"Freewheelin"

A Solo Journey
Across America
by Richard Lovett

From Library Journal:

Freewheelin' is the story of Lovett's solo transcontinental bicycle tour in the summer of 1986. His narrative combines descriptions of beautiful scenery and small - town America, with technical considerations such as road conditions and elevations that are important to bikers. He also recounts meetings with fellow bikers, campers, and those hurrying along to various destinations. His description of local people, mostly friendly but sometimes hostile, does much to give a feeling of America today. Throughout, the author reflects on what he is trying to accomplish and how the trip is affecting his life. This book will be of special interest to bike lovers, but armchair travelers will also enjoy.

Marguerite Mroz, Baltimore Cty. P.L.

Meaningful Quotes:
Mountains are best viewed from these lower levels, where their rocky splendor contrasts with the gentler lowlands. Mountains need room to breath, room to survey vast regions with the remote isolation of mythical gods. In mountains like the Sawtooth I find room to appreciate the scale of the world and to wonder that the creator of all this majesty cares for 'me'. Infinitesimal speck that I am, that he is not merely like the peaks, remote by holy grandeur. But also personal and intimate like the alpine lake lapping quietly at my feet.

Storms remind us how small and frail we are. The accomplishments of modern technology are rendered meaningless by nature unleashed. All that remains is a sense of primitive awe as the powers of the universe pour forth, while we snuggle deep without our little caves.

I wonder if the slower pace of backroads life also gives people time to be more aware, encouraging their natural hospitality.

I decided the Robert Frost could be the poet laureate of the touring cyclist. Like him, we seek out the roads less traveled. Our mode of transportation opens the heart to things that others miss - the life changing process of experiencing America from the slow lane.

This is not to say that all mountain ranges are equal. Some are more obvious in their beauty, speaking to more people with clearer voices. I believe all are put there for a reason - no place is truly desolate - and all have something to teach us if we but listen to their subtle voices and approach them on their own terms. That is why even the most barren places have their advocates - people who have truly learned to hear. People who stand in their role of prophets. Interpreting what these places have to say to humanity.

Freewheelin available at Powells and Amazon

“The Last American Man”

by Elizabeth Gilbert

Book Description:

In this rousing examination of contemporary American male identity, acclaimed author and journalist Elizabeth Gilbert explores the fascinating true story of Eustace Conway. In 1977, at the age of seventeen, Conway left his family's comfortable suburban home to move to the Appalachian Mountains. For more than two decades he has lived there, making fire with sticks, wearing skins from animals he has trapped, and trying to convince Americans to give up their materialistic lifestyles and return with him back to nature. To Gilbert, Conway's mythical character challenges all our assumptions about what it is to be a modern man in America; he is a symbol of much we feel how our men should be, but rarely are.

Meaningful Quotes:
Live the way you've been taught to live! Then you won't have to come to church every Sunday and kneel and weep and repent. And you'll have a lot more time to spend in the forest, where, as Eustace believed, “There is only truth to be found – no lies, no shams, no illusions, no hypocrisy. Just a truthful place, where all beings are governed by a set of perfect laws that have never changed and never will.”

“There is no such thing as a 'bad' day in nature. You can't stand in judgment of nature like that because she always does what she needs to do.”

Reduce, reuse and recycle are good ideas, but those three concepts should only be the last resort. What you really need to focus on are... reconsider and refuse. Before you even acquire the disposable good, ask yourself why you need this consumer product. And then turn it down. Refuse it. You can.

...the old country adage about why god gave man two ears and one mouth: He could shut up and he could listen.

“More enduring than skyscrapers, bridges, cathedrals, and other material symbols of man's achievement are the invisible monuments of wisdom, inspiration, and example erected in the hearts of men. As you throw the weight of your influence on the side of good, the true and the beautiful, your life will achieve an endless splendor.

There is not way that you can have a decent life as a man if you aren't awake and aware every moment. Show up for your own life. Don't pass your days in a stupor, content to swallow whatever watery ideas modern society may bottle feed you through the media, satisfied to slumber through life in an instant gratification sugar coma. The most extraordinary gift you've been given is your own humanity, which is about consciousness. So honor that consciousness.

The Last American Man available at Powells and Amazon

“Path Without Destination”

The Long Walk
of a Gentle Hero
by Satish Kumar

Book Description:

Written with elegance, Path Without Destination is the exhilarating account of Satish Kumar's extraordinary life. At nine, Satish renounced the world, left his home in rural India, and joined a wandering brotherhood of beggar monks until an inner voice guided him to Gandhi's vision of a peaceful world. His inspiring journey led him to settle in England, where he became one of the leaders with E. F. Schumacher of the "small is beautiful" movement and the guiding spirit behind a number of ecological, spiritual, and educational ventures.

Meaningful Quotes
I seemed to hear Ghandi's soft, almost caressing voice in the falling rain. “Don't forget that the people are as generous as the clouds and their hearts can be as tender as raindrops.”

Going into the unknown world and confronting it without a penny in our pockets had meant that differences between rich and poor, educated and illiterate, all vanished; and beneath all these divisions, a common humanity emerged. As wanderers we were free of shadows from the past. It was a journey without destination; journey and destination became one, thought and action became one. I was a wanderer, wandering through life. Living day to day, from inspiration to inspiration.

In wandering I felt a sense of union with the whole sky, the infinite earth and sea. It was as if by walking I was making love to the Earth itself. Wandering was my path, my true self, my true being. People, nature, everything became like a mirror, and I could see myself in them, what I was. I was born in a dream of wandering, a seed conceived in my mother. My dreams are of wandering.

Spirituality is not about beliefs – it is about the way we live and conduct our day-to-day activities.

Everywhere people would ask to which community or religion we belonged. To all such questions we replied, "We are human beings, first and last. Our religion is our faith in humanity-and there can be no religion greater than that."

Walking was not solely a means to get somewhere. Walking in itself was an end, a form of meditation, a way of being. The journey was as important as the arrival. In fact the arrival was part of the journey.

For the pilgrim, every moment and every step is sacred. The holy places and temples are only symbolic destinations. By walking to the holy places a pilgrim is able to be free of speed, anxiety, and desire for achievement.

The path showed no sign of being in use, and I met nobody walking it. I enjoyed every moment in complete peace and solitude. Walking became a meditation, and every step was teaching me to be mindful. I relaxed to the sound of my own breath as it issued into the deep silence surrounding me. Breathing in I inhaled the warmth of the air, the smell of the wet grasses, the coolness of the water, the purity of Nature. I was breathing the universe into myself. Breathing out I was offering my energy to the universe. Breathing was my connection with the cosmos. I was one with the world.

As I breathe, I breathe the breath of God, the breath of all the people of the world. I receive a breath transfusion from the existence itself. The birds, the cows, the sheep, the deer, the trees, and the grasses greet me by giving their breath to me as I pass them. My breathing is the sharing of life itself.

Land is not merely a source of food, it is also a source of spiritual and emotional nourishment. If people are deprived of contact with their countryside, their spirit will die.

We gypsies believe that all boundaries, racial, national, or religions are fake. That is why we do not make boundaries and we do not live within boundaries, that is why we follow the free spirit. We will go where the wind leads us, we will go where the clouds lead us. All men are brothers, and all living creatures belong to the same family.

It is not good to leave the world and live in caves or monasteries, thinking the world is a trap and the only way to be liberated is to escape from it. On the other hand, the majority of people believe that spirituality is only for saints and that it cannot be practiced in everyday life. Gandhi took it upon himself to show that people can engage in politics truthfully and nonviolently. Economics and ethics are indivisible. Religion must permeate everyday activity. When agriculture, business, industry, education, arts, crafts, homemaking, family life, human relationships, and our interaction with the natural world are built on a spiritual foundation, then human beings are able to find the true meaning of life.

The role of religion and religious teachers is to help people to look at the world and see the sacred within it.

The only way to save the earth is for people to learn the practical skills of self-sufficiency.

Path Without Destination available at Powells and Amazon

"Roads from the Ashes"

An Odyssey in Real Life
on the Virtual Frontier
by Megan Edwards

From Library Journal:

Most people are reluctant to make drastic changes in their lives, but sometimes events happen that cause us to re-evaluate ourselves and the direction in which we are going. In l993, after losing their California home to a raging fire, Edwards, her husband, and Marvin "the road dog" saw an opportunity to set forth on a new mobile lifestyle. Their ongoing journey resulted in an award-winning web site and a successful marketing company. Readers follow their adventures from the beginning of the trip to the present. The Phoenix One, the ultimate RV warrior, became a permanent residence and workplace. Readers will delight in the miracle of the albino buffalo and get caught up in the excitement of the 42-mile Kinetic Sculpture Race. By sharing unusual treasures - a remote war memorial near Eagles Nest, the oversized Boeing Surplus Store - Edwards demonstrates the joys of exploration. From the mountains to Manhattan, this tapestry of life on the road weaves the best of travel, technology, survival skills, and relationships into an engaging work of art.

Anne Mary Benson, Osgoode, Ontario

Meaningful Quotes
There's safety in wondering. There's adventure in finding out.

How can it be, I wondered, that we fight all day and then rest exhausted in another's arms? Love burns and warms, rages and soothes, screams and whispers.

Technology doesn't always grow in a straight line. It's trimmed and shaped by politics and circumstance, by fad and necessity.

Peace can be elusive as freedom. If it can't sprout in a single breast, it can never sweep the land. As we drove east once more, I knew my challenge was to find harmony within. I had to find a way “to fight no more forever.”

“You're home already,” a quite voice seemed to say. “You're where you're supposed to be, at this perfect juncture of time and space. That's what home is, sweetheart.”

I wanted to be as close as next door and a thousand miles distant. I wanted an office on Flathead Lake, a bedroom with a view of redwoods. I wanted to dine in the Blue Ridge Mountains and fall asleep the the crashing Acadian surf. I wanted a backyard with oceans for fences and a family that circled the globe.

Roads from the Ashes available at Powells and Amazon

Links: RoadTripAmerica.com