updates

hello all,

bike tour has been lovely. Indiana is flat and filled with corn. Rails to trails made riding smooth and tree lined. A very pleasant beginning, get those bike muscles into gear, get into our rhythm.

Riding buddies Darren and Caleb are a treat. Darren's always putting spice into our meals, and being a machine driven by peanut butter and summer sausage, he is constantly reminding us to eat, lots.

Caleb questions everything, Everything! Any predictive statement is met with, "well you never know". It's true Caleb, I don't know whether or not it will rain right now or if those clouds will roll on by, i'm just conjecturing out of my ass. Thank you for pointing it out. Despite his Kierkegaardian despair, he is a constant smile and has the most creative dreams which he loves to tell us about in the morning. Kittens coming out of rolled back grass, black ones in fact. <3

Kentucky is filled with rolling hills and galloping horses, it's just like a post card. We take back roads that ride along the ridges, contemplate climbing cell phone towers and view barns drying tobacco that looks like yellowed hides.

We'll be in nashville in 4 - 5 days depending on how hard we ride and what direction the wind blows. then it's onto the natchez trail. so exciting.

Pictures!!!!

collectively taking a leap

how do we all know when to jump together? how do we not get so into the momentum that we trample like a stamped anyone who might not be ready?

jumping, a big jump, together, is a messy affair.

i'd like to think that i'm somehow collectively building a bridge, so the leap isn't so hard,

i imagine a herd of buffalo on the side of a crevasse, being urged to leap. if there were a fire or predator, they would leap. but would they get it, if it was only the promise of better land and a happier life, just beyond the ridge? good thing i'm trying to herd smart capable people and not buffalo.

and the promise of the better land, is it just a feeling i've got? i feel as if i've never been more sure about something, except maybe, i was pretty sure about buying the house in portland. I'm pretty sure about bike culture in the US. I feel positive that bike farm should take this leap. I am positive that this space is a good deal.

but i guess the thing i'm worried about is how hard this is going to be, who we might loose, and how long until it starts to feel really good. The house took four years to start to make sense and not be one of the biggest stresses in my life. Looking back at it now, i feel like sure, it was a good decision. i remember saying three years ago that i just wanted to walk away.

anyhow, i've gone over the minutia of details, the spread sheets, and the step by step check list.

it's time to just push forward and leap.

journal april

sometimes i want to go back to a life of having plenty of time and no money.

after rails i suppose

but can i live like i have plenty of time? when in fact i have a job? when i had plenty of time and no money, i would...

after europe right?

yeah, a bit before, really, it was on the road to bradock that i started becoming obsessed with the idea of spending nothing, cause i realized i could,

i had started it really as soon as i stopped working for core, the experiment...

I read through that journal and a few more, I should pack, i've got three hours till dinner.

today was really beautiful, riding in the car, 

the leaves all changing colour, i feel nostalgic and sad thinking about it, i still remember crying into my pillow,

i want wine and to be drunk and writing, i will be home soon, i can not believe that i will be home soon and i will not have to do anything, i will be free.

simple life, life of no money, bike tour life, 

what stops me in portland?

alcohol and breakfast and friendships, 

but i can take a break from drinking, i can become a health nut, 

and i wouldn't stop myself from taking sailing lessons, and learning to program

i guess i'm just really trying to drill in the idea of not drinking as much.

it's neary time for bed, time for flosing for sure

i dream of a world

that has a tool library at every 3 mile block, there would be 20 or so in portland alone. shacks, with basic tools and for purchase, nails, or sand paper, and other consumables. 

if there was space, they'd have other capital collectives as well, things like bike collectives, and car collectives, centers/hubs where people congregate to do stuff, to fix things, to build.  

my questions; would these be government facilities? it'd be great for them to be open all the time, but unlikely, 

unless we could come up with a system, that made it so easy, and simple, safe, enjoyable to volunteer.  average joe should be able to check tools out to people, and accept money, of 

once they are built, how do we keep them from becoming stagenet? out dated, unused like our current library system.