Good times with good friends around LA

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So much has happened in the last week! My original plan was to avoid LA like the plague, but I'm so glad I listened to my friends and decided to stay a bit. I could never have anticipated such a jolly good time........

I met Artemisia in Santa Monica last Wednesday afternoon following a harrowing bike ride across central LA. I've heard that the west coast is the place to be if you're a biker, but apparently you have to go a little farther north to find the real bike-friendly hospitality. I had drivers honking at me all the way there proudly announcing their ignorance of my right to the road. But things cheered up quite a lot once I found my way to my destination. I met Artemisia at the home of a friend of her's, and was greeted by a table of wonderful food and two joyous children splashing in the swimming pool. I stuck around getting to know Artemisia and her son Bodhi for a bit, and then we hopped on our bikes (or in Bodhi's case his trailer) to head to the BikeRoWave for some tuning up. The BikeRoWave is a community supported bike workshop where anyone can come and pay $5 an hour for access to a complete set of tools and to learn bike mechanics from the superbly competent folks who work there. There I managed to locate just the right bolt to safely mount my front brake (which I had been quite worried about before). After we got home Artimisia put Bodhi to bed and her friend John, who I met at the BikeRoWave, came by to give me some seriously needed advice on choosing a route. He has biked the coast from LA to San Fran and strongly urged me to skip the valley and stick to the coast. Thanks to John, I'll be avoiding weeks of featureless industrially agricultural nothingness in favor of the beautiful scenery and thriving towns of the Pacific Coast.

The next day was Artemisia's weekly Thursday vegan potluck. Several of her friends came bearing wonderfully tasty and healthy food, and 8 or 9 of us went for a bike ride around town before dinner. Then we all crammed into her cozy studio apartment for some amazing eating and social interaction. I found out that her friend Alex was working on a doctorate in mathematics, and it wasn't long before we were ruminating on the decidability of the Riemann Hypothesis. I even snuck in a quick lesson on the mathematics of musical harmony with Bodhi's little guitar as an illustrative aid.

As if that were not enough to make my trip to LA worthwhile, Friday night was the monthly Santa Monica critical mass. For those who aren't familiar with the phenomenon, critical mass started in San Fran in 1992 and has since migrated across the globe through word of mouth and taken root in hundreds of cities by way of purely organic, decentralized social organization. The idea is to increase awareness of cyclists of all stripes by way of their getting together into as big a group as possible and riding around town for a few hours once a month. This particular critical mass consisted of somewhere around 300 bikers. Once spread safely apart in a single lane that amounts to a looooong stretch of pure 2-wheeled bliss. In order to keep together we proceed in funeral procession fashion, continuing after traffic lights changed with some bikers staying behind to direct the traffic flow. Responses from onlookers ranged from cheers to impatient honking. I am happy to report that the cheers dominated by a long shot.

On Saturday Artemisia drove me out to see my best buddy Caitlin where she was staying with her friend Julie in Apple Valley, about an hour northeast of central LA. So many good coincidences! Caitlin just happened to be nearby in time for me to see her before we went on our respective ways. On Saturday we met at Cal Earth, a small architectural operation that Julie is connected to through friends. The focus at Cal Earth is on earth construction, i.e. building houses with soil. I was quite impressed aesthetically by the architecture there, and by the ingenious simplicity of the designs. Being made mostly of earth, the structures can be built using local materials, making them relatively cheap and largely independent of imported goods. Most of them are cooled by a "snorkel" system, in which a high chimney sucks in cooler air from high above the ground, taking advantage of the temperature differential from high to low to completely avoid the need for moving parts and electrical input. This design principle was borrowed from middle eastern architecture, which has used it to cool buildings in the desert for centuries. The architect who heads Cal Earth, Nader, is native to Iran and has taken much inspiration from the building techniques of his native culture. He began his career designing urban skyscrapers, but decided to take a break from the rat race, at which point he retreated to meditate on where to invest his energy. He read a lot of Sufi poetry during that time (books of Rumi poetry grace the shelves of the Cal Earth office) and was inspired to build healthy, ecologically sound homes for people of average income-- and thus we have Cal Earth.

That night I met some of the Cal Earth employees-- Mark, Neil, and Mike-- and Artemisia and Bodhi stuck around for a feast that we cooked together in the communal Cal Earth kitchen. We made a stir fry, a salad, some vegetable soup, rice, and a huge bowl of hummus. Mmmm. I better not get too accustomed to all of this good food because soon it will be oatmeal and buckwheat by the side of the road for me...

Sunday morning Caitlin, Julie, and I met with Julie's friend Jay and we drove back into Santa Monica to attend a service at the Lake Shrine, a temple that was founded by Paramahansa Yogananda, an Indian yogi who came to the U.S. in the 1920's to spread the mystical knowledge of India. The temple is seated atop a hill overlooking the ocean, and is surrounded by lushly vegetated grounds in which is situated a small lake and a museum which documents Yogananda's life and the history of the Self-Realization Fellowship, the foundation which was founded to carry on the teachings of Yogananda by publishing literature and funding temples around the world. The sermon was punctuated by a few devotional chants and included Hindu and Christian references; Jesus and Krishna were give equal importance as spiritual teachers. behind the podium hung portraits of Jesus and Krishna in the center, with Gandhi, Yogananda, and two other Indian saints on either side. The sermon was about will and the motivation to achieve what we set our hearts and minds to diligently-- much needed advice for someone about to embark for the first time on a 1500 mile bike journey in an unknown land. After the service we wandered the grounds for a bit, where we found a small memorial where some of Gandhi's ashes are kept. We admired the diversity of plants and stopped for a moment on a pier to observe the truly gargantuan Koi in the lake.

In the evening we met with Artemisia again since we were in the area, and she cooked us an amazing dinner (thanks for all the awesome food, Artemisia!). We hung around for a bit, everyone taking turns entertaining Bodhi, and headed home for bed. It was sad to part with Artemisia and Bodhi; they've been so good to me and taken me in as family. Today Artemisia sent me an email saying that Bodhi misses me and wanted to call to see how I was- I feel very loved! They'll be moving north to Arcata in about 6 weeks or so, so maybe I'll catch up with them there. Monday morning Caitlin and I went to the community garden where Julie works to help a bit with some garden work. Julie is here in Apple Valley with an Americor position to get this garden up and running. I was impressed by her efforts so far; organizing a functional community space for growing food is a lot of work, especially in the middle of the Mojave desert! Caitlin and I helped fill in some dirt around a little shaded seating area that Jay built using the same basic methods employed at Cal Earth. Monday night Jay took us to a hot springs about a half hour away. We hiked down into a small canyon in the dark, found a little sandy spot to sleep, and then took it easy in the springs. Such a unique experience to immerse oneself in a natural hot tub right in the middle of the desert!

I was expecting to leave yesterday morning but the wind was prohibitive out here in the desert; I tried out my bike but was just about blown over by 35 mph gusts. So I stuck around and Julie, Caitlin, and I camped out at a nearby park beneath some interesting rock formations. We opened the car doors and had a quick dance party with some latin hip-hop before settling down at our camping spot. Julie brought her guitar, which she is just learning to play, and I gave her a quick lesson on some old 90's alternative rock favorites. We awoke early so that Julie could get to work and I could get on the road. I'm trying to leave today again-- we'll see if the weather permits. In the mean time I'm writing this blog and waiting out the desert winds. I have to admit that I'm quite apprehensive to finally be hitting the open road alone. I'll miss all my friends dearly, new and old, and I'll be keeping my feelers out for good company along the way. Cross your fingers for me and send some courage my way. Much love to you all.

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Photos

the much-mentioned bike
This is the black and red beauty all unpacked, rebuilt, and ready for my first test drive fully loaded across LA.

hmmmm... interesting
You thought they were only in New Mexico? Try downtown LA. Yep, they're all over, experimentatin' and watchin' us and whatnot.

critical mass
This is the view from near the front in the critical mass ride. Behind me the bikes go on and on for a few blocks.

me in the car with Artemisia
Bodhi practiced his photography skills from the back seat as Artemisia drove us to meet Caitlin and Julie.

little domes
This is the outside view of some small earth domes encircling a patio area at Cal Earth.

skylight
All the domes at Cal Earth employ the abundant natural light of the desert.

Bodhi the climber
Bodhi had a lot of fun climbing on the little domes at Cal Earth.

The community garden
This is the community garden that Julie is helping to get started. Each square is managed by a community family or individual and the greenhouse, shed and tools are used communally. Keep up the good work Julie!

The hot springs
Here's a view of Deep Creek Hot Springs where we camped Monday night.

buddies
Julie, my new friend in California, and Caitlin, my old best buddy from Louisville.