Friend (Joe) - Hey Peace Rider how goes it from Eugene?
PR - It's been great! I spoke at Wellspring High School yesterday. It's a small private alternative school a friend suggested I contact. This contact led to others and the Warm Showers, Atkins host family I've been staying with.
Paul is very active in the cycling community, on the Board of GEARS (Greater Eugene Area Riders). He works at one of Paul's three bike shops in Eugene. He and Roman Dial traversed the Alaska Range from east west by bicycle and pack raft among other past adventures.
Monica is a stay at home mom with four young children to ride herd on, no small feat with two, four year old twins. Jose is a lovable lab, mostly maintenance free, bark worse than bite.
Two years go they gave up their car. The whole family goes everywhere by bicycle, two of which are tandems with cargo carrying capacity besides. In this bicycle friendly town it's fairly easy to do with good main road bike lanes and many off road trails.
F - How's your body and bike holding up?
PR - I feel rested and ready to hit the road again. I traded in my Giant mountain bike for a Norco Kwest touring bike. It's a Canadian brand. "Kwest" or quest seems somehow appropriate for what I'm trying to do. It's lighter with higher pressure tires. I relied on Paul's expertise in bikes to get quality components on a bicycle at a reasonable price. This model was on sale. I needed something that would travel a bit easier with less effort and save some wear and tear on this aging shell. At the same time I've pared down things I won't need for the next segment into a warmer climate. (accompanying photo of Don and his new bike courtesy of Paul Atkins)
F - Have you settled on a route south yet?
PR - Yeah, at least to San Francisco. I'll leave Eugene tomorrow heading for Grants Pass then the Oregon and California coasts. I really want to spend a few moments in the midst of giant redwood trees again. I visited them once before traveling this route. They're awesome. I love these ancient sentinels that just watch and wait. Maybe they're hoping we'll one day come to our senses and appreciate things of great beauty, like old tress, that enrich our lives and make life worth living.
F - That reminds me, what do you say to people who think the idea of Oneness is just so much mumbo jumbo?
PR - It really isn't, of course, but it is a big leap in perception and understanding especially when we've been conditioned to think of ourselves as separate from on another, from creation and that which is Greater than Self. And yet it is this very perception of separation that is at the root of all our problems, the madness that gives rise to the dysfunction in our world.
I can try building a ramp to help bridge the gap between the old and the new but in the end it is up to each to take a leap of faith to the other side, to think again with an open mind. Many have already done that. But many are not ready to take the leap so entrenched are ways of believing and thinking. There is however nothing to fear in the new.
I'll leave you with this. None of the major religions or philosophies have brought peace to this planet have they? In fact just the opposite has often been true hasn't it? Oneness is not a philosophy or religion it is a way of being and acting, experiential by its very nature. It comes with an understanding that what we give to another we give to ourselves because we are part of a greater unity. There is only one source of Universal life energy and we are a part of it. It is a change in understanding to what is true, from what is illusion, separation, a paradigm shift or change in consciousness.
When we really understand it and act accordingly we'll stop abusing ourselves and creation. To repeat a famous quote, "when the power of love exceeds the love of power there will be peace in our world." True power comes from togetherness or unity not separation.
