Monday, January 24, 2011

About what?

Some things cannot, and should not, be forced. I'll finish it later.

For the two or three people a day who follow a link in from bikeforums, I suppose there is nothing here that really explains the point of this journal, and if anyone at all gives it a look over, I really oughta explain myself a bit better. For now, I'll even paste this onto the About page in lieu of anything interesting.

I'm Tansy(Ha - no, not really, but I rather like the name. A pretty weed. If I ever run into you somewhere I'd give you the real one). I like bike tours, but I rather dislike coming home. I don't like driving, working, or living in a house very much either.

This summer, I plan to load up way more junk then I'll probably end up needing on my bike, and in a round-about route head towards Arizona. Instead of coming back, I'll look for work over the winter, then come next summer... I'm not sure. Maybe visit some way-out-of-state friends, or go to Alaska.

I spend most of my free time(all my time) researching, but my actual route and plan beyond the first year are intentionally vague. For all I know, I'll make a shitty vagabond and want to come home after a nasty storm or cold night. I should probably leave myself some room to back out.

In the meantime, I'm collecting whatever information will be useful in the pursuit of feeding myself and sleeping as cheaply as possible, within the bounds of legality, and some measure of safety. My camping maps are public, with as much info as I can organize and confirm as somewhat-hopefully factual on various places I can camp for free, along wit some pay sites as shower stops. Or because I thought the little red signs needed company. I also have a huge personal collecting of other relevant info, but I'm getting tired of writing this so we'll just ignore that for now.

Until--- Oh, finally. Power is back on. Enough of this. If you're someone who actually knows me and is reading this, I hope you are mauled by silk floss tree. Anyone else can expect better content somewhere around July.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Honesty Stand

For the next week or so, to give myself a break from The Map Page, and the online surveys that are my only source of income at present, I'll be posting pictures and memories from a vacation three years ago.



In 2008 my mother and I where able to spend a week in Kauai with her sister and brother in law. It was a strange experience for me. I've been to Mexico, and California, but I was very young at the time and did not have the level of appreciation for my surroundings that I have now. At the time, I was at the height of my interest in horticulture and botany, and being in such a drastically different environment than I was accustomed to was as overwhelming as I expected it to be.

The character of the island astounded me, as well. I felt emotionally exposed and fragile for the entire stay. There was a profundity to the land, a duality of the people and culture. It was beautiful and amazing and I loved being there, but I could not shake the feeling that I shouldn't be. At my Uncle's suggestion, I read this book when I came back home, and it put my own feelings into perspective.

I don't remember who it was, but in conversation, an acquaintance recently said something along the lines of "Hawaii? Yeah that will all sink back into the ocean someday. What a shame". Good, I thought. Those island deserve a peaceful rest.