ABSTRACT
Humans go about their daily businesses their lines of movement intersect with various materials. All these intersecting threads of activity end up over time forming meshworks of entangled lines of life, growth, and movement. Meshworks are a type of assemblage, a type distinct from networks. Ice roads are a meshwork: an intricate assemblage of trails carved by human movement. They are not an inert container of movement taking place over them by rolling vehicles like trucks and cars. Wayfaring refers to an unsettled and relatively unplanned way of journeying. The construction of roads with water depends on water changing its state from liquid to frozen solid, and therefore on the particular relation between water and cold air that we call congealment. Congealment obviously depends on precise atmospheric conditions: both air and water must be cold enough for a sufficiently long period of time to allow people to use ice as a driving surface.
