*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