Pedaling for Peace

On April 15, 2012 I started riding my bicycle cross-country from Jacksonville, Florida in voluntary support of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF) and the work of author and Peace Leadership Director for the NAPF, Paul K. Chappell. By July 4th, I had covered over 1300 miles to just west of Luling, Texas where a major mechanical failure brought this first stage of my cross-country journey to an end. After storing my bicycle and trailer with my aunt and uncle in Weatherford, Texas, I flew from Dallas to Santa Barbara, California to attend the NAPF First Annual Peace Leadership Summer Workshop. I then lived and worked in Santa Barbara for several more months before I returned to Jacksonville and sold off the rest of my possessions that I could to help fund a continuation of my journey. Starting June 8, 2013 and ending August 9, 2013, I rode from Weatherford, through 400 miles of the central Texas hill country, including Austin, Texas, back to Luling. It was at this point that a friend of mine invited me to work for a brief period in Pennsylvania before flying me back to Santa Barbara where I continued volunteering for the NAPF as well as for the Santa Barbara Bike Coalition. As of August 9th, 2014 I began"Stage III" of my cross-country adventure, this time heading south from Santa Barbara to San Diego and then east to El Paso, TX. It was there that illness, winter weather, and diminishing resources brought that leg of my journey to an end. After staying with another friend in Columbus, GA for several months, I moved "back home" to Kentucky to stay with my dad for a while and build a better "resource base" for future endeavors including review and further tracking and primitive survival skills training at Tom Brown, Jr's Tracker School , and a possible longer tour of the east coast, northern tier, and north west coast back down to Santa Barbara, CA.


Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Just Gonna Go For It!

Finished reading Paul K. Chappell's newest book yesterday: "Peaceful Revolution: How We Can Create the Future Needed for Humanity's Survival" (http://paulkchappell.com/).

I'll put it simply: This man is leading and I want to follow.

So, regardless of whether or not there will be a place for me at the Peace Leadership Workshop in Santa Barbara, CA in July 2012, I'm going to challenge myself and my own commitment to peace by riding the 2650 miles to get there Anyway. And I'm going to do it sooner rather than later. Maybe starting as early as the end of March, this year (2012), depending on how my final "sell-off" goes.

It has been great to take a break here in Florida, but I'm definitely feeling it is time to move on. My writing can still continue with the riding, but the idea of doing a more concentrated "sorting carefully through all of my old stuff" may not be relevant or "necessary" at this point in terms of The Big Picture.

I know I am already at Peace in my own heart. Now it is time to help make that a reality for others, both "inside" and "outside".

Carpe Diem!
Posted by Lori Bell at 10:46 AM
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