How would one define a self-actualized person with a heightened curiosity who purposefully engages in self-paced activities to connect with nature, memories and a creative spirit?
As an interesting character, perhaps, and if so, then Tom Todd of rural Toledo meets that definition.
At 82, Todd enjoys wide range recumbent cycling, knowledgeable foraging, creating reminiscent paintings, carving unusual walking sticks and spending meaningful time alone or with family members at home in a multi-generational household that includes his son’s family.
Todd had mountain-biked for years, but about five years ago experienced severe leg pain during a bicycle trip from Toledo to North Bend, a distance of 115 miles.
Afterward, purchasing a recumbent tricycle was a life-changer for him.
“It’s like having a recliner on wheels, totally comfortable, low to the ground, safe and easy to maneuver,” he said, adding that he can pedal comfortably for distances.
When he tires, he switches to the e-assist mode, often carrying a spare battery in his saddlebag for extended trips.
Since then, he has explored trails and highways throughout the western U.S. on his trike, traveling as far as from southwest Washington to South Dakota.
Locally, Todd usually cycles alone and covers on average of 40 to 60 miles in a day. His favorite area trails include the 56-mile Willapa Hills State Park, the 22-mile Chehalis Western Trail and the 14.5-mile Yelm-Rainier-Tenino Trail.
On a typical day, from the Willapa trailhead in Chehalis he’ll cover about 20 miles each way. As he travels south through Adna and heads toward Pe Ell, he’ll usually stop for lunch along a creek or underneath trees.
“I like to pedal alongside streams and then stop and listen to the water, just enjoying nature,” he said. “I often take photos of birds or wildlife.”
As a nature enthusiast, Todd notices the details and appreciates the unusual in flora and fauna.
In season, he forages wild mushrooms.
As a biology major in a Pennsylvania state college more than half a century ago, his professors took him along when mushroom hunting and the knowledge he gained stayed with him over his lifetime.
He has been a member of the Southwest Washington Mycological Society for eight years.
Unbeknownst to his instructors, a lucrative side activity Todd pursued during college was earning cash by regularly doing the art homework assigned to other students.
“I earned money painting their assignments, which was pretty consistent and helped put me through college,” he said. “And I also painted houses.”
While over the years Todd has created paintings in acrylics and oils, these days he favors watercolors and pastels.
His works are recognized for their nostalgia and impart a sense of place.
“I like old rusty things and old buildings,” he said, noting many of his works depict abandoned vintage vehicles or structures that have stood over time.
Besides rusty trucks, his paintings shown at Gallery 505 in Toledo depict a turn of the last century home on the city’s main street, the rustic yellow doors from the town’s former theater, the old Toledo city jail, which was a holding cell in the 1940s, and empty, weather-worn corn cribs leaning on snow-covered fields on the family farm in Pennsylvania where he was raised.
“I remember as a kid those corn cribs were full of corn,” Todd said. “Old farm buildings everywhere are disappearing. They’re history, but it’s history after the fact. They’re gone, and hardly remembered, much like the rotary phone.”
Todd also searches out the often-overlooked types of wood for the Knot Yo Kane walking sticks that he creates.
He looks for woods that are dead as they may have different stains or shades after he peels the bark off, something to add texture or an unexpected color or pattern.
A walking stick he made from the thick trunk of Scotch broom, usually considered a weed, is carved with the words “steady as she goes.”
Branch ends serve as feet for it to stand on its own. The L-shaped branches of native wild filbert, inverted, become canes with handles. Corkscrew filbert he’s collected results in curled walking sticks and elderberry trunks are used to create a hardwood stick with a hollow core for lightness.
“I look for things that are different and I like to stay busy,” Todd said, enjoying life as he moves through his later years, steady as he goes.
