on the road again!
I'm on the road again!
Today has been incredible. I arrived by train late last night, picked up from the train station by a random last-minute Denver CouchSurfer whose profile I had not yet seen. She turned out to be a *phenomenal* host. A social worker who teaches developmentally disabled children, she also knows how to have fun and has wonderfully open-minded and yet seriously down-to-earth friends.
I spent the morning hanging out with Beau, a fellow hitchhiker. He made it from Dallas to Denver in 15 hours, a feat I don't think I could manage. He has learned tips and tricks from a guy named Aaron Bell, who organized a hitchhiking *race* recently, from Dallas to... somewhere. Carolinas, maybe? Anyway, the teams were of 3 people, and Bell and friends tied for first at 16 hours. Beau was only a couple *days* behind. Bell says two lanes maximum, as the risk-takers (presumably who pick up hitchhikers) will be in the fast lane and won't want to merge more than a lane or two to pull over.
Beau also did Dallas to Montreal in 5 days, two of which spent in New York City with a friend, in order to connect with another friend who had a swanky hotel paid for in Montreal. Needless to say, he had a fantastic time.
Another character I met today in the park, aside from the mentally challenged, bums, and grifters: Nate(r) had heard about the hitchhiking gathering in the Denver CouchSurfing group. Nate informed me of all sorts of details of Colorado Burning Man attendees, warehouses they own, projects they do, and even particular styles of fire-poi spinning that they practice. Funny, laid-back, intense about what he cares about, Nate is one of my new favorite people. I hope I stay in touch with him and eventually move to Denver/Boulder, at least for a while. Or maybe work on similar things in the Bay Area, which he says is similarly densely Burnered up.
Nate had to take off around 17.25 to go get things done, and apologized for not being able to make it to the Boulder gathering, on account of attending a "junk yard party" at which people smash stuff up in a junk yard. Remind anyone of 2004/05 down in Mu Omicron Delta? Apparently they get dressed up in costumes first!
I then got a call back from my dad, whom I'd missed-called the day before about something I read in Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Apparently one reason engines (especially primarily air-cooled engines) overheat when running lean (not enough fuel, too much oxygen in the combustion chamber(s) ) is that some significant part of the cooling of the engine is due to the energy absorbed by the fuel evaporating before combustion (just like the energy used in evaporating the saliva off of a dog's tongue during panting yields a cooling effect on the dog in general... before the saliva explodes in the combustion chamber?). Not as much fuel => not as much evaporative cooling. Dad says there maybe an additional cause, and if so, it's probably in Colin Campbell's "The Sports Car Engine," which is in my room back home.
Next was dinner at the SAME (So All May Eat) Cafe, a pay-as-you-can cafe that accepts work instead of donations if one needs. There we met up with some pillars of the Denver CouchSurfing community, as well as two more hitchhikers who will be in Boulder tomorrow (later today... ugh, it's 2:30 and I need to go to bed soon).
Dropped Beau off at his friend's place, dropped by a bar to say bye to a friend of Alexis's, Lisa (Oaxaca-lover and general travel enthusiast - hassled by Khan El Khalili in Cairo, headed overseas to Canada, Morocco (where she'll be "married" to her travel buddy and have pictures of her "children" nieces and nephews)). Maggie was also present and friendly, but I didn't talk to her much. They both ended up joining us at Alexis's apartment for cider in the back yard and two more characters joined us, Christian and April.
April was my favorite for the evening. Seemed super-into the Burner mentality, without ever having been to Burning Man. Might be going this year? Also mentioned a guy named Nater who was going to the "Smash party" on Saturday. You mean Nate with the long blonde hair who goes to burning man? Yeah, how the * do you know Nater? Met him in the park - he came out for the hitch gathering. Couchsurfing/Burners/Hitchhikers are a small community, even in the big city, I guess. Anyway, I had a great talk with April about not being afraid to exile someone from a community who really just doesn't fit in with that community - doesn't bring anything to a potluck, for example, even a volunteer attitude, and then is arrogant and/or entitled about it. If they bring McDonald's fries to the next potluck, they're trying - no need to kick them out :) If they bring nothing and bitch about everyone ragging on them for not participating, they need to go.
Finally I've been trying to meet up with Rob... who texted me late at night saying his CS host isn't answering. Best solution ever, it turns out, as we can all head to Boulder together tomorrow. Also, I've had a great opportunity to talk to Kenny, who seems like an American Kasper. Into web development, he has talked with Kasper about various projects. Kenny has been on the road, to one extent or another, for the last 3 years. A hitchhiker, CouchSurfer, and general smart guy, he's another of my new favorite people. He seems to confirm a lot of what Beau/Allen Bell said about hitchhiking, including the "if you're hitchhiking with 3, try making just 2 visible" theory. He had what I think is an improvement, too - have the third person walk on ahead, so that if the driver decides to pick up the first two, they can ask him to pick up the third as well, if possible. If a driver sees the first two, hesitates, and then sees a single hitchhiker walking along the road, he might be more likely to stop for the lone hiker. Everyone gets their own rides and meets up later. I like this idea, rather than just "concealing" the 3rd member, both for the practical reasons I just mentioned and because it seems more honest and up-front. Though maybe Beau couldn't do that during the hitchhiking race, when he was traveling with 2 others, due to the rules of the race?
Final thought for the evening - the deterrent of the heat and cold and dust and wind of burning man probably keeps some of the non-participatory partiers at bay, perhaps leading to a higher concentration of people who are there to share, to be radically self-reliant and self-expressive, and to be radically i... (in the spirit of the moment).
Today has been incredible. I arrived by train late last night, picked up from the train station by a random last-minute Denver CouchSurfer whose profile I had not yet seen. She turned out to be a *phenomenal* host. A social worker who teaches developmentally disabled children, she also knows how to have fun and has wonderfully open-minded and yet seriously down-to-earth friends.
I spent the morning hanging out with Beau, a fellow hitchhiker. He made it from Dallas to Denver in 15 hours, a feat I don't think I could manage. He has learned tips and tricks from a guy named Aaron Bell, who organized a hitchhiking *race* recently, from Dallas to... somewhere. Carolinas, maybe? Anyway, the teams were of 3 people, and Bell and friends tied for first at 16 hours. Beau was only a couple *days* behind. Bell says two lanes maximum, as the risk-takers (presumably who pick up hitchhikers) will be in the fast lane and won't want to merge more than a lane or two to pull over.
Beau also did Dallas to Montreal in 5 days, two of which spent in New York City with a friend, in order to connect with another friend who had a swanky hotel paid for in Montreal. Needless to say, he had a fantastic time.
Another character I met today in the park, aside from the mentally challenged, bums, and grifters: Nate(r) had heard about the hitchhiking gathering in the Denver CouchSurfing group. Nate informed me of all sorts of details of Colorado Burning Man attendees, warehouses they own, projects they do, and even particular styles of fire-poi spinning that they practice. Funny, laid-back, intense about what he cares about, Nate is one of my new favorite people. I hope I stay in touch with him and eventually move to Denver/Boulder, at least for a while. Or maybe work on similar things in the Bay Area, which he says is similarly densely Burnered up.
Nate had to take off around 17.25 to go get things done, and apologized for not being able to make it to the Boulder gathering, on account of attending a "junk yard party" at which people smash stuff up in a junk yard. Remind anyone of 2004/05 down in Mu Omicron Delta? Apparently they get dressed up in costumes first!
I then got a call back from my dad, whom I'd missed-called the day before about something I read in Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Apparently one reason engines (especially primarily air-cooled engines) overheat when running lean (not enough fuel, too much oxygen in the combustion chamber(s) ) is that some significant part of the cooling of the engine is due to the energy absorbed by the fuel evaporating before combustion (just like the energy used in evaporating the saliva off of a dog's tongue during panting yields a cooling effect on the dog in general... before the saliva explodes in the combustion chamber?). Not as much fuel => not as much evaporative cooling. Dad says there maybe an additional cause, and if so, it's probably in Colin Campbell's "The Sports Car Engine," which is in my room back home.
Next was dinner at the SAME (So All May Eat) Cafe, a pay-as-you-can cafe that accepts work instead of donations if one needs. There we met up with some pillars of the Denver CouchSurfing community, as well as two more hitchhikers who will be in Boulder tomorrow (later today... ugh, it's 2:30 and I need to go to bed soon).
Dropped Beau off at his friend's place, dropped by a bar to say bye to a friend of Alexis's, Lisa (Oaxaca-lover and general travel enthusiast - hassled by Khan El Khalili in Cairo, headed overseas to Canada, Morocco (where she'll be "married" to her travel buddy and have pictures of her "children" nieces and nephews)). Maggie was also present and friendly, but I didn't talk to her much. They both ended up joining us at Alexis's apartment for cider in the back yard and two more characters joined us, Christian and April.
April was my favorite for the evening. Seemed super-into the Burner mentality, without ever having been to Burning Man. Might be going this year? Also mentioned a guy named Nater who was going to the "Smash party" on Saturday. You mean Nate with the long blonde hair who goes to burning man? Yeah, how the * do you know Nater? Met him in the park - he came out for the hitch gathering. Couchsurfing/Burners/Hitchhikers are a small community, even in the big city, I guess. Anyway, I had a great talk with April about not being afraid to exile someone from a community who really just doesn't fit in with that community - doesn't bring anything to a potluck, for example, even a volunteer attitude, and then is arrogant and/or entitled about it. If they bring McDonald's fries to the next potluck, they're trying - no need to kick them out :) If they bring nothing and bitch about everyone ragging on them for not participating, they need to go.
Finally I've been trying to meet up with Rob... who texted me late at night saying his CS host isn't answering. Best solution ever, it turns out, as we can all head to Boulder together tomorrow. Also, I've had a great opportunity to talk to Kenny, who seems like an American Kasper. Into web development, he has talked with Kasper about various projects. Kenny has been on the road, to one extent or another, for the last 3 years. A hitchhiker, CouchSurfer, and general smart guy, he's another of my new favorite people. He seems to confirm a lot of what Beau/Allen Bell said about hitchhiking, including the "if you're hitchhiking with 3, try making just 2 visible" theory. He had what I think is an improvement, too - have the third person walk on ahead, so that if the driver decides to pick up the first two, they can ask him to pick up the third as well, if possible. If a driver sees the first two, hesitates, and then sees a single hitchhiker walking along the road, he might be more likely to stop for the lone hiker. Everyone gets their own rides and meets up later. I like this idea, rather than just "concealing" the 3rd member, both for the practical reasons I just mentioned and because it seems more honest and up-front. Though maybe Beau couldn't do that during the hitchhiking race, when he was traveling with 2 others, due to the rules of the race?
Final thought for the evening - the deterrent of the heat and cold and dust and wind of burning man probably keeps some of the non-participatory partiers at bay, perhaps leading to a higher concentration of people who are there to share, to be radically self-reliant and self-expressive, and to be radically i... (in the spirit of the moment).
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