Friday 20 May 2011

Introduction

November 3rd 2010 - May 9th 2011

During these six months I traveled five times the length of the United States. Living in the elements from arid deserts to North Eastern Blizzards with temperatures ranging from -9 degrees in Cheyenne, WY to 95+ degrees in Southern TX. I experienced all four seasons with best friends and new comrades.

I hopped freight trains, hitched rides with truckers, motorists and river captains, flew in a plane, and walked more miles than I care to count. I got picked up by Highway Patrol in California, challenged police in New Orleans, cursed cops out in Chicago, ran from Federal Customs Agents in Mexico, spit at their feet in San Francisco, and escorted out of a town by cops just outside of Buffalo NY.

I laughed and danced with friends, comrades, and strangers in New Orleans, then stood by helpless when the strong arm of the State shut down a public library for being organized by radicals... by Anarchists.

Most of these travels were a shared experience, spent with my girlfriend Margie. We stood in awe of the Serra Nevada mountain range, slept next to a river where beaver tried to scare us off in Willow Springs, IL, walked 20 miles to get out of LA, and laughed with excitement at the American antelope. We cried when we lost a dear, dear friend in California whose only crime was loving a couple of vagabonds.

Many of you have asked me to take an account of my travels. I can't promise you a gripping, well written tale. What I can promise is honesty, save things that compromise the privacy of others.

Lastly, these past 6 months that I will write about isn't the adventure, only the preparation and prelude for the one I am on now.