The end of July

A year ago I was living in Costa Rica. I've been traveling, or bumming around, for over a year. A YEAR! Here's a brief run-down for those who haven't been on the band wagon:
One and a half months working on an organic coffee farm in Rivas, Costa Rica
A week or so working at a hostel in the rural highlands of Chirripo National Park (one of the last buildings before the wild)
Seven months (off and on) at an intentional community in rural Missouri (meeting people who I will forever consider family)
Months/weeks here and there visiting Delaware and igniting travel bugs and dreams when I could
Went to five festivals without paying a dime after working/volunteering them (Langerado in FL, Summer Camp in IL, Wakarusa in KS, Bonnaroo in TN and All Good in WV)
Worked an a sheep farm in Lawrence, KS for two weeks
Spent two weeks with one of my best friends in Columbus, OH
Had numerous Greyhound/Craigslist ride share adventures
Met so many people that have to buy handfuls of post cards

The biggest thing is that I've gotten used to being alone and taking care of myself again. My health is much better than it was when I worked 40+ hours a week and was living the stress-filled American dream. I used to get sick every month, like clock work. I felt over-whelmed, closed in and sort of like a trapped rat. Now I am so much happier, healthier and fulfilled. Even if I was to go back to a typical job tomorrow my outlook would be totally different. I know what life is about. It's about enjoying it to the fullest. Our world is full of sadness and destruction right now, why not change it starting with yourself. Realize that all those pills your doctor throws at you aren't the answer. GO OUTSIDE and away from cars! Sit down under a tree and breath. Take off your shoes and feel the dirt. And no, you won't get a disease (well, maybe, here in Delaware). Breath, relax, listen to the birds, feel the wind shift, feel the connection of your body to the earth and breath. Our current society is running at a break neck pace...which mains sooner or later you are going to break your neck. Many of the illnesses and disorders that plague our society weren't even a issue until this last century. In this same time we've gone from horses to cars as transport, from hand written letters to email, from cherishing family to isolation via television. Why not give slowing down a chance instead of popping happy pills? But you need money to pay the bills right? Gas is too high to ask for an hour cut? I'm not saying you need to quit your job and be a vagabond. Take a sick day when you feel a little down. Ask yourself 'What do I really have to do today?' Take the long way home. Hand write a letter to a close friend instead of emailing - so it will take a few days longer, but I guarantee they'll love it. Enjoy life and don't fret. Life has its ups and downs, lefts and rights, u-turns and roundabouts. Just breath while you do go through with it.

I guess I am a hippie.

Delaware & Ohio

My time in Delaware was cut in half because I found a Craigslist rideshare to Columbus a week earlier than planned. The woman I rode with was very nice and good conversation was had when I wasn't passed out in the passenger seat. She had a sweet ride, an old 5-speed Saab. She dropped me off at my friend's work in the Short North (south of OSU campus in Columbus). The past week has been a lot of fun. I've been relaxing a lot, borrowed someone's bike, had dinner with WWM and Jenny, drank with my friend's parents, went bar hopping, went to ComFest (hippie type festival Cbus does every year), fell in love with a thrift store that had many things in my size, and many more things I can't recall. I've been trying to get a ride to Nelson Ledges to no avail. My CL ride that I had arranged last week canceled and I haven't had any luck since. Oh well. I'm heading to All Good Festival in WV next weekend. Volunteering with Clean Vibes again, always a great experience. Probably ride back to Delaware with one of the friends I have going. Stay there for a week or two and hang out. Then probably up to Camp Bisco in NY and Gathering of the Vibes in CT. Then to Hawaii. I have a farm stay arranged on the Big Island starting on Aug 30th.

My new tattoo

Kansas, Tennesse & Delaware

I stayed in Lawrence, Kansas for two more weeks since my last entry. Most of the time was spent working on the farm. I helped plant over 60 tomatoes and did the prep work for a half dozen more rows. The owner was trying different techniques on mulching around the seedlings to see if the crop could be planted earlier, produce later or produce better. Some of the rows were previously tall grasses so we mowed the rows and put down a line of damp, poop hay that had been used in the sheep pens. We raked the tall grasses back over top to provide a cover. I'd love to go back and taste the fruits of my labor. Also, I went to Wakarusa on the other side of Lawrence. My farm's owner dropped me off and I asked at the volunteer check in if they had any openings. Next thing I know I have a shiny blue wristband attached to me. I had to work two-8 hour shifts on Sat and Sun - but the shifts were just as fun as enjoying the festival. Two of the nights were canceled because of strong thunderstorms (it was Kansas - tornadoes are common - with lots, lots, lots of lightening). Two of my EW family were there and I had a blast spending time with them. Lots of skinny dipping and slight craziness! I hitched out of the festival to get back to the farm as the rain died out Sunday. Enjoyed a hot shower and nursed my wounds from walking barefoot.

Storm rolling in at Wakarusa


Sheep at the WWOOF farm


A few days after the festival I caught a Greyhound to Manchester, TN for Bonnaroo. About 4 other people were on the bus with me the whole way - good festi family. The finally bus to Manchester was nearly full and half was for 'Roo. Three of the guys rented a car and I caught a ride into the grounds with them. A note for those who Greyhound into 'Roo in the coming years. The owners of the gas station chase off any cars offering you ride and ask you to take their shuttle in for $5 a head. It's not such a bad deal but the guy was a douche. He said in past years people have offered rides, had the rider throw their shit in back and sped off with it. Personally, I trust my gut. I believe that if a Greyhound rider simply waited for a car that was obviously going to 'Roo and asked if they had a spare spot that it wouldn't take that long to get a ride. Anyway, I camped with my new friends way back in the boonies. I didn't mind though. Quiet at night - I had a nice sleep all nights. Alas, I slept through every late night. Still on farm time you see.

'Roo was 'Roo. Getting way too big, dirty (not just the dust), unfriendly and unfestival-like. So many first timers there! I wanted to take them all with me so they could see other festivals. They'll learn! I guess I am a snob when it comes to certain things; festivals and traveling mostly. It's just because they're my life at the moment.

Shakedown at Bonnaroo 2008


I worked clean up after 'Roo for two days. Met awesome new friends and had a blast working and playing. Clean Vibes is always a great experience. I highly recommend it. One of my fellow volunteers was heading to NYC so I bummed a ride to Delaware. My plan was to head to IN to see a friend but it wasn't in the cards that time. I've been here a few days and I'm hopefully heading out Thursday with a ride share from Craigslist to Columbus. Then to find a ride to Nelson Ledges Quarry for RythmFest. Oh, the joys of the vagabond life.

Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois & Kansas

Way too much time in the mid-west if you ask me! Spent a month back at EW in Missouri. The last week I was there I went on a float trip in Arkansas for 5 days. Canoeing the Buffalo River! So we only made it 10 miles, but we had a hell of a good time! Caught Greyhound to Peoria, IL. Met a kind guy working at the bus station there who offered to take me in for the night & let me tag along to Summer Camp Festival (about 20 mins north) the next day. Hung out with some of his friends and had a lot of fun.

Summer Camp was AMAZING. Such a great festival! Good music, multiple sets for most bands, nice camping, not too many people, kind folks all around. Got to take my photo with one of the guys from Umphreys (I was working right next to the Main stage one day). Good fun. Met so many interesting, fun people. Got a free ticket into one of the late night shows with Ha Ha the Moose, two of the guys' from moe's side project. Amazing set. Watched the Flaming Lips & Umphreys with a 18-year old who was at his first festival! Danced so hard to George Clinton & P Funk that my entire body ached. Stayed up late the last night jumping to Cornmeal (Allie with her sexy fiddle). Spent the night in my tent while they attempted to evacuate the campgrounds because of 70 mph winds and tornado warnings. My small kid's $20 Walmart tent withstood!! Ba-ha! Caught a ride back to the bus station with the guys who gave me the late night pass.

Dancing in the mud at Summer Camp

The Flaming Lips at Summer Camp

OAR at Summer Camp

Passed out (drooling-style pass out) on the whole 12 hour bus ride to Kansas. Was in Iowa for a second but I was out like a light. One of the first bus ride where I didn't talk to a single person. Note: Always make sure it's your stop. I almost got off at the wrong city twice! Yeah, I was passed out.

Got picked up by my WWOOF host right as I arrived in Lawrence, KS. Been on the farm here for four days or so now. One of the house mates is a massage therapist and bought a vendor booth at Wakarusa. She may have an extra ticket to sell me on the cheap. She's out of town so I won't know until next week. The farm is nice. Long hours, harsh heat and sun but varied work and kind folks. Today I harvested green onions, lettuce, spinach and eggs. Washed a huge amount of tubs for market tomorrow. Collected seeds from the invasive weeds in the pastures before they start to spread. Yesterday put up two lengths of fence for the sheep. Learned how to winch, put up h-bars, and secure fencing for a herd of sheep and a llama. I'm working with Luna, one of the border collies, to have her respond better to commands. I got her to bring the sheep to me from the far side of the farm yesterday (with some help from the owner).

I have free roam of everything in the house. After I work some I can take the bike to downtown or what ever. The Kansas River is five blocks over and the storm surge is crazy right now. Downtown Lawrence is really nice. Heady library that I have a temp card to borrow. Biked to Sonic today for food; sometimes I get bored of farm fresh stuff (I am an American). Tomorrow is market but the owner said most weekends are relaxing but I'll probably go collect more of those weed seeds and reinforce one of the fences.

Red lettuce at Kansas farm

Ambroses

Swallow & nest

Dead Indigo Bunting

Langerado & Florida

Once again the value of the internet is proven on my travels. I check Craigslist randomly for rideshare listings depending on where my next destination happens to be. This time I lucked out with a group of 20-somethings heading to Langerado in a school bus from NYC. Nine Jewish people and myself, an atheist, on a 1000+ mile roadtrip. We averaged 55mph the whole way and the bus broke down three times. We left Delaware 2am Wed and by 5pm Fri we had reached Daytona Beach, just in time for Bike Week. Because six of the people practiced shabbat, which is a day of rest from sundown Fri to sundown Sat, the bus wasn't going to make it to the festival until Sunday. I talked the other three non-praticing people into renting a car and driving the rest of the way. All in all, I paid $65 for the whole transportation down to FL. We arrived at the Seminole reserve around 3am and were told we had to wait. The three guys wanted to get discounted tickets so they had to wait for 5am and I had to wait for on the work exchange people to wake up to get my wristband.

We set up camp near some of the guys friends and I wandered off to explore. I spent some time at EW's vendor tent and saw a ton of great performances. Because we didn't arrive until Sat I missed a ton of bands I really wanted to see on Thurs and Fri - but it's alright. I did get to see REM, Phil Lesh, 311, Govt Mule, Ani DiFranco, Keller Williams, Ben Folds, Disco Biscuits, Citizen Cope, Minus the Bear, Ghostland Observatory (which put on a sick light show), Railroad Earth, State Radio, Yard Dogs Road Show, and other bands I wandered for a few songs.

After the festival I started working for Clean Vibes, doing the clean up work of the stage areas and the campgrounds. In the process of this my tent, pack and everything was lost/stolen. The work exchange people told me the wrong place to camp so everything was gone when I went back to check on it. But got my passport and license back from the Seminole police. Meh, I moved on. Two days of picking up trash, groundscoring left and right, and getting nice warm home cooked meals - all for free. CV offered to pay us that wanted to stay longer but I had arranged for two kids from Orlando to take me to the Greyhound station. So we left and ended up skinny dipping in Ft Lauderdale - which was awesome. Since I really had no place to be I tagged along to Orlando and spent the night with Natasha. Had an amazing lunch of vegan beans and spices with rice and then caught a cheap flight back to Philly thanks to my mom. I spent a good chunk of my tax return on replacing my gear and I'm heading back out on the road on 4/21.

Into Fall We go

In retrospect, the past months have been a great time for me to shape who I am and come to terms with what I want from life. But during the past few months it's been a whirlwind of people, places, feelings, thoughts and moments. I can't begin to explain what I've gone though since Chris left. I can't, not at all. I stayed in Delaware for maybe a week and decided that too many memories and ghosts floated in my path there. My friends and family were/are so supportive of me, I cannot ask for more.

I left for an intentional community in Missouri, which is what some people call a hippie commune. Basically, I view it as an alternative to the materialistic world of work that America is known for. It is not a prefect picture of utopia by any means, but it gives a good example. Life without the worry of work, money and possessions is possible. And don't think it's a bunch of ex-Dead Heads getting knotted in the sticks. Internet, running hot water, a huge DVD collection, 1000+ acres of the most diverse woodland in the US, four swimming holes, a family of 50+ people who care deeply about your well being and your interests. And no, I don't have to sell my car, give my money or worship a guru. The only requirements are that I understand the social contract (basically no hurting other people), work 35 hours a week (childcare, cleaning, gardening, cooking, feeding animals, nut butter production, etc), one weekly kitchen chore (dishes), and 2-8 hours of required income quota (working in an area the community profits from). I usually work 4-5 hours a day, hang out the rest of the day with the 20-something crowd, hike/swim/ride bikes, drink a bit and maybe watch movies. Not so much different from the outside world but no one here frets about bills or medical care (after 6 months I get covered here). No need to worry about anything but enjoying life and getting your labor sheets in.

I have no plans as to when I'm leaving yet. I have ideas but I'd rather not share them until I'm certain. I tend to tell everyone my ideas in the past and I usually change them shortly after. So no talk until it is decided. Email or leave a comment if you want any information about the community or my plans. wheresamber@gmail.com

Seattle, WA

Wednesday, August 9th
Ah, the joys of flying alone! My flight left from Philadelphia at 11am. I had a layover in Dallas/Fort Worth for about two hours. When I booked my flight I had planned to meet up with another Tpunk member for the connecting flight. However, he ended up canceling his flight and I spent two hours wandering around the terminals. Dallas' airport is actually one of the nicest I've seen. The layout is simple, four large terminals connected by a monorail type system. This landing in Dallas is actually the roughest I've had, I'm guessing it was the wind factor. Quite a few screams errupted from some of the children on the flight but actually it wasn't that bad. The flight from Dallas to Seattle/Tacoma had a movie playing which made the flight seem faster than it was. Arriving in Seattle it turned out that Anthon's arrival to pick me up and my leaving the terminal to go to the street was timed perfectly. Anthon drove me toward Beth and his apartment telling me about the city and life in general. We waited for Beth to get off work and took nearly an hour trying to decide where to go for dinner. We ended up going to a pizza restaurant that serves thin-crusted specality pizzas. Very good! After dinner we went to the Fremont section of Seattle and saw the infamous "Fremont Troll". Then we stopped at Water Works, a large park and abandoned gas factory and proceeded to roll down the huge hill that overlooks downtown. Of course, I got sick from this roll and spent the rest of the night sleeping and/or vomitting. Great way to start the week!

Fremont Troll

Thursday, August 10th
During the night Jamie, a fellow East Coast Tpunk, arrived. Jeanie, one of the local Tpunks, picked us up after we had breakfast (both Anthon and Beth had to work) and showed us around downtown. First stop was Pike's Place Market (famous for the throwing fish), next we drove around Capitol Hill district (known to be the 'gay' community), finally we ended up at Seattle Center which is where the Space Needle is located. After wandering around Seattle Center for about an hour we decided food was needed to survive the rest of the tour. We headed up towards the Puget Sound area and ended up eating a a burger shack near the harbor. Jeanie dropped us off at Anthon/Beth's for her to make her henna business: http://www.paintedlotus.com. Jen arrived from the Mid-west and the group went to dinner at a Thai restaurant in Wallingsford. Two bottles of wine later the group ended up at a local Irish pub with three more Tpunks in tow. All together: Anthon, Beth, Jeanie, Will (Tacoma Tpunk and 'bus driver'), Jamie, Mike (Jen's partner in crime and my Tpunk dad), Jen, Tony (Tpunk founder), Carmen (Tony's partner in crime) and myself. The group moved onto the Sea Dragon (a jazz bar down the street) where we proceeded to have rounds of brews, shots and Irish car bombs. No night is complete without a fast food stop. Complete with Anthon running down the street at 1:59 to ask the place to stay open for the group to get there. Luckily they had plenty of free leftovers!

Friday, August 11th
My car load to Cascades National Park left a little later than the other cars in our group. We stopped at a popular BBQ joint in N. Seattle and then headed up into Northern Washington. The drive was beautiful! Surrounded by 'hills' according to Jeanie but I thought they looked more like mountains. Actually they were the foothills of the Cascades. We arrived at our campsite and set up camp. I believe that we spent most of the day and evening hanging around camp working on the keg of Mac & Jack.

Saturday, August 12th
We woke up early and went for a drive to all the overlooks and scenic areas in the park. First we stopped at a small path that lead to a cliff overlooking part of the river. Next to the parking lot was a bridge that went over a deep stream of glacier runoff. Needless to say walking out on the bridge was a little wobbly. We then stopped at a overlook of Diablo Lake, from which you can see numerous glaciers (6-8, I can't remember). Onward to the overlook of the Liberty Bell. We ended up eating lunch on the lookout which is basically the top of a huge, huge cliff. We then stopped for a short hike through some mossy forest and then onto a small town to pick up booze. The town was actually laid out like a old country western town...complete with roving violin and banjo players as well as a saloon. Back at camp dinner was started and our group had to perform the entertainment. Needless to say a bottle of 16yr old Scotch Whiskey Single Malt Lagavulin helped us. Wow, I still hear about that one. I don't recall too much more of that night. I believe this night was when a meteor shower took place. This involved the whole group gathering on the edge of the river and staring up at the sky, drinking beers.

Over Diablo Lake

Sunday, August 13th
Today we woke up a little later. Breakfast was lazy and we decided to split into groups. Mike, Jen and myself decided to go on a hike. The rest of the group went swimming in the freezing glacier-fed river. The hike was murder for me....all up hill - considering the most hiking I get is level Delaware parks it was tough. Mike kept me going and the views were worth it. However I believe something was incorrect with our guide because two hours into the hike we were way above the lake....which we were supposed to be level at after 3 miles. We ended up turning around and high-tailing it back to camp because the gate is 'supposed' to close at 430pm for the park. However we didn't get there to 5 and there were still many cars parked there. Oh well, still a good time was had by all! Back at camp our group was on clean-up and got to relax for the cooking of dinner. Dinner was fantastic! Foil dinners with potatos, sausage, oinions and so much more! Down by the river a few of us Tpunks were having a heart-to-heart. Back at camp everyone else was drinking and attempting to kill the keg. At some point I looked at Jeanie and said "Wanna get drunk?" I got a "Sure" and 15 minutes later both of us were trashed. Good times that night!

Monday, August 14th
Waking up early we packed up camp and left for Seattle. Brooke, Jeanie and myself took the van and ended up stopping a local burger joint in the middle of nowhere. Awesome! We got back to Seattle and I ended up going to Tacoma with Jeanie to return the van, getting my first view of Mt. Rainier! When we got back we headed to dinner at a Mexican place and then headed to the local Irish pub again for darts. The night ended with several Tpunks passed out on the floor. The next morning I flew out and had a layover in Chicago.