The OE edition

It started Saturday afternoon. Ever since then it would not have been hard to catch me with a goofy grin on my face. Tilly the Talkative had just dropped me off in Ashland OR (In fact, it was the exact same gas station that I had been dropped off two years ago with Taylor on my original adventure to this wonderful place.) and I was already quite excited. Biking directly on over to ShopN’Kart I quickly began to realize how many wonderful memories I had in this area. From there I continued on to downtown and just putzed around a bit. I was waiting to meet up with one Doug Frank for lunch. He found me soon enough siting in the main square looking quite at home in this town of vagabonds with my pack and bike right by me. Although it was clear he misses teaching up here on the mountain, he does seem to be doing alright; keeping busy by exploring the town and hiking in the surrounding mountains and trails.

I had been hoping to make it up the mountain that afternoon. However, I ended up having to spend much of the afternoon hours adjusting and tightening my rear hub. It turns out I really should have bought myself some cone wrenches before leaving. Luckily a local bikeshop was willing to lend me some tools.

Unable to catch any rides up the mountain that evening, and not wanting to ride the 20some miles non-stop steepness I chose to camp in a farmers feild. This was the first night that I fully realized how valuable my tarp really was. Luckily there was no heavy rain. My cover stayed up and kept me dry. The only trouble was in trying to sleep on an incline. Not a good idea, especailly when trying to stay within a tight dry perimeter.

Finally making it to my destination Sunday morning I had a grand old time wandering around the grounds, foundly remembering various building, the ever looming bark burner, and the entire tranquility of it all. (apologies for the lack of photos, maybe I can get some for the next round.)

Vespers that evening topped it all.

Go now in peace, Go now in peace

May the love of God surround you

Everywhere, everywhere, you may go.

Made me realize that I’d rather not go. At least not right away. That evening, as I quickly got to know Brandon Waggy’s housemates and this year’s 17 OEers I realized that this is pretty great group. In return for letting me stay here the head honchos have asked that I do about 4 hours of work a day. So far its been cleaning gutters.

Luckily I have also had the priviledge of joining in on the lectures. Thanks to the OE profs, I think this has been the closest I have come to being able to say that I actually miss school. That said, I've also realized how relatively poorly read I am. I really need to get crackin on that immense stack of literary classics and philosophical giants! But until I do I think I'll be content to simply clean these gutters and keep on moving!

And now I want to take the opportunity to say a few words in general about my travels. Things have changed quite substantially since that first day of woeful waiting on the on-ramp to I-81. Since then I have been picked up on side of the road, from gas stations, driven myself many hundreds of miles, been picked up by friends and lined up rides on craigslist. These changes have been quite interesting on many levels. Of course driving a car for someone else wins out on almost every criteria so we'll leave that out for now.

As far as pace is concerned, lining up rides on craigslist has gotten me pretty far pretty fast. Its seems that craigslist rideshare ads go up fairly last minute, but I've found that, atleast here along I-5, ad for rides between from where you are to where you want to go seem to go up nearly every other day. 

In terms of personal mental health, prearranged rideshares also seem to take the gold. Standing on the side of the road for even half an hour can be off-putting, but as the fraction of an hour turns into many it can become overwhelming and even cause one to curse the empty car who zoomed right on by!

In terms of cost, however, hitchhiking finally seems to gain an upperhand. When being picked up on the side of the road one is generally not expected to help pay for gas. With rideshares, however, its generally split 50/50.

And finally, hitch hiking also has the added bonus of helping one experience life in a dramatically different and trying way. Although it may seem rather humorous when Calvin's dad says it, it can also be true. 

In all though, at this point in my travels I've realized that spending time with people I know and love, and getting to them in a timely fashion, and being able to spend a bit more time with them as opposed to on the side of an on-ramp is worth the bit of extra expense. And frankly I think I've paid my character building dues. 

Thanksgiving in Canada

Celebrating Thanksgiving with Benjamin and Morgan Tipton was the next best thing to being at home. During the meal we participated in a Tipton family tradition involving beans and expressions of gratefulness. For the record, my three beans represented: 1) My Past. How it has shaped me, and the good reminders I've had of it recently. 2) My Family. For giving me the travel bug and for supporting me in this crazy adventure. And 3) My sister. For being in touch and being a great sibling!
After being on the road for a day under three weeks and having traveled through 16 of the United States and one of the Canadian Provinces it was an incredible relief to just hang out and be in one place for several days. The Menno Simons Center is a really cool community of students and for anyone going to school here in Vancouver, I strongly recommend living here.
Biking all around the city meeting up with Stephanie Suderman and Shalom Wiebe has great. There's really nothing like catching up with old friends from past walks of life and taking the time to remember their impact on your life and the goings on that were going on. And then there's the other people to remember. Looking back on MCC retreats and remembering all the characters and seeing how we all have grown has been inspirational and interesting to say the least. The interest all of us seem to have in going overseas again or entering some kind of service work someday seems to say something about the good role modeling our parents must have done.

Speaking of parenting...

Finn

Although this picture of the little one is quite pleasant and happy, much of the time it did not seem like her natural state of being. Loud cries indicating a need to feed or a dirty diaper erupted often and although it made baby-having seem much less appealing, the wonderful way Ben and Morgan handled it, with patience and love, was something that will stay with me for quite some time.

And now its time for some good old pictures of the city!

The mountain were beautiful! Although this wasn't one of them, there were times when  the sky cleared up and there was an incredible view!

Apologies to the mountains in the background. 

A beach! The bay was beautiful and I had a great bike ride around the Sea Wall.

Bridges are cool.

The history of this city was remarkable. Although I could've spent  much more time leaning good things. I instead just biked a lot. Apologies to history.

 That said, I guess I can still highlight some of the more memorable points. Originally (late 1800's) the city was called Gastown. More recently (mid/late 1900's) there has been a huge increase in immigration. Much of that coinciding with the return of Hong Kong to China. According to Ben, around half of Vancouver's population is of Asian decent. A fact that helped lessen my surprise at seeing so many elderly Asian people at the pool when I went swimming.

Note the floating Cheveron station. There were lots of boats and even boat planes cruising around the bay. Lots of fun to watch.

The Canadian respect and the way they have dealt with Native Peoples, although being far from optimal, seemed to be leagues beyond where the US is at. Apologies to the totems for their blurry representation. 

A cool city and mountain shot.

And last but not least. My favorite photo yet. I hope the largeness works out ok.

Rain Rain Rain. and more rain

It rains a lot here in the North West. Wandering around Evergreen State College and surrounding rain forest hunting for mushrooms was quite the treat. I had a hard time finding any thing noteworthy on the ground because I spent a lot of my time admiring the moss covered branches and the huge old pines and vast undergrowth of ferns that made for an incredible rain forest!

Big Ol' Tree. Very cool.

 

Bike Trails in the Rain Forest!

Tree house in the Rain Forest!

Beautiful view of the Bay

 And then it was time to move on and head further North. After meeting up with Ben and Morgan and finally getting to meet the new one, Finn, we headed off.

A brief smile in the midst of the crying.

Seattle

Although it let up for a moment or two, the overwhelming majority of the day was spent either under the umbrella, inside, or getting wet. Taking the bus to explore downtown Olympia was fun interesting and although I am determined to get in some good biking here in Vancouver, I will probably be forced to do a lot of transit travel here as well.

The Canadian Boarder.

Portland! and the start of the west coast adventures

The Photo Trail

I'm in Portland! I just got here from Missoula MT where I spent some time with some great folks!

Abi and Dietrich hosted me both my first and last nights there and were lots of fun and great hosts. Evidently Missoula is the second largest city in Montana and is home to an extraordinary number of non-profits/ community organizations. Abi and Dietrich both work at what sound like very good places. Abi at the YWCA and Dietrich at somewhere that I can't remember right now.

Good ol' Will.

And here's another picture of when the sky finally opened up on thursday and let us see the majestic mountains.

I'm sorry there aren't more. My dinky little camera phone hardly even makes it worth trying. I've pretty much just given up trying to catch the awesomeness.

Montana and Sunshine

And by 'Sunshine' I don't mean:

 This kind is just as good and loves ice way more:

Right now I'm at Will's house in Whitefish MT. Despite the Northerlyness of it here its actually not as cold as it was in Wyoming. 

But first I think I'll just say a few words of where I've been. I must admit that the last post was a bit premature. Directly after writing I went off to watch a play on Hesston's campus. 'Green Card' is a moving play about the melting pot of America. It emphasized the incredible hardships that many people have gone through in order to come to this country and the subsequent hardships faced once they arrive.  I'd like to write more on the matter as it was a moving show that covered a wide variety of people's experiences.

Leaving Hesston and my good friend and great host Solomon, I then traveled north and west until I met up with Doug Henderson in Fort Collins CO. Luckily I arrived earlier than expected and managed to squeeze in a quick hike before dinner. Despite the subfreezing temperatures I still had a great time. Beautiful scenery combined with interesting conversation about being Ramblin Men, politics, and the nature of college town and demographics. The chance to stretch my legs after 8 long hours of driving was also quite nice.

That night I drove till I began to get drowsy. Sleeping in the back of the car was a bit different than the first time around. Seeing as I was bedding down in the middle of nowhere Wyoming the winds were particularly rough and the cold was quite biting. I didn't dare open a door to take my bike out so we just got cozy. 

The rest of the driving adventure was quite adventurous. The first signs of snow were incredibly beautiful and was the cause of much picture taking.

 

As I continued, however, I only continued to see increasingly mindblowing landscapes and beauty. I don't think the web is big enough to hold all the pictures I took so I'll only put a few of the highlights.

At points the roads also began to get a bit treacherous. 

Between ice on the roads and winds whipping across the path I at times thought I was going to slide right off. but never did. 

I finally arrived in Missoula MT where I met up with Abi and Dietrich, had a great dinner and fun evening over Rummy. 

The next day the car finally left my hands and I was back to biking. 

Good ol' Will then picked me and we cruised on up to Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp, where Will worked for several years. Hanging out with some camp buddies and then going kayaking on the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi was a great way to spend an afternoon and could've only been topped by a film festival! Some of my faves were: Last of the Great Unknown, The Wide Boyz, and finally The First Afghan Ski Competition in which some skiers went to a pristine Afghan village and taught some local folks to ski. In the end they managed to start a ski rental and there are hopes of getting a legit ski industry going!

Well, I think that covers all the interesting things of my past four days, more to come!

Hesston KS

Hesston College has a cool interactive way to look up alum. Here's my old man:

What a stud.

Austin TX

Kansas is dusty!

Well dear readers, I must apologize for the current lack of content. Driving has been, like previously mentioned, a drastic change of pace. Last night I slept in the back of the car. It wasn't even half bad!

I spent a lot of time calling folk and chatting. Also, pushing the scan button on the radio...
Hesston is flat. Not much for mtn biking. And empty. Not much for activities. 

In other news, its a sad day. Tessa's homemade granola bars and now done.  :-( 

A major change in pace!

Hitchhiking is soo last week. I'm driving now!

I've got wheels!

Thanks again to Gary in Houston for his hospitality! I ended up having to stay there in Houston another night and Gary was entirely helpful through feeding me and taking me to the dealership where I picked up the car.

I then met up with Lauren in San Marcos TX where she has a great little apartment and an even better yellow lab named Peakaboo (boo for short). San Marcos is a great little university town with some lovely parks where we walked the dog and hung out by a river! Best of all though was getting a chance to catch up with Lauren and swap OE memories and stories about how our friends are doing and where they've traveled.

So, after saying good bye and eating at this cute little breakfast taco place I took off only to find that the coolant reserve tank was busted and leaking coolant! oh no! major set back! ... Nope!

Surprisingly, it couldn't have turned out better! The next visit on my itinerary is Solomon and Judy in Hesston, then Doug Henderson in Fort Collins, CO, then Patrick (a dude from couch surfing) in Sheridan WY, and then Missoula MT where I'll visit Abi and Dietrich and then visiting Will in Whitefish! aand... in the meantime I'm thinking about catching a ride with someone from craigslist and going to portland! why not! Ben and Morgan will be there!!!

So yeah, its an exciting time, from waiting on the side of the road for someone to take me a couple more miles down the road, to hurriedly calling friends and checking craigslist for rides, my life has take a drastic change for the busier. 

I don't even know where to begin.

Its been awhile, I know. And that really makes things difficult for us. Where to begin? If I try for chronology, I'll run out of time. If I got by best stories, I'll pass over so much. Well anyway, I'll try and get my thoughts down succinctly.

First of all, I'm about to go to Montana. Yes yes, I know, its cold there. And yes yes, you don't have to remind me, I dont like the cold. But! I'm going to be driving a car there! I'll be able to visit several people on my way, (Lauren Bull, Solomon Rudy, and finally Will Erikson) And then the kicker... I'll be getting free fare back down to the warmth of the south. And, if luck is on my side it just might be a plane ticket.  :-)   

So from that, maybe you can better understand the overwhelming sense of excitement that makes it difficult to type and share the stories of the past several days. But I'll try.

Right now, I'm typing from the computer of one Gary the kayaking instructor. He picked me up back in Tuscaloosa Alabama. He was on his home to Houston from the Smoky Mountains of N.Carolina where he was working for the summer at Nantahala Outdoor Center as boating instructor. Although his vehicle was loaded to the brim he managed to work in a spot for me and we managed to strap my bike to the front of his trailer. 

He had a full ride.

When we arrived in Houston he offered to let me stay in the guest room, take a shower and do laundry. A good nights sleep was well needed as was some cleanlyness. For the remainder of the day (we got into Houston around 9:30) he gave me a short bike tour of the city, through parks and bike ways leading all over. When he then went to vote I took off back to the park and went tearing around the mountain biking trails that they have right there in downtown. Harrisonburgers, think of Hillandale on the Texas scale. It was a blast.

Now a few words of thanks and recognition to those who've helped move me along:

From Charlotte NC I got a ride with PJ Davis to Columbia SC where I biked on over to I20.

PJ Davis

There I got a ride with Kickaboo to the west side of Atlanta. Special thanks to him for going out his way to drop me at a good spot. 

Kickaboo. Sorry about the bad lighting.

From Atlanta I rode with Marcus to just east of Birmingham Alabama. He is a very cool dude and those of you in the Pell City area should totally sign up for his CSA. He is doing great stuff there on his one-man farm like building a green house out of old windshields, making a grey water system that will feed a bog of lushness, and building an aquaponics system. We all wish him the best in his endeavors. 

Marcus

Next up is Jack who took me from Pell City to the ring road 459 that goes around Birmingham. 

Jack

After that I got a ride with Dave Childers who went way out of his way to drop me off at a well traveled location. He also gave me $40, despite my insistence that I didn't need it. I plan to pass it along to those who do.

Dave and his work truck

From the other side of Birmingham I got a ride with Chris the music teacher. He is a friendly jeep driver and despite the small vehicle we managed to get the bike in!

Chris

 And after the ride with Chris I met Gary and now I'm here.

So thats it as far as rides go, but now I want to say a few words about the other people I've met.

This is Steve.

 Steve is traveling to Phoenix AZ. I forget from where. Like me he is traveling. Unlike me, however, he needs much more help than I do. All the kind words of encouragement people gave me, the rides and snacks. The hospitality, showers and a chance to do laundry. Those are all things that Steve needs way more than I. He needed help. This guy is 63 years old. He's traveling on a scooter carrying, as you can see all his stuff in plastic bags strapped together haphazardly. Some of the bags are duct taped and tied. On the back of his bike was his dead pet squirrel. It was evening when I first met him and because I didn't get a ride I saw him the next day. He had bought a mirror for the scooter and when I saw him the next morning he was struggling with the small nuts and bolts to get it on. He was a determined man and eventually figured it out despite my offers to help. Although I don't know his full story he clearly has had a hard life. Despite all this, God's love still shone through him. When I mentioned that I had lost a bungee cord with one of my past rides he gave me one. He even asked if I had enough to eat and probably would have been willing to share!
Reflecting back on my interactions with Steve I find my self frustrated with how I dealt with him. I started this trip planning to meet 'the real church' and receive from others generosity and trust. Now I find that learning about love is about way more than receiving. I must also remember to pass it on.

Day 1

Phew, I'm glad the first is over and that I'm not still in VA. Right now I'm just north of Charlotte NC. I'm about to start day two and had a great little chat with an active duty marine who said I was going to do great and that he could've traveled more when he was my age.
Last night I slept behind a food lion, and lost my bungee cord on the roof of my last ride.
I spent most of yesterday right outside of Staunton and had to bike just to get outa there.
Special thanks to Jamie who at one point came back to get me when I wanted to go to a better hitching spot. He placed sixth in a cyclocross race in Charlottesville that morning. Good job Jamie.
The picture is of where I slept. I'm sorry I haven't done a good job of remembering to get pictures of my rides. :-(

So it begins.

Tomorrow I'll be somewhere between an elephant and a rhinoceros. I'm heading south. I'm headed to Tucson. I'm headed for warmer climes. At least that's what my itinerary says.
But this trip is about more than where I'll be. It's about adventure. It's about hitting the road and letting myself follow the currents of life. And that's the just the thrill of travel.
It's also about hitch hiking. Its about trusting the good will of humanity. It's about trusting God to work through that good will and allow others to help me along. It's about learning humility.
It's also about meeting strangers. About listening to other people's life story, learning from theirs and sharing my own. It's about learning to be respectful when discussing differences while sharing my own perspective.
It's also about helping people overcome fear of trust. I've met too many who say that the risk of helping another out weighs their desire to helpful. I've heard people say that the government must do more to lift those among us who are suffering. On the other hand I've heard people say that the government is inherently unfit for the job as it is a power corrupted by the evils of the world, and that the burden of caring for the poor and needy lies with the church. I have come to realize, however, that real church lies not in MCUSA, or MCC or EMM or CWS or WV, or any of the other church institutions that I can't think of right now. The Church lies in the people who help others. The Church lies in the people who take the time to be a friendly and loving presence to those who are in the greatest need of love. To those who are (in an obvious way or not) alone or suffering and need to be reminded that love is indeed real.
And so this trip is also going to be about putting myself out there in an obvious way and finding some members of the Church.
Stay tuned to vicariously meet these great people!

Switching tones now in a drastic way... I want to say a few words about practicalities for those who might be curious.
Some highlights from my packing list include:

• My mountain bike!

Some highlights from my itinerary include:

• South!
• and then to Tucson.
• and then... elsewhere!

And lastly I just want to say thanks to all my great friends here in Harrisonburg. Thank you for making my time here such a great one! Although it doesn't make it easier to leave, having such great relationships and connection in H'burg means that life's been good and I look forward to returning!