And so it begins.
I drove, rode my new folding bike 20 miles, took a bus in a county where I never rode their system before (I didn’t even know they had one), and even got saved on extraordinary hills and nowhere to safely ride by an Uber driver in a tiny car who eyed my bike and said, “Will that fit?” And I said, “Yes, Paul. That will fit!” as he popped the trunk and it easily slid in.
I was pilot-testing the pilot test (Virgo that I am) of #OneDucksJourney next year, which is planned trip (and probably new book) across the USA via bikes, buses, trains while reporting from cities and then working on organic farms.
I wanted to see the digs where I’d be living for ten days this fall. I met the chickens, goats, donkey, rabbit, urban farm and food forest (including fruit trees currently heavy with Asian persimmons) I’d be helping tend.
There’s a geodome, a tiny house and a teardrop camper. There are food donation days and backyard cultivator outreach. There’s a community fridge, a pond, and a bonfire. There’s handcrafted art. There’s even a day camp with precious little rubber-booted children trudging through the wild.
There will be a pumpkin patch fundraiser soon, as well as more WWOOFers, to keep this multifaceted initiative going. In addition to farm work, I’ve been asked to use some of my four-hours-a-day barter time to provide professional marketing support for this nonprofit. I’m excited. I start right after my CDC Foundation job in service to the State of Alaska Department of Health ends. (Here’s a fun throw-back post from 2010 about another time my role changed.)
Follow #OneDucksJourney here and on TikTok at Speed of Bike. Find out about my previous books here (I’m an indie author and your support is appreciated). And let’s pilot this journey forward!
Traveling at the Speed of Bike 