Fairfield 19: In the Time of COVID

It's hard to believe that I've written 18 "Fairfield" posts since this blog began. It shows that I've been a regular visitor—once or twice a year. But covid changed things.

 

The most recent Fairfield post gave a short description of the abbreviated March 2020 visit. November 2020 and March 2021 came and went without a trip. In July the situation appeared manageable, so I contacted the Raj and booked accommodations and several Ayurvedic treatments for November. I also planned to visit the Maharishi International University (MIU) campus.

 

I arranged for my first day to have no treatment, so that I could go to the Invincible America Assembly (IAA) department, open only on afternoons, and have my expired badge updated, allowing me to participate in extended group meditation in the Golden Dome. In October I contacted the IAA and learned their requirements for a vaccinated visitor from out of town: isolating for four days after arriving in Fairfield, a negative covid test after that quarantine, and proof of vaccination. My first day at the Raj was now open to schedule a treatment—it was the first day of my "quarantine."

I called the Raj. They, like so many employers, were short-staffed after a year’s closure, and the depleted ranks of the PK technicians were fully booked. I couldn't schedule a treatment on that first day, and I couldn’t shift any afternoon treatments to the morning. “Very well,” I said, “Let’s just cancel the Monday treatment, the day after the quarantine expires, and I can go to the IAA department then.” Six days of treatment instead of seven would still be great.

 

I ventured to Fairfield in the second week of November, after a Moderna booster at the end of October. Cary Davis, our local TM teacher, came along and shared the driving. That meant no overnight stays along the way were required, eliminating one area of concern. He stayed with friends, while I stayed at the Raj, planning for six Ayurvedic treatments followed by three days simply lodging there.

I checked in at the Raj, spitting into a test tube for a covid test. The next day brought more schedule changes. The Monday I’d abandoned was, mysteriously, still on my schedule as an afternoon treatment. Dr. Toomey managed to arrange a switch to late morning for me on that day, giving me seven days again.

 

Then I learned that you can’t get a covid test anywhere in Fairfield on the weekends. I had arrived on the worst possible day, being eligible for the covid test just as the weekend began. The quickest test turnaround was as a guest at the Raj, where I could fill the saliva tube on an evening, it would be sent to the lab first thing in the morning, and the Raj could write a letter advising of the result the following day. I called two other testing locations, but they required multiple days for a test result. The IAA office administered tests only on Thursdays. I decided to stop struggling to combine an IAA visit and a treatment on the same day, pushing back the IAA check-in, and was finally able to relax and enjoy my remaining treatments without worry.

 

In addition to vaccination and masking, social distancing was in effect at the Raj. Before, the guests all sat together at a long table, making conversation easy, lively, and natural. Now, each group of guests—usually singles, such as me, or couples—sat at widely spaced tables. A placard told each of us where to sit. However, the Raj did not object to invitations to join another table, which could hold up to four. Talks were given on half the evenings, again due to a shortage of available speakers.

 

I ended up with just two mornings in the Dome. That was enough to learn how everything worked. The protocol for entering the Dome included my badge, now sporting a covid-safe label, a temperature check, hand sanitizer, and segregated seating; unvaccinated participants were directed to the southwest quarter of the Dome. I needed to find a spot such that I sat not directly beside, in front of, or behind anyone. Some participants sat two spots apart, an inefficient arrangement that only works with low Dome attendance.

 

I had a little time to cruise around the town square and the university campus, and see what I changes could spot on a cold November day.

 

The Fairfield county courthouse, and a tree.

Petra Park, one block off the town square, was built on the lot of a printing service whose roof collapsed in a snowstorm several years ago.

It is dedicated to Petra Stanley.

The view back to the street.

I was surprised to see this colorful Volitions roller skate store on the square.

Back on campus, I wanted to check out the renovated Wege Center for the Arts.

This west-facing side is the back.

A walkway to the east side, the auspicious side for entry, hosted a banner, one of several on campus celebrating MIU's golden anniversary.

The interior of the Wege's upper floor. It was Thanksgiving break for the students, so the campus was depopulated.

 

This visit was worthwhile, even though tense in its first half with multiple schedule changes. The treatments at the Raj were as good as ever, and I had a couple of enjoyable outings with Cary before we drove home.

 Another visit? Yes. When? It's all up to covid.

Jefferson County Loop Trail, Part 1

Since 2010 I have documented my visits to Fairfield, Iowa, for extended TM (Transcendental Meditation) practice at Maharishi International University, plus occasional Ayurvedic treatments at The Raj. The most popular of these blog posts is here.

I've even written a post about electric vehicle chargers on my route to Fairfield, a subject that was outdated six months later. But I've never written explicitly about the Jefferson County Loop Trail, which circles Fairfield, although references to it are scattered through the last eleven years of this blog. Now I'm going to remedy that.

My photos are from any time in the last ten years, usually in March/April or October/November, and, depending on the direction of the sun, facing the way I'm headed or the way I just came. I will sort them into physical, not chronological, order and hope they make sense.

The loop was constructed in sections, taking more than a decade. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

Below is an overall map with parking locations indicated. Parking is vital unless you're on a bicycle and intend to do the entire loop (15.9 miles) in one go. Walks embarked upon with one car require double the distance -- if I walk two miles outbound, I also must walk two miles back to my vehicle.

Where to begin? I suppose mile marker 0.0/15.9 is as good as any; it's at the intersection of Hwy 1 and the Route 34 bypass, where the hospital also lives.

Here's a closeup of the dedication plaque.

From here let's go clockwise, counting up from mile zero until we close the circle. I didn't cover the pieces of the trail in any particular order, but I've organized the photos to provide the illusion of continuity.

All I had to do was turn around to see the Maasdam Percheron Barns.

These historic barns were saved when the Route 34 bypass was constructed,

and are open to visitors on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays between May and October -- so they haven't been available when I've been there. (Closed during the COVID pandemic.)

Here is the Mile 1 marker, almost where the trail crosses Kale Blvd.

Note the sponsor's name on the sign.

On another day I parked on Kale Blvd. and returned to the marker, turned around, and continued west.

The trail soon crossed an unnamed creek.

A series of switchbacks led up from the creek, as this look back reveals.

 A sign about the trail art, somewhat wrinkled by the elements.

Passing the Mile 2 marker. The trail had flattened out, with fields on one side and the Route 34 bypass on the other.

A sign about the tree plantings on the route. The saplings aren't mature yet, but then, I haven't seen them leafed out on this stretch, so I cannot say how much shade they offer.

At one point I noticed an unusual feature of the fencing separating the trail from the highway. There were spots where the gap between two posts was occupied not by fencing, but by curved rods, slightly flexible.

My guess is that their purpose it to allow people or animals to exit the highway by pushing against the curves, which would flex just enough to allow passage. The ends of the rods meet each other and poke inwards, however, deterring passage into the road's right-of-way.

A sign of progress.

The intersection with the Cedar View trail was my turn-around point for this day.

For the next hike I parked at the Cedar View trailhead.

About the Cedar View trail.

A short walk led to an intersection with the loop trail. (Another advantage is that there's a rest facility where the trails meet.)

The artistic bridge over the bypass.

The view north from the bridge; at the far horizon the bypass rejoins the business section of Route 34. Click on the image to enlarge.

For fun, I made a version that's more springlike with the Deep Dream Generator.

With a nod to Vincent van Gogh

Be careful in season.

Rejoining the loop trail, long and flat at this point, I encountered a memorial bench.

The next stop seemed a long way away.

I knew I must eventually turn around and return to my car, to attend a meeting where Dr. Tony Nader / Maharajah Adhiraj Raja Raam would be answering questions. To ensure that I could remember how far I'd gone, I took a few photos along the way.

I became desperate for landmarks!

A big sky shot from another time.

I didn't make it all the way to the intersection, so that waited for another day and starting from another parking spot, Whitham Woods.

A panoramic view from another year.

Heading west near the start of the trail.

Someone left a single ice-grip pullover behind.

At the end of the woods, a pasture is on the right and business Route 34 lies ahead.

I passed underneath 34, which crosses a creek here, and started down towards my previous mark. The creek followed on the right for a little while.

Closing this gap called for a commemorative selfie,

because I had bagged my last section of the loop. (I did mention that I walked the various segments without regard to continuity.) Once back at the parking area, I discovered that the next mile marker was just a few hundred feet to the east.

I covered a further stretch of the Jefferson County Loop Trail from another yet another parking area, so we'll start there in the next post.

Fairfield 18: Little Did I Know

In November (2019) I made another trip to Fairfield Iowa and the Maharishi University of Management (now Maharishi International University, its original name). This was the latest in a series of visits, the first of which I documented here. I overnighted on the journey in Champaign, Illinois, where I took this sunset photo from my hotel window.

The first several days of this two-week Fairfield sojourn were spent at The Raj, an Ayurvedic health clinic, where I received a series of treatments. One of my early reports on the Raj is here. I enjoyed and felt refreshed by my stay, more than I could achieve with the duties and distractions at home, but I was also eager to begin joining the folks doing their TM-Sidhi program in the Golden Dome.

After my time at The Raj I moved down to the campus Peace Palace, where the lower floor hosts meeting and consultation rooms, and the upper offers residential rooms to rent. After spending most of each morning practicing in the men's Golden Dome as part of the Invincible America Assembly, it would be lunchtime, and after that I would explore. Here is a campus map, only slightly out-of-date, from the university website. Click on the image to enlarge.

This first photo is of the back side of the men's Dome, and includes the solar panels.

Here's a panorama that includes the Argiro Student Center and the (relatively) new amphitheater.

The lobby of the Argiro, seen from an upper balcony.

Inside the old Student Union/Art Center, the post office boxes had been turned into an art installation.

The expansion of North Campus Village was in its final phases, adding housing options for those who wish to live close to the campus.

This increase has carried North Campus to the edge of Highway 1.

Adjacent to the scene in the above photo was the home of the regenerative agriculture program at MIU.

One of the interesting oddities on campus is the "silver shed." It held overflow meditation space for an assembly I attended in 1993, but is now the campus storage building. Inspect the foundation in this photo. The concrete triangle in the shade. What's that?

At some point the building was rotated about 17º so that the entrance faced due east, the most auspicious direction according to Maharishi Vastu® Architecture.

 

A sunrise photo. The Maharishi Tower of Invincibility sits between the men's and women's Domes.

Big changes were afoot: a meeting was called for all who practice the TM-Sidhi program in the Domes, "sidhas" for short. John Hagelin, the president of MIU, announced that starting on Dec. 7th meditators who had not taken the Sidhi course would be allowed to do their TM program in the Dome. The more enthusiastic meditators had been requesting this for a while, and, I noted to myself, there was space available in the Dome because of the decline in attendance at the now thirteen-year-old Invincible America Assembly.

 

The presence of non-sidhas meant several changes in procedures at the Domes. The interested meditators would apply for a Dome badge. Those accepted would have their own section marked off with tasteful screens, and use a particular entrance from the lobby. Sidhas would use the other entrance. Proctors or "angels" would check badges to ensure that the proper entrance was used by both, and to guarantee that the meditators would depart after 30 minutes (the sidhas go on longer). The sidhas, on their part, must be on their best behavior, and, for example, not discuss in the shoe room advanced topics to which the meditators have not been introduced. My reaction was hopeful; this was a step towards greater integration or camaraderie between the two groups.

I made a point of walking downtown to view this month's display at ICON, Iowa Contemporary Art, featuring Irene Murphy.

This exhibit showcased a particular one of her several styles, flowers in black-and-white.

Within a constricted medium there is still room for great variety of technique.

A new storefront on the town square, now moved to Briggs Ave.

A wine store in Fairfield!

One sunny afternoon I strolled on a portion of the Jefferson County Loop Trail, from Chataqua Park down through the Lamson Woods.

The weather had been cold, and the streams sported a skim of ice.

Near the end of my walk the woods opened up and the path widened as it passed by a large pond.

 I had a chance to visit friends as well as to sink into program in the Dome, making this another excellent visit. Once back in Columbus I planned to repeat the visit in March 2020, including treatments at The Raj. Little did I know what was coming.

The coronavirus pandemic appeared on the scene in January and February. By the time we appreciated the scope of the plague, I had already made my reservations at The Raj and the Peace Palace. In early March another trip seemed uncertain, so I queried the Invincible America Assembly, and they replied "Please, no out of town visitors on campus." The Raj was still running, however; it is supervised by an MD and classified as a health clinic, not a spa, and was allowed to remain open. In the end I drove to Fairfield and stayed at The Raj for seven days of treatment, and then drove home. No walks -- I didn't go outdoors for a week -- and only two short visits with friends, for The Raj had taken the step of not allowing visitors, but the reservations I had already made for lunch guests were honored. It was a good seven days, but I was then glad to be home.

 

A November 2020 visit was completely scratched off the calendar. March of 2021? Who knows? The best-case scenario might be another Raj-only visit. The Dome, completely closed for several months and then available on a limited basis, will not be open to those who don't live on campus for a while to come.