Hello there and Happy Saturday all!
We have come to realize by fielding the same question from family and friends over and over, that we haven't been the best at keeping you updated about the in's and outs of what we have been doing for the past month. Whoops.
So this is Eden (Moss) here with a quick rundown of all the amazing places, people and things we have been seeing and doing. Hopefully you can take a moment to explore some of the links in this blog; we would love you to spread your love to the folks and projects that we have learned about since being on the road.
First of all, we met some amazing people while staying at the Laguna street house in San Francisco or shall we call it, the Honey Glazed Hayes House.
Be Scofield (pictured with us above) founded the website, www.godblessthewholeworld.org. Not only is the url fantastic, but the abundance of amazing knowledge behind the link is mind blowing. As some one who is all about finding education outside of the university system, it makes my heart sing to see lectures that have been liberated from the confines of monetary value and put up for all to listen and discuss. If you are looking for some inspiration then certainly take a moment to explore the vast world of wisdom on this site. Thank you Be for gathering all of the information for us! You should see the bookshelf in this kid's room; a dream come true for lazy cyclists on a rainy S.F. day.
Be and his business partner, Rakh Gibran have started up a weekly event they like to call Metta Dance, it happens every Monday and if you are reading this now (2/12/11) and are in the bay area, you have no excuse not to go to their Valentines Day event. Metta Dance features amazing soundscapes, free tea service from Om Shan Tea, reiki/massage, conscious cuddle circles, vegan snacks and more!
Also at the HGH house we met Kacie Loparto, our hostess who has started her own company, She Sells Seaweed. Her company is based around the practice of wild foraging for sea veggies, some of the greatest (and most delicious) super foods there are. Now, if you haven't tried the seaweed thing yet, and are thinking that it sounds a little weird, thats okay, but I will remind you of what Kevin always reminded me, life begins at the edge of your comfort zone. That being said I will admit that I was once a skeptic of eating seaweed, but it is one of my favorite treats now; especially in dishes prepared by Kacie herself (amazing chef!). If any of you are in the S.F. area and can help Kacie to build a bike trailer that could house drying seaweed, I'm sure that she would love you for life and possibly make you some of her vegan toffee (so delicious!).
And the good food doesn't stop there. Graham Ryan is also a part of the Laguna family, and he is the founder of Synchro Nutritionals. If I could eat like this kid does every day, I would probably be a super hero by now. Not to mention that Graham was a HUGE help in getting my bike together, with just a days notice and his bike expertise I had my lovely Trek up and ready to go. Thanks again Graham!
So, after San Francisco we (Anda, Charlie, Eden, and John) headed south to check out the San Mateo Eco Village. This was a really cool site, a suburban apartment complex turned super green with a clutch of chickens, an amazing garden scape along a riverbed, and beautiful people. It was certainly an excellent first destination. This is also where Alpha Lo met up with us to join the tour within 24 hours of meeting John and I in Fairfax Ca at his gift circle event. Just ever more proof that if you want to join us, you can!
We spent a rainy day and afternoon at the eco-village, then we rode a very damp 16 miles to the Synergy Co-op at Stanford University, where we met up with Thomas and Maria and spent the evening playing music, dancing, and making a bunch of 'fun' cards.
From Stanford we took off towards the coast for an epic day of riding. It was Alpha and Maria's second day of bike touring, my third, and ohmygoodness we rode over the biggest hill I've ever seen in my life! It took us about an hour and a half to two hours to summit about 1000 feet worth of elevation gain. Whew! At this point of the ride I was so grateful that I had spent a lot of time practicing at Yoga to the People in San Francisco. I was able to face the challenge with the power of my breath, thank you YTTP for reminding us all. After the climb we bombed down the hill into the sunshine and enjoyed the serene green landscapes of rolling California hills. Later that day (and after another 800 ft climb) we made it to Pie Ranch which is on the 101 just south of Pescadero, CA.
We arrived just in time, right as the sun was setting, and right after Maria got her first flat of the tour. The next day was the third Saturday of January, and Pie Ranch was hosting its monthly work day and barn dance. Lucky us! Charlie and I woke up early and met up with Jared at the barn to milk the goat. From Jared we learned about the visiting high school program that comes to the ranch once a month, educating kids about food production, farming and homesteading skills. At the ranch, I got to talk a little bit with neighboring farmer, Ned Kelly who has sold his land in favor of spending his time trying to create a better system of land use policies that will keep the area's land out of the hands of developers and subdivisions, while still allowing small farmers to have organic farms with out fear of losing all of their hard work and equity in the process of protection. I will gladly write another blog about the topic of land use rights on another computer day.
We ended our day with the barn dance where we did some Virginia Reel style country dancing (very fun!) and rode south to head into Santa Cruz. There, we found another amazing group of kids to bunker down with, as well as spending some time at SubRosa (we *heart* info shops) and tuning up our bikes before riding out again. Santa Cruz was followed by Monterey where we dropped off John, and spent the night in the retired Sheriff's back yard!
Now you may be asking yourself, What next? What could possibly be south of Monterey? Well, I will tell you! Big Sur! We spent two days riding the turns of the national park area; we were in complete awe at the beauty. I spent a good deal of time pretending that we were riding down the coast of a Hawaiian Island, an easy mistake to make while looking off into the distance of this portion of the coast. We have plenty of mental pictures from this part of the journey, and we wish that John could have been there with us.
Stay tuned for further reports of the CA coast. From San Luis Obispo to Hesperia CA we have had a great deal of adventures that we would love to share with you, but for now this recyclist has to get outside and enjoy some sunshine.
Peace and love,
Eden/Moss
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