my experience? What am I noticing that others aren't?

-Who are the people of the country? What are their names? What do they do?

-Why am I being called to find awe-inspiring places?

Throughout my journey, I will be reflecting on these questions in journal format. I will be writing of my experiences on and off of my bike. The experiences may include: feelings of exhaustion, dramatic or dull stories, writings of the places I'm in (the mountains, plains, waterways, stores, food, agriculture, people I meet, etc...). I anticipate the human interactions I will have, are going to have a significant impact on my connection to more urban places. Once a week, I will reflect deeper on the previous week, evaluating which places have been most memorable and which I have developed greater connections to. These journals will serve as reflection tools and as tools for me to look back on to further reflect the experience after SP I and SP II.

Throughout, I will also be using a blog as an avenue for sharing my experience with others as the trip is progressing.

I will have a final paper for SP I and at the end of the trip, in the month of August I will have a final culminating paper for SP II.

Final product(s) of the study.

~4 months’ worth of reflective journaling ~75-100 entries; SP I and SP II will have differing reflection questions, SP I will have  more localized questions of the "here and now" and the SP II questions will build a larger picture of my view of human motion and the role it plays in fostering a connection to place.

~Weekly summaries of the most recent week of travel. Including miles traveled, geography, places slept, food eaten, people met, and an in depth analysis of comparisons and contrasts between places and what in those places allows for developing a sense of connection.

~SP I Final Paper. At the conclusion of SP I, I will write an essay that clearly defines the places that I have felt most connected to before and throughout my trip. In exploring these places, I hope to come to conclusions as to why they are the places I have developed deeper connection to. This broader reflection may bring some clarity to me as I leave for my 100 mile run, as I recover and as I take off for the last leg of my bike ride and begin SP II.

~SP II Final Paper: The culminating reflection. I will begin this paper while on the last leg of my ride, when I'm biking to the place that will become my new home, Madison, WI. This paper will culminate my experience as a cross country cyclist, and as a student at Sterling College. This paper will address my ride as one trip (one thing). It will look at human powered transportation (both foot travel and bicycle travel) as a means for becoming in tune with a place or places. I will reflect on the process of the trip and will explore what it means to end one journey and begin another.

~Online display of information for the Sterling community. This will tag along with a blog that I will be doing for my Humanities work this summer so that photos, art, stories, and the like are accessible to those in the Sterling College community. I will attempt to update this as often as possible. When I have days off, I will develop posts as a way for the Sterling community to keep track of what I am doing and keep the community inspired.

~Memories and stronger legs.

Description of how the study fits as a capstone learning experience in the student's overall degree plan.

            
As an outdoor education major, the key piece missing from my education is the design and implementation of an extended trip. And along those same lines, designing a trip that follows an academic line will prove to be a culminating event. My education put me in a place of being ready to lead trips in an academic context and proving this will set a great example for future employers.

I believe in cyclical learning. My introduction to Sterling College was A Sense of Place of Craftsbury, and now I will take the concept of a Sense of Place and apply it through the use of my gained skills in trips and bicycling and broaden my sense of place. This project will be the single greatest effort I’ve put out into the world, and it is purposely for just that, to put something out into the world. Through encouraging others to partake in projects such as mine, I am living the school’s mission statement.

Timeline for both SP I and SP II.

Before leaving: route planning, gear assessment and acquisition, Bicycle tune up and assessment, food plan

SP I:

May 10th - June 13th (Sterling College -> Big Horn Mountains National Forest) (>2400 miles)

May 10th: Depart from the Sterling College Campus

10th-16th: Sterling -> (just past) Buffalo, NY 550 miles

17th-23rd: Buffalo, NY - >Indiana 550 miles

24th-30th: Indiana -> Madison WI (3-4 day layover in Madison) 300 miles

31st-June 6th: Madison, WI -> Missouri River 550 Miles

7th-13th: Missouri River -> Big Horn Mountain National Forest 550 miles

June 13th: Arrive at the Big Horn Mountains, WY.

June 13^th – 18^th: Synthesize and reflect upon experience thus far through SP I Final Paper

SP II:

June 14th - August (mid to late) (100 miler, Big Horn Mountains -> Madison, WI) 1100 miles - 3500 miles

August ~31^st: Synthesizing and Reflecting on SP II and the entire trip as a whole through the use of SP II Final Paper.

There are multiple major route options for after the race.

The first is the easier option which would be about 1100 miles directly to Madison, Wisconsin.

One other option would be about 2500 miles. this would be a loop from the Big Horn Mountains, through Yellow stone and the Tetons, south through all of Utah (and a small corner of Idaho), into AZ to visit the Grand Canyon, and then go through the northwest corner of New Mexico, then proceed through Colorado directly to Madison, WI.

The other likely option would be the most ambitious option requiring and 3500 miles on my bike. This route would take me all the way to the west coast to Northern California, I would bike up the coast through Oregon and eventually to the Olympic Peninsula. From here, I would go to Anacortez and take Adventure Cycling's Northern Tier route across the northern United States eventually back to Madison, Wisconsin.

There is also the opportunity that I stray from this slightly after gaining new information along the way. Maybe a cyclist in Wyoming tells me there’s so much beauty in Colorado that I should go bike for a month in Colorado. I want to leave the exact route of the second major leg of the summer loosely defined for the sake of finding my own path. None the less, though, I will spend this time exploring places that are new to me.

Resources to be used

-Relevant articles and stories:

-Metal Cowboy & Riding Outside the Lines by Joe Kurmaskie

-Other literature for the purpose of contextualizing my experience from others’ stories.

-Extensive field work (~4 months of traveling)

-Interviews with other cyclists, runners at my race in Wyoming, and more than likely with people I meet who are exploring the outdoors.

-Google Maps and Google Earth have already been integral pieces to deciding the best routes to take, and will continue to be useful resources.

-John Zaber and his bicycle touring experience

Criteria for evaluation, including a list of outcomes or a rubric

 SP I:

15%-Journaling and documentation (Criteria for an “A” included) Grade will be down-graded upon not meeting criteria:

A: Consistent and regular entries (>75% of days have an entry). Journal entries remain focused on the project or other relevant experiences. Many entries directly or implicitly discus the essential questions of the project. Most – all entries include depth and good input of thought and reflection.

85%-Reflection and synthesis of the trip so far via SP I Final Paper (May 10^th – June ~13^th)

            *Rubric attached

SP II:

15%-Journaling and documentation (Criteria for an “A” included) Grade will be down-graded upon not meeting criteria:

A: Consistent and regular entries (>75% of days have an entry). Journal entries remain focused on the project or other relevant experiences. Many entries directly or implicitly discus the essential questions of the project. Most – all entries include depth and good input of thought and reflection.

75%-Final synthesis and reflection paper (trip as a whole)

            *Rubric attached

10%-Sharing of information with the Sterling College community: A blog will be started before or during SP I. This will be used as a venue for conveyance of my experience.

A: Blog is accessible to the Sterling community. The Sterling community should be able to gain a reasonable understanding of my experience through stories, posts, essays, etc… Posts should be easy to understand, and should contain most anything that the community could gain from knowing. (Note*: the blog will also contain material and posts from my Humanities I.S. but will be graded on separate criteria, from separate advisors)