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9.03.2016

EFLIUS Day 2

625 watts of solar energy expended today, 825 human Watts expended by me from the chickpeas and bread that were donated to me by a kind coffee shop, which is all I'll have to eat because the money for food and certainly for lodging is now invested in about $1,500 worth of enhancements to this vehicle. What money I have left is due for my lease, cell phone, $30 a month Insurance on this vehicle. I've done, I'll do, I'll do my  of this mission for as long as my body keeps going, the rest is out of my hands.

A year ago this happened to me and probably it was 6 hours for several days of peddling before I figured out what was going on. When it happened a year ago I assumed that it was me and not the vehicle. Today was probably 15 or 25 degrees cooler than it has been recently. What happened was my legs this morning when I left at 5:30 and for the first 12 miles about an hour and a half, my legs felt like, well, no strength. It seems like the vehicle wouldn't even roll. Anyone know what the problem was? Again, let me emphasize, a year ago when I was having my first experience in 40 years with a bicycle let alone a 240 pound bicycle loaded, it took me at least six hours and maybe several days before I figured out what was going on.

Answer: this vehicle, three tires for the vehicle, the tires are rated at 65 pounds of pressure. For reasons I don't know, I've chosen to inflate them to 60 pounds pressure. After 12 miles this morning, it finally dawned on me. I had not inflated the tires in at least a week. They were down to 40 pounds. What I find most amazing is that when this has happened to me in the last 6 months or so where I am more experienced, it's still sneaks up on me. Yesterday I traveled 30 miles I think. It was warmer, but still no hint. Today it was like I was riding through sand. How does it manifest so suddenly? Maybe all of it is to do with the temperature dropped. It's a mystery. When I inflated the tires all of a sudden I had a workable vehicle back.

why did it take me 12 miles? there was a variable distracting me from the ultimate cause, the tires. This vehicle is probably 40 pounds heavier than it has been because of all the stuff for this 2 months or two years Journey. Much of that weight is frozen bread and Frozen legume that I've been accumulating from this coffee shop that donate food to me for my mission. And Ice to keep it cool. I have no idea how long it will stay edible in this soft sided cooler.

The batteries were run down much more than they otherwise would have been. My body was run down much more than it otherwise would have been. But a very good learning experience.

This fabulous Android application , at sign voice, reads to me the hundreds of articles that I Q up when my work process does not allow for me to read long articles. All day long has been consumed with that. Extremely productive. Extraordinarily productive.

Weather Underground said that today was 70% overcast. That means that this was not a great solar generation day. By my choice I currently don't like eating into my reserves which are 30 - 60 miles in reserve depending upon how hard or soft a pedal. So after the first 12 mile debacle I throttled back from the nine miles per hour that I attempted yet and rather favoured trying to achieve a ratio of one part energy from the batteries, the Sun that I've stored, and one part energy from me or 100% energy for me depending upon the terrain.

Speaking of terrain, wow, so, I'm only 25 miles or so from Washington DC, oh my goodness it is so hilly here. And it's deceptive because it doesn't look that way but I have another application that will tell me a good approximation of the grade and frequently I was on three, four, five, even 6% grades. In case anyone was totally ignorant, as I have been, once you're on on an upgrade the issue is you're basically lifting your self and the vehicle which in my case is now 160 pounds, me, + 160 pound vehicle, Plus 70 pounds worth of stuff, one is lifting, literally the lifting that so many feet per minute. Yes, I get to go down those grades, but I also get to come up, and I'm particularly a slow today when I bled all kinds of battery because of under-inflated tires, I enjoyed being immensely conservative, two and a half miles per hour going up a grade, polite to the traffic as always. I choose times of day that are more likely travel than others, and have two sets of flashing lights that I use certainly one it's dark, but also in more dense traffic areas as a courtesy to drivers behind me.

Yet in combination, and I have excellent instrumentation on all this on the vehicle, part of the $1,500 upgrade, I averaged 8.6 miles per hour on this 40-mile leg today. And even better of the 625 Watts that I expended judging from my battery levels now I recovered probably 60% of that on a 70% overcast day, and traveling 42 miles, and averaging over 9 miles an hour. Did I mention that a significant portion of the $1,500 or so upgrade was to move from two solar panels to three, the second is identical to the third and they are immensely light, four pounds, and eventually efficient putting out as much as 75 watts each in full sun.

It is, very much the Gestalt of sailing, and when I am Skipper of any sailboat I find it very very mentally engaging. This has tremendous similarity to the Aesthetics of sailing the way I do it. I'm tremendously conscious of where of the sun is relative to the vehicle. I'm very aware of whether I'm in open space or trees. Point being,  my enjoyment of sailing comes from being extremely conscious of opportunities to harness any breath of wind, and I have a similar Consciousness to gather every watt of sunlight.

My current routine is to plan on stopping two or three times per day. Morning Sun is problematic because it's low on the horizon as is late afternoon sun. So by choosing to arrange my stops from 8 in the morning until 10, and 3 in the afternoon until 5, I'm able to select a spot where the sun is hitting well where the vehicle can be parked and the panel on the roof can be angled toward the Sun, did I mention I spent $1,500 upgrading this vehicle, and the panels on the trailer can be easily tilted toward the sun, did I mention that I spent $1,500 upgrading the vehicle?

No, I am not doing this trip for the pleasure of it. Did I mention that I'll be staying each night in the Walmart  Four Seasons or the equivalent? Did I mention that I'll be sitting up in the vehicle only slightly reclined every night all night? Did I mention that on one's mind in these situations is both robbery and undesired interest by the police or security? Did I mention that such things are stressful? Did I mention there have been no takers in terms of showing any interest in tapping into friends, churches, synagogues, mosques,  organizations , relatives, to offer me periodically a safe place to throw down a sleeping bag and do laundry or get out of a storm?

It's not possible for me to avoid paying rent on the property without being unethical, and without drawing a suit or legal action. I'm liable through March and I'll pay through March. Point being I have a very large, very modern, very comfortable apartment. Pleasure would be staying there. Pleasure would have been enjoying the nice mattress that I have there the last 3 weeks. But joy was sitting up every night for the last 3 weeks so that my body became trained in managing the discomfort, and joy is being on this arduous, riskey, worrisome, starvation-prone, Storm vulnerable, exploration for life in us.

Trolling for live souls or those that have the ability to be rekindled was a metaphor that came into my mind and will stay there, today. Sowing seeds, of course. The notion of Johnny Appleseed about which I know little has come to mind with respect to this voyage.

This morning's Target was George Mason University. I know next to nothing about it as I'm heading there. I arrived at about 8 a.m. or so on a cold windy morning. Arrived at the Student Union and sat there for 20 minutes outside checking the news and what not and it was pretty much a ghost town. As with other campuses that I have seen there is a trend among some to keep the students on campus away from pollution by townies and regular folk. This strikes me as that type of Campus. It's small from what I could see. According to google there are two Starbucks on the small campus. Has they been part of an attendant town they would have been an interesting spot for me to sit and thereby troll. But they appeared to be embedded in campus buildings so my destination became a coffee shop about 2 miles from campus. There the vehicle and I sat for maybe two and a half hours. At least an hour of which was me sleeping quite exhausted after the weeks of preparation and pedaling a bike with flat tires for 12 miles, lol. Quite exhausted. Every 15 minutes the timer woke me up and the body said set it again which I did 4 times. But there was another hour or so there are where while I was working I could be aware of the reaction of passers-by on foot or car in this mall sort of area. This is Fairfax, VA fairly upscale suburb of Washington DC. My sense was that my sisters and brothers walking by are Walking Dead. Too busy, too consumed , too preoccupied, too obsessed with the worldly values of Our Sick culture to have the slightest room for a childlike curiosity, Wonder, awe, amazement, reverence for life. Not only are you welcome to evaluate my comments here in this regard as judgmental, having to do with superiority, putting people down. The reader is welcome to that judgment and encouraged to see cease observing anything that I write in the future because if that is how I am assessed then there is nothing of use that I can share with such a reader. What kind of a doctor is not aware of the health or lack thereof of those around her? What kind of a brother who is instead deeply concerned with the spirit of individuals, whether those Spirits are experientially dead, or whether they are filled with the optimal Human Experience which is joy?

Currently the vehicle and I sit in the parking lot of a large sprawling big-box Mall, in an area that does not have a lot of cars around it, but a 3 Iron from stores like Modell's, Sports Authority next to each other, Toys R Us, Hallmark, Designer Shoe Warehouse, Saks Fifth Avenue off fifth.... my strategy is to spend maybe half an hour organizing the log that I intend to keep to track energy investment, sun and plants that I eat, and energy consumption for which I now have excellent instrumentation, did I mention a $1,500 upgrade to the vehicle? And then to spend several hours sitting up here catching some sleep. And then when discomfort causes me to awaken and move, going another half-mile to where the Four Seasons Walmart is. And sleeping there for another 5 hours or so.

Early, probably 6 a.m. before the Sun is up and employees are around, the next destination is a 10 a.m. Unitarian Universalist service in Manassas about an hour and a half ride away.

I I mentioned that the notion of trolling , not rolling as in the internet, but trolling as in fishing, I've never liked fishing, that trolling as in fishing, is very much on my mind. I expect to more and more intensively troll so-called houses of worship as I get my stride over the next days and weeks. Tomorrow will be some introductory trolling, constituting possibly nothing more than my physical presence outside prior to the service and inside during the service , at the Unitarian Universalist Church there.

9.02.2016

Organic Transit ELF. Fabulous concept, will be stable in several years, support is a horrible nightmare, company unlikely to make it.

I adore this vehicle.

http://organictransit.com/

The support and service from the company has gone from horrible to Way Beyond horrible. As near as I can tell these are nice folks although it is hard to reconcile they are with the unbelievably atrocious support and policies. But I think that they're decent folks. As best as I can then understand their atrocious policies and support is that they must be in severe financial trouble, possibly going out of business, thereby under the control of some soulless MBA venture capitalist that's in the final stages of destroying their business. They have a warranty and if you're willing to pay roughly 200% of the cost of any item, absolutely ridiculous Freight and handling charges, delays of months or many weeks if you're lucky, after Hoops to jump through, excuses, challenges, dropped balls, then yes, they have a warranty. Did I mention that roughly once a year they replace their general manager and much of the staff so year-to-year no one knows anything? Did I mention they have a firewall that would make your cable TV company Green With Envy, you don't get to talk to a person in this company. not if your vehicle is broken down and needs support urgently. Not if it is a  physical emergency. When they get to you truly honestly is weeks or months. I dearly wish I were exaggerating, because then my life would have been immensely easier the last six months and a technology that I deeply respect would have a chance of surviving which as things stand right now it certainly does not. If you have insane amounts of money to spend and not only to purchase the vehicle but to pay the double or triple Bike Shop fees if you can find anyone to work on the vehicle, and the huge cost of replacing part after part, solar panel, transmission..., and if as it relates to keeping the vehicle running,  aligning the tires,  tuning the system,  you expect absolutely zero support, then this may be for you.  It is a spectacular concept.  It is a reasonable first generation  implementation physically, think Wright Brothers plane number 2.  It is among the worst nightmares in terms of support that I've experienced in my 65 years. So sad. And they seem to be absolutely 100% comfortable, self-satisfied, at peace with that.

EFLIUS: It has begun......

Destinations today include the only Northern destination intended, University of Maryland, and George Washington University, then and Alexandria Metro stop , and then a dear brother and his family and their couch for the night, and then points farther south. Major reengineering of the vehicle, the free Palestine solar Fusion bike car Sailer, was completed yesterday evening and the purpose of today is to exercise the vehicle substantially without being too far from the bike shop where the engineering took place.

***** EFLIUS. Who besides King , Gandhi , Schweitzer, Bonhoeffer, and Tolstoy have understood the man Jesus? And taken him at his word? I don't see any..........

***** Who besides King , Gandhi , Schweitzer, Bonhoeffer, and Tolstoy have understood the man Jesus? And taken him at his word? I don't see any. Teresa of Calcutta? Dogma. If you get Jesus you don't need Dogma. If you get Jesus, you detest Dogma. Jimmy Carter? Too much reason, too much intellect, too much piety, too much sanctimonious,  and Old Testament, Dogma. If you get Jesus you don't need these things,  You Are revolted by them. Francis of Assisi? Too much fantasy, too much psychosis. If you get Jesus you live reality, you live creation, you live creator. You don't need psychosis. Tenzin gyatso, the Dalai Lama? Lip service lip service lip service lip service lip service lip service, full of himself. These and others have been good if not great Souls. But close only counts in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades. My last ten or fifteen years I have been in and out of a central fascination with the life and example of the man Jesus, the historical Jesus, my God, not the Theological Jesus, the religious Jesus, the Christian Jesus,  all of which I hate because it is instead of Jesus. The man Jesus. The historical Jesus. By her life Diane Wilson gets Jesus. By his life, some of it, William Thomas of the White House peace vigil got Jesus. Certainly there are others that neither I nor you know of. By every indication the apostles did not get Jesus. They immediately had to make stuff up. Christianity? Christianity hates Jesus, it's all made up stuff so that it can avoid who and what he was. It's a brand and branded products instead of Jesus. I think it's almost impossible in this small world of massive information for someone to be a catalyst that could turn Humanity away from now near certain demise that does not live reaction to the man Jesus, his life and example, that is profound Wonder, awe, amazement, reverence, for his life and example. I can think of one exception to this, a person who was horribly abused by those who professed knowledge and love of Jesus but in truth were the opposite. I put no one down with all this. I Elevate no one, including Jesus, with this. What's at stake here is coming up with a serum, a ransome, a Redemption, a cure, that is so potent and pure that it acts as a catalyst and dramatically turns enough of us, masses of us, from malignant deadly cancerous instruments of selfishness into the opposite, in time. Masses of Human Rights catalysts , in truth, in quantity, in time.

9.01.2016

Thank goodness that the sick crippling inebriating delusion that my life is my own is long past. No credit to me my life is the joy of knowing that it belongs to my neediest sisters and brothers. I regret every moment that I denied what my soul always knew.

Thank goodness that the sick crippling inebriating delusion that my life is my own is long past. No credit to me my life is the joy of knowing that it belongs to my neediest sisters and brothers. I regret every moment that I denied what my soul always knew.

***** To the core of 6 or so individuals in DC government and nonprofits that I see working so honestly, courageously, humanely , intelligently, selflessly, in solidarity with the homeless and or poor in the DC region: I remain with you in spirit and gratitude, but my body, not so much. I'm called to Explorer For Life, Spirit, Humanity, reverence for life, Wonder, awe, willingness to stand for the next Generations... I'm called to explore and see if this exists in sufficient quantity in US to give........

To the core of 6 or so individuals in DC government and nonprofits that  I see working so honestly,  courageously, humanely , intelligently, selflessly, in solidarity with the homeless and or poor in the  DC region: I remain with you in spirit and gratitude, but my body, not so much.

I'm called to Explorer For Life, Spirit, Humanity, reverence for life, Wonder, awe, willingness to stand for the next Generations...  I'm called to explore and see if this exists in sufficient quantity in  US to give the next Generations a future. Sadly it is clear to me that it absolutely is not available in sufficient quantity in Washington DC, present company I hope, excepted.

I really have no hope that it's out there but it's the only thing that can save us if kindled or rekindled and I need to go give it a shot. My primary Mentor, the man Jesus, said, love as I have loved, and I shall continue to try to do just that,  for the nowhere else to be found joy of it. For the nowhere else to be found piece of heart of it. For the nowhere else to be found Hope of it.

It has totally absorbed me these recent weeks preparation including technical leading-edge enhancements to the Free Palestine Solar Fusion Bike Car Sailer. Hence my absence from the otherwise very important meetings.

Tomorrow morning as early as 3 a.m. to avoid the murderous DC traffic I expect to be pedaling My Way South. Plan A currently within me is to return by mid-november from the most southern portions of Florida before the weather gets too bad up here, for a few months rest, to briefly rejoin you, and to prepare for a year or so Journey.. But Plan B also seems to be quite active and that is to continue around the country for a year or several years doing what I can.

Again, as I reflect on this call with in my chest, the words of my brother Jesus come to mind, I came to bring a fire and oh how I wish it were raging. That's how I feel. I've got to continue to try. LOL. Yes, it is absolutely ridiculous. But I cannot not try.

It has been a privilege to work with each of you. You might think that I'm abandoning ship, or was never serious to begin with. I've never been more serious than in the work that I attempted to do alongside of you and it is exactly because of how important that work is that I am called to go do what I'm called to do.

I have come to think of what you  do as sort of the mash unit in the middle of the war. Unless some folks cause the war to stop the mash unit cannot succeed.

And stopping the war, stopping the war of soon terminal to all life on Earth mindless greed that we all in this culture consider virtue, will require an anti-violent army. I must go see if one can be raised.

James

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8.30.2016

The schedule is holding for the commencement of the 3000-mile 2 month Journey to begin early early Friday morning. The country is so incredibly, so filled with hatred....

The schedule is holding for the commencement of the 3000-mile 2 month Journey to begin early early Friday morning. The country is so incredibly, so filled with hatred and evil, I wonder if it is time for my number to come up on some back road in the south. If and when it happens I just hope it's quick.

In life it is inescapable that each moment we seek to feel psychologically full, and there are only two ways to pursue that: 1. Having, 2. Being. In our culture......

In life it is inescapable that each moment we seek to feel psychologically full, and there are only two ways to pursue that: 1. Having, 2. Being. In our culture we are taught that there is only one way, having. In truth, there is only one way that can succeed, that can make us feel constantly full, being. Did you know that Americans are the most self-medicated people there have ever been? Did you know that for decades Americans have been roughly 4% of the world's population consuming roughly 25% of the world's resources?

There have been some extremely significant exceptions, but a central story of my adulthood has been a pattern of extremely intense leadership actions in dire human circumstances, attended by at least a small Cadre of excited colleagues only........

There have been some extremely significant exceptions, but a central story of my adulthood has been a pattern of extremely intense leadership actions in dire human circumstances, attended by at least a small Cadre of excited colleagues  only to find that in the midst of battle there was just one person out on the field of battle actually taking the risks, paying the price, fighting, me,  alone,  colleagues safely and immovably, with all the excuses in the world, on the sidelines.