[Oe List ...] Fwd: GMCA July 17-18

[David Zahrt via OE]

*THU Jul 17*

Although it was to be an 18-mile day, it seemed difficult to get packed up
and leave the church. The directions that Anna posted were not accurate. s
I departed Grand Island on Hwy 30 and rode the sidewalk on the way out of
town. The 6 ft. shoulder (bike lane) started at the outskirts of the city.
I rode about 8 miles. Today’s campsite is the Art Farm. I reached the
gravel road turnoff just as Sarah and the Gear truck arrived. for gas. I
asked the Gear truck driver if he would haul my bike.


The Art Farm was 60 acres owned by a non-profit group of residents. There
were numerous old buildings in need of repair. They were dwelling in some
of them. It will take 3 to 4 generations to repair/fix the Farm. Their
immediate project was restoring the circular roof to the frame of an old
grain bin. It was a project that required lots of people-power. We helped
them put up the roof.  After dinner one of the Art Farm members joined us
with a guitar. I got my bass out and played along.  By 9:40 the camp had
built a fire under the roof we had helped install. All the musicians went
to the campfire.



*FRI Jul 18*

We left the Art Farm and headed for St. John’s Lutheran Church, just beyond
Marquette, NE.  When Anna visited us at the Art Farm, I asked her what kind
of alternatives there were to the gravel road. She directed me to pavement
so I had 1.5 miles of gravel and the rest of the 15 miles was on pavement.
The church had a large cemetery. The stones from the 1800’s and the last
names led me to believe they had Danish heritage.


Izzy drove the kitchen truck and bicycled back to the Art Farm to taxi John
J’s pickup and trailer to the church. In the afternoon he got a phone call
from Doug, who had been with us early on but left somewhere in CA, and was
now returning to the March.  Izzy took J.J.’s pickup and brought Doug to
our campsite. We also had Karen re-join us. She came from Iowa and brought
Shari from the office. There are some Nebraskans that have joined us as
well.


After dinner Kelsey facilitated a meeting to discuss the possibility of
reducing the amount of fossil fuel the March is using. She is currently
carrying everything she has on the March. She pushes a handcart. She is
making a documentary of the March so she’s also carrying electronic
equipment. She proposed that everyone reduce the amount of gear they are
carrying, put it in a backpack or handcart, and sell the Gear truck!  I
shared that for several years I rode 3 or 4 days on Iowa’s RAGBRAI with
everything on my bicycle. And after 3 or 4 days I badly needed a shower and
a Laundromat. There was a lot of discussion. Some agreed to begin using
handcarts. The major problem with the handcarts currently in use is keeping
air in the tires. They continually keep going flat. And they’re hard to
push when they have a flat tire.  Another opinion was that the idea could
be used for a different March, but not this one. The topic will continue to
be discussed by the group. It was dusk when we finished the discussion for
today.
-- 
Peace, David
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