TravelStream™ news feed for member peaceforearth on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/peaceforearth en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 26 May 2008 08:15:12 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1211803380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1211803380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1211803380/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 08:15:12 -0400 November 2007 to April 2008, from Vancouver to San Diego, Ruah Swennerfelt and Louis Cox walk, in the style of John Woolman, to talk with Quakers about integrating peace, justice, and Earthcare.

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Burlington, Vermont, United States

We arrived home on April 28 as planned.   We're glad that so many people have warmly welcomed us back, showing us at least that they were aware of our absence during the six months of winter. We were touched by the response to our sharing at the April meeting of Quaker Earthcare Witness in Chicago. Friends were grateful and impressed with our journey. We were especially pleased with the turn out at the Burlington Friends Meeting for a welcome back pot luck at which we gave a short talk about our experiences and answered questions from the group.   One of the questions at that session was how do we feel we've been changed by this experience. Although we struggled to find adequate words, we did say that we have come closer to living in true simplicity as a spiritual path, and that our priorities are clearer about how we want to spend our time and energy. We no longer listen to the news in the morning, allowing us to be more grounded as we begin the day.   It's not easy to come home from such an exhilarating and complex experience. Although people are genuinely pleased we're home safe and ask how was the trip--but there's never enough time to really share all that happened. We can only give short sound bites like, "We had a great time," or "No, we didn't loose a lot of weight," or "Yes, we came back very physically fit," or "Yes, we were well received wherever we went," etc. People don't have 180 hours to sit and listen to all we want to say.   Another difficulty is that during our walk we were generally treated as heroes. People were excited to host us and meet us and talk with us. They fed us royally and treated us as though we were special. We almost forgot how to cook and clean. But now we're just ordinary people again who have to deal with the everyday stuff.   When we first returned our house sitters still lived with us for another three weeks. This also made it difficult to really settle into a routine and now we've had our home to ourselves for a week and are beginning to adjust. It will take some time to get the house back into the order we are accustomed to. Our house sitters did an admirable job taking care of things during a very difficult (snowy and icy) winter. They rose to the occasion when a number of mechanical problems needed to be corrected. We give them much thanks.   We're enjoying planting our gardens, watching all the incredible birds, including a nesting pair of Baltimore Orioles right in our back yard. We're experiencing another great Spring, though a very different one from California. The sweet smells of the lilacs and honeysuckle remind us we are home in Vermont. We are also delighted to be back with our two cats, who give us such pleasure each day. We're not sure they really missed us or now even remember we were gone, but they cuddle and purr with us, which makes us feel very special.   We decided that this would be our "water year." We are installing a large rain water collection system for irrigating our fruits and vegetables. (Here in Vermont we don't water our lawns or flowers.) We will also finally install a solar hot water system, using some second-hand panels we've had on hand for about 10 years. This will provide pre-heated water to our on-demand, tankless water heater and should substantially reduce our propane usage. The last water project will be to finish our small pond which is now just a hole in the ground. The pond will provide solar-pumped running water for the birds and other small animals and will be a visual centerpiece in our side yard where we often sit to enjoy the view of the Green Mountains.   Ruah will be returning to California to speak at Pacific Yearly Meeting while Louis attends New England Yearly Meeting to report back on our travels. Ruah hopes to see many of our new-found and old Friends while there.   We've also been catching up on family visits. Ruah visited her daughters and grandchildren in Maine soon after returning and we have a planned trip to Charleston, South Carolina for a family reunion over the Father's Day weekend. This June Louis will turn 65 and his brother will be 70. So, it seemed a good year to bring the immediately family together.   As we reflect on our pilgrimage, the overwhelming conclusion is that it was a journey of love. We were held in love by so many people in a myriad of ways. It was more love than we ever could have imagined. We thank you all for that.   We hope to hold on to the slower and more grounded pace of life that we experienced each day when we walked. This doesn't mean that we don't have as much to do, but that we approach the work with a deliberateness and calm that wasn't with us before. But there is a lot of work to catch up on including house projects and Quaker Earthcare Witness work. (We hope you all will begin supporting QEW if you don't already-Send your checks to: QEW, 173-B N. Prospect St., Burlington VT 05401.)   The walk seems like it took place so long ago, yet in other ways the memories seem so vivid that it could have been yesterday. As we created a scrapbook of newspaper articles and Meeting announcement of our walk, we once again relived some parts of the winter. We know it will be like this for the coming months. We'll have a memory of a moment or a person or a place that will bring a smile to us, and then we'll be back at our ordinary life once again.   The Peace For Earth website will continue to be somewhat active for the foreseeable future. For instance we intend to make periodic entries on our eco-journal which is separate from our blog. We also will update the various categories as new ideas come to us. QEW is considering printing our Walking in the Light booklet and we intend to provide the text for our skit since so many people said they found it moving and inspirational.   We would like to walk again sometime. We're not sure where or when yet, but we'll let you know and invite you along. We hope you'll stay in touch with us and that our paths cross again. West Coast Friends will have a special place in our hearts forever more.  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1211803620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1211803620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1211803620/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 08:09:45 -0400 November 2007 to April 2008, from Vancouver to San Diego, Ruah Swennerfelt and Louis Cox walk, in the style of John Woolman, to talk with Quakers about integrating peace, justice, and Earthcare.

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Chicago, Illinois, United States

Chicago meeting.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1208926920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1208926920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1208926920/tpod.html Thu, 24 Apr 2008 03:12:40 -0400 November 2007 to April 2008, from Vancouver to San Diego, Ruah Swennerfelt and Louis Cox walk, in the style of John Woolman, to talk with Quakers about integrating peace, justice, and Earthcare.

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San Diego, California, Turks and Caicos Isl.

Our hearts are overflowing with the love that has been shared with us while on this trip. Our oversight committee and Friends in our Meeting have held us in their prayers, as have many other Friends. Our family members have cheered us on. The Meeting contact people along our route have taken such good care of us in finding safe walking routes, hospitality, and announcing our visit. Host families have opened their homes and hearts to us. We thank Quaker Earthcare Witness for providing the opportunity for this journey and for their loving support throughout. We also thank the many other people who have provided financial and other kinds of assistance during the last six months. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!!! WE HAVE A PROBLEM AND MAYBE YOU CAN HELP! THE ENTRY THAT WAS UPLOADED ON MARCH 4, TITLED "WALKERS RENDEZVOUS" HAS BEEN LOST. WE HAVE THE PICTURES, BUT NOT THE TEXT. DID ANYONE COPY OR PRINT OUR BLOG ENTRIES? IF SO, WOULD YOU SEND US THAT ENTRY? SEND TO ruah@peaceforearth.org. THANKS. WE WILL HAVE TO TO RECONSTRUCT IT IF NO ONE SENDS IT. We mailed back the video camera about a month ago, due to its weight and the long time it took each time to upload the videos. Even though so many of you told us that you appreciated these videos, we weighed that against the toils of the last month in Southern California and decided it was best to mail it home. We'll be sending one last blog a week or so after we've returned to Vermont, in order to share some of our re-entry feelings and reflections. Thanks to all of you for reading and commenting. From Santa Monica we took the bus and light rail through downtown Los Angeles to South Pasadena, since our contact folks again could not come up with suitable and safe walking routes. We were impressed with the public transportation and were pleased to get off at a small city park where a weekly farmers market was being held. As we waited there to meet our Orange Grove Friends Meeting contact (and good friend of ours, Ruanne Peters), we enjoyed listening to several street musicians and tasting exquisite locally grown strawberries. After completing some shopping with Ruanne, we put some of our gear in her car and walked the mile and a half to her house in San Marino.We were looking forward to our evening with Ruanne and her husband, John, since we have known them for a number of years (Ruanne and Ruah were running partners back in 1981), and we always have a great time with them. The next morning Louis worked on the BeFriending Creation newsletter while Ruah visited with Ruanne. After lunch Percy Severn from the Conejo Valley Worship Group (you'll remember her from the previous blog entry) arrived so that she could walk with us to the Orange Grove Friends Meeting in Pasadena. Shortly after starting our walk, a jogger saw our banner and asked us about our purpose. She became so enthused by what she heard that she jogged along and chatted with us for the next couple of miles. Her name was Nancy Meade, and like Percy, who is also a jogger, she had grown up in the South.We were quite taken with Nancy's bright spirit and her clear understanding of right-living issues. She offered to carry the Earth flag and did so with such zest that we attracted extra attention from passers-by. Percy and we were sad to see her jog off, but that wasn't the end of the story: She actually showed up at our presentation that evening, and she even brought her partner with her! We had a great time continuing the walk with Percy and were very appreciative that she had made a special effort to join us. This reminds us of the many incredible people we've met, and we hope that we will have opportunities to strenghten these relationships. There was a good turnout at the Orange Grove Meeting, starting with a delicious pot luck dinner. It was great to see Kate Carpenter, who had been helping with the walk logistics and was once on the QEW Steering Committee. Ruah also enjoyed reconnecting with several Friends she had known from her attendance there back in the early 1980s. After our presentation we got a ride to Kate's house along with another Friend, Graciela, who was spending the night there. We were too tired to stay up for late night talking, but we promised to be more chipper in the morning. For breakfast, Kate experimented with a new recipe she had found for baked oatcakes, which we found scrumptious. We did get some talking in then, and we&nbsp; learned that Kate and Graciela had collaborated on animal cruelty issues and have promoted vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. After one more person from Friends Meeting, Madeline, arrived at Kate's house, we were ready to walk as a group. We again enjoyed the company of others for the first hour of walking, which made the time go by quickly. The day was predicted to be very hot, and for the first time on our walk we were wearing shorts. We started consuming much larger amounts of water and after lunch we started using our umbrellas for relief from the scorching sun. Along the way, one of Ruah's relatives, Mary, who lived along our route in Monrovia, joined us. This allowed Ruah and Mary to catch up on family gossip. Later we took advantage of a bathroom break and refreshment stop that our walk coordinators had arranged at the home of an Orange Grove Friends Meeting member, which was a welcome relief from the heat and sun. By mid-afternoon the 90-degree heat was almost unbearable, and we were beginning to get concerned about our remaining days of walking. We made many small stops and finally dragged ourselves through the door at Ron&nbsp; Theders and Linda Bailey-Theders home. They gave us tall glasses of water, after which we napped and showered to be better guests by dinner time. We had a wonderful evening with them. They had come to the presentation in Pasadena and had walked away eager to learn from us new ways to green up their lives. We spent a lot of the evening looking at resource websites and sharing what we knew. The next morning Ron and Linda's granddaughter arrived and showed off her new "Earth friend" tee-shirt and so we took a photo. Soon after that, Beverly Speak, our contact person from Claremont Friends Meeting, arrived to take us to worship. There's a wonderful, familiar feeling when we sit down to worship in any Meeting anywhere. At the rise of worship it was time once again for us to give our presentation. We were becoming more and more aware of the limited number of times we'd be still doing this and already were feeling nostalgic. A good crowd stayed to hear us, and we felt we had given one of our best skit presentations. We then piled back into Beverly's car and headed to her home for the afternoon and night. Louis was glad to have a large chunck of time to continue working on <i>BeFriending Creation, and Ruah relaxed and read. Beverly and her husband, David, have a lively home which they currently share with a daughter and son-in-law. Beverly's parents and two Friends from the Meeting came for dinner, and we were treated to a culinary tour de force prepared by David and his daughter Margaret. The conversation was lively, and we felt at home. Beverly had been involved with a conservation project where she helped save "Johnson's Pasture" from development, and using her excellent photographic skills, she had designed a Natural Resources Treasure Hunt booklet to use while exploring the land. Beverly gave us a ride part way the next morning, which was on her way to work. It was going to be another hot day, though this time only in the 80s. We were hot and sweaty by the time we checked into the motel in Rialto. While we were on the way to Rialto, a man riding a bicycle stopped and asked some questions. He became quite enthused about our walk, and he kindly asked whether we had enough money, food, or a place to stay. We continuously feel so touched by the tender concern of people. We had to shop for some dinner that night and went to Cardena's, a regional supermarket chain that caters to the area's large Latino population. It was really like walking into Mexico! The music was Latino, all the signage was in Spanish, and <i>all the shoppers were speaking only Spanish. Most of the products also had a Spanish flair since this was in reality a large "supermercado."&nbsp; Even the checker counted out our change as, "siete y dos" instead of seven dollars and two cents. It was fun to "travel" in this way. Our typical eat-in dinner at motels in Southern California has been cheese, avocado, tomato, and crackers, with oranges as dessert. We have been trying to eat all the local avocados and oranges we can before heading home to Vermont, where they won't be local anymore. We've also enjoyed citrus fruit picked straight from trees in host families' back yards. We've had grapefruits for breakfast and oranges, tangerines, and tangelos all day long. The air was considerably cooler the next morning when we began our walk to Riverside. The ten miles we walked that morning seemed so easy compared to the same distance on a hot day. We met up with Michael and Linda Dunn, our Inland Valley Friends Meeting contacts and our next hosts. After a delicious Thai lunch at their favorite local restaurant, we spent the afternoon working on computer stuff at their home and resting up for our presentation that evening. Michael was once the recording clerk for the Quaker Earthcare Witness Steering Committee (it was then Friends Committee on Unity with Nature), and we had come to know both Michael and Linda through that work. It was great catching up with them on news about people and events. We enjoyed the group that arrived for our presentation at the Meetinghouse and were very appreciative of their interest and enthusiasm for our walk and our message. The next morning, after being treated to Michael's famous omelets for breakfast, we walked with Michael through the UC- Riverside campus (where he had taught for many years) and then through the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Area, a five-mile long tract of fascinating hilly, semi-arid landscape. (Linda was in que for knee replacement surgery and we were sad that she couldn't walk with us.) We saw several types of lizards, beautiful wild flowers, a king snake, and majestic views during our several hours' hike. At the far edge of the wilderness area we met up with Linda and then enjoyed lunch with her and Michael. After saying goodbye, we continued our walk towards San Jacinto, where Ruah's son Rich lives. When Rich was finished with work, he picked us up and we were whisked off to a three-day retreat with family. We already knew that Rich and his wife Jenny were very concerned about their ecological footprint and had been making some thoughtful green-living choices for themselves and their three children. But we were even more impressed to see other things they had been doing since moving into their new home. Instead of aspiring to country living, which can be very energy-intensive, they chose to purchase a moderate-size suburban home on a fairly small lot that was within walking or biking distance from the two schools where they worked and where the children attended classes. They also were close to Jenny's family, who are very involved in the children's lives. Wanting to minimize their use the built-in air conditioning,&nbsp; Rich and Jenny recently had built a salt-water pool to help everyone get cool at the end of the day in this typically hot and dry area. (This type of pool doesn't require chlorine and other toxic chemicals and is supposed to be better for one's skin.) They were also planning to install a whole-house fan to draw in cool night air. They had planted a couple of citrus trees in the side yard and had turned about one-fourth of their backyard into a vegetable garden, using a very intensive system called "square foot" gardening, which can yield an amazing amount of produce in a small area. They were also in the process of xeri-scaping their front yard, using indigenous plants that don't require additional water. They purchased local, organic food when they could and used recycled paper products exclusively. Their kids all seemed very hip to this way of caring for the earth through simple everyday actions, even to the point of packing their school lunches in reusable containers. Instead of the typical American family routine of television, video games, and eat-on-the-run meals, they ate most meals together and spent lots of time outdoors together. We thought they were such a fine example of people who want to make a difference in the world and make us proud. We accepted Jenny's invitation to be chaperones for her 4th grade field trip, so that we could see the famous Ramona Pageant in a picturesque&nbsp; natural ampitheatre in the foot hills on the south side of Hemet. Every year all the 4th grade classes in the area are allowed to see the dress rehersal, and this year about a thousand children came. It has a cast of more than 300 people, mostly locals, including many children from the area.Jenny and her sister and one of her brothers, as well as her father, had participated as children in years past. This outdoor drama had been started 85 years ago to tell the story of southern California's development from the multiple perspectives of indigenous people, early Spanish settlers, and those who arrived in the 19th century from the United State and Europe seeking new lives and fortunes. It's based on a novel, Romona, written by Helen Hunt Jackson in the early 1900s, who wanted to awaken people to the terrible way local Indians were being treated.&nbsp; There were many local Indians and Latinos in the cast, and lively music and dancing were part of the performance. We so enjoyed the performance, and our young wards were very attentive and well-behaved during the pageant despite having to sit for several hours on hard benches under a hot sun. At the end of our fun visit, Rich and Jenny gave us a ride to a good spot to continue our walk to San Diego. That day our goal was Oceanside, about 13-1/2 miles away. Along the way we passed the San Luis Rey Mission, which meant that we had passed at least five of the original California Spanish missions on this trip. When we stopped at a Home Depot for a bathroom break, we were pleased to see an Earth Day display and Louis told the young woman staffing it about our Peace for Earth walk. She and a few other workers were excited to hear about our experiences, and we had fun talking with them. It was Sunday, April 20, and we learned that the New York Times Magazine that day was dedicated to teaching ways to reduce our carbon footprints. We hoped to pick up a copy along the walk, but were disappointed to find that the local stores didn't carry the NY Times. So we called a nearby Barnes &amp; Noble and found that they had one. Retrieving it would mean adding another three miles to our walk, but it seemed worth it. We were very pleased with the job the paper had done. We will use the magazine in our work. Since we were so close to Earth Day, many people honked and gave peace signs, wishing us well as they passed us. We stayed at an RV park that night that had four small tent sites right next to a newly-laid commuter train track. We are impressed with the number of new commuter trains in southern California, but had never thought we'd be sleeping next to one. Fortunately we were so tired and the trains were so quiet that we slept fairly well. The next day we walked along the Coast Highway 101, soaking in the California sun, watching scores of surfers bobbing in the ocean waiting for the right wave. We enjoying the laid-back surfing culture atmosphere of Oceanside, Carlsbad, and Encinitas. We spent a long time in a coffee shop to allow Louis to finish an article he was working on. That night we camped at San Elijo Beach State Park, which gave us a wonderful view of the ocean and more surfers--many of whom didn't quit until after sundown and were at it again before dawn. The next morning our normally sunny moods were darkened somewhat by the realization that this was our last camping experience of the trip. We were very aware that we only had two more days of walking and that this chapter of our adventure was coming to an end. We had a rather easy day of walking and by early afternoon we had arrived at the home of Mary Ann Percy, our La Jolla contact and our next host. We knew Mary Ann from her work with Quaker Earthcare Witness in its early days and had also known her daughters when they were quite young. It was fun to get reacquainted with Rebekkah, now 15, and Clare, now 12. Both girls were delightful and interested in our walk, and we appreciated their ability to talk easily with adults. With Mary Ann it felt like it hadn't been 10 years since we'd seen one another, and we jumped right into good conversations and catching up on people's lives. We took a little time the next morning to work on our blog, and then we headed out for our historic last day. We walked along the Coast Highway and then through the beautiful Torrey Pines area past the UC-San Diego campus toward La Jolla. It was once again a clear and sunny, typically California day. We enjoyed the beach and ocean views and knew that it would be our last look at the Pacific Ocean before going home. We started counting down to our last hour, our last mile, and our last steps. At the La Jolla Friends Meeting House we were greeted by an enthusiastic, but small group of San Diego and La Jolla Friends, who had prepared a nice potluck. They were appreciative of our presentation, and we felt well cared for once again. We ended the evening at an airport hotel and prepared for our flight to Chicago to participate at the QEW Steering Committee meeting. It's hard to think about work and no walking for a while!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1204555500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1204555500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1204555500/tpod.html Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:52:37 -0400 November 2007 to April 2008, from Vancouver to San Diego, Ruah Swennerfelt and Louis Cox walk, in the style of John Woolman, to talk with Quakers about integrating peace, justice, and Earthcare.

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San Francisco, California, United States

We have lost this entry! If you printed it or copied it, please send it to us!Thank you
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1206639420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1206639420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1206639420/tpod.html Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:34:36 -0400 November 2007 to April 2008, from Vancouver to San Diego, Ruah Swennerfelt and Louis Cox walk, in the style of John Woolman, to talk with Quakers about integrating peace, justice, and Earthcare.

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San Luis Obispo, California, United States

After a cordial breakfast in Monterey with Bob and Shirley, we started our trek down Highway 1 feeling excited about the beautiful landscapes we knew would be ahead. We also felt some concern because so many people had warned us about the scant shoulders and blind curves we would encounter on the narrow, winding road that had been carved out of sheer cliffs along the rugged Central Coast. Little did we know that over the next 11 days we would be braving many other hazards, such as cougars, sunburn, rock slides, and poison oak-but more on that later.&nbsp;Because this part of the walk was such a different experience overall, we have decided on a different organization for this blog entry. Instead of the usual chronological narrative, we've picked several themes to group some of our most memorable experiences. Our nights were mixed with Quaker and other hosts, campgrounds, and hotels.&nbsp;Amazing People&nbsp;Our first overnight host was Norman Cotton, who met us on Highway 1 to drive us to his home in a backwoods community several miles up a steep, winding canyon road that was deeply shaded by towering Redwoods. He had been raised in the Monterey Bay Friends Meeting, but hasn't attended regularly for a number of years. He finds solace in beautiful surroundings, strong community connections, and a slow, casual lifestyle. He had built his rustic home over 30 years ago and had been living off the grid with solar electric ever since. He was a very resourceful and inventive man and he and Louis found much to talk about. We were appreciative of his lifestyle and commitment to simplicity.&nbsp;Norman and his girlfriend, Teresa Fife, had met through their love of music, and after dinner they entertained us with their lively playing of contra dance music on the fiddle and piano. In honor of Saint Patrick's Day, they threw in a few Irish tunes. In spite of muscles that were sore from a day's walking, we found it hard to remain seated.&nbsp;Another day, after surmounting our longest climb we came to a hamlet called Loma Vista, which included a café and a couple of art galleries, and a fanciful "Spirit Garden." There we were greeted by Rachel Fann, who owns the Garden Gallery, a small shop with original and imported art work and jewelry. Although she wasn't a Quaker, through a series of phone calls with a variety of like-minded people, Ruah had arranged hospitality for us in her home about 12 miles south of Loma Vista. Rachel's son has created the Spirit Garden, a fanciful garden that celebrates plants (including many cacti), arts, and music. We found Rachel to be a wonderful, genuine, and loving person and immediately felt at home with her. Until it was time for her to close up shop and drive us home, she encouraged us to walk down to nearby Pfeiffer Beach, which she said was one of the most photographed spots on the West Coast, although few tourists ever find their way there. Our two-mile descent on a steep, winding road was rewarded with a gorgeously rugged spot where waves crashed against interesting rock formations, including natural arches, and blustery winds carved intricate ripples in the sand dunes.&nbsp;That evening Rachel was our guide through the community of interesting people who live in this isolated little haven. (We talk about some of them in other places in this blog entry.).&nbsp;Another day, after we had set up camp at the Kirk Creek Campground, a man came over from an adjacent camp site, saying he had recognized us by our Peace for Earth Walk banner. It turns out that he, Peter Day and his partner, Edie Salisbury are Quakers from the Orange Grove Friends Meeting in Pasadena where we will be in a couple of weeks, and they had read about our coming visit in the Friends Bulletin! After supper, he and Edie joined us for interesting conversation about our life journeys. Peter wondered if our meeting there was more than a coincidence. &nbsp;Our first night back with a Quaker host was on top of a mountain in Cayucos, where Henrietta Groot, a member San Luis Obispo Friends Meeting, lived. She was originally from Holland and now lived in a small rental home surrounded by pet llamas, donkeys, dogs, and cats, plus a few wild coyotes and cougars. The vistas from her house were awesome, and we ate in awed silence as we watched the dramatic sunset during dinner on her deck. Henrietta told us fascinating stories of the long sailing voyages that she and her late husband had taken in a 35-foot sailing vessel from the early 70s to the 90s. Their near circumnavigation of the globe had not been in a straight line, but from place to place as their desires led them. They had spent long periods in different countries and had had many incredible experiences. &nbsp;Our next Quaker host was Liana Forest, who lived in Los Osos. She was an expressive arts therapist, who led workshops designed to help people live in harmony in their lives. She was very active on political issues and had a wonderful, grounded spirit about her. She lived in an apartment adjoining the house of her son and daughter-in-law. It was very energy efficient, with an open design to accommodate the many group sessions that she held there. Liana was also a gifted artist and had recently painted a large four-panel work that came from a vision of hers. It depicted four typical African women (see photo) who were from (left to right) South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, and West Africa. We were fortunate to be staying in the room where this incredible art work was on display. In the morning we walked a special labyrinth that Liana and her family had created in the side yard. Instead of imposing a rigidly geometrical design on the site, she first sketched the labyrinth on an aerial photograph of the site, so the paths could be fitted around existing vegetation. The paths were lined with beautiful stones, succulents and other interesting plants. Throughout the labyrinth there were sculptures, water vessels, and shells in tasteful arrangements. It was a spiritually uplifting way to begin our day.&nbsp;Our San Luis Obispo hosts were Melissa, Chris, Ian, and Laura Adair. Melissa was our contact person from Central Coast Friends Meeting, and she not only worked on the route after San Luis Obispo, but also had done a lot of the work on our route from Monterey to San Luis Obispo. The day we arrived happened to be daughter Laura's 13th birthday, and it must have a bit of a disappointment for her to have much of the family's attention focused on a Quaker potluck and guests at their home, but she seemed to be quite gracious about it. It was fun to be at a potluck once again with all the good conversations and interesting people. Melissa is a public health nurse and Chris is a water quality engineer. They have a very relaxed and comfortable home and we could feel the love that resided there. Melissa grew up as a Quaker and it was fun to learn of her roots. She is now the clerk of the Central Coast Meeting. The next day was Melissa's birthday and a much-needed day of rest for us, the first one since we left Monterey. Melissa's good organizing brought out a large group to the San Luis Obispo Public Library that night and afterwards we celebrated the two birthdays by going out for ice cream.&nbsp;Amazing Encounters&nbsp;So many times during the walk people mentioned that they had been part of the Great Peace March of the 1980s, which had gone from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. We all felt like kindred spirits when we met, and our walk brought back many good memories to them. We also talked to many people who had met Peace Pilgrim! Also lots of folks asked if we knew Doris "Granny D" Haddock, a woman from New Hampshire who in her 90s had walked across the U.S. in 1999 to promote peace. One day a car stopped and a woman and her daughter got out to tell us that the daughter, a high school freshman, was writing a paper about Granny D. They thought this was a boost for her research to be able to talk with someone else who was out walking with a cause. We were photographed with the daughter, and we encouraged her to read our website and blog to further her research.One day while walking along Highway 1 we encountered a bicyclist who called himself "T.J." who said he had no permanent home but was on his way to Alaska. We had a chance to talk with him because he was slowly pushing his bicycle and heavily loaded trailer up a very steep incline. Everything he owned was in that trailer, and unlike us, he slept under bushes with a sleeping bag and just a tarp for a tent. He said that he collected bottles for income. Despite his hardscrabble appearance, he was upbeat and friendly. (We talk more about T.J. under the Spontaneous Generosity heading, below.)&nbsp;We also encountered many bicyclists who were riding from San Francisco or Santa Cruz down the coast to Los Angeles or thereabouts. We were amazed at their clear focus as they pedaled up those long hills. One young man, on spring break from school, said he had two big hills that day, and we were happy to say that, due to our slowness, we only had one to go.&nbsp;On another stretch of road an RV stopped, and four young people got out to meet us. It turned out that they were all exchange students from a French university who were on spring break while attending a semester in a business program at San Francisco State University. We talked briefly about U.S. politics and ecology, and it seemed that they were well informed. They were excited about our walk and wanted to be photographed with us.&nbsp;When we were camping at Kirk Creek a man looked at our Peace for Earth Walk banner, then approached to ask more about us. His name was Aubrey and he was a traveling nurse who had been in the San Luis Obispo area for a while. He and his wife sold their home and bought an RV, and they now traveled all over the United States, where he was often able to work. We saw him drive by the next day while we were lunching by the side of the road, and he stopped to ask if we needed anything. We saw him several more times driving north and south and each time he gave us a friendly honk and wave.&nbsp;At the San Simeon Camp Ground we got a call on our cell phone from a local man, Harry Farmer, who had heard about our walk and wanted to come by the campground for a short visit. He arrived bearing a gift of&nbsp; two lovely local oranges as his way of being part of the Peace for Earth Walk. Harry has led an interesting life with many careers, including that of astrological consultant, and has a charming free spirit.&nbsp;We also met many people from other countries on this stretch of highway. At breakfast one morning we had an enjoyable discussion with a couple of men from Sweden who were vacationing in the U.S. for a couple of weeks. In addition to other Swedes, we also met visitors from Germany, Britain, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, and Thailand. &nbsp;On two different days we met jade hunters. Apparently the shores are loaded with jade which local jewelers make into fancy stuff. The second two men had had a productive day and they gave us each two pieces of jade! Louis also found a piece one day on the road.&nbsp;At Heniretta Groot's place, we were introduced to Nico Van den Heuvel, the owner of the ranch where Henrietta lives. He was a gifted and industrious artist, still working in his late 70s, and he graciously interrupted his work to give us a tour his studio. We found his work to be very beautiful as well as very eclectic. Some of his pieces looked like old masters paintings, while and others ranged from Modern to Postmodern. He was humble and very likable and enjoyed our delight at his work.&nbsp;While walking through Morro Bay a woman called out to us that she had read about us in the paper and wanted to buy us a cup of coffee. Betsy Kinter is one of those people who had made the choice of time over money. She works very part time while her husband has a job teaching that he loves. She was engaging, interesting, and very appreciative of having us pass through her life.&nbsp;In the area between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo we had a number of people tell us they had read about us in the paper. We heard the words "thank you for what you are doing" many times. It was very heartening. One man stopped his car and he, Karma, and his two sons asked us questions. (At the presentation in SLO the boys' grandparents approached Ruah to introduce themselves!) We felt very humbled by all this attention.&nbsp;Spontaneous Generosity&nbsp;All along the journey we were surprised by the people who wanted to be part of our walk by giving a financial or in-kind donation. The people who made these gestures varied a lot in terms of how much they understood what we were doing and why, but they all admired our fortitude and commitment to walking our talk.&nbsp;While walking in the wealthy community of Carmel, we noticed residential real estate listings ranging from $1,000,000 to $3,600,000. A real bargain for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom house had been reduced to only $2,500,000! As we were leaving town, while Louis was talking on the cell phone, Ruah was stopped by a local woman named Marge who asked about our mission. Then she asked if there way anything we needed. It being early in our day, we weren't in need of refreshment, so she offered us a generous cash donation, which we gratefully accepted.&nbsp;At Big Sur, we were feeling celebratory as we crossed our 1,000-mile mark, so we stopped at the Big Sur River Inn for lunch and relaxation. Our outdoor table was next to a giant redwood, around which the deck had been built. When we were nearly finished with lunch, we were delighted to see Joe Morris and his girlfriend, Carolyn Ash, who were carrying the cart Sal down the coast to San Luis Obispo for us, and had hoped to run into us along the way. They joined us for a while, and Carolyn photographed the big moment for us (see photo). When our lunch bill arrived, Joe grabbed it and gave us the gift of paying for it as a way of celebrating our accomplishment.&nbsp;On the day we were visiting with Rachel Fann, someone she introduced us to reached into his pocket and gave us a $20 dollar donation. The next day we met T.J., the free-spirited nomad (mentioned under Amazing Encounters, above) and we said that we had been gifted $20 the day before and wanted to pass it on to him. He was very surprised and grateful and had his own story to tell about having given someone else $3 that morning. Then, later that day, we walked into a restaurant for lunch, and a man who had seen us walking and had read our sign, spontaneously reached out with a $20 bill for us! This circulation of gift-money seemed almost "karma" like. Then, when we had finished eating we were told by the waitress that the gentleman had also paid for our meal.&nbsp;When we had dinner with Rachel Fann at Deetjen's Big Sur Inn, we were introduced to Torrey Waag, the manager of the now non-profit organization that ran the historical Inn. When we were ready to pay for our meal, we received the bill with a big zero written on the bottom line with the words, "compliments of Torrey."&nbsp;On the day we were walking to our next overnight stay, this time at the Tree Bones Resort, when we met the Hagenaus family from near San Francisco. They had just spent a couple of nights at Tree Bones, and we enjoyed our sharing experiences with the mother, father, and three sons. That evening, when we were ready to pay for dinner, the server informed us that the family had called the resort and were paying for our dinner! (We tented at the resort but had full access to all that it offered. Our tent sight is pictured with this blog and had a great view, but that night was very windy and we felt like we might blow right out to sea! Everyone at the resort was very kind to us.)&nbsp;While observing the elephant seals south of Ragged Point, we were approached by a woman and her two friends. After learning about our walk, the woman, a native of Thailand named Pui, asked to be photographed with us. She turned out to be a photographer herself, and after some discussion she asked if we would accept a donation. In a later e-mail she said "have a great meal on me."&nbsp;For our last night camping, after 21 miles of walking, we were looking forward to relaxing around a campfire. But it was Easter Sunday weekend, and there were no staff on duty at the state park to sell us firewood. It would have been a four-mile round trip to the nearest town to get a bundle of firewood, which was out of the question in our fatigued state. But a very nice couple in the next campsite offered us most of their firewood, which was enough to get us through the night and the next morning too. &nbsp;WE GIVE THANKS TO ALL OF THE ABOVE AND TO THE MANY OTHERS WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED IN MANY WAYS TO MAKE THIS WALK SUCCESSFUL.&nbsp;Springtime in California&nbsp;At the beginning of our walk, many asked us why we were walking north to south since it had been so cold and dreary in Washington. We hadn't had a good answer then and sometimes we had questioned our decision, but now, walking through Central California in it's spring time splendor, we had no doubt that we had made the right decision. &nbsp;Everywhere we turn there are magnificent spring wildflowers. Our photographs do not do them justice. The California poppies seem to like rocky outcrops and they really glow in the sunlight. The colors and textures of the roadside flowers took our breath away. One flower, the Redwood Sorrel was endemic to the area. Another endemic was the Monterey Pine, which has distinctive radiating branches and cone clusters. We kept noticing a small bush with lilac type small flowers and wondered what it might be. It's a blue brush which is often mistakenly called a California lilac. There were "feral" calla lilies along the streams and too many others to name. &nbsp;The hills were velvety green from late winter rains, and we were told that within the next two months all would become brown and yellow as the dry season continued (there had been no rain for us since we had left San Francisco). There were still small rivulets of water streaming down the rock face, and some years ago at some of these points beautiful drinking fountains, like grottos, were built for thirsty travelers. The plumbing had now been dismantled, probably because the safety of the water could no longer be assumed, but the lovely stonework remained. &nbsp;The drama of the rocky shores with sparkling water, giant waves, and flocks of birds, kept our attention even when we probably should have been looking more closely at the cars.&nbsp;&nbsp;Marine and Land Mammals&nbsp;At the Carmel River Bridge we saw a wildlife crossing sign with a silhouette of a wild hog with a baby following. Although we never encountered any wild hogs, this gave us a clue about how wild a country we were about to enter. Shortly after that sign Louis spotted a Bobcat in a meadow, apparently stalking a burrowing animal. We watched it leap in the air as it tried to seize its prey, just like our own house cats pounce on a cat toy. Shortly after this experience we overhead a woman talking about her neighbor shooting a cougar that had been raiding his animals. When Ruah asked for more information, she was told that cougars were all over the place and that we needed to keep aware. While walking along the main highway we didn't sense much danger, but when we took side trips we were often looking over our shoulders.&nbsp;We also saw coyotes on two different occasions. One we saw in broad daylight that watched us intently as we were watching it as we walked along. And the others were walking and howling on the crest of a hillside at dusk.&nbsp;One morning our attention was attracted to a large rock in the ocean that was covered with birds. We crossed the road and started scanning the area with our binoculars when much to our delight we saw a pair of harbor seals right below us. We appreciated then how different it is to walk rather than drive or bike along a scenic area rich with wildlife, because we were able to see things that only those moving at a slow pace could observe.&nbsp;From the lodge deck at Tree Bones we watched large numbers of migrating Gray Whales, exhaling plumes of hot air as they repeatedly surfaced and dived. For the next day or two we continued to see them occasionally as we walked south.&nbsp;Just north of San Simeon we saw hundreds of Elephant Seals sunning themselves on certain protected beaches. Lots of people drove up from the cities to the south for day trips to view them. The adult males were at least double the size of the females and they were all gigantic. They were just contentedly sleeping and occasionally scratching themselves and coating themselves with sand. For the most part they were so motionless that at our first sighting we thought they were just big rocks on the sand until we saw some movement. It was interesting that there were signs everywhere warning people to leave the Elephant Seals alone-as if some people had to be told that they were wild and potentially dangerous animals and not cuddly big Beanie Babies.&nbsp;We also saw a herd of Mule Deer and many Ground Squirrels running in and out of their burrows in the ground.&nbsp;Birds&nbsp;During our stay at Ripplewood, we saw Wild Turkeys courting right on the grounds of the resort. We didn't expect to see turkeys, but had been looking forward to all the shore birds we would see. We weren't disappointed since we saw many beautiful and new-to-us birds. Our only disappointment was not to se a California Condor.&nbsp;We were lucky to see Thick-billed Murres and Marbled Godwits. We saw lots of Bush Tits, Cliff Swallows, Wren Tits, Western Kingbirds, and an Orange Crowned Warbler.&nbsp;Being Photographed&nbsp;We've decided recently that we must be the most photographed Quakers of 2008. People actually stop their cars and jump out to ask if they can photograph us. Our hosts want photos with them as we depart and photos are taken when we give presentations. It's all quite amusing since we are treated as celebrities but we don't necessarily feel like celebrities.&nbsp;Dangers&nbsp;Although we were concerned about traffic, by and large cars travel fairly slowly around the many twists and turns of Highway 1. Louis noted that we seemed safer when there was minimal shoulder since the cars didn't want to get too close to the cliff, but when there was a wider shoulder the cars would often take the corner narrowly with their wheels going far over the line. Ruah walked at the lead with the big earth flag held quite high around blind curves to warn drivers that we were there. We remarked that we thought bicyclists were much more vulnerable than we were since they had no warning flags and were not wearing reflective clothing. This doesn't mean that everything was well for the drivers since we were told stories of tragic accidents happening frequently mostly by people who weren't familiar with the road. We were told of one local rescue man who extracted an eighteen-month-old baby in its car seat where its parents had died when it went over one of the cliffs. We also heard about another man who was trapped in his car for more than 24 hours before being rescued. It is thought that the man lit a fire to call attention to his plight, which ended up consuming a number of acres of woods.&nbsp;We've mentioned cougars already, but we had been unaware of how threatened we'd feel while walking through marked rock slide areas. Louis would often say, "Let's pick up the pace through here." Although we knew that the biggest risk is during the period of heavy rain, which can loosen whole hillsides and wipe out large sections of the highway in a flash. In fact that had happened shortly before we embarked on this part of the journey. We prayed for no earthquakes or rains. Louis pointed out one place where the pavement had been gouged by falling boulders so large that heavy equipment must have been needed to remove them. At another slide section (see photo) the highway department had erected a very heavy duty steel fence to hopefully contain the further slides that were likely to occur.&nbsp;Another unforeseen danger was poison oak. We were told by a park ranger that this was a banner year for the menacing plant that seemed to grow profusely among the roadsides making our choices for bathroom breaks and lunches more difficult. (Ruah actually got a little bit on one hip.) One person we talked to who owned llamas said she had contracted a bad case of poison oak after rubbing the wool of the llamas, which must have rubbed against poison oak while walking through brushy areas..&nbsp;Although we were armed with sunscreen we really had no clue as to the strength of the springtime sun. Some days we felt like we were broiling. Most of the time we traveled down the Central Coast there wasn't a cloud in the sky from dawn to dusk. We slathered ourselves with sun screen several times a day and still ended up looking burnished.&nbsp;Overall we had a magnificent time along this journey and are very grateful to Rebecca Lee of Monterey Friends Meeting and Melissa Lovett-Adair of Central Coast Meeting for their assistance in scouting out the path, which was a difficult task. We have four weeks to go, have walked over 1,100 miles so far, and look forward to our remaining time on the road.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1205685300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1205685300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1205685300/tpod.html Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:29:39 -0400 November 2007 to April 2008, from Vancouver to San Diego, Ruah Swennerfelt and Louis Cox walk, in the style of John Woolman, to talk with Quakers about integrating peace, justice, and Earthcare.

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Monterey, California, United States

We've walked a total of about 970 miles since leaving Vancouver on November 11, 2007. We nearing the 36th&nbsp; Parallel, after being as far north as the 53rd while crossing Canada. We've given about 45-plus presentations, with about 12 more to go. The money we've found along the roadsides now totals $20.27.&nbsp; Recently we chuckled over a bumper sticker on a bicycle that read, "<i>Car is not the answer" which the owner had created by modifying an FCNL "War, is not the answer" bumper sticker. We will be out of e-mail and cell phone range for most of our walk down Highway 1 between Monterey and San Luis Obispo, and our next blog upload will be on April 3 from Santa Barbara. REMEMBER THAT YOU CAN DOUBLE CLICK ON ANY PHOTO AND YOU WILL SEE A LARGER IMAGE.&nbsp;&nbsp; On our last morning in San Francisco we walked with Jan Hartsough to the thriving farmers market at the UN Plaza, which she helped found 28 years ago! It was exciting to walk through the many stalls of mouth-watering offerings at a year-round market. We stopped to buy a couple of oranges for the trip.We Vermonters are amazed at the amount and variety of produce offered in early March. After saying our heartfelt thanks to Jan and giving hugs, we walked down to the Nature Conservancy to meet Eric Broque, who would be returning the pocket knife which had fallen from Louis's pocket while we had been visiting at Eric's home in Oakland. Eric also handed us a package containing many useful Nature Conservancy-logo camping items, including a flashlight, knit cap, and scarf. After saying good-bye to Eric once more, we walked to the train station. A train ride to Redwood City became necessary when we had to delay our talk with San Francisco Friends and couldn't fit in the two-day walk as originally planned. We are learning much about being flexible. We were able to get around fairly easily with the cart on the sidewalks of San Francisco, but we were surprised to find we were basically "invisible" to passers-by. With our signs, flags, and packs of travel gear, we must have blended right into the background of crazies, homeless, and counter-culture types that inhabit the city. For example, to avoid a long flight of steps, Louis took the cart onto a small elevator along with three people in business suits. Assuming they'd be as curious as people had been in other communities, Louis cheerfully announced that he was walking from Vancouver to San Diego, but the three other passengers kept talking about their various business deals as if he hadn't been there. We were thankful for the efficient trains that run from San Francisdo to San Jose through the "Silicon Valley." We were met in Redwood City by Sandy Farley, our next host. She and her husband Tom were active with Quaker Earthcare Witness from the early days, and it was great to reconnect with them. They are talented storytellers and very entertaining hosts. They have plans for building an energy-efficient home in a vacant lot next door. We enjoyed our evening with them and hearing of their future plans. We also enjoyed attending the mid-week worship at Palo Alto Friends Meeting wearing our new Peace for Earth t-shirts! The next day Tom walked with us through Redwood City, Menlo Park and into Palo Alto and the Stanford University campus. Sandy and Eric Sableman, who is very active on Unity with Nature work in Palo Alto Meeting and Pacific Yearly Meeting, met us for coffee during our walk and then met up with us again on the Stanford campus. We visited the Carnegie Center, a very innovative facility of the Global Ecology Research Center. We spoke with a professor who is overseeing research on photosynthesis and with a graduate reseach assistant working on wind technology. This included a lively exchange on whether technological advances could supply the demand for future resouces without also requiring conservation and population limits. After lunch at Stanford with Eric and Tom, we visited the Rodin Sculpture Garden. There we were met by our next host, Will Rogers, who took us by the Andy Goldsworthy serpentine sculpture, which was constructed entirely with stones salvalged from buildings damaged by the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes. Will is a film student at Stanford, and we were to spend the night at the home he shared with nine other Stanford students. This was definitely a new housing experience for us on the walk. The students were engaging and interested in our walk, and since they are quite focused on their studies and electronic entertainment and personal interactions, their time for cleaning and straightening-up is minimal--and it showed. Will said, "If you can stand it you are welcome to take a shower here." After some rest, we walked with Tom to an Afghan restaurant, and there we met Marion of the Palo Alto Meeting Unity with Nature Committee. After dinner we walked to the Palo Alto Friends Meetinghouse and gave our presentation. We then caught a ride back to Will's house for the night. In the morning, after we had enjoyed breakfast and good conversation with Will, Bill Kirkpatrick of the San Jose Meeting arrived and we headed off for a 20-mile day. We had met Bill and his wife Anna almost two years ago at the FGC Gathering in Tacoma, where we had participated in a Couples Enrichment workshop. Bill was our guide for the day, and we detoured through a scenic "Baylands Path." The patch connected fresh and salt water ponds and lots of marshes, and we could see many wonderful birds of all ilks. We took special pleasure in viewing a male Anna's Hummingbird, which perched on a branch near the path at just the right angle to catch the morning sunlight and display its breathtaking magenta plumage. The 5.2 miles of bay walking took most of the morning since we could hardly take two steps without stopping to gawk at birds (see photo). So, by lunch time we had only walked about 8 miles and still had 12 to go. At lunch we met with Melissa Hippard, the executive director of the Loma Prieta chapter of the Sierra Club which includes San Mateo, Santa Clara, and San Benito counties. We shared the frustrations and hopes of the kind of work we were engaged in. We found strong agreement on the point that we must find ways to project a positive message in our environmental witness. We then began our urban walk to Santa Clara, near the border of San Jose. Bill was a fun and upbeat person to walk with, and our chatter and laughter helped make a long day go by easier. Louis was happy that Bill happily volunteered to push the cart more than half the time. By the time we got to Bill and Anna's home we were pretty darn beat. We plopped ourselves on the couches while poor Bill soldiered on to fix a delicious dinner. We made lame offers to help, but we're relieved when he declined. Ivy Iverson, our San Jose contact, arrived for dinner, and soon Anna got home from work and we had a great time together. However, soon after dessert, our eyes were drooping, and we excused ourselves to fall into bed for a long night's sleep. The next day was a rest day until our presentation at San Jose Friends Meeting. We caught up on computer work and explored San Jose with Bill (while Anna took a bike ride). Louis did some home energy conservation consultation with Bill and Anna, which gives him much satisfaction. In the evening we walked to San Jose Meeting, whose meetinghouse is the oldest in California. We could feel the spirit of Hannah and Joe Bean who founded the Meeting (which later became part of the College Park Association, a distinct branch of Quakers), and of Rufus Jose, a well known early 20th-century Quaker theologian and writer who spoke there a number of times while he was a lecturer in religious studies at Stanford University. After an abundant and creative potluck dinner we gave our presentation which was followed by an inspiring discussion. &nbsp; Ivy Iverson, our San Jose contact, had filled our schedule thoroughly. On Sunday morning we enjoyed a breakfast potluck and presentation by Friend Jamie McLeod, an environmental planner for the County of Santa Clara Water Department and a member of the Santa Clara City Council who gave an impressive talk about the sustainability initiatives to use clean energy that Santa Clara is doing and her role in that. &nbsp; After worship, a large group of San Jose Friends joined us to walk on the Los Gatos River recreation path to Anna Lanborn's home for a potluck lunch. Anna is an artist and has been part of a Northwest Earth Institute discussion group. During lunch, an Iranian man, Ali Moayedian, and his son Zaul joined the group to interview us about our mission for his website about peace. www.payvand.com/news/peace.html (payvand mean unity in Farsi). We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them! &nbsp; After lunch, some walkers turned back, but a handful forged ahead with us on a well-used recreation path to reach a rendezvous place near a beautiful reservoir that would coincide with the 900-mile of our journey. We commandeered a passer-by to photograph the historic moment. &nbsp; We were then driven over a <i>very pedestrian-unfriendly two miles of winding mountain roads to the Presentation Center, which is run by a Catholic order called the Presentation Sisters. The order has focused on education over many decades. The sister have come to understand that their spiritual calling includes caring for the earth and teaching people about Earthcare as a sacred duty. They purchased the buildings and grounds of a former boys school. Recently they invested much time and money in building a gold LEED certified facility and now proudly lead "green" tours. Sister Pat Marie Mulpeters gave us a brief tour that afternoon, and after settling into our room we headed off to dinner at Ivy's home at the Las Cumbres Community. We were joined by Ann, also of San Jose Friends. Ivy had built her home in the 80s as a small energy-efficient model with an incredible view of the Monterey Bay. &nbsp; The next morning we enjoyed breakfasting with the five sisters who live at the Presentation Center, and then Pat Marie gave us a more thorough tour. When we parted we walked the nature trail, thoroughly in awe of the beautiful costal redwoods and ruggedly beautiful terrain. Ivy then gave us a ride toward Boulder Creek over some more dangerous winding roads until we felt that the shoulders were reasonably walker-friendly. After walking a couple of miles into Boulder Creek, we settled into the local library, where Louis worked on the QEW website for a few hours. After lunch we caught a bus to Ben Lomond and trudged up the steep winding road to Quaker Center. &nbsp; Lenore Diane, our Santa Cruz contact, joined us on the road for the last part of the walk to Quaker Center. At the office, we were introduced to Tristan, an intern who offered to accompany us to our cabin. We also met Greta Stone, a co-director with her husband Jacob, of Quaker Center and agreed on a time to join them in a potluck dinner. &nbsp; Dinner discussion that evening at Greta and Jacob's was stimulating. The group included two Alaska Friends who were visiting Greta and Jacob. Others in the group were Jeff and Kathy Richman, who would host us several days later, Lenore, Tristan, and David and his children (who had to leave early). After feeling that enough attention had been paid to us, Ruah suggested that each person share what they thought was the most pressing problem of the day. The answers included, but weren't limited to: population pressure on the planet, the Irag war, the economic system, and meat-eating (from the perspective of our indifference to the suffering of sentient beings). &nbsp; After the discussion, Jeff and Lenore came to our cabin and we labored together for several hours to chart our route from Ben Lomond to Santa Cruz and then on to Monterey. We hadn't imagined there would be so many choices and unknowns. Below we are including two emails we received from Lenore which will give you a flavor of the decisions we faced (and the humor): From Lenore before we arrived at Ben Lomond: <i> I hope you and Louis are doing well.&nbsp; I have a few strange questions as I am tying up the details for your stay in Santa Cruz County.&nbsp; Before I pose the questions, I'll give you background info. to set the stage.&nbsp; I hope this is clear: <i> You are entering a territory of rivers and tides - two rivers in particular:&nbsp; the Pajaro River and the Salinas River.&nbsp; You have to get over them. There are bridges farther inland in the cities (small cities) but we are counting on the weather to remain good, therefore, you will be several miles from the cities.&nbsp; You will be at the ocean and will have to cross at the ocean, maybe.&nbsp;&nbsp; (When you get here we will set some time aside so I can go over the maps and territory with you.&nbsp; There are options.) These are the possible scenarios listed randomly: <i> 1.&nbsp; The Pajaro River is the first river you have to cross.&nbsp; At present, I have your staying at the Sunset Beach campground.&nbsp; Crossing the river is do-able.&nbsp; The tide is low a bit after 10AM and you will be camping about 3 miles north of the river.&nbsp; Therefore, you will need to get an early start to get to the river by 10.&nbsp; The catch is that you will have to wade through the river!&nbsp; I don't know if you like surprises so I decided to let you know now.&nbsp; The up side to this is that the water will probably not be higher than your calves.&nbsp; This is the most direct way to get across the river if you want to walk along the shore and camp out.&nbsp; <i> 1a. If you don't want to do this, then you will need to walk some miles inland and it will change your course, taking you away from the ocean. <i> 2. The Salinas river is a different story. This is going to sound a bit far out, but hey, this is Santa Cruz.... The shortest way to cross the Salinas River is to wade through it near the ocean because you will be on the beach.&nbsp; The down side is that it will be closer to high tide, although not there yet, when you arrive and well, the water may be up to your chest, depending on how tall you are, or there about!&nbsp;&nbsp; The reason for this is because the area "Moss Landing" and several miles before and after between Sunset Beach and Marina has practically no place to stay overnight and there aren't any Friends for miles in either direction.&nbsp; A Friend, Jeff, scouted it out for me yesterday and passed through it four times.&nbsp; He is a reliable person, clerk of the Live Oak preparetive meeting.&nbsp; He is not only willing to meet you and do this with you, he is happy to cross the river with you.&nbsp; The water may be up to anywhere from your waist to your chest.&nbsp; He is even willing to carry your backpacks over his head to keep them dry for you, if necessary.&nbsp; Sounds a bit nuts, maybe, depending on who you are.&nbsp; The up side is that this area is not very populated and there will probably be nobody around.&nbsp; You can take your clothing off and do it aux-natural.&nbsp; I imagine, however, it will be more than delightfully refreshing - probably dern cold!&nbsp; It would be for about 40 yards, I think or feet, I'm not sure. But it isn't a huge crossing.&nbsp; And, you will probably do it as fast as you can!&nbsp; But then again, you're from Vermont.&nbsp; The water may feel warm to you, maybe. And here is an email from Lenore to Jeff after we left Santa Cruz which gives you another flavor of all the work and fun people have when helping us: <i> Ohlone Otter??&nbsp; Hmmm, ok, I can do this.... <i> Earthwalk Coordinator to Ohlone Otter: come in Ohlone Otter, come in.&nbsp; Bogies are on the sand. Ohlone Otter I have located 22 Via Buena Vista, Monterey.&nbsp; Two humanoids are inhabiting the area - Jasters.&nbsp; One is "Shirley"&nbsp; the other is "Robert", female and male respectively.&nbsp; It appears they have some technology in their possession.&nbsp; I've discerned a telephone: (831)641-9337.&nbsp; I have communicated with the female.&nbsp; She articulates well in English.&nbsp; She stated she and the male live in this location.&nbsp; It is off of Pacific Street which goes straight to the warf.&nbsp; I google earthed it and it appears that the Bogies may be able to pick it up from the bike path and walk about 2 miles up Pacific and turn on Via Buena Vista.&nbsp; It looks like a leading straight to a meeting. John Woolman could do it.&nbsp; Double check this and then deliver the names, number and address to Bogies after they land on your terrain. <i> Made contact with Watsonville agent.&nbsp; Affirmed successful rendevous and delivery of Sal.&nbsp; Watsonville agent is aware of inventory and saw it on Sal. Good job Ohlone Otter.&nbsp; Repeat: good job.&nbsp;&nbsp; Will go over inventory with Monterey humanoid Jaster.&nbsp; Inform Bogies: Earthpeace coordinator will email inventory to Monterey humanoids - Top Secret delivery of Sal running smoothely.&nbsp; Thanks Ohlone Otter. 10/4. Over and out.&nbsp; <i> Earthpeace Coordinator We had decided to temporarily give up "Sal," our cart, for the trek from Ben Lomond to Monterey since much of our walking would be on sand. We sorted and rearranged our gear to be able to carry our camping equipment, food, and minimal clothing in our backpacks, including one small front pack for Louis. Sal and various bundles of equipment would be taken ahead by relay and would be waiting for us in Monterey. &nbsp; Walking mostly downhill into Santa Cruz without "Sal" was easy and uneventful. Our next host, Marjorie Swan, was another long-time Quaker activist who awed us with stories of a life of service to peace and social justice. We're always amazed when people like Marjorie are excited to meet us! It was soon time to be driven to Santa Cruz Meeting for a great potluck and our presentation. &nbsp; In the morning we were treated to omelets and fresh fruits and vegetables prepared by Marjorie and her live-in assistant, Graciela Laake. Even with Marjorie's difficulty with walking, we were honored when she announced her determination to walk with us for several blocks. Graciela continued with us for a couple more miles and acted as guide through the maze of bay-front streets in Santa Cruz. We were excited to see our first ocean waves and surf-boarders of the trip. We also enjoyed coming to know Graciela, including her stories about living in a kibbutz in Israel for several years before moving to the U.S. &nbsp; All along the way that day we were constantly being stopped by passers-by who either had heard of us or were drawn by our flag and sign. We had more encounters per hour than ever before, and we thought of how this contrasted to our walk through San Francisco, where hardly anyone had paid attention to us. &nbsp; In Capitola a group of school children in a beach-front park started asking questions about our mission and got very excited about what we were doing. While one young girl showed us her peace medallion that she always wears, others were taking photos of us with their cell phones. We then suggested a group photo, telling them it would be on our blog. They enthusiastically arranged themselves around us. This kind of excitement gives us hope for a future generation that will genuinely care about peace, justice, and Earthcare. THANKS TO YOU, YOUNG PEOPLE OF CAPITOLA! &nbsp; Soon after parting from Graciela, we were joined by Ken Foster, whom we had met the night before at our presentation at Santa Cruz Friends Meeting. We learned that Ken's parents had founded the Meeting. Ken has a landscaping business which focuses on ecological design. He was riding a sophisticated recumbent bicycle, which he locked up a railing along the sea wall in order to walk with us. We loved hearing his stories of his politically active parents (who had also founded the Santa Cruz Friends Meeting) and later were delighted&nbsp; to encounter his brother, David, in Capitola where David works for the city. After a pizza lunch by the sea wall, we took a few photos, said our good-byes to Ken and David, then headed towards the beach for our planned walk along the shore of Monterey Bay. &nbsp; At New Brighton Beach our written directions from Lenore told us to begin walking on the hard-packed sand along the water's edge. Ruah was glad to have her sandals with her and she felt like a real Californian. We slathered on sun screen in anticipation of strong afternoon's exposure. The sun was bright and the water glistened as we enjoyed the roar of the waves. &nbsp; We kept remarking about the audacity of the people who had built so many gigantic homes as close to the water as they could, risking damage from storms and erosion and slides. We couldn't imagine how most of them could even obtain insurance in such a precarious location. As we left the developed areas, we began to walk along where there were cliffs on our left and ocean to our right. We anticipated that some of the shore birds would be new to us, and we excitedly got out our binoculars and bird book. We also saw signs and roped off areas where nesting site of Snowy Plovers were being protected. There weren't many other people on the beach, and we felt like we were in paradise. We were also pleased to see how litter-free the beach was. At Aptos, Louis was interested to see a beached cement ship that has been a local landmark for the past 80 or so years or so. (Later he did a web search to find out more about its fascinating history.) &nbsp; Although the sand was fairly hard, it was still more of a challenge to walk on it since our feet lost traction as they made depresssions, and continually walking on a&nbsp; slope put extra stress on our joints and muscles. Louis was carrying somewhat more weight in his two packs than he had been carrying when the cart was part of our entourage. So we were pretty darned tired by the time we reached our campsite at Sunset State Beach. Emelyn Buskirk of Live Oak Preparative Meeting came to the campground with delicious lentil soup for our dinner. Her birthday was to be the next day and she wanted to spend it with us, so we made arrangements to meet again for lunch. We then set up camp, made our dinner, sat by the campfire, and dropped off to sleep. &nbsp; We had to get started the next morning in time to get to our first river crossing by low tide, since it would be impossible to cross with higher water. It had rained during the night and some of our things were damp in the morning. But Louis made a nice fire and we enjoyed our hot drinks and oatmeal. After breaking camp we climbed over some dunes and down to the beach again to head out. At low tide, the Pajaro River is about 25 feet wide. Ruah started to cross first, picking a spot that looked the least turbulent. Then she let out a big "Ohhh!!!" as her feet sank into the bottom almost like she was in quicksand. The water, which we had been told would be only ankle high, reached up to her knees. The current was somewhat strong and she worked hard to keep her balance. Once Ruah was across, Louis began to ready himself for the crossing by removing his shoes and rolling up his pants. Just then, Ruah received a phone call from Jeff, who had scoped out our crossing a week and a half before. He explained that the shallowest crossing would be where the river and the ocean waves met. This advice came too late to help Ruah, but she relayed Jeff's instructions to Louis over the noise of the surf, and he was able to cross without much difficulty. &nbsp; We were feeling very accomplished after this experience when we spotted Emelyn walking towards us. We enjoyed the rest of day at Moss Landing, having lunch, birding, and watching sea lions and otters at play. We were fascinated to see a group of some 90 sea lions that had taken over a floating dock as a siesta haven. We also delighted in watching the many otters floating on their backs while snoozing or eating what they caught while diving. There were many Surf Scoters in the harbor, as well as in the waves. We felt privileged that Emelyn wanted to spend her birthday with us. &nbsp; While entering a café, we met up with a remarkable traveler. Joff Summerfield, a young Englishman, who had begun riding his velocipede bicycle (one of those old-fashioned types that have the very large front wheel and a really tiny back wheel) from London in 2006. He was talking with two other bicyclists that he had just met when we took the opportunity to have our photo taken with them. He had a bright spirit and had already crossed Europe and Asia and had just landed in San Francisco with the plan to pedal south to San Luis Obispo over the same route we will soon be traveling before he heads for New York City. Louis was particularly interested in the ways that Joff had adapted his bicycle to carry his travel gear. Joff also talked about his repairs along the way, and we appreciated how very resourceful he had to be to accomplish such a feat. You can read more about him at www.pennyfarthingworldtour.com. &nbsp;In the late afternoon we caught a bus to Salinas. Per our instructions, we found that Jeff was returning home from work on the same bus, and we would accompany him to his home in Salinas. This city is the hometown of John Steinbeck, and there are many memorials there to his writings and life. On the bus ride we passed through Castroville, which is the "Artichoke Capital of the World." In Salinas we spent a memorable evening with him and Kathy, feasting on great food and then singing into the night with Jeff's great guitar playing and knowledge of countless oldies by the Beetles, Simon &amp; Garfunkle, and others. We were sorry that we had to turn in fairly early since we knew our big day lay ahead. &nbsp; In the morning Jeff and we were to meet up with Graciela and her friend, Tim Kensit, back at Moss Landing. They were eager to help us with another a big crossing where the Salinas River enters Monterey Bay, and we were happy to have an extra couple of people with us. It was important to reach the river at high noon to take advantage of the easier crossing conditions at low tide. We encountered some fairly walking conditions, due to softer sand, which challenged all of us to keep up a good pace to reach our goal in time. But we did it! We got there at 12:05 p.m. Nevertheless, we were concerned to see such a strong current, even if the water wasn't expected to be very deep. Jeff, our fearless guide, agreed to go first to gauge the depth and strength of current. We could see he was struggling to stay upright, but he with danced with glee as he reached the other side. He then took off his pack and left his shoes to return to assist Ruah. (We had put on bathing suits that morning, not wanting to cross naked as Lenore had suggested.) Ruah gave her backpack to Jeff and struck out for the far shore, wavering in the strong current and feeling at times like she was going to be swept out to sea. &nbsp; Graciela went next, with Jeff's assistance. Tim followed, while Ruah stood taking photos and cheering folks on. Louis was the last one to cross. Tim had taken Louis's smaller front pack, and Louis continued with his heavier backpack. He too found it a struggle to get through the deepest part against such strong current, even with the assistance of his walking stick. Jeff quickly waded out to take Louis's hand and help him through the last several yards. Once Graciela and Tim had reached Ruah and Jeff and Louis were about to finish crossing, a rogue wave rushed over our packs and shoes and sundry items that supposedly had been left on dry land. Graciela, Tim, and Ruah scampered to save things from being washed out to sea. They were laughing so hard while trying to keep things dry that when all the items of gear had been picked up and taken to higher ground the group of us fell to the sand in elated exhaustion. We cheered our bravery and had lunch and many toasts. &nbsp; During the day's walk Graciela and Jeff had fun signing Argentinian folk songs (Graciela grew up in Argentina and Jeff has family there.) The hours passed very quickly as we shared deeply about past experiences and we also took time to appreciate the stunningly beautiful landscape and seascape we were walking through. We were quite surprised to found how few other people were using the beach, and most of the day we had it all to ourselves. There were just a few fishermen and some hang-gliders and beach combers as we neared the state park near the town of Marina. At one point, Tim and Graciela climbed a dune and motioned to the rest of us to climb up so that we could all appreciate an especially beautiful view of dune land vegetation colors and shapes of the dunes. &nbsp; We kept talking about our adventure for the rest of the day's beach walk into Marina where we were to spend the night and part from our fellow musketeers. We celebrated our parting with a mini-feast of crackers, avocados, smoked oysters, and oranges. Then we made the decision to stay in a motel instead of an RV park, since we needed to dry our things out and there was rain expected that night. We kept reflecting on what a wonderful day it had been, even up to the point where we fell asleep from exhaustion. &nbsp; After breakfast the next morning we found the recreation path that goes from Marina to Pacific Grove (which is just beyond Monterey). We met up with Jeff and Kathy, who walked into Monterey with us, with a stopover for coffee along the way. Although the day started with the threat of rain, we were once again lucky to avoid any downpours and even had the sun peeking out at times. We really enjoyed our time with Kathy and Jeff and again felt like we were with kindred spirits. Before parting, we posed for a group picture at Dennis the Menace Park in Monterey because it was a memorable spot for Louis. When he was about 15 years old he and his mother had visited relatives in Monterey for several days and he remembered having fun sailing in a small boat in the park. &nbsp; We arrived at the home of Shirley and Bob Jaster in mid-afternoon and began once again getting to know our new hosts. Bob is an expert on the USSR, Russia, and South Africa and has written several books about the issues in those countries. One book was co-authored by Bob and Shirley. We are aware of the many gifts of new people in our lives and enjoy all these encounters. It was a relief to be reunited with "Sal" and our computer once again. We needed to spend a lot of time on our blog since we hadn't had our computer since leaving Ben Lomond. Shirley made us a delicious dinner and after some time of sharing we were back at the blog writing. &nbsp; Sunday we worshiped with Monterey Peninsula Friends Meeting and returned to the Jasters' house for a scrumptious potluck lunch before giving our presentation at the local library. People from the community came as well as local Friends. Our presentation and our walk prompted a goodly amount of discussion and questions. We are now preparing for our next adventure and look forward to the beauty of the Big Sur Coastline. We hope you are all continuing to enjoy our entries and we love hearing from you. Blessings, Ruah and Louis &nbsp; &nbsp;
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1203906960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1203906960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1203906960/tpod.html Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:59:03 -0400 November 2007 to April 2008, from Vancouver to San Diego, Ruah Swennerfelt and Louis Cox walk, in the style of John Woolman, to talk with Quakers about integrating peace, justice, and Earthcare.

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Santa Rosa, California, United States

We have now walked 780 miles, which works out to 1,681,680 steps, and have found over $17 in lost coins along the way. Spotted on a church marquee somewhere along the way: "A good example is twice as powerful as good advice." Our F/friend Tom Goodridge of Morningside Friends Meeting in New York City sent an e-mail with a host of questions about our personal feelings and experiences on our walk, which we though deserved answers for all of you. <i>I wonder about how you feel being nomads? So much of our consumption and sense of security seems to be bound up with making a safe and secure nest/home. <i>How does it feel to be heading each day into the unknown and spending each day on a new (or no) pillow? <i>It is clear from your accounts that this endless web of supportive hosts and supporters along the way become your net of nurture... <i>But that is so profoundly different than the safety, and continuity and control we exert over our homes. Y<i>you've spoken a bit about your needs for privacy and days off to heal blisters or just be (without mileage) <i>but I would love to hear more details on these... Surprisingly, we don't have an insecurities about heading off into the unknown each day. In fact, we begin each day with a sense of optimism and excitement about what may happen. After each day's walk, we're so tuckered out and with sore leg muscles that we can sleep in any and all beds we're offered. We look forward to each encounter with new hosts and aren't really seeking the privacy of hotels or campgrounds, but just enjoy that alone time as it comes. A big part of the difference between our experience and a homeless person is that we are in a web of relationships based on receiving and giving. This walk is also an opportunity to grow in awareness that the earth is our home, a truth that is harder to come by when we are focused mainly on establishing and maintaining our individual domiciles. <i> How about your clothing and your shoes... how do you look at your wardrobe differently from when you were at home and selected your attire on a very different basis? <i>What is important now ( weatherproof gear or socks or headgear) how do you look at these&nbsp; differently from your pre- nomadic days.. <i> Someone recently asked us whether we were tired of our clothes. Funny thing is, we're not! We're okay getting into pretty much the same outfit each day. We just have to work out washing the clothes on a periodic basis. We wash our underwear and socks by hand almost every night and accept the offer of a washer and dryer when our pants and shirts need cleaning. We're probably pretty relaxed about what we think is clean or not. We each have two outfits, doubles of everything. We're both now thinking of reducing our clothing collections at home when we return. <i>How about health and hygiene...what food sustains thee? What about elimination?&nbsp; Isn't it hard to deal with a new bathroom every night... <i>What do you need as a minimum to travel with... toothbrush soap toiletries,,, you are in a sense field testing products--what has passed the test? Since we have access to bathrooms every night, hygiene isn't a problem. We tend to shower every other morning. We're taking daily vitamins and extra vitamin c to help keep us healthy. Since we're exercising so much our elimination is regular, and we aren't affected by being in a different bathroom each night. The personal products are the same we use at home, just in smaller quantities. <i>You are also reviving a Quaker practice of traveling ministers....&nbsp; <i>How is it to come to new settlements and new folks each day and to be able to minister to them..? H<i>ow is it to face a new "audience" each day with the same message and how many have the message? <i>How has your message changed as you walk it as well as talk it? Our "message" comes naturally. It's just an extension of our lives and commitments. When we arrive at a new host home we get to know our hosts in the way most people do. We find out about children, work, faith, etc. The discussion deepens as we share. Some hosts are a bit uptight at first that we will discover their "sins" of not recycling everthing, or using their car too much, or not eating local foods, but they soon discover that we're just regular folks and have our own failings. We're really not there to pass judgement or point fingers or minister to them. Once they get over this, we work at strengthening our new relationship. When we give our presentation we are presenting from our heart and the positive response reflects that. We don't judge the participants. Since we started our pilgrimage, our presentation seems to be coming more naturally from our experiences. We laugh at our goofs and kind of resonate with the conversation following the presentation. <i>One other thought was how the nomadic life affected your relationship.&nbsp; I loved it when you expressed appreciation for getting the cart fixed just so you wouldn't have to hear anymore about it....&nbsp; Does the nomadic life wear on you both differently.... do your different strengths become even more apparent and appreciated since you've only each other and the path.... <i>Oops there's another potenial theme... the spiritual life as a path or journey.... How is your spiritual life affected by not having the sanctuary of your home or the solace of daily rhythms rituals? Since we work together, play together, and homestead together in our regular life, we already have the experience of spending an enormous amount of time together. We know that our relationship is being strengthened by our pilgrimage. Our relationship is the familiarity which helps us feel at home no matter where we are. Sometimes our rhythms rub against one another, but never for more than a few moments. We have such respect and love for each other that the small things don't affect our caring. Our home is not our spiritual sanctuary, though we do feel a deep sense of place on the land where we live. Our spiritual enrichment comes from the every day functions, from the love of family and F/friends, and from the beauty of the earth. Thank you Tom, for your curiosity and caring questions. We'll now turn back to our walk experiences: We were delighted to be worshiping with Grass Valley Friends again and were happy to see old Friends. Harry Bailey, our Grass Valley contact, did such an outstanding job with maps and details for our walk to Sacramento. He even indicated on the maps where there were restaurants, quick stops, portable toilets, gas stations, and dangerous stretches of road. We are very grateful to his hard work on our behalf. All 12 of the Wool man Semester students attended our presentation at Sierra Friends Center, which swelled the attendance to about 50. One young woman was willing to partake in our interview process but the query was different. We asked her what she wanted of the elders for a better future. We've included her interview even though her comments were a surprise to us. We spent Sunday night with Mary and Gordon Starr, who live in Applegate. We again had so much in common that we felt like old friends right away. Gordon is a life-long Quaker and it was great hearing some of his stories of growing up with activist parents. Gordon and Mary are in the process of looking for community in some way or another, and we explored what that meant to them. The meals were terrific and we felt well cared for. It really was a great evening and morning and it was hard saying goodbye. Our 16-mile walk the next day to Newcastle was spectacular. The weather was in the low 60s and the sun was out. Ruah changed to her sandals, and we both took off our vests. It was mostly downhill, with only a few small hills to get over. There were places to stop and rest all along the way and plenty of spots to look at birds. How much more perfect could it be? Our hosts for the evening, Stuart and Jennifer Smith of Grass Valley Friends, gave us lots of space to rest and work on our computer, fed us wonderfully, and shared some of their dreams and plans of doing energy-efficient renovations to their house that Stuart grew up in. They are both teachers, and so the next morning they were off early, and we followed shortly thereafter. The next day was a planned 17-1/2 mile day, and we were met by our next hosts, Paul and Judy McClish at our lunch break. Judy drove much of our heavier gear on ahead and left Paul with us to walk the remaining seven miles. We felt so light not having our backpacks weighing us down! We continued with the stripped-down cart (i.e., minus the tent and various equipment) and the Earth flag, since they are good visuals of our purposed walk. Paul and Judy attend the Sacramento Friends Community Church (affiliated with Southwestern Yearly Meeting Evangelical), and we learned much from Paul about their pastor's good works in the congregation. He leads "Quakerism 101" courses and emphasizes the Friends Testimonies as guides for right living. The fifth Sunday every month is open (unprogrammed) worship. We really enjoyed getting to know Paul and appreciate what a thoughtful man he is. We then appreciated our evening with Paul and Judy and took the fun photo of finally being in the land of palm trees, orange groves, and sunshine. Judy's soup and salad were the perfect meal for the end of our day. The next morning Paul walked for about the first five miles with us. We knew we'd be seeing both of them that evening at the church event, so goodbyes weren't necessary yet. We were met at lunch time by our next host, Robin Aurelius, and Laurie, both of the Sacramento Friends Community Church. They walked the last five miles with us and we so enjoyed our time with them. Once again we were amazed at how close we felt with Robin and Laurie over the several hours of walking with them. At Robin's we were warmly met by Mary McGrath, Robin's wife, and after a short rest they took us to the church for the evening's potluck and presentation. There was a good turnout, and we were well received. We were pleased to see Jim Healton, the pastor, once again. He had given the Bible reflection at a QEW annual meeting about five years ago. There were a few people from the Sacramento Friends Meeting there, and all were pleased to have this opportunity to have a chance to be together. We spent two nights with Robin and Mary, with a day of rest and catch up in between. On our second night they invited us to come with them to visit their son Matt and plan Scrabble. We never pass up a chance to play Scrabble so happily climbed into their car and headed out. Their son had been hit by a car when he was ten years old (he's now about 40), leaving him with a sever head injury, so that he now is a hemiplegic, with full use of only one side of his body. We were very impressed with Matt's artistic works, which were on display throughout his apartment. It was so good we felt he should have his work in a gallery. We were touched by the opportunity to share in a host family's personal life in this way. Mary and Robin are also very creative people through story telling and music and are community activists as well. The next day we walked with our full gear to Claudia Kirkpatrick's home. Claudia was our Sacramento Meeting contact, and it was great to be with her. We enjoyed an afternoon visiting and snacking citrus fruits from her heavily-loaded backyard trees. We began to ponder whether folks in California have the same problem with citrus fruits as we in the east have with zucchinis. In the east some people know to lock their doors in the fall for fear of having an unwanted "gift" basket of zucchini delivered when away. When we arrived with Claudia at the Sacremento Friends Meeting for a "100-mile potluck" we noticed a box of lemons on the floor with a sign saying, "please take as many as you want," confirming our ponderings. A delight in arriving at the Meetinghouse was the banner hanging outside welcoming us! (see photo) The conversation following our presentation that night was full-ranged and exciting. On this evening a few people from the church attended who hadn't been able to attend when we were there. Again we were told how much they appreciated the chance to engage with the "cousins" in the Quaker family. And, incidentally, for the second time on this trip we found someone who claimed ancestry going back to the family of John Woolman. When the evening was over our next hosts, Jim and Kristy Updergraff, drove us to their home. We had a short time with them, but enjoyed coming to know them. Kristy is a birthright Friend and Jim traces his Quaker roots back more than 300 years. As proof he showed us a copy of a letter of protest against slavery written by Germantown, Pennsylvania Friends in 1688 and signed by Updergraffs. In the morning there was a breakfast at the Meeting, followed by worship. Then we commenced that day's walk to Davis with some Friends from the Meeting. Folks turned back at various points along the way, and Claudia hung in there until we crossed the Sacramento River. We are very grateful to Claudia for her good care and for her and Robin's mapping out our walk to Santa Rosa. It was a sunny and warm day, and we had a nice little picnic along the way. Just as we were about to approach a bike/recreation path, we were greeted by a woman on a bicycle. This turned out to be Margaret Eldred, our Davis host. She was concerned about our progress and was checking up on us. We agreed that due to the late start in Sacramento we would complete another four miles on the path, which crosses a massive wetland on a causeway. Her husband, Bob, then picked us up, allowing us to complete 16 miles of walking. As a special treat, Bob took us on a detour to a wildlife area, where we were thrilled to see Burrowing Owls and Black Phoebes for the first time. Bob and Margaret are retired from teaching at UC Davis, and they had invited some of their friends over for dinner that evening. It was a total success with stimulating conversation and great people. This was a situation where a Quaker host could not be found in Davis but through some mutual acquaintances a place was found. We felt so lucky that there's this network of people who are willing to host us. Kindred spirits abound all over the place! Margaret and Bob walked us out of Davis the next morning and sent us on our way towards Winters. Again our day was absolutely beautiful, with sunshine and warmth and blossoming almond trees. We found a little spot for lunch. In the early afternoon, a car pulled over in front of us, and we were greeted by Allan MacLeod, who had been present at our Sacramento Friends Meeting event. He was on his way to the same home we were walking towards, to take part in a practice session for some local musicians. He offered a ride, which we declined, but we accepted a ride for some of our gear. We felt like we could fly, we were so light! Walking into Carol and Dick Holdstock's home was a delight. There were about a dozen musicians (including&nbsp; Claudia, our Sacramento contact, who had arranged this host site) practicing Irish folk tunes for a gig on St. Patrick's Day. Instead of excusing ourselves for our usual nap time, we were totally engrossed in the music. We thought how wonderful it would be to always be greeted at home stays with such wonderful music. After dinner out with the crowd, some of the musicians returned with us to Carol and Dick's to jam for the evening (see video).&nbsp; Dick and Allan have been performing together for many years and they gave us their most recent CD of English and Scottish traditional songs.. They have terrific voices and spirits.We loved the music and the company. How can our hearts grow anymore! The next morning, after breakfast, Carol and Dick give us a lift part of the way to Napa to get us past what we all thought was basically an unsafe section of the route, consisting of twisting, narrow mountain roads with narrow or non-existent shoulders. After being dropped off, we started off hoping at each bend in the road that we were coming to the end of the dangerous section. Instead we walked about seven miles of more mostly unsafe routing, with steep hills, narrow shoulders, and curves with poor visibility. At times our only way to decide whether it was safe to venture around a blind curve was to stop and listen for the sounds of cars coming before scurrying ahead with our bright-colored warning flags flying. We felt very vulnerable at times, and our nerves were quite frayed by the time we reached town. Louis called this day the longest 11-mile day we've experienced. At one point we were taking a break where a group of bicyclists had stopped, and we heard one of them comment that he felt the route was so that he would never come that way again. In spite of these conditions, we were also in awe of the beauty that surrounded us and we found an exquisite overlook for our lunch.Once we headed down into the Napa Valley we began to see all the vineyards for which this place is famous. In Napa, after one night in a hotel, we stayed with Joe and Diana Wilcox who are part of the Napa-Sonama Friends Meeting. They graciously offered their home though it was on short notice once we realized we'd be walking through Napa on our way to Santa Rosa and then walking back the same way for our presentation in Napa. Joe is a resource person for high schools and Diana is a reading specialist mostly in a high school but sometimes in elementary schools as well. Diana cooked an incredible meal which was visually very pleasing as well. We felt very at ease talking with them and look forward to seeing them again when we return. The next morning's walk to Sonoma turned out to be a bit scary. We've decided that the California drivers are the worst of our trip. They drive very fast and often wander over the white line of the shoulder area, oblivious to the possibility that a cyclists or pedestrian may be needing that space. We kept motioning them back inside their lanes with the flag and our hands. At one point Ruah began to wonder wether we should even continue our walk in California! She mused that we could take public transportation to each of our host sites instead. But then we turned off the narrow but busy road and felt a bit calmer with less traffic (though the driving wasn't any better). When checking into our hotel in Sonoma, a woman approached and said she had done several long walks some 20 years before to promote peace between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union. She was running some errands but had seen us walking and asked us to call her when we were settled. Louis called her and after both of us had talked with her she offered to host us when we walked back through Sonoma on our way to Napa. This was a relief since we were in a pretty pricey area and needed to conserve our funds. The rolling hills of the vineyards are exquisite as were the sky and sun and colors that surrounded us.That brings us to another miracle of this trip. The contributions we receive at each presentation and from various contributors who send money to our Friends Meeting have been just sufficient so far for us to keep going without using our personal funds! There are many blessings to be thankful for.The next morning we headed for Oakmont. We were given directions that appeared to be better for walkers because they took us off the main highway. However, after about an hour of of uneventful walking we found ourselves on yet another twisty, narrow road with no walkable shoulders because of lots of erosion past the edge of the pavement. Also, lots of residents had left recycling bins at the ends of their driveways, which we often had to walk around. We were nervous at every turn, and the off-and-on rain made it even more hazardous because it reduced visibility for the drivers. At one point a man who had stopped to get his newspaper from the roadside box asked us about our purpose, and as we talked we learned that he was a third-generation inhabitant of the land. His grandfather had raised dairy cows, but his father had turned to outside work to support his family. He now was a vinter on the land, while his son, an agriculture student, raised organically grown vegetables that he sold through a farm stand .At the man's suggestion, we stopped at the next house to visit the son and see his beautiful organic gardens. He wimsically had placed two windows and a glass door as part of the fence surrounding the garden. He had broccoli, onions, and garlic growing in February, a wonderment to us.When we finally arrived at Dorothy Lucken's house (she's the mom of Claudia Kirkpatrick) it was almost time for the Democratic presidential candidates' debate, and so we drank our tea and watched our first debate. Dorothy has been a life-long hiker and has a delightful perkyness about her. She was so supportive of us and fed us and took care of us royally. We loved visiting with her.In the morning Barbara Moulton, our contact from Redwood Forest Friends Meeting in Santa Rosa, biked to Dorothy's house so that she could walk with us the five miles into town to her cohousing community. We found in Barbara someone who is very well informed on the issues that are dear to us, so the five miles whisked right by. Barbara had moved into Santa Rosa from a nearby rural community to lessen her carbon footprint by not needing to use her car as much. The Yulupa Cohousing Community is in the city and just a block from a whole foods market and other small businesses. We were very taken with the whimsical and colorful facade of the cohousing buildings and so we immediately stopped to take a photo to share with you. There are 29 residential units, another which has been split into a guest unit and an exercise room. The common space includes dining area, kitchen, and a wonderful, cozy library/movie room. We felt right at home. After settling into the guest room, we voted in the Vermont primary with absentee ballots that had been sent to us in care of Barbara, then went off to the post office to complete our good citizen rolls. We had relaxing afternoon and then Barbara and her friend Tom drove us to Friends House, a retirement community that was founded by the late Bob Schutz and his wife, Marie, who were also cofounders of Quaker Earthcare Witness about 20 years ago. We encountered many Friends we knew through QEW and Quaker circles during the dinner meal. We were also surprised and delighted to see Paul Burks, a Methodist, who for many years had been editor of <i>EarthLight Magazine, a "sister publication" of <i>BeFriending Creation. After dinner we gave our presentation to a packed audience of residents of Friends House, many of whom were not Friends. It was interesting to be speaking about simplifying lives as a necessary step to sustainability to a group of elderly people who have already simplified their lives quite a bit. So we geared our comments to things that all people can be doing regardless of their place in the cycle of life. They were very responsive, and the questions were showed they had been quite moved by what they heard. It was very poignant to hear from some quite elderly Friends who had appreciated and supported Quaker Earthcare Witness over the years.Saturday was a day of rest for us. Louis finished working on the newsletter, e-mailed it off to the printer, and then worked on updating the QEW website. Ruah read and relaxed on the rainy and windy day. Part of the day she spent with Barbara while uploading videos to the blog. This time was a gift in getting to know Barbara more and having fun together. In the early evening we and Barbara walked about a mile to a church where there was to be a showing of a video, followed by conversation with the film maker, on the issue of Christian love and Third World poverty. It included evocative footage from Tanzania and interviews with leading Christian authors and Tanzanian church leaders. We were touched by some of the interviews. When one person talked about our challenge to really see Christ in another's eyes ("the least of these"), it awakened much in Ruah. When we truly see Christ, or God, or Spirit. in all that lives, won't we act differently in our lives? How can we continue with "business as usual" when we know and feel the suffering of life on this planet? Louis thought that the film also raised some important population, consumption, and economic justice issues that have been addressed in various ways through QEW publications. One of the video's speakers recited the saying, "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for one day. If you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." Louis commented that this works in the long run only if you also teach him how to limit his family size. Because of population pressures, many Third World countries are running short of potable water, arable land, and other resources. On the other hand, the U.S., with its relatively low population density, can be considered one of the most overpopulated countries because of its extremely high per-capita consumption. People at the viewing generally agreed that inequality is being maintained not only by a shortage of compassion on the part of those who are privileged but also by national policies that institutionalize poverty and oppression.On the way home we stopped by the whole foods market for some deli items for an evening meal that we shared with Barbara in her apartment. We were feeling like we were old friends already.Sunday we attended worship at Redwood Forest Friends Meeting and followed it with our presentation. We were moved by the discussion following the presentation. One question, which had not been asked before but which is on many people's minds, is about how people retire who have been living simply. Can we live on social security income and be satisfied with medicare? Louis and I plan to live on two social security incomes, but what happens if, or when, one of us dies and we're left to live on one income? Are there ways that a Friends Meeting can be involved in aiding the elderly to at least get by regardless of their reduced income? We all need to ponder these questions as we try to simplfy our lives. We'd like to hear from others on this.We were delighted that our old F/friend Brian Lloyd, a member of Burlington Friends Meeting living in Santa Rosa, was present for the presentation. Later he came to the home of Andrea English and Tom Whiteman, our new hosts. We had a stimulating conversation on a range of topics with Brian, Tom, and Andrea and the afternoon sped by. We met Andrea and Tom in 2004 when we visited with the Eco-berries, a group of Strawberry Creek Friends Meeting in Berkeley, Calif. They have been supporters of QEW and we were appreciative of their offer to host us since we wanted to spend time with them. Since moving to Santa Rosa Tom has been dedicating much of his time to rehabilitating birds at the Bird Rescue Center. His stories of the various birds coming through the center were so fascinating. Andrea is busy with various committee work, but is working hard to find the still and quiet place in her life as a path toward spiritual simplicity. We had a wonderful evening with them. We were looking forward to the next morning when they would walk part of our day's journey with us.We leave you now and will post again next week when we are in San Francisco. Many blessings are sent your way as we enter the last two months of our pilgrimage.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1202625720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1202625720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1202625720/tpod.html Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:42:38 -0400 November 2007 to April 2008, from Vancouver to San Diego, Ruah Swennerfelt and Louis Cox walk, in the style of John Woolman, to talk with Quakers about integrating peace, justice, and Earthcare.

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Grass Valley, California, United States

At breakfast our first morning in California, we were joined by Doug Milhouse, our Redding walk coordinator. He had done an outstanding job of organizing our event in Redding and finding a route to Chico with hospitality all along the way. Unfortunately, he was teaching a class the night before and couldn't attend our presentation. He did join us for breakfast, and after we had said our goodbyes and thanks to the Morehouses for hosting us, Doug joined us on the first leg of the day's walk. Along the way, Nels Klaseen, a member of the Chico peace community, also joined us. He is now, we think, in his early fifties, has never owned a car, and gets around by bicycle. We four had a grand time talking and exploring ideas. At noon we were interviewed by a local newspaper reporter while having lunch in a small cafe.. Later that afternoon, we arrived at a designated pick-up spot and were greeted by Donna Deckert, our next host. Donna and her husband Andrew are physicians. She has a family practice and he works in public health. They had invited some friends over for dinner and conversation. It was a delightful group, with teenagers included. The next morning Donna drove us to a spot a few miles out of town to begin walking next to the Sacramento River. Although we had looked forward to walking in "sunny" California, the weather was rainy, breezy, and cool. We felt like we could have been back in Washington except for the palm trees in some people's yards and the open, rolling range land dotted with cattle and horses. As we walked along, the wind began to gust, and we remembered that Doug had expressed concern about sending us off into an impending storm. He had suggested that we forgo walking that day, but we looked at the weather forecast in the morning and it didn't seem particularly worrisome. The countryside was gorgeous. The road passed through a large state wildlife preserve bordering the Sacramento River. There were walnut farms, cattle ranches, and rolling green hills. As we walked, the wind kept picking up. More important to us, it was a head wind&nbsp; out of the south, making it increasingly harder for us to walk. We rejoiced each time the road curved&nbsp; or dipped and brought us to relatively sheltered places. We enjoyed a half-way pleasant lunch break in a little hollow beside a beautiful waterfall. But things changed for the worse after lunch. As the road rose steeply out of the hollow and turned us back into the wind, we were met with gale-force blasts crossing an open plateau that almost knocked us off our feet. It took both of us pulling the cart to make any kind of headway, but there was no place to go but forward. After about a mile of this treatment, we entered a forested area that gave us a slight reprieve from the wind. Even then we were able to maintain only half our normal speed and we were getting exhausted. We imagined that people would be worried and calling to check on us, but we couldn't have used our cell phone because of the roaring of the wind. (Anyone who has been on Cape Hatteras on the Outer Banks of North Carolina would know what we are talking about.) Just as we were feeling a bit discouraged about making it to our evening presentation on time, a man drove up in a pickup truck and asked, "Are you Louis and Ruah?" It was Bruce Gray of Red Bluff, our next host. He asked whether we had "proved our point" by then and were ready to be driven to warmth and comfort. We appreciated his concern, which had led him to take his lunch hour to find us and make sure we were okay. We figured we were still good for a few more miles, but we accepted his offer partly because we needed to be rested for the evening presentation. We were greeted by Bruce's wife, Lia, who had come home from work also worried about us. Not long after, Doug Milhouse called to check and see if we were okay. We were humbled by the loving care of so many people. Bruce and Lia are members of the local Methodist church. After some rest and a delicious dinner, we headed to the home of Kathleen Smith, a pastor of a nearby Methodist church, where a group of people involved with the Peace &amp; Justice Organization of Red Bluff were present to talk with us. The group showed a great appreciation for what we had to say and evidenced a strong grasp of current social and environmental issues. We admired their courage in maintaining a public peace witness in a fairly "conservative" community. One important effort of theirs has been to appeal a ruling which would have allowed a medical-waste incinerator to be built in Red Bluff. So far they have won an appeal, but the legal skirmishing continues. We wish them well in this endeavor. The next morning Lia drove us to our starting point, Red Bluff Park, a few miles north of town. This park is dedicated to "peace and diversity--a sacred park that invites people of all backgrounds and beliefs to come together in celebration of our common humanity" (quoted from a brochure). The park was opened in June 2007, financed and cared for by Pangea World Community. It will eventually have a community room, meditation hall, and a caretaker's cottage on the property. You can learn more about this project at www.redbluffpark.org. We mention this much about it because later that evening the founders of this park were present at the evening's discussion. Our day of walking to Los Molinos was so different from the day before. The weather was cool and without rain. We walked past miles after mile of walnut groves, with some prune plum, almond, peach, and olives groves as well. We stopped at a roadside stand and purchased some nuts for snacking. Later, as we walked along, a man called out from across the road and asked whether we were the Quakers walking to San Diego. Ruah was on the phone with her daughter, so Louis crossed the street and spoke with him. The man said he had read about us in the local newspaper. In parting he asked if it would be all right if he prayed for us, and he put his hand on Louis's shoulder and asked for God's blessing for a safe and successful journey. While looking for a place to eat lunch we came upon a small market and deli with one table and chairs. As we were eating, a man asked whether he could join us. He was a local prune plum farmer. He had farmed there for many years and had seen lots of changes in the industry. He preferred to sell his fruit to a local processor instead of Sunsweet. We talked of farm laborers and he told of the time that all the workers in his orchard ducked for cover when a helicopter passed overhead, thinking it might be patrolling for illegals. As we all know, farmers are dependent on migrant farm workers and are concerned about what will happen to this labor force in the future. We arrived early at the home of Lana and John Kitchel. John is a landscape architect, and they both run the organic farm they live on. Their two sons, ages 13 and 16, also live there, along with a myriad of dogs and cats. We found it very comfortable to be sitting around the kitchen table, talking about the issues we were all concerned about. Lana had done a marvelous job organizing the evening's event in her home, as well as getting articles printed in the local paper about our pilgrimage. The fifteen or so people who came that night were activists from a variety of organizations and friends of the Kitchels. It was a lively group and it took some effort&nbsp; after a hearty potluck, to quiet them down and seated in the small living room for our presentation. The sharing afterward was really moving. Although they were not Quakers, they were touched by our skit and spoke about the ways it had inspired them. After dessert it took another hour or so for everyone to leave, so engaged were they in conversations with old friends and new. In the morning, the weather forecast was dismal. There was a wind advisory, and the weather was expected to get worse by afternoon. So we adjusted our plans and got a ride with Lana part way. As it turned out, the first part of the morning was tolerably breezy, but the latter part of the morning was very gusty, making difficult for us to keep up a good pace. It wasn't as bad as it had been a few days earlier, but we certainly felt muscle aches in our legs from all the pushing against the wind. In the midst of this, we took part in a live Chico FM public radio show interview. Ruah handled that since it would be difficult for both of us to do it with all the road and wind noise. The interviewer said the sounds made it all the more interesting. Despite the wind, we kept up a fairly good pace and actually arrived at Jim Anderson's house in Chico almost an hour earlier than we had expected! We were getting stronger than we realized. We had visited the Chico Meeting and had stayed with Jim in 1996, when we were traveling around California on Quaker Earthcare Witness work. It was nice to meet up with him once again. Of course we had our usual short visit and excused ourselves to take a nap in our room. The next morning we went off to Chico Friends Meeting and appreciated the comfortable fellowship among the members. Lively hymn singing before worship was an intergenerational affair. The Peace &amp; Social Order committee provided a simple lunch before our presentation. Jim had done an excellent job publicizing the event, and about one third of the 35 or so people present came from outside the Meeting. Reporters from a local TV station, daily newspaper, and the university campus newspaper were there as well. Back at Jim's, we watched the evening news and thought that the 20-second piece about us was quite accurate. Later that evening, Jim's wife, Janet Leslie, returned from a weekend workshop, and we enjoyed getting to know her as well. We are impressed with Jim and Janet's lifestyle. They had reared their three children in this modest and small home, which they had built by hand in the early 1970s. They were determined to build on available money, eliminating the need for a mortgage. They have continued to remain debt-free. Jim has made a commitment to bicycling the seven miles to his work at the university in Chico, regardless of the weather. Seven people joined us the next morning at the Friends Meetinghouse to walk out of Chico (see photo). It was a lively group, a few walked with bikes with the intention of riding back. The weather was nippy, but the skies were clear and promised a fairly mild day for walking. People peeled off in small bunches at various points. Some stayed until we reached the small town of Durham, where we had lunch at the Red Rooster cafe, which was delightfully decorated with items featuring roosters. When the server learned we were the walkers she had read about on the front page of the morning's Chico newspaper, she was so excited about our gracing the restaurant with our presence that she asked for our autographs on a newspaper clipping of the story. She said she planned to frame it and hang on the wall in the restaurant. After lunch, a few more fellow walkers, including Jim, turned back to Chico. We gave thanks to Jim for his generous assistance and good organizing. The last of the original group, Peter Milbury, continued to walk with us for most of the afternoon. Peter shared a lot of his impressive knowledge of the human and natural history of the area. Several years before, he had worked at Lundberg Family Farms in Richvale, the place we happened to be headed to for the night. This farm is in its third generation of family owner/workers. The founders of Richvale arrived in 1912 and were of Swedish descent. The Lundbergs began the farm in 1937. Peter had arranged for our overnight hospitality there; however, he was picked up by his wife before we got that far. At Richvale, we were met by Grant Lundberg, a grandson of the founder and the current CEO. Grant helped us settle in to a little house next to the rice processing plant that had been converted to offices. This is a large rice operation that has experimented over the years with organic growing and is now one of the largest organic rice farms in the U.S. They also make many rice products including brown rice syrup, flavored rice chips, and quick cook flavored rice dishes. Grant gave us some samples and were pleased to notice from the labels they were made from natural ingredients. Grant told us that the employees would be back at work by 7:00 or 7:30 the next morning, so he suggested that we vacate the building about then. We said that would work out fine for us, because we planned to eat breakfast at a little cafe in town that had been recommended to us (in fact, it was the only cafe in town!). Well, when we walked in to the cafe the next morning, an older man approached us and introduced himself as Mr. Lundberg (who we later learned was Grant's uncle). He said the Booster Club was meeting that morning in an adjacent banquet room and we were to be his guests for breakfast. This was of course a big surprise, but later we decided it must have been pre-arranged by the Lundbergs. The Booster Club's purpose was to help keep the non-profit restaurant open and give college scholarships to local high school students and to support the volunteer fire department. We were introduced and asked to speak for a few moments about our journey. The background entertainment was a 92-year-old man on an accordion, playing what sounded like Scandanavian folk tunes. (see photo). The scheduled guest for the morning was a retired climatologist who had worked for the state of California. He gave a slide show talking about weather trends and events in California over the last couple of hundred years that documented significant changes in the climate in recent times. However the graphs he showed seemed to be suggesting that a major factor in these changes was sun-spot activity rather than human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. We were concerned that this climatologist was using mainly California data to lead a discussion about to global climate trends. So in the question and answer period Louis recited the fundamental principles and scientific discoveries on which Al Gore had based his "An Inconvenient Truth.". Also, he noted, the most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had concluded that trends in global warming were not only potentially catastrophic but were "very likely" being driven mostly by human activities. The guest speaker acknowledged the points that Louis raised but maintained that there is still some controversy about the underlying causes of global warming. Louis took his email address with the intention of doing some more reading and getting back to him. Louis later recalled reading that rice cultivation has been mentioned in a number of scientific studies as major sources of carbon dioxide, and therefore this particular audience of mostly rice farmers, could be expected to be fairly receptive to arguments that pointed to other possible agents of global warming. After thanking our breakfast hosts, we began to walk next to extensive rice fields that were so full of birds that we could hardly take two steps without stopping to gawk. Within our two-day, 30-mile walk between Chico and Gridley we saw about 30 different species of birds (as well as many that we couldn't identify), many of which were congregating in very large numbers in the half-flooded rice fields. For example, we saw many flocks of Sandhill Cranes, Coots, and White Faced Ibises. With many people honking and waving and giving big smiles as they passed us, we felt we were in paradise. With the blue skies above us and gentle wind at our backs, we came to appreciate the Irish Blessing which includes the words: "May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be at your back. May the Lord hold you in the palm of his hand." We passed our 600-mile mark as we approached the town of Biggs to have lunch. Arriving mid-afternoon in Gridley, after a brief visit with a local newspaper reporter, we found our way to the home of Kristi and Mike Kipp, whom we had met following our presentation at the Chico Friends Meeting. They were expecting their first child in early April and had made a commitment to not send their child to day care. They were juggling careers and work to make this happen. This meant that they made the same decision to work less and have more time that other hosts have told us about. We hope that many more families can find ways to make similar choices. We enjoyed spending Super Tuesday evening with them, checking in on the election results while coming to know one another. We went to bed early in anticipation of our 20-miles walk the next day to Marysville, which would be our longest walk yet. Mike and his dog accompanied us to the edge of town the next morning. A mile or so later, a man got out of his pickup truck and asked if we were the walkers who had been interviewed on the radio the other day. He said he had been having a bad day that day, and hearing the upbeat interview had helped&nbsp; him feel better. In fact, he so appreciated what we were doing that he handed us a cash contribution!&nbsp; The rest of the day's walk was not so dramatically beautiful as the rice-field country of the previous day, since we were walking on a busy highway most of the way. Although it was a long day, we did quite well and arrived in Marysville, via a bike path on the levee next to the Feather River earlier than expected. Ruah's blisters continued to plague her, but she felt it was a minor problem compared to what could be--like back pains, sprains, etc. Meanwhile, we learned by cell phone that several members of our next host family in Marysville had become sick, and we agreed that it would be better if we stayed in a motel instead. We spent a leisurely morning at the motel, working on our blog and allowing Louis some time to work on the next QEW newsletter, since we only had 13 miles to go that day. As we headed out of Marysville we again traveled through rice fields filled with migrating waterfowl. The road then began to rise into rolling hills dotted with cattle and grasses among the giant oaks. Soon Western Meadow Larks were singing to us along the road and we felt we had reached a heavenly spot. At one point a woman pulled up ahead of us, jumped out of her car, and said that she appreciated what we were doing, and handed us some money! How interesting it is that we touch people in this way. We were very ready for the scheduled campground stop at the Sycamore RV Park that evening and found, much to our delight, that the tenting sites were beyond the RV sites in an idyllic grassy area next to the Yuba River. Across a rosy sunset, we watched several Great Egrets glide to a landing in some adjacent trees to roost for the night. As the only tenters, we had a fairly peaceful spot, although the traffic on route 20 could be heard through the night. We sat contentedly by the camp fire, feeling that all was well. During the day as we walked we had noticed a number of military planes overhead and thought that there might be an air base nearby. The next morning that was confirmed by the sound of morning reveille nearby. Although the temperature had been fairly mild at night, by morning there was heavy frost. We quickly started a fire, made breakfast and coffee, then we broke camp (literally breaking ice as we rolled up our stiff tent). Soon the sun warmed us along the road and we were shedding layers of clothes to keep comfortable. As planned, Bob Runyon, executive director of the Woolman Semester, picked us up to help us bypass some dangerous spots on the road, including some road construction. It was he and his wife Kathy who were to have been our hosts in Marysville but had cancelled due to sickness in the family. Although he was not totally well yet, he made this effort to care for us! He dropped us off several miles down the road and we commenced our walk to our next host site. We stopped in the little town of Penn Valley for brunch and relaxation and then began walking through some exquisite rolling countryside. Louis began fantasizing about having one home in Penn Valley and keep the one we have now. It really was that beautiful. It was quiet and peaceful and very much what one pictures of the West. We stopped at Nick and Amanda Wilcox's home for the night. They lived in a beautiful, partially bermed, passive solar home that they had built themselves in the late 1970s. Three years ago they had added solar electric panels, and they calculated they had become at that point zero users of the grid electricity. They are very conscious and astute about a broad range of environmental and political issues. Nick is a retired environmental scientist. Several years ago after their daughter's murder by an unstable mental patient at a clinic where she had been volunteering, Nick and Amanda had turned much of their efforts towards mental health issues and had helped pass a law, called Laura's Law, which is intended to make it harder for people with mental illness to have access to guns--and hopefully help prevent this kind of tragedy in the future. They are also active on the California Chapter of the Brady Campaign, which works for effect handgun control. We had the opportunity to meet their sons, one a pilot and one still in college. We felt we had much to share and admired their compassion and comittment to make the world a better place for everyone. The next morning Nick and Amanda drove the scenic route to get us to Sierra Friends Center in Grass Valley. En route we stopped at a state park on the south fork of the Yuba River, the site of the longest single-truss covered bridge in the U.S. Built in 1862, it was designed to carry heavy loads for the logging and mining industries, despite being constructed almost entirely of wood timbers. It was very beautiful and nicely maintained. We were then let off at our next stopover and we'll catch you all up to date about our visit there next time. We appreciate your loving care.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1201645680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1201645680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1201645680/tpod.html Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:39:46 -0400 November 2007 to April 2008, from Vancouver to San Diego, Ruah Swennerfelt and Louis Cox walk, in the style of John Woolman, to talk with Quakers about integrating peace, justice, and Earthcare.

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Redding, California, United States

The morning we left Eugene, Dick Lakin, Peg Morton, Candy (didn't get her last name), and John Etter joined us at our starting point in a supermarket parking lot, where we had a prayer circle as a send-off, careful all the while not to slip on the icy pavement. John, Peg, and Dick walked parts of that morning with us. Our route took us over a butte, on a winding, woods-lined road that ascended 570 feet in four miles (our biggest climb so far, made easier because John used his strong bicyclist's muscles to help pull the cart). Once over the butte, we found ourselves again in magnificent farm country of the Willamette River Valley. Our destination that day was Creswell and the home of Betsy and Trevor Smith and their young daughters Elise, Evie, and June. It was great fun to be in a home with three delightful children under six years old! We read to them and enjoyed them thoroughly. Trevor was a great help to Louis in coming up with some fix-ups for the cart. (The handle had gotten bent and needed some repairs.) The two men bent their heads together with pleasure at having a&nbsp; hands-on project to work on. Betsy and Trevor are part of a Quaker "house church," and we appreciated their efforts to build community. The next morning Sheila Hale, a member of Eugene Friends Meeting, arrived at the Smith house with homemade coffee cake and eggs from her chickens. After breakfast, we reassembled our gear and headed off toward Cottage Grove with very full and satisfied tummies. Arriving in Cottage Grove, we followed the advice that several people had given us to stop in at a bookstore called the Bookmine, not only because was it a delightful store, but because of the sisters who owned it, Birdy and Gail, who are peace activists in town. The sisters were most welcoming, immediately offering coffee and cookies, and we felt like we were old friends. This encounter reminded us of how much Oregon and Vermont seem to have in common, culturally and politically. Gail kept joking that people sometimes think that both states should secede from the Union and form a separate republic. A customer, David, came in and was introduced, and the conversation expanded even more. They all urged us to walk the "rails-to-trails" bike path out to our next hosts, about 5 miles away, which we did, and we were so happy to be off the narrow-shouldered roads for a while. The path offered beautiful views of mountains, forests, pastures, and wetlands, so it was all the more jarring as we came into sight of a recent large clear-cut that had denuded an entire mountainside of second-growth trees. Many trucks loaded with logs from these kinds of tall, slender evergreens have passed us on the road during our journey, so we appreciate how important logging is to the Northwest's economy. But we can't appreciate the use of such a crude method of harvesting, which increases erosion and flooding, leading to degraded streams and lowered water tables. (However, a QEW supporter, Al Geiger, a retired Florida tree farmer, once reminded us that small clear-cuts create ecological edges that can improve an area's biodiversity. In comparison, much conventional field agriculture, with its emphasis on monocropping, tends to depress biodiversity, he pointed out.) Our next hosts, Pat and Owen Wright, were not originally part of the itinerary. Our contact folks had not been able to find hospitality in Cottage Grove, but Pat had come to our Monday night presentation in Eugene, and while talking with Sakre happened to mention that she lived in Cottage Grove and would be happy to host us. They belong to the Church of the Bretheren, and so we took advantage of our time with them to learn more about their beliefs and practices. We were particularly interested because we had been told that the Quakers, Mennonites, and Brethren are the historic "peace churches." Louis already knew quite a lot about the history of the Brethren, since one of his great grandfathers and one of his great-great grandfathers had been Brethren ministers. Also, an earlier ancestor of his had been part of a Brethren community in Pennsylvania in the early 1700s. We were impressed to learn that the Wrights' church in Springfield (near to Eugene) is very active in helping homeless people and also hosts a "Fair Trade" store! Pat and Owen also care about the feral cats around their barn and had just taken one into a veterinarian to be spayed. They said people often just dump animals along the road near their property. One time they found a litter of domesticated rats! We appreciated their giving us a ride to our next walking spot, skirting a long section where we were told there were no services or opportunities for camping or being hosted. As we have walked along we have often discussed the condition of&nbsp; "the Cart," a converted two-wheel golf-bag carrier that we depend on for transporting our heavier gear. We started joking that since it served as a kind of "pack mule," it deserved a name. After some brainstorming we settled on "Sal," from the folk song which starts, "Had an old mule, her name was Sal, 15 miles on the Erie Canal...." Since Sal is made of aluminum, we realized when we started packing for the trip that we were exceeding its designed load limits. After having to upgrade the center post to sturdier material only two hundred miles into the walk, Louis's attention turned to the wheels as the next likely weak spot. Although the hubs, spokes, and rims seemed sturdy enough, he noticed that quite a bit of the hard rubber tread had worn away by the one-third point in the trip&nbsp; Would they be shot before the end of the remaining 900 or so miles? The worry vanished, however, when we were passing by a thrift store in Cottage Grove and noticed a older model golf cart from the same manufacturer sitting out front, priced at only $1.79. Noticing that it had not only less worn but larger-diameter wheels (which Louis had been wanting all long), we bought the other cart and cannibalized it for parts on the spot. All we lacked were a set of bushings to correct for a slightly different wheel shaft diameter, which Louis found at a hardware store in the next town. Now Louis is relieved that the larger wheels go over bumps and curbs more easily, while Ruah is happy that she doesn't have to listen to Louis talk about the wheels any more. We spent a night in a hotel in Sutherlin the next night. That made only eight nights so far that we'd had to stay in either a campground or hotel. The rest we'd been in homes. We think this is a good balance. We enjoy being with our hosts, but also yearn for some alone time once in a while. We then headed off to Roseburg and ultimately the home of Elee and Neal Hadley, members of the Umpqua Valley Worship Group. But we were directed to walk first to the home of Roberta Amott's, because a bridge on the normal route was closed for repairs, and Elee had several hours of tasks and errands to complete before she could pick us up. We enjoyed several hours of rest and conversation with Roberta, a member of the UVWG, who had spent many years raising sheep in Oregon with her late husband. The Hadleys recently had built a home that is energy efficient, and they manage the land ecologically and grow much of their own fruits and vegetables. Their shelves filled with jars of home-canned food was most impressive. Elee's mom, Eleanor Pugh, who lives with them,&nbsp; is an avid birder and has recorded CDs with Northwest bird songs and calls and one CD for learning how to identify birds by sound. Lately she has taken up nature photography, and we were impressed by the quality of her many digital photos of dragonflies. We again found ourselves feeling we were with old friends and kindred spirits. A unique revelation while visiting the Hadleys was to find that Neal is a distant relative of&nbsp; John Woolman', according to a family tree that lists John Woolman's grandfather! We pored over the family tree with enthusiasm, which then led us to have a photo taken of the four of us with Neal wearing the Woolman hat. We had been invited to speak to the Roseburg Unitarian-Universalist Church on Sunday morning. They hosted a waffle breakfast in our honor, where we shared some parts of our journey and fielded questions. We then gave a short inspirational message in conjunction with the lighting of the peace and social concerns candle. We each spoke about five minutes. It was wonderful to be with people who were aware of the crises in our world and who were active in helping to bring about change. The afternoon and evening were dedicated to Friends worship, our presentation, a potluck, and live music (in that order) in the Hadley home. The gathering was energizing and inspirational, with great food and lively music. We were sorry that it ended early, but we had had a long day and needed some down time. Part of the route farther south was deemed too dangerous for walking, at least by Elee's standards, and so we had a longer than usual break of several days at the Hadley house while waiting to be driven to Wolf Creek for our next scheduled stop. We spent much of that time working on the blog and catching up on correspondence. Louis also worked on the <i>BeFriending Creation newsletter. At Wolf Creek we met Elee's long-time friend, Boyd Peters, and her brother, Len Pugh. We spent a couple of hours at Boyd's creatively hand-built house and then said our goodbyes and thanks to Elee. Boyd then gave us and Len a ride to "Lichen," an intentional community co-founded by Elee and Len's parents in 1971. On the way, Boyd pointed out several "old growth islands" that surrounded the valley. We had never head this term before, but that is exactly what the remaining old growth forest are, islands of large old trees in the midst of logged areas that were by-passed for one reason or another. Boyd and Len have been active in trying to preserve these "islands." Lichen is a community on about 130 acres of mainly forested land. The homes and community building are very rustic and designed to each individual's unique tastes, needs, and financial limitations. Len, for instance, lives in a yurt that is about 320 square feet. Apparently not many have hot running water, but most use the shower in the community house, called the Landing. There's one outhouse per home, and the ones we saw had three walls and no door. The upside is that you got to see the beautiful scenery when using the toilet. The garden is quite extensive on a terraced hillside and seems to use some permaculture principles and design. The community had a recently constructed greenhouse that was working well and contained a small citrus tree. Many fruit trees, grape vines, and berry bushes were seen throughout the garden. We were told that no one currently kept poultry or livestock, and&nbsp; residents didn't have dogs or cats out of respect for the wild animals. Although Lichen began with a vision of an intentional community, over the past several years it has become more a loose association of residents who share meals infrequently. They still share work in the garden and on the land. Our night there included a delicious meal at Len's and a rather cold night in a small room in the Landing, which was not well insulated. The wood that was available for our wood heater was not totally dry and therefore it didn't burn very hot. We were warm enough in our down sleeping bags but had to endure&nbsp; nippy walks to outhouse during the night. It was another adventure to write home about! This experience moved us to reflect a bit on the kind of simplicity we seem to be encouraging. Are we asking Friends to consider living in yurts like Len (who incidentally prefers to live without&nbsp; a car and is happy to walk 3-1/2 miles to the nearest town for supplies)? Are we asking Friends to consider working at home the way Len and others in the valley do to earn money through cottage industries? Are we asking Friends to consider living without running water or indoor plumbing? We think not. We don't think that many people would choose to live that way. We are encouraging Friends to consider scaling back some of their busyness and unnecessary consumption if they see that such things are getting in the way of true happiness and fulfillment and right relationship with the rest of&nbsp; Creation. We personally want to have hot running water, but wouldn't mind a composting toilet as a way of recycling most wastes back to the soil. We'd like to use our car less and are willing and able to walk or bike the five miles to our nearest market more often. We like beauty in our life and hope that will continue to be part of it. But the bottom line is this: What is it that we all need to do in various ways and capacities to assure that the planet is habitable for all members of the family of life and for future generations? The next morning Boyd picked us up to give us a ride to the town of Hugo. Once again we accepted a car ride, since the route to Hugo was said to be rather dangerous and strenuous. We then began our walk to the town of Grants Pass. Reporters from the local newspaper caught up with us along the way and interviewed us. (We hope to make a scrapbook of the new reports to share with you some day.) The morning was very cold, possibly in the upper twenties, but as we walked along briskly we warmed up considerably. In the afternoon we arrived at the home of Scott Smith and Annaliese Watson of South Mountain Friends Meeting, where we were warmly greeted by them and their dog. We did our usual short visit and asked to be excused to take a nap. Once refreshed, we spent a delightful evening talking with this young couple, whose bookshelves contained many of the books we have enjoyed, as well as other books on topics we are interested in. As we shared our lives we began to learn that Scott and Annaliese recently have made some significant decisions in their lives. Scott mentioned that they used to have more money and less time for things that they thought were important. Then he quit one of his part-time jobs, explaining that having more time was more satisfying. They also use diesel cars and run bio-diesel from a local producer in them. They also said that they prefer living off the surplus of others. In other words, they outfit their home and their bodies with second-hand items. They obviously have a strong commitment to a sustainable life. Since they live an hour's drive from the Meeting, they tend to only go to Meeting once or twice a month, in order to limit their driving. After a hearty breakfast, we headed out for Gold Hill, 16 miles away. One mile down the road we paused to celebrate the fact that we had just passed our 500-mile mark! We whooped and hollared and Scott took our photo to memorialize the special moment. This day's walk was along the Rogue River, a beautiful setting with many small farms and homes and resorts with scenic views of the river. As we came close to our planned lunch break, two smiling people in a small green Prius drove by us, turned around and passed us again, then parked in a driveway ahead of us. As we approached the car, they got out and introduced themselves as Ogden Kellogg, age 85, the owner of the home where we would be staying that night, and Lise Hubbe, 49, a good f/Friend of his. Just two weeks earlier Ogden's wife, Marjorie, had died of Parkinson's Disease. Lise, who lives on a farm southeast of Eugene, was there for three days as part of a rotating support group for Ogden during his grieving and recovery. Ogden had insisted that he still wanted to host us since it would be an opportunity to direct his attention toward other things. We were so glad that he did. Lise and Ogden ate lunch with us&nbsp; in the town of Rogue River and then drove back home, where we would end up eventually that evening. The landscape had changed considerably as we traveled south through Oregon. We were now in a bioregion that was closer to what most of us picture when we talk about the "Old West," with ranches and drier, more open landscape. However, this was now the "New West," and much of the open spaces had been taken over by country homes (many of them luxurious) and many pastures were replaced by paddocks for pleasure-riding horses. Also, we saw many acres of vineyards, as Oregon continues to increase in importance as a wine producer. The ranch where Ogden and Marjorie had lived since the early fifties was developed in the late 19th century and continues to be a bona fide, albeit small, cattle operation. In addition to raising cattle, they ran a Quaker school, and were active community members. Ogden knew just about everyone along the two miles of his road and had interesting stoies to tell about them all. The school had been a one-year residential program for about eight junior-high-age children to help them learn about living on the land. Lise was a former student of the Quaker school. She works a 65-acre farm with her sister and mother. Her role is to work the Belgian horses, and her way of telling about the relationship with the horses and the land was very moving. We saw pictures of her equine "partners" and wished that we could have visited her farrm when we were passing through Eugene. We did have a sampling of the farm cheese that is her sister's specialty and it was delicious. They raise pigs, chickens, and dairy cows and grow vegetables their land. They also are host to a growing number of visitors, including school groups and aspiring farmers who are interested in sustainable agriculture. In fact there's a woman who is appreticing for a year to learn to work with draft horses. That evening we went to a neighbor's house for dinner. Ron and Keiko Miyamoto had recently rennovated their old home to moderinize it and incorporate many energy-efficient features. We apprecited the elegant simplicity of the interior of their home which incorporated many of the touches of Japanese aesthetics that we have come to admire. Two other neighbors, Karen Valdes and her college-age son Rylan joined us as well. It was another fine evening on our journey into new friendships. Ron and Keiko run a beeswax candle business that has flourished over 20 years. Their factory is located next to their house. In the morning Ogden walked the four miles into Gold Hill, where we had lunch at a favorite cafe of his. Lise drove down later to pick up Ogden, and we then said our goodbyes to these two remarkable people. We had eight more miles to walk to our next host home in Central Point. These were the last miles walking in Oregon, through very scenic, rolling hills, with views of distant snow-covered mountains. It was mostly uphill, which was more tiring, and as the day grew warmer we shed extra layers of clothing which we hadn't been able to do until now. This was hopefully a preview of days to come in California. We arrived at the home of Chloe and Clarence Wood feeling excited about our recent milestones. Chloe is a participant with the South Mountain Friends Meeting. The Woods have been small-scale farmers for many years and Clarence is a Master Gardener. We enjoyed getting to know them and found lots to talk about. As we learned of Chloe's path to Friends, we heard a story of a search, some detours, and then finding "home." It was so familiar! We were well fed with some of the bounty of their garden and apple trees and are feeling so appreciative of all the good care from the Friends of Oregon. In the morning, Chloe gave us ride to Meeting in Ashland. (We had learned earlier from Ogden that many years ago he and Marjorie had purchased the building in Ashland which houses the South Mountain Friends Meeting, as well as a peace organization.) There Ruah reconnected with Jean Semrau, our Ashland contact, who had once been a member of New England Yearly Meeting and director of Woolman Hill Conference Center in western Massachusetts. It was a great fun getting reacquainted and meeting some other former New Englanders as well. After worship, we had lunch at the home of Bill and Melody Ashworth. They have been long-time environmental activists, and Bill has written a number of books on a variety of environmental issues. As you can imagine, we had lots to talk about with them. We will be reviewing one of Bill's books for a future <i>BeFriending Creation. We had the great fortune of getting to stay in a bed &amp; breakfast that is run by Ashland Friends Deedie and David Runkel. It is in the Ashland Historic District and was built in 1908 as a boarding house. The Runkels gifted us the two nights in a lovely, quiet room in this charming place. As we came to know them we learned that they are working hard to make this an environmentally friendly business. (Louis helped out by replacing some missing weather-stripping on one of their outside doors.) They offer local organic foods and hang the laundry on a line, use compact fluorescent bulbs everywhere they can, and are alert to new ways to green things up. They had been very active in Washington D.C. before moving to Ashland and proved to be extremely interesting folks. As usual, we had mutual Friendly acquaintances. If you're interested, information about their bed &amp; breakfast can be found at www.ashlandbandb.com. As we settled in, it began to snow significantly! By snow's end the next day 11 inches had fallen. This was described by everybody as very unusual weather for Ashland. We have really lucked out during our walking to not be caught in any major storms so far and this continued since we would be staying for two days in Ashland. Due to the storm, the evening's presentation was less well attended than originally projected. Many who said they would see us that evening were snowed in at home. The smaller group, though, was very enthusiastic, and the discussion was meaningful and deep. We spent the next day running a few necessary errands and enjoyed the town. Early the next morning we got a ride to the Greyhound bus station from Jack Wendt, a participant of the Friends Meeting. We had first planned on taking a 2 p.m. bus to Redding, Calif., but due to pending storms and a high mountain pass in the Siskiyou Mountain Range that is often closed down by heavy snows, we decided to take the 6:15 a.m. bus to increase the odds that the road would be clear enough to get us there in time for our evening's presentation. We again lucked out and crossed the pass in in the snow shortly before it was shut down. We gave a quiet whoop and hollar as we read a sign saying we had crossed the California state line. Once in Redding, we were picked up by Sue Morehouse, our next host. As has happened many times, we found much in common with Sue and her husband, Tom. They took us to the "Sundial Bridge" (for pedestrians) that spans the Sacramento River. Our photos tell the story. The evening's potluck was hosted in Sue and Tom's home, and then we headed out to the Methodist church for the presentation. The small Redding Monthly Meeting (8 members) meets in a room at the Methodist church. The participants this night were Friends, friends of Friends, and Methodists. We had a lively discussion following the presentation and some delicious homemade cookies as well. A few reflections on Oregon are in order as we leave. We have noticed that almost all homes have electric cook stoves, and many homes are all-electric. Because of the large amount of electricity from hydroelectric dams which started many years ago, electricity was cheaper in Oregon than in many other places in the country. But the dams killed off the salmon (a problem that many people are working to rectify) and the supply can't keep up with the growing demand. Now some of their electricity comes from nuclear and coal. In an earlier blog we reflected on a number of similarities we saw between Oregon and Vermont. But the weather wasn't one of them. Northwest winters are mostly rainy, and the summers are very dry--too much of an extreme for our liking. Spring comes a whole lot earlier in the Northwest, too. One January evening at the Hadleys' house we heard tree frogs peeping, and we have also seen wildflowers popping up on south-facing slopes. We also heard people talking about harvesting asparagus in the next few weeks. Only the snowstorm that struck Ashland just before we left the state was able to convince us it was still winter. In looking at a relief map of Oregon in someone's home, we were impressed that most Oregonians live in a relatively narrow green strip on the western third of the state, and remainder to the east of the Cascade Range is mostly high desert. Crater Lake is one of its premier attractions, but alas, our route didn't take us close enough to enjoy that natural wonder first-hand.In an earlier blog, we reported the large amount of roadside litter we saw in Washington, which we attributed to that state's lack of a bottle-deposit system. When we got to Oregon, which has a beverage deposit like Vermont's, we noticed that the roadsides were much cleaner. But it would be a sad commentary if all we could conclude from this is that people seem to respond more to economic incentives than to "Keep America Beautiful" slogans. We would like to believe that people can also learn to act responsibly from a deep sense of personal kinship with all of Creation. At this point, perhaps we should look at litter-free roadsides and participation in recycling programs as signs that people are beginning to care not only about beautry but about a lot of other interrelated things. If global warming is THE issue of our time, we need to be able to see how a host of activities, including recycling, can affect the outcome.Tomorrow morning we begin walking in California. We can hardly believe we're here. We are hoping for warmer rain and more sunny days. We look forward to more camping between host homes (instead of costly hotels). We look forward to all the new people we'll be meeting in the coming three months.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1200362040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1200362040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peaceforearth/peace_for_earth/1200362040/tpod.html Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:36:42 -0400 November 2007 to April 2008, from Vancouver to San Diego, Ruah Swennerfelt and Louis Cox walk, in the style of John Woolman, to talk with Quakers about integrating peace, justice, and Earthcare.

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Eugene, Oregon, United States

Just north of Burlington, Vt. is a small sign indicating that you are passing the 45th Parallel, the half-way point between the North Pole and the Equator. On January 7 we passed the 45th Parallel again while walking south into Salem, Ore., having gone as far north as the 49th Parallel during our trip across Canada.(see picture). Seeing this landmark felt a little like coming home. As we move away from the winter solstice and walk farther south, we notice the days getting longer at a pretty quick rate. When we continue into California, it will be great to not be so worried about walking in the dark when arriving at our destinations after eight or more hours of walking. We want to begin this entry with a reflection on our experiences with Friends in the Northwest. Often when we told Quakers in the East that we would be visiting with Evangelical Friends out west, they responded in such a way as to imply that we would be working very hard to communicate and develop relationships with "those" Friends. The truth is that we have found many kindred spirits on many levels among Evangelical and unaffiliated Friends of the Northwest. We've found a great openness to explore ideas, with the message of John Woolman as a common touch-point. We've made close friends and have felt very comfortable everywhere. The differences we've found are sometimes in the form of worship or the place of the Bible in their lives. But we've also found much comfort in all the forms of worship and in the deep discussions of theology. We're not being pollyanna-ish about this and do recognize that there can be significant differences if certain issues are pursued; however we've tried to focus on our commonalities, recognizing that it's most important to open the channels of love and communication, which we've managed to do.One of the stereotypes is that the evangelicals are narrowly fundamentalist in their approach to the Bible and other issues. We have not found this to be true. We see a wide range of views, as we do among all Friends. And many of the Northwest Friends that we've met seem to recognize that the guidance of the Spirit goes hand in hand with discerning what the Bible means for us today.We thought you might be interested to know what our mornings are often like. Packing up to leave is a rather comical sight, especially if we've settled into a place and have our gear all spread out. We have learned to allow up to an hour for this before we can expect to be actually on the road. We first have to fit all that stuff back into our three packs. You'd think we'd have a routine by now, but you'd often hear us exclaiming things like; "Where does this go?" or "Oops, I forgot to put the such and such in first so now I have to re-pack." Ruah often forgets to put on her fanny pack before her backpack and has to ask Louis to hold out her pack from behind so that she can clumsily secure the fanny pack. Louis is often saying, "Where did I put my such-and-such?" It takes some patience on both of our parts to see the humour in the moment and have true sympathy for the other. Our biggest problem is that as we are walking, we find we had packed away in an inconvenient place something like a pair of binoculars that should have been more accessible.The first mile or so that we walk each morning is also rather comical as we readjust our clothing and gear for the day. Ruah is usually tightening her shoe laces and changing hats and gloves. Louis is often cinching up his pack's hip strap and readjusting the elastic waist band of his rain pants, which tend to creep down with first steps or whenever he bends over. So we start and stop multiple times in the 20 minutes of our walk. If we're all dressed for rain, inevitably the rain will stop and so to keep from getting too hot we'll take off our ponchos and find a way to secure them to the cart. A little while later it will start raining again, so we'll have to stop and awkwardly do the reverse procedure.Louis then remembers to start the t eacGPS (instead of when we first get outdoors), in order to enter ourdestination address so we can know how far we will be walking that dayand to check how far we have progressed ah rest stop. However, the GPS will sometimes guide us in a puzzling detour, and we'll have to stand in the middle of the road deciding whether to follow those instruction or a printout we got from MapQuest. For example, on one rainy night it directed us around the block when the entrance to the motel we were looking for turned out to be only a short block straight ahead. Ahhhh, the joys of technology.While walking we are usually side by side walking against the traffic, though when cars approach and the shoulder is narrow Ruah drops behind Louis since his cart has a white&nbsp; banner and makes us more visible. While walking behind Louis, Ruah oftens feels like she's the "good little woman" walking her 5 steps behind her man. This doesn't set easy with Ruah, as you who know her would understand. She quickly returns to her "equal" position beside Louis.We've included a picture of a nutria, small beaver-like animals that we had seen feeding on the roadside next to a wetland while we walking along a back road the day we entered Oregon. At first we thought they were beavers, but Louis noticed their round tails and guessed they were nutria. We were able to get quite close and observe them for a while.Ruah had never seen or heard of thembefore. When she called them "cute" the other day, Oregonians scoffed andcompared them to rats (Ruah thinks rats are cute too). They have in fact become a big nuisance in the Northwest. They were originally imported from South America in the 20th century to be raised for their fur--in what some today describe as an illusory get-rich-quick marketing scheme. Many nutria either escaped or were released. Since they&nbsp; reportedly reproduce about as fast as rabbits, you can imagine how many are running around wreaking havoc on widlife habitat. This is another example of human interference with nature by not giving careful thought to the consequences of introducing non-native species.Back now to our travels. The morning we were prepared to leave Portland, Dan Davenport guided us through the bus system and handed us over to Julie Peyton, who rode the bus down to our starting point that day in the Portland suburb of Sherwood. She would have walked with us, except she was going to be running a half-marathon the next day and needed her day of rest. It was wonderful to have some additional time to get to know her. We were sad to be leaving many new-found friends behind, a downside of our travels of the heart, but we knew there were more friends ahead to meet.As we walked into Newburg, we found ourselves in a community with many Friends churches, as well as George Fox University, a Quaker school. Once again we were on a very busy, noisy highway with rain drops a-falling on our heads. We arrived at Louise Clements's house, whom we had met the night before at Reedwood Friends Church. We felt immediately at ease with Louise and fell into far-ranging conversations with her. She was raised Quaker from a long line of Quakers, including ancestors who came to America with William Penn, and her mother spoke plain language (this means using thee's and thou's in familiar talk). Louise owns Heritage Roses, a large mail-order rose business that includes beatiful rose gardens at a nursery in nearby St. Paul that are also a tour bus destination. Her love and knowledge of roses and appreciation for all things beautiful helped to cement our friendship. As well, she's a gifted artist.Louise had invited several people to her home that evening to meet us and to give us another opportunity to share our presentation. The next morning we attended services at the North Valley Friends Church and met the pastor, Stan Thornburg, who has carried a long time concern for the care of Creation. The spirited music that began the service was presented by a small ensemble of church members, including guitars, drums, flute, piano, and vocals. We were impressed with the vitality of the congregation, which included many young families with children. The service included "open" worship, and they also have an early morning unprogrammed worship each Sunday.Louise gave us a lift for a few miles out of Newberg so that we could make our next destination before dark. As we walked through farm country, we saw that plant nurseries are a big industry in this area, but there were also dairy and berry farms all around. It was quite pastoral. We've also noticed how many Latinos live in the area and learned from Louise that many are farm workers. Some Latinos have worked at her rose nursery for many years, and she has come to know and respect them. This has confirmed our understanding of how are country has become dependent on Latino laborers, especially farmworkers. When we speak of immigration issues many people don't fully understand how fragile the food production system is and how vulnerable it is to change. We must find ways to respect those who are here now and those who are still entering the U.S.That night we stayed in a motel for the second time during this trip. We realized how much we had missed having alone-time on this trip as we spread ourselves out in the room, feeling like we had so much extra&nbsp; time because of not always being obligated to talk with hosts. (We often come into a host home asking for some nap time, which gives us a buffer and the rest we need from a day of walking.) On the other hand, we have thoroughly enjoyed our times with all the people we've encountered. The next morning we walked to Salem, where Peggy Parsons, pastor of Freedom Friends Church, kindly picked us up at the outskirts of town and delivered us into the hands of Barbara Thygeson of Salem Friends Meeting. She lives in a large continuing care facility, Capitol Manor, and had reserved a guest room for us. We rested from our walk and then headed out to our evening's joint presentation to Freedom Friends and Salem meeting.The surprise of the evening was seeing Louise Clements once again. She brought some Friends and her grandchildren to see our presentation, describing herself as a Peace for Earthwalk groupie since this was her third time viewing the presentation. We again appreciated the depth of the conversation and questions following our talk.In the morning, Barbara had arranged a breakfast meeting with Friends and others in the Capitol Manor dinning facility. One man at breakfast, Paul, works with the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) in Oregon. We enjoyed learning more about FOR's work in the Northwest. We then did some computer catch-up and had lunch with another arranged group in the dining facility. One woman, Lisa, was a fellow birder and we compared birding notes. Barbara's brother, Horace, was with us at all the Salem gatherings and lives in the facility as well. (During conversation with Horace, Louis was amazed to discover that he and Horace were actually blood relatives, their common ancestor being a Quaker named Robert Peelle who lived in eastern North Carolina in the early 19th century.) We thoroughly enjoyed them both as well as Barbara's husband, Bent, a boat builder from Denmark.We then walked to South Salem Friends Church for our evening's presentation. Following that, Jim Leonard, the pastor, took us to his home for the evening. We stayed up late talking, and the next morning met his wife, Jeanne, who cared for us in spite of her not feeling well. (We're taking lots of vitamin C to help us avoid catching whatever others might be carrying!) Our next destination was Buena Vista, and Jeanne gave us a ride to a safe place to start walking.Over the next couple of days we walked, stayed overnight with Virginia Tyler in Independence of Corvallis Friends and walked some more and stayed with Jay Thatcher and Linda Johansen in Corvallis, also of Corvallis Friends. We again enjoyed thoroughly our stays with Friends and found many things of common interest. We had a successful gathering with Corvallis Friends. One phenomenon for Ruah is the feeling of being close friends with our contacts because of all the emails sent in preparation for our being there. We often hug at first meeting one another.Our next two days of walking had long mornings with no services available. The first day we walked 10 miles before coming to a cafe for lunch, and the next day it was about 15 miles through farm country without services. Both days were somewhat more taxing than usual--the first because heavy traffic frequently forced us onto the rough ground of the unpaved shoulder and the second day due to constant head-winds. The countryside was lovely with many&nbsp; sheep. We were fascinated to see a number of Bald Eagles among the sheep. We were told later by a farmer we met by his house that this was lambing season and the eagles were in the fields making meals of the placentas. We were delighted to see many other birds, including a Western Meadowlark, which we heard was in decline in the Northwest. Another farmer told us that this part of the Willamette River valley is the biggest producer of grass seed in the world.These comments by farmers leads us to comment on the opportunities we've had to talk with people we might never have encountered were it not for our walk. Because of our vulnerability of being just a couple and because we're such a curiosity, many people are interested in learning about our purpose. We talk with people in large pickup trucks with four-wheelers (ATVs) in the back and folks with caps&nbsp; and shirts decorated with flags and other patriotic symbols. We talk with street folks and store clerks and restaurant waitstaff. We love this aspect of our pilgrimage.We spent the night with Chuck and Carole Pearce, members of Eugene Friends Church. They took us into church the next morning for the early service, where we gave part of our presentation during the service. Then Dick Lakin, our church contact, took us over to Eugene Friends Meeting for worship. This was the first time we spent a Sunday in an unprogrammed worship since we were in Vancouver, B.C., and it felt quite familiar. We then had lunch with the over-55 group from the church and were taken to Sakre Edson's home, where we would spend the next two nights. Sakre, our EFM contact, had invited people from Meeting for a potluck meal and conversation on our first evening with her. During the next day we met with students from Wellspring Friends School, talking in an ethics class and addressing a general assembly. The second evening we gave our presentation to a joint gathering of Eugene Friends Church and Eugene Friends Meeting. About 50 people attended the potluck and program, including some people from the Mennonite Church and the Church of the Brethren. We see as part of our ministry providing the occasion for Friends and others from different traditions to get together and possibly find unity on caring for Creation. We now head out for two weeks in southern Oregon and then we'll be on to California. We have now walked 443 miles (and found more than $10 in lost change along the roadsides). Our next blog update will come from Redding, Calif., at the end of January, so don't worry about the coming gap in our entries. We will be taking a bus from souther Oregon to Redding since the pass over the mountains is accessible only by I5, and it's often closed due to bad weather and deep snows. It's hard to believe that we are now talking with our contact people about our routes in northern California!
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