more random shots

Here's another couple of photos – a couple just sat down next to me and started talking about the walk – the old man thought I was a guy – I have never gotten that – I so don't look like a boy! Maybe it's the clothes. Or the fact that he can't see very well. Or maybe i look like a guy.
anyway, i lost track of the photos I am showing you.
I think one is of me and Carrie – who definitely looks like a girl - we are crammed in the RV travelling about two hours to our next destination (the runners got to make up that distance!). Luckily, we were in the RV where we had all the snacks AND a bathroom. Sometimes when we are told to load up we have no idea how long we will be in the car and we are crammed pretty tightly – we were hauling all of the garbage we had picked up alongside the road as well as a bunch of donations – so it was pretty tight quarters, but we were listening to Marvin Gaye so it was all okay. And we had a bathroom, have I mentioned that?
This second one is of me and Joe Spado – one of our amazing support drivers. Joe drives a 12 passenger van and he also hauls all of our stuff on his trailer. He is also a great guy for being willing to run walkers into town for shower runs, laundry, post office stops, grocery stops, etc. He's pretty easy going and I for one really appreciate all of his help! He also has a blog on Blogger and right at the moment I can't remember the address – I know his wife is checking this blog, so maybe she can leave the blog address in the comment section????
Joe is a Vietnam Vet and a member of Veterans for Peace – he's got a lot of good stuff to say and always speaks from his heart. Whenever we are getting shuttled, I do my best to get into his Van for the haul – he wasn't available for the two hour drive, hence the RV – but that was okay because of the snacks...and the bathroom.
Okay, that's enough.....I'm still sitting in the casino lobby so I better vacate before I get rousted – or get my gender further confused by dazed gamblers.
Love you all sooo much – hope to blog again soon.

random

Here are a few random photos – this first one is of Mikano Shonin – our elder monk – this was taken at a rest stop.
This second one is of a woman from the Fort Mohave Indian Reservation. We were visited by many members of the Tribe last night as they came to honor us with songs and dancing. The songs of this region are so beautiful. They use gourd rattles instead of drums, so it's a softer sound, and the melodies are just sweet.
This third one shows Dennis and Bonita Leonard on his right – who is from the Warm Springs Res in Oregon and is the President of the Portland AIM chapter. I will write more about her at some point – I think she is going to be quite the leader some day, and is already getting started. When Dennis talks about turning leadership over to the youth, this is who he is talking about.
Anyway, they are singing the AIM theme song. It's a song we sing a lot, but it was only last night that I learned where it came from. I didn't catch all the details, but this is what I grasped.
Back in the early 70's a young man named Raymond _____ was beaten to death by local police. The investigation came back saying he “died of exposure.” But the local tribe knew differently and hired their own pathologist from St. Paul, MN. They exhumed the body and that investigation found that Raymond had indeed been tortured and murdered.
When they were reburying his body (Dennis was there) – a young Cheyenne man began singing this song – and AIM adopted it as their theme song. I wish I had the time and know how to download it for you so you can hear it. It's a beautiful song, and I'm so glad I know the meaning behind what I'm singing – it's now so much more powerful.

wait....when?

Okay, I have no pictures at this time to share with you because I am writing you from a casino lobby and I just don't have the gumption or patience to download anything at this particular moment. It's insane in here.
We have been on the border of Arizona, California and Nevada for the past two days. Where we are staying is on one side of the Colorado (in Arizona) – and the Elders are staying at the casino across the river in Nevada.
It's an hour time difference in Nevada – so there has been all this confusion with people making plans and then trying to translate times – you wouldn't think it would be that confusing, but it is – mainly because everyone uses cell phones as time pieces now and they keep jumping back and forth. One guy finally pulled out a WATCH – to keep track of what time it is where the walkers are – and we are trying to keep to that.
It's kind of fun. And kind of...can't wait til we get out of here.
Supposedly we hit the Grand Canyon next week and we will be able to camp down at the bottom.
Yay!

storytime

Dennis was following our walking today as he has been for the last several days. He walks with us when he can – but organizing this beast takes a lot of his time so we don't get to spen d a lot of time with him out on the trail (although I can tell you that I've walked next to and in back of him on a couple of occasions, and I can only hope to move that fast when I'm 75).
We were joined today at our lunch stop by a Council of Grandmothers from Landers, CA. One of the women walked with us in the morning – and a few others met us at the rest stop. They couldn't have been sweeter.
We were supposed to have stayed there one night, at their land, but our crazy schedule didn't allow for it anymore (boo-hoo!).
Anyway, Dennis told us a couple of stories during lunch. I'll tell them for you here. One is an old folk tale; the other a true story (who knows, they're probably both true).

A young boy was visiting his ailing grandfather. The old man was very frail, very fragile. He had lived a long, long time and was coming near the end of his life on this Earth. The boy had always loved listening to his grandfather tell stories of the old days – and learned many things from those long talks by the fire.
As the boy arrived at his grandfather's house he saw that he was sitting in a chair by the fire. “Boy,” the grandfather called out in a soft voice, “please fnd me a blanket – I've gotten cold here by the fire and I have no blanket here to warm me.”
The boy searched the house, but could find nothing to cover the old man, who had recently given all his possessions away in the custom of his people when a life is near ended. The boy then went to the barn and found an old, worn horse blanket. He took the blanket and cut it in half – and went to the old man to cover him.
Upon returning home, the boy's father asked what he had in his hand and the young one told him about his grandfather needing to keep warm,
“Son, you should have given your elder the entire blanket.”
“But Father, then what will I have to cover you?”

Dennis said, “This is an old story we have told each other for 1000 years to understand respect and honoring for ones elders and I tell it here now in front of this council of Grandmothers in appreciation to them. Here's another one – and this is a true story that happened down in Apache country many years ago:”

The government wanted to build houses on the Apache reservation. They were apartment kind of houses, all stuffed together. The Apache, having lived free in the wide open space of their land – didn't want such houses built for them and told the government so. They were built anyway and the Apache people were told that this is where they now must live.
The Medicine Man was very troubled and so he went up to the mountains to pray. He sat in the sacred circle and he prayed very deeply for a long time. He fell asleep – and then he heard a voice saying to him, “what are you doing here?”
The medicine man opened his eyes and saw that a snake had slithered into the circle.
The elder talked to the snake and told him the story of the government buildiings.
The snake said, “you're people have always honored our ways, we will help you.”
The medicine man began to pray again. And again he fell asleep and was woken by a voice saying, “what are you doing here?”
This time, when he opened his eyes, he saw that a mouse had creeped into the circle.
“Brother Mouse,” the man began and told him the story of the housing that was being forced upon his people.”
The Mouse replied, “your people have always been good to us and honored our ways, we will help you.”
Soon, there was a Grand Opening of the Apache Housing Project. Dignitaries were there, including Hubert Humphrey, the Vice President. While the ribbon was being cut and the dignitaries led into the houses, the Apache people stayed away – not wanting to be part of the ceremony.
Suddenly, a woman screamed, and then a man yelled out, and another! In each of the houses that were being viewed, snakes and mice were found inside the new apartment buildings.
To this day, no one has ever lived in that housing project – they sit there – ugly and unused. I tell this story to remind you that when we respect all living things, when we honor them..when we ask our Creator for help and when we are sincere – we will be helped. I also tell this story for you who are on this walk as we head into the desert. We honor all living things – so if you are scared of snakes and scorpions – remember to honor their ways and let them be – and they will let you be – do not hurt them in any fashion – that is our belief and we expect you to honor that.

Thanks Dennis.

motown morning

The quiet of 5am in the desert is something everyone should get to experience. I almost took a picture of what I popped out of my tent to, but it wouldn't have done it justice.
The moon blazed an ivory crescent, though the entire face was still visible in shadow. It was floating there in a dark ink blue sky – just cresting over our surrounding small mountains. The sky above was still covered in starlight without any surrounding city lights to dim them.
Everything was so still and then I heard the slow beating of the monk's drums as they started their morning prayer chants.
Nothing else to say to that.

But then..about an hour later the bus started rocking out motown and and as I was walking up to get my tea I saw Jun-san gettin' down to the funky beats, dancing with Wounded and Henry, the other Elders.
I was standing by the fire and Jun-san came up and stood next to me. Everyone was still kind of moving to the music. She turned to me and said in her Japanese accent, “This is music for strip clubs in Japan.”
What was that?
She started talking to Wako – our translator, in Japanese and I watched as Wako's eyes got wide and then she actally took a step back as if she's been pushed.
“Okay, you are not going to believe what Jun-san just told me.” And Jun-san is just kind of bopping along, “She said, she used to be a dancer in the strip clubs in Tokyo.”
Jun-san turned to me and said, “It no big thing. You take off cloth, one at time and just dance.” And then the Temptations came on and she was off again.

Joshua tree

I forget just how much I love the desert until I'm back in it again. We are in Joshua Tree – we weren't able to stayat the National Park (too expensive) – but we are at a beautiful facility just outside of town with plenty of open space and even some glacier moraine to play around on.
Today was my weekly “stay back” day – I choose one day a week – when I'm on kitchen duty most likely – to not join the walkers, but instead help tear down camp and set up in the next spot. There are usually half a dozen of us that do this and it's actually a pretty nice way to spend the day without feeling like a slacker for not walking.
The other benefit is that you get to pick your tent site first! So Kathleen, Carrie, Larry and I set up our little village at the far corner of the campground. This place was cool in that each spot had a picnic table and individual fire pit – a rarity! We also found out that there was laundry on site – another rare event. So us girls threw all our stuff in together were sooo happy for fresh clean clothes.
We don't have a whole wardrobe with us obviously, and so our little stash of socks and shirts get pretty manky pretty fast, especially when you're walking 16-20 miles a day – and laundry really only gets to happen about once a week – so – it's one of those things you forget about until you don't always have it at your disposal (like Burgerville).
Here's a picture of the “stuff scene.” We haul everyone's gear from town to town – it's amazing really. I'm trying to get down to one bag just 'cause I think this much stuff is ridculous – some people have like 3 bags and it just feels excessive to me. So...as soon as we hit a little warmer weather I'm going to be dumping a bunch of items. Soon, with that warmer weather thing I think,
Here's a picture of our cook bus as well. The guys, Felipe and Jeff, the guys that make all this happen are amazing and awesome. I wanted to throw pictures up of them too – but it will have to be in another blog – I can only put so many pictures up at a time.
Anyway – onto the next thing!

Moving out

Well -- we leave La Paz tomorrow morning and go straight to Tehachapi - and then we hit the Mojave.
Apparently we are a little behind schedule so we are going to pick up about 10 days worth of time by using our runners to help us get across the desert -- probably doing 50-100 mile days in a stretch.
It works like this - one guy takes on maybe 10 miles, another woman will do 15 -- they leap frog each other to cover the distance.
I'm not sure how much we'll be walking ourselves to help out - but we're going to be covering some land.
Anyway - it' been lovely being able to catch up a little bit -- I'm sorry the blogs aren't my literary best - but if I fussed too much with that you wouldn't get anything out of me. So, enjoy the pretty pictures.
Supposedly our media truck arrives tomorrow and with it, better constant internet access. We shall see.
Know that I love you guys - I think of you ALL the time, and carry you with me in my heart every day.
Much love;

Nik