differently happening

so... the ride didn't really come together in the way that would make it official. the part that felt most alive was the four days of 'superhero training' in which Divine Grace, Hoop Rider, Peace Wing (not sure of his name yet), Dream Teacher, Golden Rose, and The Burning Heart did service, shared meals, did a few supernovas of unending love, and got to know each other a bit. the main place we served was the Biodynamic farm down the road, called S&S Homestead. http://www.sshomestead.org/
we pulled out mustard plants from a barley field, allowing the barley to get the light it needs to fully mature, which will provide animals of the farm with food in the winter. after that was done we bucked hay! it was a real summer small farm experience. the hosts fed me pizza dinner the first day and provided wonderful lunches with the freshest salads the other three days. our lives were brightened through the sharing of life with these beautiful people with huge hearts!

Hoop Rider has continued to wear the superhero costume every day and is trying to keep up the spirit and service as much as possible on his own. he is documenting as he can in the beautiful journal that was donated by a local artisan who bound it herself. she does slow art: http://www.slowartlopez.com/

there may be more explanation to come about why the ride didn't happen. it seems basically like it was just the wrong timing. Hoop Rider's life was in crisis and others had their reasons for not choosing to follow through with the ride. a few people cancelled last minute and a few came and went. a couple didn't get in touch until later. one guy who wanted to join from the 14th-20th didn't contact Hoop Rider back when he heard that there was only one person for him to join up with.

so much good has come out of this attempt at a grand superhero ride. perhaps in the future the vision for the Salish Sea Freedom Ride can be realized, when the time is right.

community events

These are events that will be part of the superhero training and are also open to the broader Lopez community.

Universal Dances of Peace with Asha Lela

Wednesday, July 2nd
4-5:30pm
at the Dojo

Better Dreaming workshop with Pete Williams

Thursday, July 3rd

1:30-3pm

at the Dojo

Feast of Freedom (potluck)

celebrating freedom from industrial food. dishes should feature local, wild caught, and home grown foods.

with entertainment by the superheroes and friends!

Friday, July 4th

6-8:30pm

Freedom Farm

937 School rd.

4th of July Parade

superheroes will ride together in full costume! grab a cape and join us for the parade! we're all superheroes! Michael of Village Cycles says we can borrow bicycles from the shop for the parade.

meet 10:30am between the Galley and Islander

contact info

if you want to come on the ride, please contact Hoop Rider at:

hoop5rider@gmail.com

360-468-3625

if you can't make it to the ride but can send some encouragement, we would love to receive a letter/care package, also called a 'love bomb' in superhero circles. please get it to the farm before july 5th, when we will depart.

Freedom Farm
937 School Road
Lopez Island, WA 98261

daily schedule

there will be a guiding time-table, or schedule if you will, that will be followed as long as it serves us. of course it will be open to modification through consensus. the intention is to give structure to the day that helps us have time for meeting everyone's needs and having a nice balance of work, play, and rest. solitude and interaction. it would take a lot more work to figure out a new schedule each day. so here is what i propose:

6am - first wake-up bell
6:30am - second wake up bell
6:30-8am - personal practice and morning ritual time (yoga, meditation, singing, journal writing, drinking tea)
8-9am - breakfast, morning check-in, rituals
9:30am - ready for service work!
*when we are traveling, we will try to have bicycles loaded up and ready to go by this time.
-lunch when it works best (case by case)-
*there will be time in the day, after lunch time, for sharing games and having special meetings and team building activities, planned on a day by day basis. also for napping. probably best to do these things in the middle of the day somewhere out of the sun.
6:30pm - dinner
8pm - entertainment, daily rituals, games
9pm - thanking and sharing
10pm - quiet time
11pm - lights out, lullaby time

gear list and other rider info

What to Expect

* camp in unique spots

* bike 5-40 miles per day

* carry your camping gear on your bike

* serve people we meet

* use consensus decision making

* be substance free

* wear a costume

* sing, dance, and play games

* discover your superpowers

* cook and eat group meals

* eat local, organic food

* dumpster dive

* create magic

* live in possibilities

* test limits

* discover miracles
* plan as we go

What to Bring

Recommended

* superhero outfit and cape (maybe 2)

* swimsuit, warm layered clothes (can be cool morning and eve.)

* sleeping bag/pad, headlamp

* bike, helmet, tail light, saddlebags

* toiletries, small towel, plate/bowl/fork

* water bottles, sneakers, hat/work gloves

* $50 for food

Extras

* fun stuff!  Instruments, face paints, portals, etc.

* bike tools, patch kit, extra tubes, bungee cords, etc.

* tent (bring one or double up)

the ride will meet at Lopez Island's Freedom Farm on July 1st. we will engage in superhero training, including service on the farm, and provide entertainment for an 'Interdependence Day' party on the 4th. this will also be our send-off party and on the 5th we will ride out into the possibilities of an emerging new dream!

NOTE: all new riders are required to be there for the superhero training starting on the first. please try to arrive the night before because we will start activities on that first day!

all are encouraged to do lots of yoga or other exercise to strengthen and loosen up for a vigorous month of superhero action! if you can take a 40 mile day trip with a loaded bicycle to see how that feels to you. we will probably have few longer days of riding, but it should be doable for you.

official poster image!

i finished drawing the image. now i just need to prepare it for printing and write up the info to go along with it...

whole earth summit

the whole earth summit was brought to my awareness this last week and it seems worthy of bringing to the awareness of anyone who might be reading these posts. what i just listened to from the founders of this important event was full of superhero spirit and great wisdom. i listened to another talk when it was freely available called 'healing water, healing love'. it was given by sepp holzer and deiter duhm. it touched me deeply too and left me feeling inspired. so from my experience so far i can recommend that you listen to these talks and purchase a 'toolkit' if you are able.

Haul History

here are some links to articles and blog posts relating to past Hauls of Justice. also some video links.

brief article with pictures from a Missouri ride.
in-depth article from the perspective of SerendipiTease on the Michigan 2012 ride.
heart-felt story from Wandering Wolf of the Michigan 2012 ride.
documentation of the Michigan 2012 ride from Hoop Rider.
me interviewed in Detroit.
video collage by SerendipiTease (evolving into Lila Gaya) from the Michigan 2012 ride.
more to come...

bright flyer

here is a flyer that Bright Sky so lovingly made! some corrections are in the works, and i am working on another flyer that is more focused on the image instead of words. i am thinking it will be a double-sided 8-page pamphlet made out of one standard piece of printer paper. a maximized flyer!

living in service

on a superhero bicycle ride we live in service of creation. all of creation, of which we are a part. how do we do this? we are still experimenting, sometimes finding that magic and flow of spontaneous service that transforms... other times just not quite getting it. i've gotten some ideas from talking to Laughing Moon, of Superhero Training Academy, the Zing, founder of the superhero bicycle ride, and also from my own life experience as a daily vipassana meditator, superhero traveler, and experimenter in generative community.

eating in service:

if we think of such an activity as eating to be a service, how does that change the way we eat? would i eat more than i need if i were doing it in service of myself and others? no. i would eat just the amount that allows me the energy and strength of body to do the best work i can. if i eat too much i have noticed it affects my body, mind, and spirit negatively. i sometimes eat to comfort myself when i don't have what i need in other areas. on a superhero bicycle ride we practice identifying our basic needs and making sure they are taken care of by ourselves or our community so that we can come out of habits that may have been formed in a society of separation and avoidance.
there are many levels of eating in service we can play with. one idea from the book "The Kin of Ata are Waiting For You" is that when we feed each other and not ourselves we will always have enough food, even if it is very little. there is magic in the act of feeding another and receiving food from another. this touches on two great capacities that open hearts: generosity and gratitude. so i would like to try this on the Freedom Ride and see how it feels.
somewhere between the way we commonly eat together, serving ourselves and feeding ourselves, and this other extreme of serving others and feeding others, is to serve others and then feed ourselves. on the Michigan ride in 2012 i offered this as i had learned it at the rainbow gathering i attended in Sicily. there is a tradition in rainbow gatherings to have servers retrieve the bowl of each in the circle and serve them from the food that is placed in the center. then the server has a friend serve them, so nobody serves themselves. i found this to be very profound and helpful in dissolving ego and changing eating habits. on the Salish Sea Freedom Ride this will be the way we eat every meal, when possible. if we choose to we can also feed each other, but we will avoid serving AND feeding ourselves.

besides the consideration of HOW we eat, there is then WHAT we eat. oh what a big and often contentious subject. i will try to find a middle path and we can certainly engage each other around this topic during the ride to some degree to help everyones needs to be met.
i believe we can look at each food we consume and, depending on the amount of information we have about where it comes from and the way it was produced, honestly say how it is harmful or helpful. to what degree is it a service to creation to support this kind of food by eating it? also we can, information depending, see clearly how it affects our body. if we know how to listen to our body it will tell us a lot. then there is proper science and the wisdom of our ancestors to inform us. i think it is when we get into science when most of the conflict and confusion proliferates...
i've wondered... how could we live in a place, why would we live in a place, where the food we need to support us through generations is not available? humanity's way of agriculture is largely responsible for destroying and displacing many of the best food sources we previously had available in abundance. salmon for example in the Salish Sea region. there are still some salmon thankfully that can be harvested sustainably from the wild. there are also seaweed, nettles, mushrooms, berries, shellfish, deer,  and other wild plants and animals that can be harvested in a way that is complementary to these populations and therefor, i believe serves creation. there are forms of agriculture that are less detrimental, or even in rare cases offer benefit to the land they draw from. permaculture is one example and so is biodynamic farming. another is holistic management;. there is a video  here; that is quite informative on that practice. so if we choose food produced by these means rather than more exploitative, extractive agricultural methods we can see that it makes a difference.

another important aspect of eating in service that feel i must illuminate here is that connection with the people we engage sometimes will override the importance of sticking to the above eating practices.

using gadgets in service:  too busy living in service

traveling in service:  too busy living in service

sleeping in service:  too busy living in service

playing in service:  too busy living in service

working in service:  too busy living in service

this is really happening!

Salish Sea Freedom Ride, the 24th Haul of Justice Superhero Bicycle Ride, is happening in July 2014!

we will meet at Freedom Farm! here is the farm blog.

more info to come soon...