There was an interesting snippet in the article about me in the Herald-Times today:

Example: Bike routes should extend from the city and IU campus out into the county to facilitate bike commuting by folks who live outside town. Planning for transportation alternatives must cross bureaucratic and governmental boundaries.

This was attributed as an example of one of my current goals, encouraging cooperative work between city, county and university on some of these sustainability issues.

I feel like I should explain this one a little more, especially because there are great projects in the works at both the city and county level for alternative transport, and the new IU Master Plan really calls for a lot of upgrading in bike/ped infrastructure. It is worth noting that Melissa is WAY more of an expert on this stuff than I am, and I'm really just doing this off the top of my head. Her experience and knowledge through the Bloomington Bike and Pedestrian Safety Commission is so far beyond mine that she should really be writing this, not me. Hopefull she won't be too hard on me after she reads it.

I am aware, too, that the city and county are working together to link some of the new greenways projects together, and to allow folks to move across town, especially westward, on bike trails. From what I've heard of these projects, they are moving in a great direction.

There are also a variety of path projects from the city and that are mentioned in the new IU Master Plan that fit into what I'm seeking here, and they are encouraging.

But here is my extremely crude drawing of the existing marked bike lanes (blue) or multiuse bike paths (green) around campus (red) in Bloomington (based on page 9 in the Bloomington Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation & Greenways System Plan) :

The grouping of blue on the left are the sharrows in college/walnut and the bike lanes on washington and lincoln. I've drawn in a completed B-Line, as they have broken ground and I'd expect it to be finished eventually, given continued funding. The one bike lane that really cuts through campus is on Jordan, but it unfortunately ends as soon as it gets off of IU, so it doesn't really connect the town to the campus.

The glaring thing to me is that while there is good, and growing support for biking to the downtown area, especially on the North-South axis, there is very little dedicated bike/ped infrastructure leading from the city into the campus or vice-versa.

So why is this important? IU has a daily demand of over 14,000 parking spots on campus according to the traffic studies done for their recent master plan. Over 70% of faculty and 75% of staff drive alone to work at IU. Compared to a greater share of those individuals using alternative transport, this presents all kinds of problems for IU, the city, and the faculty and staff. Roads need to be built, expanded and maintained. Tons of carbon are emitted to our societal detriment, and faculty and staff members are having to pay for all the expenses associated with cars, as well as buying permits and forgoing the benefits of walking or biking to their health (the university helth plan loses out here too).

But we can see examples of other city/university units that seem to get this interaction to work better. Here's my very crude map of Madison (lakes and all):

Madison's bike lanes and paths lead to and from the campus in all directions. Their abundance of dedicated bike/ped paths that are physically separated from cars is fantastic, and even on the istmus, where there is precious little real estate to work with, they have put in bike lanes on the major roads.

One of the results is that 50% of Madison's faculty and staff and 89% of their student body use alternative transportation to get to campus. IU is at around 28% and 72% for alternative transport, and we can do better.

There are plenty of people who are afraid to bike because they don't want to interact with cars. I'm pretty used to it at this point, but it really does make a huge difference in my comfort level and enjoyment of riding when I know I don't have to worry about someone sideswiping me. More bike paths (not just bike lanes, though they are nice) or dedicated roadways repurposed for bikers and walkers would make Bloomington a much nicer place in general to live a low-impact life in.

PS I'm the worst computer artist in the world today.

Here's the news on Changing Gears: Melissa and I are back in the editing room as of about 2 weeks ago. We had a marriage ceremony on May 23rd for our friends and family, and after we wrapped up from that, we started back in on this project. It's been a busy year for both of us, with me in school and Melissa picking up 2 jobs and a couple of community board positions, and Changing Gears got sidelined for quite a while.

For now, it looks like the format will be 6-8 episodes to air here on the website and on CATS focusing on the topic areas we covered on the trip, and then trying to look at what is already going on here in Bloomington (or not).

For example, we want to do an episode about sustainable food practices, and we've got a few interviews on the road with places like Moody Meats, a couple of terrific Co-Ops, Seed Savers Exchange, and a great farm-to-school lunch program in Wisconsin. So we'll talk about those, but we also want to work in local projects like our great farmer's market, the Local Grower's Guild, Middle Way's Incubator project, Bloomington restaurants with a local focus like Farm, Upland, and Nicks... well, the list goes on. But the important thing is that we're going to be aiming for half-hour episodes again, and we've been in the editing room working on our material so that we can start putting out new shows soon, as in the next couple of weeks if all goes well.

Otherwise, I'm working on promoting the IU Office of Sustainability and trying to get back on my bike as much as possible. Thanks for checking in with us! There will be more to come soon. :)

-Andy

I'm out of class, waiting to get a graded paper back from a secretary who I assume is on lunch. I already got my grade (5.5/7.0 when the class average is 5.0), but I'm curious to see what commentary was on there. I know I messed up by not having it in the right format, single spacing when it should have been double, so I'm curious what else brought my grade down.

School is harder than I remember, or more likely my mind isn't as sharp as it once was. I'm also in a good program with lots of people who are just as smart and accomplished as I am. It's a different environment than I'm used to academically, and it's taking some adjustment. I'll get myself up to speed, but it may take some time.

On the homefront, things are good. Melissa and I are living in her townhouse with her two boarders, one of whom is her ex-boyfriend. That's interesting. He's a good guy, but there's a tension there that may never resolve, I'm not sure. There are also three cats there that belong to the roommates. Neither Melissa or I am a cat person, and it's a little bit of an annoyance, but we cope with it because the rent is super low for us and we don't have jobs yet.

I shouldn't say don't have jobs... Melissa is starting her first job since we got back today at a Yoga studio in town. Sounds like it will only be a few hours and not much pay per week, but it's something. We're not sure exactly what she'll be doing. She interviewed for a secretary type job, but they may have her do more marketing/website work. Hard to tell. She can fill us in more later.

On my part, I've interviewed for 3 internships or fellowships so far, and all of them were right up my alley. I got to the last round of interviews on all of them, but failed to get a job offer on any. It's been a frustrating process. I feel like I could have been a great fit for any of the positions, and I just want an opportunity to get my feet wet, but nothing has worked out yet. I'll keep trying.

Anyway, secretary is back. I'm going to take my paper and go home (to get some lentil soup I made last night). Ciao!

As of today I've officially been in classes for 1 week. It's a weird feeling. Well, the weird feeling could be all down to sleep deprivation, but the school bit is odd too. My stats class assigned a total of 4 chapters in a textbook, plus a 24-page pdf and 2 handouts (something like 10 pages each). That's for one class.

My lofty goal of getting all my work done from 8am-5pm may not be attainable if that's the pattern. I did feel better after struggling to get it all done in time (class is about 50 minutes away and I'm just now wrapping up). Better still when one of my classmates confided in me that he was feeling similarly overwhelmed.

All of this isn't helped by my experience in class this morning. Public Economics. I have a pretty solid background in Econ, even if it is all 10+ years old. Econ hasn't changed much at a basic level. We're studying some basic microeconomics now, and my prof asks me why demand curves are downward sloping. We've already covered it, but I repeat that it slopes downward because as price rises, quantity demanded falls. Not what he's looking for. He actually berates me for just repeating what he said, and then goes onto someone else before I can tell him any of the real root causes he might be looking for. It was frustrating. I sit there and stew, sure that I can explain marginal utility or substitutability as well as anyone in the class, but as of now I've been shut out because I didn't understand his question right off. Grr...

I've spent much time the last few days thinking about where to live and what to do outside of school this year. There was a hope that I'd get a fellowship in the local planning department worth about $3500 a semester for the next 2 years. I made it to the last round of interviews, but didn't get picked, even though I was complemented for my enthusiasm and experience. It's hard to tell what the successful candidate had going for him/her, but I feel like it must have been an awful lot. I've lived here for 26+ years, so I know the city like the back of my hand. The position was to help out with planning projects, with a focus on bike and ped issues, so it seemed like my experience from this summer, as well as me being a bike commuter in bloomington would have been in my favor. Plus, they needed someone with database experience and GIS familiarity, and I've worked as a database manager in an environment where we were interfacing with GIS. It seemed like such a natural fit to me. I was pretty disappointed when it didn't work out.

But there will be other opportunities. For now, I've got to concentrate as much as I can on classes and finding some place for us to live. That's plenty to keep me busy.

I miss Melissa too. She's not expected back till at least this weekend, giving us about 2 weeks apart. I think that's the longest stretch since we started dating. It's been refreshing in a way, but I do miss her. I'll be happy when she gets back.

Alright so it has been awhile, and many of you probably think we've somewhat dropped off and are unsure if we will continue on. Well fear not, as there is still plenty more to do and report on, as the world's problems unfortunately haven't been solved while we were out on the road. Damn it. As for our experience, now we are in the fun part of the project, right?(this summer was work...thank goodness for the great and gracious people we met along the way to inspire and continue to motivate us). Now we need to put all our knowledge, story, and footage into a documentary to continue to motivate ourselves and others. In addition, we will continue to report on our progress with the documentary, and also on how we are going to figure out the sustainable projects we want to take on in the city, school, and on our future homestead. Lastly, we want to continue to do interviews with people now in our Indiana region, with the prospect of also reaching into KY, IL, MI, and OH . It maybe by bike, or train, bus(maybe not the greyhound), foot, and car.....nonetheless, the adventure continues!

As a side note, I just wanted to acknowledge that we didn't that great of a job responding to all the emails on the road, and we apologize and express our deepest thanks. Trust us, you were definitely in our minds and hearts, and we appreciated the words and sincerely are grateful. Nonetheless, we will to get reconnected with in you, as it's important to continue the dialog and action, and to keep up with our new and longstanding friendships. Thank you again and you bet if you are ever in BLoomington, look us up. We have a lot of karma to give back.

Also, for this new phase if you do post on our blog, we will respond in our next post with our comments as we figure out ways to make this more interactive.

We'll keep you posted and stay tuned.......

So the end of our summer has come, and we've finally been apart for almost 24 hours now. Melissa took off for Annah's Bachelorette party, and I was supposed to fly out of Portland this morning so that I could get back to Bloomington in time for orientation.

I got up at 4am to start my day. My plan was to call a taxi to get to the airport, as bus/tram service doesn't start early enough on the line Annah lives near. So I called the cab company with no answer. Three times I called between 4 and 4:30, and never got an answer. So I decided I'd walk over to MLK blvd and get the early bus that went to the tram.

That seemed to work ok, even though I don't really care for walking through the city in the dead of night with no one around except homeless folks and cats. But I got the bus and all seemed to be going well.

A few stops down, we picked up a dreadlocked guy who was keeping himself occupied by staring at his ticket through a cardboard tube. That was ok until he started stumbling around the bus while doing it. After he wandered around the bus for a while, the driver pulled over and told him to get off the bus. Well, the guy didn't understand English so well. I'm not clear on how well he understood it sober, but he definitely didn't get it in his condition this morning.

In any case, the driver ended up getting up, yelling at the guy, then calling the police to get the guy off when Mr. Tube didn't get the hint. For a while, the driver, the safety guy and myself (the only other passenger) just hung out on the side of the road while our companion entertained himself on the bus. Before the police arrived, but using up enough time that I missed my tram, the drunkard/druggie stumbled off the bus and started talking to me about smoking. The impression I got was that he was too drunk to know his lighter from his keys, or something like that. While he was thus distracted talking to me, the driver and safety rider jumped back on the bus. I said something peremptory to the man, probably no more intelligible than most of what he was telling me, and quickly got back on the bus myself, whereupon the driver closed the door and called back to tell the police he was leaving the guy on the curb of whatever road we were on.

It was an interesting incident, though not interesting enough to justify me being late for my plane, which is what happened.

The long and the short of it is that I got off the light rail at 6:23am, my plane left moments before 7am, and by the time I even got to the counter, they had given my seat to someone else. We worked that out, but by the time I got through security, they had uncoupled the plane and started the takeoff procedure. I was told I could get on the next connecting flight to Salt Lake City, but it would be $50 (a sum that I didn't have). I asked if they could type a credit card number into the computer, and they said no, but I could call and perhaps pay over the phone. I asked to talk to a manager, who was entirely unsympathetic and gave me their customer service number so that I could talk to someone and work it out.

She didn't mention that the Customer Service line is only open Monday through Friday. I wasn't impressed. So I called their online booking agent, who is open 24-7, and tried to pay them $50 that I didn't want to pay. After explaining the whole situation to the folks on the phone, they said they couldn't help me because even though I was flying on a Delta plane, it had been booked through NorthWest. So they cancelled the remaining part of my flight and gave me NWA's number. What fun!

At that point, I was stuck in Portland International Airport with $20.50 in my pocket, no money in my checking account (I took it all out to give to Melissa so she'd have some cash while I was back in Bloomington for the week), and no ticket. I decided to go back through the security barrier to try and get on the standby list.

Unfortunately, I was informed that there were 3 people in front of me and regardless, it was $25 to get put on the list. If I wanted to pay $100 I could get a confirmed seat, but they also didn't accept any payment except a swiped card or cash. So I tried to call NWA on the phone and book, but they said that the only seat I could get was a $1200 upgrade from my old one. Umm... no chance.

I called Melissa to talk things over, and she suggested trying to get the $5 and going standby. I tried Powell's Books, and offered Oil by Upton Sinclair ( I was told it was not in good enough shape), World's End by the same (too old, try the downtown store) and Thomas More's Utopia (great book, no way anyone else in the airport would buy it). Then I tried the ATM to see if I could just take out $10, but it was a minimum of $20 and I don't have it.

So I went back to the NWA counter to ask what they did if someone's magnetic strip on their card was broken or something. After going through the whole story with some folks, one of their counter managers suggested that I just start going around a) knocking over old ladies and taking their bags or b) flattering the younger ones and begging for the $25. I didn't seem to take to either idea, so he then asked how far short I was. I said I needed $4.50, and he said that he'd chip in to help me out.

So this saint of a airline employee bought the last $5 of my ticket, and now I sit waiting to board a plane for Minneapolis, and then get a connection to Indianapolis. This is a better flight even than the first, that was Portland-Cincinnati-Detroit-Indy, but I'm just going to be happy to be on my way.

I wish I had time to take the train. Orientation better be awesome.

The end of the trip has come, but not the end of our journey. Yesterday we exchanged vows in an intimate ceremony in Muir Woods. That marks the end of the "Changing Gears" trip, at least nominally. But it also marks a new chapter for us in our lives and a transition to a new life as we make our roundabout way home to Bloomington.

Our vow exchange party:

Our vows reflected our worldview, our views on our relationship, and our commitment to each other. It's amazing that we have come so far in so little time, both in terms of geography and in our relationship. This trip has challenged us in many ways, and in a significant way made our bond so much stronger. We've had to work out problems with money, sex, priorities, and our future plans all throughout this trip, and successfully confronting all of them has tightened our bond.

The site of our vow exchange:


But without further ado, here are our vows, very nearly as we read them. We led off with some quotes, then went into the vows.

Melissa:

It's not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes an unhappy marriage.
Friedrich Nietzche

Andy:

When marrying, ask yourself this question: Do you
believe that you will be able to converse well with
this person into your old age? Everything else in
marriage is transitory.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Melissa:

A good marriage is one which allows for change and growth in the individuals and dina way they express your love.
Pearl S Buck

Andy:

What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how
compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility.
Leo Tolstoy

Melissa:

Being married is like having somebody permanently in your corner,
it feels limitless, not limited.
Gloria Steinem

Andy:

It's you I like,
It's not the things you wear.
It's not the way you do your hair,
But it's you I like.
The way you are right now
The way down deep inside you
Not the things that hide you
Not your diplomas...
They're just beside you.
But it's you I like,
Every part of you,
Your skin, your eyes, your feelings,
Whether old or new.
I hope that you'll remember
Even when you're feeling blue,
That it's you I like,
It's you yourself, it's you
It's you I like!
Mr Rogers

Together:

In the beauty of Muir Woods, with friends as our witness , we gather today to celebrate the creation of our union. We announce our deep and sincere belief in peaceful and nonviolence practice. We agree from this day forward to work for all forms of justice: environmental, social, political, racial, gender and economic, following from our worldview that includes a radical analysis of power, seeing all systems of oppression as interrelated, rooted in structures of domination and control. We will work to create and sustain communities and cultures that embody our values, that can help to heal the wounds of the earth and her peoples, and that can sustain us and nurture future generations.

We understand that just as we are a mystery to ourselves, each person is also a mystery to us, and we pledge to seek to understand ourselves, each other, and all living beings, and will examine our own minds continually and to regard all the mysteries of life with openness and joy.

We vow in our married life together to continually break
through our pre-conceived views of each other and see clearly.

We vow to let go of feelings that arise from selfish
desires, attachments, and fears, so that we can open our hearts
to one another.

We vow to be compassionate with one another and with
all beings.

We vow to refrain from speaking harshly or deceptively
to each other or about one another to others.

We vow to practice peaceful and ethical occupations
and to support each other in our work.

We vow to support one another in creating a
compassionate and loving home.

We vow to continually ask each others thoughts and feelings and be present in the moment.

We vow to work at finding balance with our individual lives and as a committed couple

We vow to trust each other and trust in the relationship

We vow to commit to being active in each others lives, discovering, exploring, and taking action together as a couple

This is our lifelong commitment to each other, ourselves, to the world.

Melissa:

After a reaffirming year being with you on this trip, I will walk, ride, fly, sit, whatever needs to be done to be with you on this new journey by your side, as your friend, equal, lover, with an open heart and open mind, and I will honor honesty and truth, and work hard at not deceiving myself and you.

I am committed to you and the growth of our relationship, supporting and encouraging us to reach our highest potential through the many changes of life.

I realize that this commitment will have its challenges, and I promise to work with you through those times.

I love you Andy, and am appreciative of who you are and promise to trust in our lifelong relationship.

Andy:

On our adventure together, we will face joy and sorrow, hardship and plenty, pleasure and pain.

Through it all, I promise to always keep my mind and heart open to yours. I promise to be faithful to you and supportive of you in all your endeavors. Above all, I promise to love and cherish you through all of life's journey.

To confront the opportunities and challenges the world will bring us, I wholeheartedly take you, Melissa Henige as my partner and companion to the end.

Thank you to everyone who has helped make this journey possible.



-Andy and Melissa

By hook or by crook, we're in San Fran!

Tonight we came into the final city of our trip, after riding our hearts out down the coast and then making an extremely tough decision that we weren't fast enough to make it to San Fran for our vow exchange and grabbing a bus/train for the last leg.

Melissa being happy that we're not finishing the last leg on bike:

Mural in progress in Oakland:

After coming in to Oakland, we took a BART tram to the civic center and tried to figure out what we were doing. We saw a great bike security place in the BART terminal too:

After walking around a bit, we found a fun little Celtic Coffee House and settled in to make plans. Unfortunately, the cafe closed at 6, so we took to the streets to find a hotel. After seeing some of the most overpriced rooms in the city, we got to tour a bargain room at $65 that looked scary enough that I understood why the hotel manager leaves the building at 7pm.

After seeing what must have been the look of horror on my face (I've lost all my poker skills, apparently), she recommended the Travelodge down the road, noting that her rooms were for a type of people she described with a hand motion that looked something like her patting a small child on the head. I took it to mean small.

In any case, the Travelodge is run by a reasonable man from the Phillipines that gave us a $10 discount off their normal rate and we now have a comfortable room with 1 bed, 2 chairs, 2 pillows and the all-important wi-fi. Plus, wonderful soap:

More tomorrow. We're doing well and happy to be in Frisco, but now we need to concentrate on vows. :)

For the past week, we've been getting back in shape riding the beautiful coast and Redwoods, and feeling exhausted, as we don't have the time to catchup and talk to the wonderful people about sustainability. Rather then varying it up with conversation with new friends, we just ride and rest, ride and rest, ride, and breathe, heavily.

This part of the last leg is definitely exhausting, and I find it more so mentally, then physically, as all I can think about is biking and how I am going to make it another 5 hours through the hilly terrain. At first I was excited with the downhills, as the cool breeze of the shaded redwoods brushed my body, yet quickly I realized that with every descent there would be another ascent, and many times harder. So my thoughts were "Yes, a downhill....No, not another uphill climb...if i can just make it around this curve, and then this one. Alright Melissa, breath in through the nose out the mouth....man, a doughnout sounds great....did I just smell cigar smoke from that car.....a truck with empty space in the back. I'm sure our bikes and trailers could fit; are they going south? Oh yes, breath again. how far did we go, and what time is it". The thoughts never stop as I'm continually convincing myself that I'll make it, or cursing at this project, and how touring really isn't all that fun.

So yes, it's been mentally challenging, but I have to input the physical damage, as that is also the reality when riding a bike hours a day, up and down uneven terrain. For example, I've had new aches and pains as I'm getting used to the mountain bike and the up and down hills. The handlebars are a little lower, so I'm adjusting my back a little differently, where my neck gets tired quicker and I need to take rests to stretch more. The seat is a bit more blush and sits a little higher causing additional rubbing and chafing. In fact, I've got a tiny blister on the underside of my bum. And under normal circumstances I would break it, but with bacteria and sweat in that area, it's probably best just to leave it alone. Nonetheless, I'm grateful for the mountain bike shocks, as the last 3o miles through the Redwoods has been a bit bumpy and I don't think my palms and hands have been nearly as sore as Andy's. Lastly, the hills and climbs take my breathe and tire my muscles, especially after we have rode all day. So it definitely has been physically challenging as well.



On the brighter side of this last leg of the bike trip, I actually feel we are touring, as finally we have seen many other bikers going down the coast. Seeing bikers was a rarity, if nonexistent in the midwest. So, it's been fun meeting back up with people, such as Chris and Paul, who we have now seen twice. When meeting random people, there definitely is this sense of camaraderie as most of the bikers we have met are going to San Fransisco and we can talk about the upcoming elevation of climbs, or the beautiful peaks we passed miles or days past.

Though I may feel exhausted mentally and physically, i get the reprieve when we meet new people. It also helps when Andy and I have time to reconnect, as we have been.

-So Andy and I are off to the south. Our first stop will be Garberville, CA. Stay tuned.

Yesterday we rode from Scotia to Redway on the Avenue of the Giants. The total ride was something like 35 miles, but probably 30 of it was on the Avenue itself, a scattering of small towns that break up a huge stretch of Redwood forest. It was a good ride, although not quite the sensory experience of the Prairie Creek park before.

There was a highlight of getting homemade blackberry popsicles from a roadside self-service stand. It turned out that the stand was part of a 3 acre farm with a small rental cabin, and we got a little tour that was a great diversion.

There are some great groves through this area, and the ride was a pleasure though. I think what made the two rides so different is just our level of fatigue and the sense that we're not moving nearly fast enough to make it to San Fran on the timeline we intended. Every hill seems like a bigger obstacle than it should now, and we've got the looming spectre of the mountains ahead around Legget. We got a map booklet in Crescent City that showed elevations along our route, and right away Legget stood out.

There are 4 hills leading up and through Legget that look pretty ominous to us at this point, and every time we struggle up another climb, I know that they are not far off in our minds. Today we'll get to test ourselves on them, as there's a 27-mile stretch to Legget, and another 16 or so to Rockport on the coast. The last part to Rockport looks like the worst one to me, climbing something like 1200 feet up from the valley (although then we get to ride down really fast on the other side). Maybe we'll get to that today, but we might end up staying in Legget if we are too slow on the climbs going in there today.

On the positive side, we decided to spring for a room in a motel last night, and it turned out to be a really great place. We've been debating that because we really wanted a hot, private shower and a bed for a night to rest up, and when it was getting darker last night our option seemed to be this one place that had both an RV park and a motel. While we didn't want to pay the extra $50, the motel option was too hard to pass up. It ended up that we got a great, huge room with a kitchenette and a nice comfy couch in addition to plenty of room for our bikes and gear. It was great to have the little change of pace.

On to the mountains! Wish us luck. :)

-Andy

PS Happy Birthday, Dad!