Minstrel Cycles

As Apothocurious takes a Hummus Hiatus, it is only natural that this bicycle powered urban culinary adventure takes a nibble on a bicycle powered coastal adventure. This summer is serving up double doses of festivals, summer camps, and a self-propelled minstrel cycle.

While I was working hard in the kitchen, delivering hummus on bikes, and educating the youth on safe ways to do what we do, I found myself restlessly day dreaming about the simplicity of living off my bike. In the dream I am, for once, doing just one thing: ride my bike. Due to limited storage; I, for once, only carry the necessities. With the freedom achieved from low cost, self-propelled travel, I, for once, am open to the currents of the travel ferries!
The agenda looks something like this:

June has been full of Yosemite adventures, Ohio Weddings and Virginia homesteads.

July 1st I head north (in a car…) for High Seirra. I will be working with my friend Joe Peace who practices peace by making peace medallions and offering them to festival goers in exchange for suggested, or available, donations. I am also hoping to rally a crew of good people to enjoy the show together! If you are interested, I hope you will join in the festivities! From Quincy I will travel with Joe (again, in a car…warming up or something) to the Oregon Country Fair where I will help and practice peace too! I will hop out of the peace wagon in Eugene, OR, and make my, one way or another( hitch, train, bike?), to Vancouver where I will find Helmet on

July 17th-Vancouver! With only 20 days of bike touring freedom, my fellow minstrel and I will travel from Vancouver to Seattle via The Vancouver islands, The Olympic peninsula and, of course, the occasional, and necessary, ferry. In preparation, my partner in crime, Rachel Freed AKA Helmet, is currently riding the AIDs Life Cycle. I am, circumstantially, sitting on an airplane. On a proud side note, on a parental visit this past week; I was able to get both of my parents out on a short neighborhood bike ride. Woot Woot.

Helmet and I will enjoy the sites of the city lights before we head north, west, south, south, and then east into Seattle. We have a tentative route mapped thanks for Biking the Coast. Aside from the rough outline of a route, I think the only things on the agenda are: bikes, island visits, family adventures, farmers markets, tasty food, new friends, adventure, and music (hence the name of our team, the minstrel cycles)! I will try to keep you updated as we discover life on bikes!

August 6th-28th. I will spend the rest of the month in or near Seattle working at Camp Ten Trees. Camp Ten Trees, often references as Gay Camp, has two unique sessions. The first session caters to youth coming from alternative families, Queer parents, Poly families, and everything in the spectrum. The second week caters to youth who identify as queer. For this session they have girls town, boys town, and gender-landia. I will be working with the oldest group from Boys town. I am excited because I have never been a leader for a boys group before.

I am traveling without any of the technology that would allow me to update this blog. No camera, no computer, not even an Ipod or smart phone! However, I have a feeling this blog will get updated throughout the summer. So stay posted! Let me know if you would like to receive an e-mail blast when I post. Though I bet if you are tech savvy (unlike me) you can figure out how to make the computer do that for you!