i got a ride from anahata with a sturdy little mother and her young ones to roanoke. she happened to be friends with the person who i was going to couchsurf with! i'd found moona somewhat randomly on couchsurfing while searching for hosts along my route north. some cosmic signs led me to feel strongly that i should visit her. my intuition led me well this time.
one important reason for us to meet was that she was able to confirm that i should visit the 'possibility alliance' in missouri. i have really wanted to make this place part of my trip since learning of them through the folks who made the film within reach. i didn't know when i met moona that she had met these folks and is one of the superheroes, going by the name Garlic Frog! she showed me a newsletter she has recently received from the superhero training academy. in it there are flyers for a superhero ride that is taking place in michigan, beginning August 10th, around the time i was going to be passing through that area! this whole trip i am on is like a big superhero bike ride, and i really want to join in with others who are on the same mission! i'm going to do all i can to be there. moona also gave me a 'love bomb' she made out of felt, which is a tradition of the superhero community.
moona, joergen, and i went out on a joyride friday night. we rode some of this 'green trail', i played mbira while they got some ice cream, and then we made our way to this awesome little shop called freckles. moona and joergen played dress-up while i played guitar. a couple girls walking by wanted a demonstration of the the tall bike, so i decided to give it a try. this was my first time every riding a tall bike. it was fun! joergen was borrowing this one from a friend to get around on. that is him in the white dress.
i met a woman at freckles that night who resonated strongly with the idea that there is a shift occurring. don't remember exactly how it came up... she had recently gotten into painting and we joined her to her little studio nearby to have a look. she is painting in a very childlike way that is wonderfully spontaneous. a larger work was a figure in the midst of a rainbow sunset, with love flowing up through her. this woman also said she was into contact improv dance, which is in the same arena as ecstatic dance. we had a heart connection. i felt a very strong confirmation through her of the shift, which i am on a mission to tell people about.
i'd like to mention that moona lives in a wonderful little apartment building with an herb and flower garden in the courtyard and an active compost system out back! this kind of conscientious management is reassuring to me. there is a community garden nearby, Grandin Gardens, where i preferred to donate the compostables from the kitchen. i like thermophilic piles more than rotating plastic bins, though the later, if designed well as the one here is, serves the purpose.
in looking at the facebook page i just realized that there is much more going on at the site of this community garden that is of interest to me. looks like this organization, the universal mind, is just starting to really get going. i think it is a little cosmic that the place i am staying is less than a block away and i decided to incorporate materials into one of their piles. do you find it somehow interesting?
there is a nice natural food coop a few blocks from moona's place, where we dumpster dove and i purchased supplies for the ride ahead.
another place i spent some time was at this bikeshop downtown. the place had a little sitting area and offered filtered water and coffee to visitors. this reminded me of a similarly styled shop in seattle, 20/20 cycle. anyway the shop's owner, james, was working there this saturday, while outside the 'festival in the park' was going on. james took interest in my story and told me he thought i might do well to meet the occupy community of roanoke, who he said were presently having their weekly meeting 'up the mountain'. i was focused on getting my drivetrain running smoothly, and by the time i left i just wanted to get back to the house for a late lunch, so i decided to let that possibility go. he was very kind to let me use one side of his shop stand and to assist me in some of the work. turned out we did not need to waste time trying another freewheel to match the new chain. the one that was already on my bike felt better than the other one we tried. so all i needed was the new chain and a replacement for the worn out 34tooth ring in the front. he had a nice, steel Sugino 36tooth of the BCD i needed! that was a major sign that i was in the right place. i could have fixed the drivetrain issue in tallahassee, but then i would not have had this good encounter with james.
i tried to pay him $30 but he was tricky and ran my debit card for $25. everyone wants to be generous towards me for some reason. when i was getting ready to leave he mentioned that he dug my mbira, so i played a little while, seeing this was something pleasant i could offer him.
when i reused a plastic bag for my groceries at the coop i got to donate a token worth five cents to one of four non-profits in the area. i chose a three acre urban farm project that sounded very promising. the terms permaculture and biodynamic were used in their description of the project. this article was all i could find so far about this urban farm.
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