Holidays Part 1

     Introduction:
     An apology—it's been weeks since I last updated! Consequently, all the pictures and information are dated from weeks ago.
     I've grown a lot on the road. I've learned a lot too. I still struggle with this and that, but I'm also still trying to improve myself. Though I guess I can't say I'm "on The Road" at the moment. As of December 8th, I was firmly hunkered down in Carbondale Illinois.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WLQkXecgnw
A quote, for all you Dr. Who fans:
"I'm not running away. But this is one corner in one country in one continent in one planet that's a corner of a galaxy that is a corner of a universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond. And there is so much, SO MUCH, to see. Because it goes so fast. I'm not running away from things. I'm running to them before they flare and fade forever. That's all right. Our lives would never remain the same. They can't. One day, soon maybe, you'll stop. I've known for a while."

     Pictures:

How'd this nice boot get here?

Carbondale has an active bar scene

Mostly students from the local college

I just went in for the music

Fading Signs

They got him ),:

After an uncomfortable night on the street

I found this place called The Yoga House!

I spent the last of my savings on this little room in the basement
Compared to the cold nights in my tent I'd been experiencing
This warm little room is more than I needed

And after I spread my stuff out

I picked this tapesty up from a brotha' in Tennessee
Helps me Zen

Got this tapestry from the Amish
Helps me Be

I wrote this out and put it up on my wall too
Helps me Focus

We all need positive affirmations to keep us on The Path
Helps me Do
What do you do to motivate yourself?

I even got my own shower!

This place might be haunted...
I even caught a picture of a ghost!

Only so much room in my pockets

I found this cool Barotone Ukelele in the basement!
I started practicing on it

I made lots of friends in Carbondale
Here is Rowen Oak!

I kinda took over the basement and made it a cool hang out spot

This was a pretty sweet set up for a bit

Welcome!

Carbondale has a couple different faces
Well, every city does

I hear Lightning comes from The Ground
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ou3oFGhlNQ

Close Ride

Ride Close

Everybodies gotta wait on the Train

I busked at a parade for the first time
I made $20!

People from the whole district came to this huge family friendly celebration

A Parade is also a display of Power
But let's not ruin the mood!

Who wants to come be free with me?

Thanks for the hospitality Carbondale!

     City Chalk Project:
     I'm just getting started on this. The intention is to spread positive energy throughout the community—especially around where people are interacting with each other, or just where many people will see it.

My new roomie noticed this before we met!

It's a good idea

Some more than others I suppose

Leave a comment for what you'd write for #3!

I write this weeks later
When my direction has been decided
But at the time of these pictures I was struggling with the decision to either push onward
Despite the cold and the lonliness
Live in Carbondale a while
Despite my friends and family back home
Or return to CT
Despite my dreams of travel and adventure

I believe I made the right decision

Make Your World

     Introduction:
     Sorry I missed an update. I've been so busy in The Real World I have not been able to get on the internet at all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI62hSFBxZ8

     The pain in my knee gets pretty bad after just about ten to twenty miles or so.

The cold nights are...

cold.

Honestly I was in pretty bad shape when I came into Carbondale.

So I decided to stick around for a bit!
It's fun getting stuck!

Actually, I've been wanting to stop in some new town along the way for an extended stay for a bit—it's hard to build a lasting and trusting friendship with someone in passing.

There's more than just the miles ahead of me, between here and The Coast.

Just like there's more than just miles behind me, between here, and home.
There are people in those places.
It is the people I meet that define my experience of these places.

Living and traveling on my bicycle is a truly fantastic experience.

I do have my struggles—discomfort and hardship and pain and loneliness, mainly.

However, I am certainly experiencing adventure, and feel more free than I have ever felt.
But how much longer can I continue traveling like this?

How much longer can I continue to choose me in this life?
Or is my journey simply enough?
Is this my place in the world now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGdff0M8gn0
A vagabond on a bicycle.

From The Tao of Pooh:

“How can you get very far,
If you don't know who you are?
How can you do what you ought,
If you don't know what you've got?
And if you don't know which to do
Of all the things in front of you,
Then what you'll have when you are through
Is just a mess without a clue
Of all the best that can come true
If you know What and Which and Who.”

~ Winnie the Pooh

     Poetry:

     "The Most Beautiful Shooting Star I've Ever Seen"

     Police stop shooting people
and our leaders stop lying and stealing
and lawyers stop selling their clients out
and we all come together
and we all help each other
and we all start caring about our country

     Scientists figure out how to reverse the Ice Caps melting
and The Ocean's don't rise
and the storms and droughts don't get worse
and winter comes, and goes
and we stop poisoning the water
and we all start caring about our Planet

     The wars all stop
and the genocides stop
and people stop killing each other
and stop hurting each other
and stop using each other
and we all start caring about our race

     No one will go hungry anymore
and the poor won't have to sell their names anymore
and women won't have to sell their bodies anymore
and parents won't have to sell their kids anymore
and no one will have to sell their dreams anymore
and we all stop just caring about our selves
    

Justin case you missed it from last week.

     Pictures:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITOsplsa72Y

First stop in Carbondale
The Gaia House

 I was told of this place the night I arrived here
But it was closed then

I definitely feel called here
I made sure to return to check it out

 I bumped into a couple walking outside and led them in
Just seeing this place is good for you!

 That this exists gives me Hope
They have Yoga and Poetry nights too!

 They have a really nice space
Unfortunately they have to pay a high monetary amount monthly
In order to keep the space going.
They used to do community feeding events
But local government became rigid in their policy enforcing
and shut down their efforts.
People need protection from being fed I guess.

Which game should I play?

 This city is cut in half by train tracks
The trains roll through several times a day
Blaring the horn
Interrupting everything

Time to go

 Current outfits:
Artist
Tumbleweed
Incognito
Cyclist/Traveler

I can mix and match for different skills!

 Cool Bike Club

I am so thankful
For all of you
I am so very very thankful

This computer I'm on can't rotate pictures -_-

There's a place here in Carbondale where people are doing things
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8nh2QSLX6g
People are coming together and working to improve their community!
Here's their website if you're interested
http://flyoverinfoshop.org/

Anyone is welcome to attend and get involved.
People host different events and organize different groups

The groups then have this safe and comfortable space to meet in and coordinate

There's a library with thought provoking books too

The interesting thing about an open space is that it is going to be different every day depending on who walks through the door

Some local restaurants donate their leftover food here sometimes rather than throwing it away
Along with other food donations

this allows this space to provide that need as well

You Are What You Eat
So eat healthy!

Even though some people do just come for the food and warmth
It is a work space

While "Anarchy" is a loaded word that I think many people might be averse to
The people here are most definitely working on good projects

You gotta tilt your head to see it

Having this Free and Open space within the city
That supplies peoples' needs
And brings them together
Is precisely what every city needs more of

Another front of the city
This one has a different objective than the others

How can we best bring people together?

Food and entertainment

Events are usually a good idea

Gotta get people up and active!
We all need to Learn and Grow
If we're not thinking
we're done for

So many choices

That feeling when you see the choice you wanna make
and you just know

Traveling on my bicycle
I learn the most from the people I meet
But I have no control over who I meet
Just where I go
I think about who I'm becoming a lot

Carbondale is definitely something special
But it's also just a normal little college town
Right on the line of Southern and Northern Illinois

There isn't too much nature kept 'round the downtown

Bars are the preferred hang out spots here

There's restaurants too though
College towns are cool like that

The parks are either empty
Or inhabited by the local shelter denizens
College students tend to stay on their campus
Or in the bars

Or in their cars
Connecticut doesn't have drive-through Liquor stores
So these are still weird to me

Noon on Saturday

Carbondale is in proximity of a few different cultures
The conflux here is pretty interesting

This is a good statue
We need more guys like this dude

Basement House shows are the coolest

Music is powerful because people listenhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LMaqRmBo1s

It's easier to listen
than to read the signs
Though I'm not sure if everyone actually hears

Sorry for the profanity

but it's important that people are free to spread the ideas they want to spread
That's true democracy
The right ideas will stick
The wrong ones will slide away

That's the theory anyways
Maybe we'll all just drink up and not think about it
And wait for the World to end

Cheers!

Don't forget to eat up too
That's my problem haha!

"Out Of Ink"

I'm glad some people are putting ink to good use!

This is one of the projects at Flyover
The Community Garden!

Come Spring they plan to have lots of healthy food to give to the community
Imagine a world where there was healthy food growing all over the place
And people just gave it to each other
And maybe there was a place that gathered the abundance
And redistributed it without judgement

I'm not looking for paradise
Just a place where I feel like I belong
Where I can work towards that ideal

Currently working on being Chill like Pooh

Or not!
Let's dig dirt!!

I got a new outfit!
Activist Mode. Go!

Carbondale is a cool city
I like it a lot! That's why I'm going to chill out here a bit!
I hope to contribute positively to the community during my time here
That's what I feel we should all be doing
I'm not a huge advocate for Anarchy per-se
But I believe our entire footprint could be reduced if we worried less about making money and helping ourselves
And worried more about helping our neighbors and making our local communities sustainable
that means self-sufficient wherever possible!

What we need is balance.
And no I don't know how we'll get there
Or if we'll get there in time
But I'm at least trying to live my life in a way that I believe is sustainable
And I believe others can too

A wise man I met along my journey told me,
"I can only fix The World as far as my arms can reach."