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.


Friday, May 10, 2013

This Just In...

I now have contacts/hosts lined up for the first few stops of my trek south from Weatherford. Yeah!

I'll be staying in Granbury, Glen Rose, and Meridian, Texas. These first, fairly short distance (under 30 mile) stops are critical for the "breaking in" period as I get used to being on my bike again. Furthermore, as I get closer to I-35 the populations get more dense, thus increasing the chances of my finding suitable shelter.

In addition, with the money I earned recently at the estate sale, I am going to be able to cover all of the "last minute" items that I needed. In fact, I even found a new "corrugated" foam sleeping pad (at the estate sale) that I suspect is going to work much better with my tent floor/sleeping pad both when in use and when it is stored on the trailer.

With my most recent (Meridian) host making contact, I am beginning to appreciate the idea that, in time, everything really does work itself out, and part of the challenge for me is to remain calm, and patient, and still focused and persevering for my own part. Not to say I'm looking forward to traveling through Texas and/or New Mexico and/or Arizona during July and August, but...who knows? Maybe those miles through the desert will go quicker than my "noodling" along the gulf coast. I certainly suspect the roads will be better than some of the ones I encountered during the first half of my journey!

I've got some new updates to my "Please and Thank You" page as well. So please be sure and check it out!

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