San Francisco baby!!! Got here last night across a Golden Gate Bridge that had a ten foot visibility hahaha. London fog lives here as well. It was sunny in Sausalito and then WA BAM, the clouds rolled in and you'd never know you came from such a sunny place.
Following route 1 all the way down into the city has been an adventure and a half, with steep windy switchback roads that continue around every corner, beaches that have become warm enough to swim in (!!!), beach acrobatics, unique camping spots, way too much coffee, and the formation of a team name- Scuttlebutt. Why we decided on Scuttlebutt, i must admit i can't quite remember. While eating some cheddar goldfish we picked out our identities based on the goldfish names on the box. Lauri = Extreme, Paul = Brooke, Andrea = Finn, and I am Gilbert. Again, a somewhat inexplicable occurrence hahaha.
We've been meeting a lot of really cool people too; bike tourists seem to have people magnets attached to them because we are kind of a curiosity. There are LOADS of bike tourists though, we are certainly not the only ones. Hikers and other vagabonds as well. The Pacific coast is one hoppin highway, for those with cars and without.
So we got put up for free in this really cool hostel in downtown San Francisco, called Pacific Headwinds. They play really good music all the time, Radiohead right now, and it is reminding us how much we missed listening to music haha. They have 36 people staying in a really small area right now but it is alive and buzzing with hungry foreigners who communicate with whoever else speaks their language. Besides the people who work at the hostel and therefore live here, we're pretty much the only Americans. The reason we get to stay in a room for free is because the guy who runs the hostel likes bike touring and put the hostel on the warmshowers website, only it doesn't say it's a hostel, it just says it's where he lives hahaha.
so during the day we'll explore the city and then our friend Marianne will pick us up in the afternoon and take us to her house about 30 miles south, for an outdoor school reunion with her and her husband Marcus, our friends Maya Sean and Allison, and ourselves. We just stayed with Allison in Arcata a week ago but her family lives in this area so we'll get to meet up with her again! I'm really excited for the fiesta that awaits us =0)
Reading two books right now. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard... good if you want to spend a lot of time exploring outside, it will give you lots of kooky ideas and excitement. Off the Map by Mark Jenkins, about a cycling expedition across Siberia that makes our trip seem like a life of absolute luxury.
Signing off for now, hope to talk to y'all soon,
love,
laura
Friday, September 17, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
watchu know about me!
Hello all you fine friendly folk, from Fort Bragg, CA. hows that for alliteration ay?!
Here comes some memory vomit.... let's go backward in time, shall we. if you just got an avett brothers song stuck in your head, well, i did too.
so last night we stayed with a warmshowers host named Carrie. She's doing AmeriCorp in fort bragg with a nonprofit called Food Forest. They grow vegetables for local schools and teach the kids in the schools about the benefits of growing/eating local food. She just signed on for her second year of doing it cuz it's a pretty sweet job overall. She also enjoys classical piano, especially Chopin's ballade in g minor.
the past few days before that we've been camping in the forests, where some mighty tall trees have been growing for a thousand years or so. we got to run across a 200 foot tall tree that had fallen over, and crawl through a hollowed out tree that had fallen over as well. walking through the old growth pines makes you feel incredibly tiny. and seeing all the rings on the trunks makes you feel very young hahaha.
when we were biking further inland the weather turned warm and sunny and our water bottles started draining much faster. yesterday we got back to the Pacific, however, and the layers are back on and the water stops are less frequent. both have their merits =0)
before all the forest camping we stayed in Arcata, where our friend Allison is going to Humboldt State. Arcata is kind of like Ithaca in its vibe, and I would definitely like to live there for awhile. There was a contra dance going on in a couple of days but alas, we decided to move on. We will probably get to contra dance this weekend in San Francisco, though, so Lauri's month of withdrawal will finally come to a close. In the San Fran area we'll start meeting up with a bunch of friends too- maybe Marykate and Dankwan, Allison again, Maya and Sean (who drove out to San Diego with us), and Marianne, our friend from the outdoor school.
Our friend Andrea has been biking with us since Arcata and she is pumping up the hills like it ain't nobody's business. She is always super energetic and excitable, but yesterday she was flying especially high, despite the fact that it was our hilliest day in awhile. Route 1 is a little bit janky with all the steep switchbacks and lack of shoulder, but it's like you get to ride a bike rollercoaster all day long, and there's not too much traffic so it's a pretty good time.
I'm off to the beach I do believe. So long for now!
Love,
Laura, and everybody
Thursday, September 2, 2010
bike trip numero dos
Hellooooo universe from the house of Emma Pelton and her fine relative Pam. That would be in Portland, Oregon, land of bicycle lovers. The skies are blue and clear, the temperature settles in at 80 and makes us confuse the name portland with paradise.
So Emma has given us some Challenges for the road ahead: we must at least once busk for enough money for a meal, try to get a child on Paul's bike, with their consent and their parents. Fortunately, we well probably not actually attempt the latter challenge.
The movie MicMac gets a high recommendation from us all.
So this girl, Laurina. She doesn't think she can bike, keep up, yadda yadda yadda, "I'm so worried!" Well, guess what. Laurina has successfully left me in the dust every single day we've been riding thus far. We are arguing with head nods in opposite directions, but it is actually true. not. Not not. NOT NOT NOT. ok whatever you win.
Day one: a grand reunion at king's station in seattle. a lot of bike walking to Charlie Lane's house. an excellent warmshowers host i must say! totally laid back, enjoys basil and bumbleberry ice cream, writes all his notes and zine articles on a typewriter. he left on his own bike tour down the coast just yesterday, and i imagine he'll pass us rather quickly. see you in a few days, charlie lane.
Day two: we met up with our old roommate Josh and walked with him to the space needle. he just moved to seattle to go to cornish college of the arts for musical theater. he's totally going to rock it, cuz the kid is fearless and has some pretty solid musical aptitude. we also walked around the big martketplace called pike's place, where the music is fine and the apple cinnamon rolls make you salivate a little too much. i met a 29-year-old man named Elisah there and we talked for a long time about things you don't usually get to talk about. he has terminal brain cancer but he's pretty much never been happier/freer to do whatever he wants with absolutely no worries or inhibitions.
we meant to leave Seattle early in the afternoon but finally got around to it as the clock chimed four bells. We followed Rainier Avenue for a long time to get out of the city, but ended up making a big circle in a town called Renton as we looked for the next road. Luckily, this circle led us directly to the route that a man named Val was taking home. if you want to learn more about Val, check out rollingjackass.com. he is the man, with the most amped up bike i've seen in awhile, complete with a car horn. he led us to a bike path that quelled any of our navigational woes, and we followed it until dark, stopping to pick (or horde if you're Paul) some wild blackberries growing along the sides of the path. if you want to see paul in a state of no self control, lead him to some blackberry bushes and presto.
after the cedar creek bike trail ended we got on a road that led us to black diamond, and saw a shooting asteroid on this very road. really it was just a shooting star. but it looked like it just might make it to the ground.
after a quick little 11 hour nap in black diamond, paul woke us up with blackberry pancakes, praise richard. then we hopped on route 169 down to enumclaw, which is where the "chill" section of the ride ended for, umm, a few days. hello mountains. hello 20 mile uphills. hello numb hands and delirium. whoops, didn't foresee that one, despite knowing that we were headed toward Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens? hope to use the old noggin a bit more next time.
there were a lot of bikers cruisin this terrain, though, so hey i guess the whole world's crazy. they were actually planning on taking on the mountains, however, whereas we just ended up with no choice. we basically biked till we dropped every day for a few days. but the neverending old growth forests, quiet roads, and starry skies at night made it all quite worth it in my opinion. we're definitely in shape for the rest of the ride now, too.
near a campground called white river, we met a guy we'd seen in austin under the congress street bridge when we tried to see the bats with our friend. he and another man have been traveling for 15 years and plan on doing so for the rest of their lives. I wish i could travel around for awhile with them because i know they have so much to teach. i guess they're pretty much just out looking to make sure they see the world as it is and live simply and humbly without any expectations. as we biked away from them up a hill, i saw two dollars bills in the grass, all fresh and crisp like they just plopped down there. so i biked back down the hill and gave one to each of them. wonder if we'll see them again?
i named my bike arlinda. it means beautiful air in spanish. but that's not why i named it arlinda. i guess i don't really know why i did, but we did meet someone named arlinda in seattle and she was pretty neat. lauri doesn't think she'd appreciate knowing i named my bike after her. maybe it has something to do with naming my cadaver tissue arlo, i just like names that roll off my tongue like that?
ok so now we're in portland staying with emma, she is amazing, she and her friend Catherine have been showing us around and i feel kind of spoiled and warm and fuzzy staying here. we'll leave pretty soon, we just don't know when. so until next time, hasta pronto, sayonara.
love,
laurs and paul
So Emma has given us some Challenges for the road ahead: we must at least once busk for enough money for a meal, try to get a child on Paul's bike, with their consent and their parents. Fortunately, we well probably not actually attempt the latter challenge.
The movie MicMac gets a high recommendation from us all.
So this girl, Laurina. She doesn't think she can bike, keep up, yadda yadda yadda, "I'm so worried!" Well, guess what. Laurina has successfully left me in the dust every single day we've been riding thus far. We are arguing with head nods in opposite directions, but it is actually true. not. Not not. NOT NOT NOT. ok whatever you win.
Day one: a grand reunion at king's station in seattle. a lot of bike walking to Charlie Lane's house. an excellent warmshowers host i must say! totally laid back, enjoys basil and bumbleberry ice cream, writes all his notes and zine articles on a typewriter. he left on his own bike tour down the coast just yesterday, and i imagine he'll pass us rather quickly. see you in a few days, charlie lane.
Day two: we met up with our old roommate Josh and walked with him to the space needle. he just moved to seattle to go to cornish college of the arts for musical theater. he's totally going to rock it, cuz the kid is fearless and has some pretty solid musical aptitude. we also walked around the big martketplace called pike's place, where the music is fine and the apple cinnamon rolls make you salivate a little too much. i met a 29-year-old man named Elisah there and we talked for a long time about things you don't usually get to talk about. he has terminal brain cancer but he's pretty much never been happier/freer to do whatever he wants with absolutely no worries or inhibitions.
we meant to leave Seattle early in the afternoon but finally got around to it as the clock chimed four bells. We followed Rainier Avenue for a long time to get out of the city, but ended up making a big circle in a town called Renton as we looked for the next road. Luckily, this circle led us directly to the route that a man named Val was taking home. if you want to learn more about Val, check out rollingjackass.com. he is the man, with the most amped up bike i've seen in awhile, complete with a car horn. he led us to a bike path that quelled any of our navigational woes, and we followed it until dark, stopping to pick (or horde if you're Paul) some wild blackberries growing along the sides of the path. if you want to see paul in a state of no self control, lead him to some blackberry bushes and presto.
after the cedar creek bike trail ended we got on a road that led us to black diamond, and saw a shooting asteroid on this very road. really it was just a shooting star. but it looked like it just might make it to the ground.
after a quick little 11 hour nap in black diamond, paul woke us up with blackberry pancakes, praise richard. then we hopped on route 169 down to enumclaw, which is where the "chill" section of the ride ended for, umm, a few days. hello mountains. hello 20 mile uphills. hello numb hands and delirium. whoops, didn't foresee that one, despite knowing that we were headed toward Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens? hope to use the old noggin a bit more next time.
there were a lot of bikers cruisin this terrain, though, so hey i guess the whole world's crazy. they were actually planning on taking on the mountains, however, whereas we just ended up with no choice. we basically biked till we dropped every day for a few days. but the neverending old growth forests, quiet roads, and starry skies at night made it all quite worth it in my opinion. we're definitely in shape for the rest of the ride now, too.
near a campground called white river, we met a guy we'd seen in austin under the congress street bridge when we tried to see the bats with our friend. he and another man have been traveling for 15 years and plan on doing so for the rest of their lives. I wish i could travel around for awhile with them because i know they have so much to teach. i guess they're pretty much just out looking to make sure they see the world as it is and live simply and humbly without any expectations. as we biked away from them up a hill, i saw two dollars bills in the grass, all fresh and crisp like they just plopped down there. so i biked back down the hill and gave one to each of them. wonder if we'll see them again?
i named my bike arlinda. it means beautiful air in spanish. but that's not why i named it arlinda. i guess i don't really know why i did, but we did meet someone named arlinda in seattle and she was pretty neat. lauri doesn't think she'd appreciate knowing i named my bike after her. maybe it has something to do with naming my cadaver tissue arlo, i just like names that roll off my tongue like that?
ok so now we're in portland staying with emma, she is amazing, she and her friend Catherine have been showing us around and i feel kind of spoiled and warm and fuzzy staying here. we'll leave pretty soon, we just don't know when. so until next time, hasta pronto, sayonara.
love,
laurs and paul
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
maybe?
work at the nature center and be in austin till the end of august. bike till the end of september. go back to austin until thanksgiving... go home from thanksgiving to christmas and visit everyone in new england... go to the dominican over dana's winter break... then see what happens? woofing? austin? missoula? grad school?
Thursday, June 3, 2010
takin in the sights in good ol MA
back home in westborough for a couple of days, still awake at 3am for the first time in probably years because im a partying maniac like that.
traveling to a different place always gives you a different perspective on things. even if you're just traveling back and forth between what feels like your two homes. and memory is so fickle. every time you revisit an old memory your brain reconsolidates and warps the information. so where does that leave you?
lord my body
has been a good friend
but i won't need it
when i reach the end
even though i don't really have anything to say in this post, it feels good to at least be recording something.
i want to learn how to tune and fix up Genie's piano. i want to talk to erik and maybe even somehow play something with him sometime. i want to start writing down more of the music in my head.
in terms of the further ahead future, id like to go back to the outdoor school. go on bike tours in the us and in other countries. teach at the taktse school in the himalayas. go to grad school to study music therapy for people with autism. add some music therapy to the wrfi curriculum?
in terms of the nearer to now future, long bike rides every weekend. a long fast to prove to myself i can do it.
what id like most of all is to keep focusing on listening more!!! if the best listening effort you give is to your own thoughts, you're just missing out. keepin the tunnel vision operating in full force. there are way more interesting thoughts floating around amongst your friends and acquaintances, than merely your own.
in westborough i love how funny everything is, how goofy everyone is.
in texas i love how unique everyone is, how many things i still want to do there, how i feel like things are maybe only just beginning, despite the fact that it's been about 4 months.
i like to think about the ways i relate to a person im close to that are completely unique to that one relationship. i like to rely on intuition as much as possible, and seem to relate best to other people who do the same.
i miss playing music for the refugees at school. these are some thoughts from a month ago...
traveling to a different place always gives you a different perspective on things. even if you're just traveling back and forth between what feels like your two homes. and memory is so fickle. every time you revisit an old memory your brain reconsolidates and warps the information. so where does that leave you?
lord my body
has been a good friend
but i won't need it
when i reach the end
even though i don't really have anything to say in this post, it feels good to at least be recording something.
i want to learn how to tune and fix up Genie's piano. i want to talk to erik and maybe even somehow play something with him sometime. i want to start writing down more of the music in my head.
in terms of the further ahead future, id like to go back to the outdoor school. go on bike tours in the us and in other countries. teach at the taktse school in the himalayas. go to grad school to study music therapy for people with autism. add some music therapy to the wrfi curriculum?
in terms of the nearer to now future, long bike rides every weekend. a long fast to prove to myself i can do it.
what id like most of all is to keep focusing on listening more!!! if the best listening effort you give is to your own thoughts, you're just missing out. keepin the tunnel vision operating in full force. there are way more interesting thoughts floating around amongst your friends and acquaintances, than merely your own.
in westborough i love how funny everything is, how goofy everyone is.
in texas i love how unique everyone is, how many things i still want to do there, how i feel like things are maybe only just beginning, despite the fact that it's been about 4 months.
i like to think about the ways i relate to a person im close to that are completely unique to that one relationship. i like to rely on intuition as much as possible, and seem to relate best to other people who do the same.
i miss playing music for the refugees at school. these are some thoughts from a month ago...
Song for the Refugees
Where are they, which I am seeking most of all
The pair of eyes that will hold my gaze
Warmly, slowly, breaking into a smile
I would not feel like such a stranger here
If I could only find this.
I can feel the flame within my own pair of eyes
Growing dimmer, growing quiet
I want to fight the waning light
But I don't know for how much longer.
Look at me, we are the same
We need each other
More than you or I understand.
So stay with me a minute
Hold my gaze
Learn my face
When we meet on the street again
Do not judge me by my race.
Look past your watch, your answering machine
Understand what I have seen
Do not hide behind that facade
I need you now, I need you now.
And Response
Look into my eyes
I will hold your gaze and share
Your fear, your pain
Let me help you with your load
Mine is none so great to bear
I marvel at the fire you have left
Hold fast to it, let's make it grow again
All things heal with time
Your fire will not die
Though with words we cannot share
There is something much deeper here
Today we understand each other
I do not see your race, I see You, my brother
Thursday, April 1, 2010
wear your helmet!
says the person who cared the least about helmet wearing two weeks ago! a $3 child's helmet with flames on it from the thrift store is the reason i'm not a vegetable, along with the solid advice of our friend Maya! WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! umm... more on this later!
Monday, March 8, 2010
austin
Watching the movie Memento last night was the final thing to convince me to start recording my thoughts again. Memory surely does get distorted and fragmented over time, and it's nice to have some living proof of the past instead of just some vague ideas. Since my typing speed is more on par with my thinking speed than my handwriting speed is, I'm going to use this blog as my warehouse of ideas. Although I plan to live in Austin for at least several more months, through the end of the summer, I do still kind of feel like I'm out on the open road, takin in the sights in the US of A.
Coming to Austin has been a new breath of fresh air. Everything seems full of life and warmth. The wildflowers are already starting to bloom and our seeds are already starting to sprout. We are learning new things every day, like how to make your own yogurt or ginger brew, sprout sprouts, eat beautiful vegetables for free, and think outside the box as often as possible. I have been talking with my coworker, Sherri, about how we feel like we are living in a dream state a lot of the time. If you stay calm and centered and look at everything as an adventure waiting to happen, life can easily slip into a sort of fantasy world that feels like a waking dream. So while I have been having a lot of trouble remembering my sleeping dreams, I still feel like a lucid dreamer a lot of the time, in my everyday life. Although I am awake I can ask myself the same question that a lucid dreamer might: "I am in control of my own dream right now; what is it that I want to do?" Although my possible answers are definitely more limited, it is such a cool way to approach every day.
What I want to do with my life is simply to keep it as adventurous and free spirited as I possibly can. To completely eliminate the ideas of stress and anxiety and fear. To act upon motives that are as pure and good intentioned as possible. I'm going to farm in South America, bike to Moab with Maya, instruct a WRFI course, release an album with Andrea, work at the hospital in Haiti, write a Requiem, write a soundtrack, become a Reiki practitioner and a massage therapist, study hypnotism and Daoism, research music and the mind in graduate school, run Leadville and Western States, bike across the country from farm to farm with Anna, go on a 10 day Vipassanna retreat. Or maybe I won't. The point is that I could do any of those things if I choose to. Your mind in the present, your memories of the past, your conception of what the future will be, that is all that reality is. Life is a waking dream. Reality is your illusions. So make them good ones knowing the power is all yours.
It is only too easy to stay inspired when you are constantly seeing the good in everything around you.
Coming to Austin has been a new breath of fresh air. Everything seems full of life and warmth. The wildflowers are already starting to bloom and our seeds are already starting to sprout. We are learning new things every day, like how to make your own yogurt or ginger brew, sprout sprouts, eat beautiful vegetables for free, and think outside the box as often as possible. I have been talking with my coworker, Sherri, about how we feel like we are living in a dream state a lot of the time. If you stay calm and centered and look at everything as an adventure waiting to happen, life can easily slip into a sort of fantasy world that feels like a waking dream. So while I have been having a lot of trouble remembering my sleeping dreams, I still feel like a lucid dreamer a lot of the time, in my everyday life. Although I am awake I can ask myself the same question that a lucid dreamer might: "I am in control of my own dream right now; what is it that I want to do?" Although my possible answers are definitely more limited, it is such a cool way to approach every day.
What I want to do with my life is simply to keep it as adventurous and free spirited as I possibly can. To completely eliminate the ideas of stress and anxiety and fear. To act upon motives that are as pure and good intentioned as possible. I'm going to farm in South America, bike to Moab with Maya, instruct a WRFI course, release an album with Andrea, work at the hospital in Haiti, write a Requiem, write a soundtrack, become a Reiki practitioner and a massage therapist, study hypnotism and Daoism, research music and the mind in graduate school, run Leadville and Western States, bike across the country from farm to farm with Anna, go on a 10 day Vipassanna retreat. Or maybe I won't. The point is that I could do any of those things if I choose to. Your mind in the present, your memories of the past, your conception of what the future will be, that is all that reality is. Life is a waking dream. Reality is your illusions. So make them good ones knowing the power is all yours.
It is only too easy to stay inspired when you are constantly seeing the good in everything around you.
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