July 16 Trip Update

I have been wanting to post this little guy's picture for sometime.  A small frog with a big voice that cannot be ignored especially when in concert of his friends.

I am almost 900 miles out of LA with another 2000 or so to DC. I have 3 more stops in New Mexico with some long rides totaling 200 miles. As of this evening there have been nearly 2,600 page views of this blog. 

I learned today from a Facebook post from the Union of Concerned Scientists that today marks the beginning of the nuclear age. the first atomic bomb was tested/exploded and within three weeks two were dropped on Japan. Peace activists all over the world will mark August 6 and August 9. The test of Trinity, the plutonium bomb exploded 70 years ago, happened in White Plains New Mexico just south of Albuquerque. 

A Big Shoutout to the St Mary’s College of CA Class of 1970

Here's my new posse that sent me on my way this Memorial Day

We are celebrating having survived these 45 years and I am thinking of you from Albuquerque NM. I am traveling across the country in a pilgrimage in an attempt to deepen my understanding as to why in this 21st Century we still engage in warfare. I am bicycling to spread the word to those who believe that climate change is truly a threat to our civilization then we need to be engaged in the effort to promote public policies that lead to peaceful relationships with other nations as opposed to those that, in attempts to secure greater concentrations of wealth, lead towards conflict. 

The Pope and the World Council of Churches have recently brought attention to climate change and inequality. Today just one hundred individuals have as much wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion people. Inequality is not just an economic issue. Vast wealth has captured our democracy and democratic institutions across the globe. The devastations of climate change if not addressed will surely lead to the destruction of modern civilization. 

I believe there are legitimate defensive reasons to fight. But the purposes of offensive warfare seem to have little to do with national interests and much more with the political standing of individual politicians and their financiers. That is the sentiment of Paul Krugman’s August 2014 NYT article “Why We Fight Wars.” 

A roadrunner that stood still long enough to get photo

July 15 25 miles to a big city

Today I am excited that I will be able to have an extended conversation.  I will get to meet Malene, my Facebook friend, in person. We are both planning to go to the Albuquerque Peace and Justice Center. I heard about the ABQ-P&JC while bicycling in Gallup. I came upon the food coop store and went on in. For years I worked/volunteered at various neighborhood food coops in San Francisco. These stores, the Food System as I and others called them collectively, were great community organizing vehicles. They were natural food stores when that term had some meaning, and were volunteer run. I learned working in them that Viet Nam was not the only place on this earth where people needed help from supporters in the US. South Africa, Rhodesia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, the list goes on. 

Time to Ride

July 14 Happy Negotiation Day

The difference in the world today from what the Bush administration was attempting, war with Iran, and what the Obama administration accomplished over the last two years with Iran’s nuclear capability is stunning. 

But I rode 68 miles today, lost in pueblo country without ATT service, so I had no mapping capability. I did make it to within 25 miles of Albuquerque. 

July 13 In Acoma Pueblo-Sky City Casino/Motel

I am staying the night in a casino motel in Pueblo Country, in the Acoma 

tribal community. Today’s ride was long, 57 miles, but with lots of interest. Before I do an even harder ride tomorrow I will post pictures and a story of sorts.

Tomorrow Albuquerque!!!

July 12 Top of the World New Mexico

My photos today were of flora, fauna, and geography so I am dedicating this post to my friends from the Environmental Forum of Marin Master Class 41. There is still time to sign-up for the next class that starts this August, Master Class 42. If you take the class you will learn a lot you don’t already know about how to protect Marin’s environment, you will have support to do a real world project, and you will meet some great friends. 

I am spending the night at the Continental Divide at 7,275 feet above sea level. Top of the World is the name of the motel, nothing fancy, just the basics, but great people and a super internet connection.  

It would be really great to do this cross country bicycle trip with a biologist and geologist. I was not able to get a picture of a prairie dog, such a cute cross between a gopher and a squirrel. They are everywhere, digging up all unpaved landscaping.

Two days to Albuquerque!!!

July 12 Ulysses S Grant by Himself and Continental Divide, NM

Missing family and friends that sent me off nearly 2 months ago, I am 3 days from Albuquerque.

Today I am off to the Top of the World Motel on Route 66 in Continental Divide, NM.

It was raining so hard this day that the camera barley worked.

I met this fellow, Curt Fields, at the Petrified Forest National Park. It was on my ride from Holbrook to Chambers, pouring rain the whole day.  We had a short conversation in the parking lot about bicycling and one thing led to another. I told him of my mission and he of his, here is his website < www. generalgrantbyhimself(dot)com >. You can fix the link. Oddly enough, I have met two folks who are really into Grant since I started riding the bike. The first was in Corte Madera on a training run.