25 degrees this morning at the truck stop, here's ten dollars, thank you for what you're doing in the cold.

 A young man, certainly not of means in this West Texas desert Outpost. The prior night it was $35, a trucker, a farmer by the looks of him, or Rancher. So wistful, so deep in his prayerful wondering over what this vehicle and this Mission represent. Drawn by the iconography of Jesus, none make such contributions thinking that this is even a tiny bit dogmatic. Never, never, never, never do we ask. During any month there are probably four or five encounters like this and about $150 in funds that are desperately needed. We're just barely solvent with my paltry slightly above poverty level Social Security funding us. And the gigantic contributions of the creators of these trailers. There have been, there are, souls stirred by this mission. Each one a sacred treasure.

Catastrophic equipment failure. A glorious godsed.

Such a Privilege. Why I do what I do.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/PLHHBW5gxMvRHjU4A
 

Mission. Cycling. We're bleeding.

 

We'll be okay, and it's not James blood. But it's our blood. Oh man, poor Sol. A Thousand Miles, 40% of the way to California, about 45 days so far, the shortest solar days of the year behind us. and he's saying, stop man. We got problems. We need repairs and it's too cold to be working Outdoors, oh well. Three flat tires yesterday. Two so far today. Right hand trailer wheel wobbling. Seat back support broken. Cycle analyst, the brain, totally Haywire. 12-volt system in the cab and the trailer both blown out. Torque sensor crazy. Brakes in bad need of replacement and or adjustment. Long pedal chain in bad need of adjustment. Trailer motor chain adjustment.... tomorrow morning I'll see if the Walmart will allow me to stay a second night presuming that there's no problem tonight. And maybe a third. We're not in any danger, were very tired. But we're okay. It won't kill us, will grow.

Update. Work in progress. Hands get numb but other than that we're okay. Walmart seems to be very accommodating for a day or two working on the vehicle here. That's a great Mercy. The wobble in the rear trailer wheel has been diagnosed and replacement parts on order and things are solidified so we can be safe until we get to the parts in a week.

Monumentally important video logs in the archive link to at the right on at the top of this blog regarding the mission, cycling, and a few other things. You can lead a horse to water....

Raining, Frozen, pulled over by the sheriff department in the middle of rural Alabama today

 

I hear the children shouting, thank you! I suspect Jesus did the same.

 I've got a lot more than nine, and I didn't ask for them. SMH. Deep sigh. 

It's frustrating, but I have to accept it, right now I'm doing everything....

It's frustrating, but I have to accept it, right now I'm doing everything

I can do, and there's just nothing extra. No extra time, no extra energy. Not complaining, but it's frustrating. Maybe I'll find it due to the month and a half or two months away from cycling, but I'm pretty horrified by how little energy I can contribute, and these are the shortest days of the year so the sun, no criticism, isn't giving me a whole lot of help. Starting tomorrow each day starts getting a little bit longer, but about a week out there's almost a week's worth of rain forecast. Oh well. Nothing compared to what the kids and grandkids and great grandkids have in store. And of course the millions and billions whose lives are already material hell due to our Western consumption, rape, plunder, of Mother Earth already on her deathbed.

Such a privilege to be traveling with this vehicle.

 https://photos.app.goo.gl/uhtg1L3UZfwsBFTUA

Oh, and if you listen to the end it was a long long long long pause and then some expletives. Before the pause I thought I had stopped the video. Someone passed me and as they occasionally do they hung in the oncoming traffic lane forcing the oncoming car to almost stop. People are amazing. And rarely in a good way. Creator will not be sad to see us go.

Your being is not the major thing in influencing people. It's the only thing. James

 Hat tip to Albert Schweitzer, thanks for enabling me see just a little bit further.

Khanh & my Sol is all but done. Hoping my friend will let me be a friend for a couple of weeks and then heading west.

Khanh & my Sol is all but done. Hoping my friend, brother, will let me be a good friend for the joy of it, for a couple of weeks and then heading west.

This was a miraculous vehicle that Khanh created six months ago. Miraculous upon arriving back here in Charlotte a month ago. But it is now beyond that. It was a nine months of the year solar vehicle not twelve, and now probably 11 or 12, even the short winter months for 30 or 50 miles a day of travel and cooking totally Off the Grid. Twice that the longer months.

 

It was an ergonomic catastrophe, a torture rack, really a fundamental design flaw for anyone serious about cycling aside from the one in a hundred that might perfectly fit the almost completely non-adjustable standard seat arrangement. That's behind us freeing possibly 3 4 5 hours a day of distraction on the part of James trying to figure out in that particular day how to enable his body to move this 800 lb object without totally destroying all his soft tissue. That's behind us. Truly an extraordinary leap. And so many other things I expect to detail in the next couple of days.

For a series of reasons including that Khanh has now freed up hours in every day that I'm traveling from the interesting nightmare of trying to work out the daily ergonomics.

What time I have had Beyond basic ergonomics in the last 6 months has been devoted centrally to more deeply understanding and incorporating the 300 versus that we have from the man Jesus that he probably spoke and lived. I never would have guessed earlier in my life that this is what I would want to devote myself to, but indeed it is. You are aptly named someone said recently, and another person said much the same, James, the brother of Jesus. It feels that way. The Deep Joy, and the sad responsibility.

And I expect that to continue, but I also have an inkling of what I will be studying in the hours per day that Khanh has freed up where I can have articles and books read to me.

What I think is most needed of me is to help make it easy for others to do good in the world for the Supreme, penultimate, Joy of it, the superior Joy of it. And as I have known and said for decades the reason that's hard, it is our basic nature, the reason it's hard, is because we're dying for examples in this near perfectly evil culture that we create and bask in. 

And this is why three years ago after realizing that there's no hope to avert Ecocide for the human and all species, I found myself creating this website, Lsgiabeing.com. At that time my sense was, James, you need to do the best you can to channel good Souls into the world, for the one in a million that might be helped by that, some poor soul way Downstream. 

But now I realize, you need to do it, James, for it to be easier for you to attempt good in the world, for the sheer Joy of attempting, even with the gop Nazi goon takeover and resultant hell that will happen in 2024.

And I expect, I might be wrong, I expect, that I'm now called to use my time while traveling returning to that joyful task with eyes more open, studying the great Souls at that site. With my understanding deeper. The huge insight being that doing good for the sake of doing good, ATTEMPTING GOOD, every breath, is the ultimate Joy regardless of the horrible material consequences that it may bring, or threatens to bring. I didn't have that clarity then, I do now.

Unless Greta goes on hunger strike....

Thanksgiving. There's much I strive to avoid being thankful for.

 It's pretty easy to follow the road or the path unless it is shrouded in dense fog. Or a swirling snow storm. In that way James finds it difficult to avoid being thankful for that which he does not want to be thankful for.

As he remains here in North Carolina his beloved brother making final improvements to this miraculous Creation of his, and as James helps his brother with some projects, there is so much that our sick culture would tell him to be thankful for. His friendship, The Wonder of watching the Brilliance and goodness of this man pour into the vehicle, a profoundly affordable place to do the work, quiet, safe. Systems and routines that are working out really really well, dual sleeping bags for freezing overnight temperatures, instapot recipes and pasta recipes that are providing an extremely affordable, healthy, food supply with very little effort, and sufficiently tasty and varied. Not yet being in the concentration camps that shortly after 2024 are where James is likely to have his life end torturously, still having Social Security and Medicare that will be Stripped Away by the howling Savage GOP WHITE supremacist male-dominated goons.... this miraculous vehicle that is such a powerful tool for reaching the one in a million Souls that can still be reached in this life on this Earth for their life on this Earth and those that they impact. And I could go on and on.

But being thankful is something that shapes one and if one isn't careful, if James isn't careful, his life becomes what he does not want it to be. The above items are ultimately material wealth of one sort or another even though they're totally devoted to the well-being of others, not that which Jesus understood to be creator, the all almighty power that no one will ever be able to name. 

The life of joy is 100% the life of the soul in charge attempting to do good in the world for those in need. And especially and may be entirely, for the profoundly rare soul that can be brought back to the life of joy. 100% of what James wants to be thankful for is in that Realm and nothing outside. 

Why does he care about this? Greed. Greed for joy. Greed for Joy for himself, and the extremely unlikely possibility for what Joy he might help lead others to, or back to.

What he is thankful for are those things that have led him to this path, this understanding, strengthen him for it, and for his attempts to live it and thereby share it. Three individuals that were placed in his life path that for decades he could exercise his capacity for unconditional loving especially as it was almost never requited. The root of it all, his father who is the most unconditionally loving individual James has ever encountered. And thereby James understanding of the life of the man Jesus which James thinks is correct and tragically rare. The genuine loving, not to be confused with selfserving convenient affection or kindness, the genuine loving that throughout his life on rare occasions he is received from this individual here, a teacher early on maybe, several teachers early on, and throughout his life the occasional person that was genuinely loving, that is devoting themself in at least some small way to his well-being and Mission, not their own selfish interests. So encouraging and nurturing.

So what James is thankful for to the exclusion of the above, is the path of serving the neediest from the soul in solidarity, for the joy of it, best articulated and exemplified by the man Jesus, by James biological father Edward, the occasional loving Souls mentioned above. Nothing else, though he appreciates things mentioned above that he is not thankful for and is glad of them, but they're transitory, and not important.

James, lol. where are you biking to next once you leave Charlotte?

 

Ryan, current plan is West Coast the southern route. Lots of cold, but I'm hoping that there won't be much snow and ice, or too many other dangerous storms, lots of West headwind some of which are extremely dangerous, but we'll manage I think. Khanh Dam is making some more miraculous improvements including increasing battery capacity by 30%, solar capacity by 30%, so I think at 40 miles a day even in the short winter months will have enough energy even for cooking and some stretches of bad weather. You will recall I carry a thousand watt generator, but those things are so dirty that I like to use that only in an emergency and I think his enhancements may make that possible. And as you may have seen in 2 hours he totally changed the seat arrangements so that I have an adjustable back which can be inclined much more forward and for me it's a absolute game changer. I'm almost certain. After 4 years, 40,000 miles, moving the elf is just like, well, ER, riding a bike. And as to the increased battery and solar, I want this rig  to be seen by the sun trip folks unless I decide somehow impossible, or inappropriate, or unkind. This is a really serious Bridge vehicle and I'd like them to see it, I'm even thinking of finding a way to not get in the way but do some or all of the trip unofficially and that could mean a hundred miles a day at 20 or 30 miles an hour and we might have enough capacity to do that now. We'll see.

Unless Greta Thunberg leads a Global hunger strike of people, led by the Young, to the death if necessary, for a Marshall Plan caliber to rescue some livable future for the children and grandchildren of all Humanity. If so, I'll do what I can to go join that day one.

A monkey wrench in some or all of this is after 70 years of incredibly faithful service by lungs are having a lot of problems. They seem to have developed a hypersensitivity to air pollution. Even when the reports are excellent air quality I spend two hours a day coughing up crud out of my lungs. Been going on for a couple of months now. Having a telemedicine call on Tuesday maybe will shed some light on it.

... But self-care alone won’t fulfill people’s psychological needs as we rebound from the pandemic. After many months in relative isolation, we must reclaim connection and meaning. That comes not just from caring for ourselves but also from caring for one another. Self-care is vital, but its efficacy is...

 If if you have a payroll problem please tell me.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/other-care-self-care/620441/?utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

"James, You are a prophet in our times... Don't give up hope James", my most sacred of sisters just wrote. James does his best work living without hope.....

 "You are a prophet in our times, James. Our sometimes, very sad times.  I understand . Believe me, I understand.  Don’t give up hope, my most beloved badger friend!  Let me know where to send some cash. Winter is coming!  And there are more of us out there. We get too busy and distracted and fail to watch out for our brother and sister."

She also wrote," you are a mess, but a great and ancient soul." I replied, takes one to know one. She replied, " haha!"

James: Actually, that's really strategically true. Takes one to know one. That's why our work is to be one as intensely as we can because it might reawaken that knowledge, that's soul, in another soul. I absolutely believe that's really our entire work. At least it will give the opportunity for joy to another individual, misery, but Joy, and if many were to wake up in time that's the only way. The rest is details.

Sister: Yep. People need models same as you see JC and Gandhi as models.  You are a model for persistence through thick or thin, rain, sleet or snow. You raised the bar, little badger!

James: Several days before what I thought would be five years in prison for being arrested at Standing Rock, James realized once and for all he has no hope. And every day since then these recent years has reaffirmed that objectively, objectively, in truth, there is no hope. Because there are not a fraction of the people with Souls still alive to use the technology that we have in abundance to save a habitable future for the children and grandchildren. There is no basis for hope.

But there is a basis for devoting every waking breath to the work of attempting to inflame one's own soul and thereby maybe ignite and or protect the soul in another. Why do so? For the joy of it, and the joy it just might restore to another soul. And if there was a way of wakening Hope beyond that, it would be down this exact path.

 And to this she added: "Yep. People need models same as you see JC and Gandhi as models.  You are a model for persistence through thick or thin, rain, sleet or snow. You raised the bar, little badger!" 

James reply: takes one to know one

Help needed to the mission, greatly needed, and much appreciated....

The creator of this fabulous vehicle has provided a drydock opportunity coming through Charlotte. Yet another miracle from Khanh Dam.

Battery capacity is being increased 30%.

 Ability to climb even steeper grades increased 20% by improved gearring. Repairs from two rear end collisions these last three months being completed, including replacing the damaged signage, $200.

Winter weather gear purchased including a pair of extremely expensive thinsulate cycling boots. Lights for safe night time driving in anticipation of heading west to the Coast and into the prevailing Westerly winds that can be terrifying but often calm during the night.

 

It may even be that now or soon the two primary Motors will be purchased to replace the current ones, more than twice as powerful. As it stands, in mountains where he often places himself, James has to put out ALL OF an ungodly amount of energy to get the 1000LB payload moving on steep grades before the motors can help. He can't count on being able to do this much longer.

All this is taking a considerable multiple of the unsolicited donations that people  occasionally hand James and Sol as they travel the country practicing and sharing the good news, Jesus Joyful religion of family family To all souls, serving from the soul in solidarity, not the materialistic religion of John and the Christians, peace be upon them. As it stands he's headed in two months worth of credit card debt.

Because of Khan's Brilliance and generosity James has realized that this is his tiny home until his final days. It can be. It is. He wants nothing else. But as his body gets older and a bit weaker and more frail these upgrades, and the winter gear to survive cold weather, are a necessity.

The thought of even a moment of socializing is torture for me. My world....

 The thought of even a moment of socializing is torture for me. My world is filled with unbearable suffering, Palestine, the hell world of your children and grandchildren, millions in prison, billions in poverty.... being separated by idle socializing for even a moment from fighting for those suffering is unbearable Agony to me. Always has been. I think it was the same for Jesus.

I've long perceived that Chris hedges is our greatest intellectual, even more so than chompski. Except for one massive strategic error. The same error that great Souls like Martin Luther King, and Gandhi made. That....

 I've long perceived that Chris hedges is our greatest intellectual, even more so than chompski. Except for one massive strategic error. The same error that great Souls like Martin Luther King, and Gandhi made. That I made in my life until this last year. Jesus never made that error from what I can see. That error being, that changes to the material world can be our Focus. Clean the inside of the cup Jesus told us over and over. It is only by getting our soul in charge of our head and Flesh that we thereby encourage others to do the same, and only that can eliminate the Dreadful symptoms of hatred and stupidity in the world. And although it is centuries, Millennia, too late, to save the species, it is not too late to save one's own soul oh, and maybe that of a neighbor, for the joy of it. Anyway, seems to me that's how Jesus saw it, and lived it, and me too. Yes, we cannot Escape impacting the material world, but if we use our energies on the symptoms the root cause continues to wreak destruction.

https://youtu.be/CqB2GSNJKJM

Did Jesus know he was on a Fool's errand? You cannot create Temple Grandin.

 

Jesus was actually destroyed by John, those writers a hundred years after his physical death.