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.