(Pardon the time lapse here- I wrote this entry soon after Part I, but shelved it for editing and was soon swept away by other projects. I hope that a sense of continuity nonetheless remains.) I have told you of my arrival and rapid acquaintance with the Rainbow Gathering, of some of its organizational and ethical aspects, but there is much still to tell. It is a sort of world unto itself, and like any world the telling of it in words must forever be incomplete. For words stretch themselves out in singular sequential strands broken frequently by punctuation marks while [View Full Entry]

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During my time in Santa Barbara with Ashley, Alex, and the Arden house, I took a little excursion which in my writing at that time I failed to mention. I left it out because I just didn't know quite what to say about it then. But time has passed and I have reflected. A couple of weeks after arriving at the Arden House, my friends announced that they would be taking a trip. They wanted to offer me a ride to come along but there just wasn't any room for me. Feeling that my time with new friends was being cut [View Full Entry]

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I apologize for the delay in my writing. After the loss of my camera and bike in September I was momentarily plunged into the shadow of a defeated mentality, and lost inspiration to write. I had lost the ability to share pictures with my words and thought that my words alone were probably not enough to keep your attention. This lull in my mood did not beat me, but by the time I had regained my inspiration I was out of the habit of writing and long since caught up in yet another whirlwind of adventure which I could not pull [View Full Entry]

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i cross the bay bridge the water a startling hue a wind blows hard, fierce *** the BART train is swift I watch lights pass by; railway screeches fill my ears *** I have reached Berkeley a friend of a friend offers a couch; I lie down *** compost in blue bins lining sidewalks casually it is custom here *** people's park is free folks come there to eat, play, nap it is aptly named *** In berkeley, some folk know history; they have learned to cherish freedom *** Mickey raises worms; they make soil; he says it is the best [View Full Entry]

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As most of you probably by now know, Travelblog recently suffered a server crash in which many entries were corrupted or lost. I am happy to report that I have been able to recover all but one, and that very last one will be back up soon with mom's help (thankfully she's printed them all). I want to thank you all for the help-- I couldn't have repaired the damage without your gracious postings of the Google cache files from which I was able to restore everything. I'll be posting again soon to inform you of my travels after San Luis [View Full Entry]

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(photos yet to come-- having technical difficulties. worth the wait though, come back soon!) I am lying in my freshly erected tent in a cozy spot beneath a towering redwood grove in Big Sur State Park. I've traveled only about 30 miles today, but they were thirty of the most difficult yet. Of course it's been worth every drop of sweat, straining turn of the crank whose gears just won't go low enough, every insistent pang of hunger for something other than oatmeal, energy bars, and over-salted peanuts. How to speak about this place that is so affectionatley called the Big [View Full Entry]

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Thursday morning, reluctant to leave my newfound community in Santa Barbara, I loaded my noble red two wheeled steed for a long journey. Soon enough I was heading west on interstate 101, hauling myself, my possessions, and my by-now unfamiliar home of nylon fabric and tent poles to an unknown destiny far away from that blessed oasis which had sustained me so kindly for so long. I made what arrangements I could for final meetings, passing by Fairview Gardens on the way out for Clif bars and Kale and a warm farewell with Casey. Farewell Santa Barbara, farewell Arden House, Ashley, [View Full Entry]

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In the Last entry I commented in passing on my near lack of expenses during my stay here in Santa Barbara. In the interest of sharing knowledge and philosophy I would like to devote a short entry to the nitty-gritty of the thrifty self-sufficient lifestyle. There are a few basic necessities that any living creature must have in order to live a healthy and happy life. These are food, shelter (and in our case clothing), water, and for social creatures, community. And computers, automobiles, cell phones, iPods, gasoline, er, wait just a minute here! I've been tricked, it's a scam! Scratch [View Full Entry]

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Having parted ways with Brent on the first morning of my great trek, I started making plans for the day of riding ahead and a place to sleep at night. Before leaving LA I visited couchsurfing.org at the prompting of Artemisia. Couchsurfing is a community of travelers who offer their homes to eachother free of charge when they can, for the sake meeting folks with interesting stories to tell and knowledge to share, and to help decommodify one of the many life necessities which should never have become a commodity: safe shelter, a place to sleep. I found a few folks [View Full Entry]

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Well folks, I'm finally begrudgingly making a visit here to cyberspace to inform you of my adventures, thoughts, and whereabouts. I admit that I have been procrastinating for some time, feeling overwhelmed by the task of representing this long strange trip justly in a few pages of digital text and grainy low-resolution photos. But alas-- I trod onward! I told you I would keep you informed and by golly I'm going to keep you informed. Slowly. But surely. So quite a lot has happened to me in the last six weeks as you might well imagine. I'll be writing a handful [View Full Entry]

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