Halloween

Darling and I are back in Michigan just outside Detroit and staying with our friends at the peace institute again. I learned many a lesson this past weekend, during which we celebrated the Holy Week of St. Francis of Assisi. My intention was to volunteer and assist the community, but I was more a participant than anything else. In fact, I fear I was largely seen as being in the way by more established volunteers.

When I was with the Bicycle Superheroes, our near-constant mobility was often cause for disatisfaction. A day or two in a new town gives one barely the time to weed a yard, paint a float, or straighten up after a soup kitchen. You come, show some love, and hit the road before the dust settles. Day after day, the sense of loss begins to wear on you. Blooming friendships are nipped in the bud, paint jobs left to dry, garden's half-harvested, and you never see the finished project, if ever there is. It begins to feel almost counter-productive, you know?

That's why the primary goal of the bicycle superhero is to celebrate the real-life, full-time superhero. The woman who shows up at the old folks home every Sunday, the food bank managers, the guy who turns the compost after we build and leave the bin. Doing that work full time is consuming, often exhausting, and often heartbreaking. The bicycle heroes ride into town in the hopes of alleviating that struggle, to bring joy and celebration. If only for one day.

I don't know why I'm thinking about that right now exactly, besides the fact that it's October 28th and we're still in Michigan. My air mattress is busted. Our gear isn't suited for plummeting temperatures. Hell, I don't even own a jacket (though I purchased a second long-sleeve shirt for $1.5). Darling isn't even fit to ride on his bike with his ribs still hurting like they are. A powerful wind is blowing outside. Every other bicycle superhero went home months ago. Darling and I ought to have continued on our way. But Detroit holds us in sway, practically hypnotized. One more week, a few more days, one more event...

We'll be camping on the west side of Detroit for Halloween Even and Halloween itself for an event I can't believe actually exists: apparently crime levels on these days is so high that police as for communities to keep their own peace. The heroes I roll with do not support any degree of vigilantism, but we have friends who live in neighborhoods that the cops don't access. So we'll host a small festival event, enjoy some bonfires, and generally maintain a presence. Nothing to write home about, but one last hurrah, perhaps, before we finally ship the bikes back to Texas and buy some megabus tickets east.

Effed in Effingham

After two weeks roughing it in Northwest Missouri and another week providing twenty hours of free babysitting in St. Louis, MO, our small crew of was happy to head "home" to Michigan last Wednesday afternoon. We were about two hours on our way, in the ironically named "Effingham" Illionois, when a semi ran us and the car in front of us off the road at roughly 70 miles per hour.

The big truck simply decided, with no warning, to change lanes. The drivers of both the smaller cars slammed on the breaks and swerved left, leaving the trucker to go on abou his merry way as our car rammed into the one in front of us, totalling both. Thankfully everyone was wearing seatbelts, as our criss-crossed bruises attest, and no one was terribly hurt. Moon, the driver, owner of the car, and only one of our troupe that had access to any money or insurance at the time, went to the hospital for x-rays, accompanied by T. Darling and I were dropped off by the tow truck driver to the bus station.

The bus station closed about two minutes before we arrived. Fortunately it was located in a 24-hour truckstop and McDonalds, so Darling and I purchased a couple of large cups of coffee. Including one free re-fill each, $2.13 basically purchased 64 ounces of caffeine. Having not spent any money whatseove in about four weeks, it was an interesting way to break our spending fast.

Things would only get mor interesting. We were stranded with more luggage than our group could reasonably carry in the middle of absolute no where. Not only did we miss a chance to purchase bus tickets, but we were told there were no buses running the next day, AND the aforementioned luggage would be a fortune to ship along with us. When Moon and T returned from the hospital, T and I made the half mile hike in the rain to a nearby campus with computer access. From there our luck improved a little. There was a car rental company in town, which would be significantly cheaper than a bus, and a man who gave us a ride back to the truckstop suggested we call on the catholic church for help.

The catholic church totally came through and provided us with a voucher for a room at the econolodge that night. It was one of the most comfortable nights we'd enjoyed in weeks! I woke up at 7:30 the next morning to drink more coffee, eat breakfast, and discover that the car rental place absolutely would not do business with us.

It was my third time trying to rent a car without a credit card, and as wildly unsuccessful as the first two. When we finally convinced Enterprise to maybe think about renting us a car, they would only allow a two-way trip. So even if we could drive all the way to Detroit, someone would have to come back to bloody Effingham. We called cab companies and even a variety of other local companies that might be willing to drive us to Chicago, where we could rent a car with the help of friends. No one would make the trip for less than $500! Someone offered to purchase us train tickets, but Amtrak wouldn't accept about a third of our luggage, most of which was the basis of Moon's non-profit camp.

Finally a superhero friend of ours in St. Louis borrowed a car and made the eight hour trip to get us most of the way to Chicago, another friend picked us up from there to get us the rest of the way to Chicago, and we were able to rent a car from there. I drove from midnigh to six a.m. to get us to Moon's parets' house in time for breakfast. All told, it took us from noon on Wednesday to 6:00 a.m. Friday to make the trip from St. Louis to Detroit. Moon's car is completely totalled and his insurance apparently useless.

Feeling guilty and incredibly anxious about the entire situation, I called in our dodge fund. I was able to give some money to Moon to help cover the cost gas and the rental, but obviously can't begin to compensate his total loss. Especially since this money is basically it. We promised to use the fund to get home, and we're only about a third of a way through our trip!

Still, can't really complain. I'm much too distracted by relief at being alive!

Since Last I Wrote...

...Darling and I went back to the monastic home of our friend, LM, where we spent several days relaxing and taking hot showers before heading south to Missouri.

Since so recently traveling by bike and pitching a tent somewhere new three nights out of every week, it was downright luxurious to pitch a tent and leave it be. It was also fantastic to have three meals a day prepared by a volunteer cook manning a rocket stove and trio of solar ovens. Even having a bucket shower and outhouse reliably nearby was rather fantastic. All Darling and I had to do for fourteen days was learn. And there was a LOT to absorb. Permaculture is big. Very, very big. There is nothing simple about dirt, or trees, or water, or contour. Add the fact that Darling and I were studying at the Peace and Permaculture Institute, and so spent quite a bit of time on non-violent communication and other such lectures, and I was basically fried by day seven.

There is much more to say, infinitely more, but suffice to say that Darling and I now have our permaculture design certificates and are now in St. Louis, MO. Here we are staying at The Collective Arts and Movement Project, a collective living and community center where we are providing a workshop for the Superhero Training Academy. After two weeks living true to the midwest bioregion, we are back to dumpster diving for food. And the dumpster hath provided mightily. The first night, my friend and traveling companion, T, couldn't begin to bring home the bounty. TWO trash bags full of bananas, countless loaves of bread, boxes of cereal, blocks and bags of cheese, tomatoes, and 6 1/2 dozen eggs. Most of it was organic.

Someday...Someday soon, perhaps, I will have regular access to the computer and will give a much more detailed update of our journey. In the meantime, I hope everyone is doing well. Don't for a moment think I've forgotten you!