travel update from Klamath falls Oregon

Greetings to all,

Well, I have not been communicating as often as I suppose I should. (I am always cautious of using the phrase " I should"...but here i am throwing caution to the wind and typing like a chipmunk on acid. I am almost gone. I will be leaving the "good 'Ol US of A" in a couple of days and flying into the mexican war zone. I will be arriving at the south most extreme of the killing feilds. I arrive in ciudad chihuahua on 30 Octubre.Most of the mischeif is happening a couple hundred miles north of there in Juarez. One CIA backed "Drug Cartel" is ffighting a DEA backed "Drug Cartel". People up north are watching the slaughter of almost 20,000 mexicans on TV while eating two fer one "dominoes delivers" and sucking down 3 liter cokes.

I will be flying over the mayhem. It is too weird to travel overland in northern Chihuahua these days as the christians are really having a very civilized little war. Killing everything that moves. cutting off each others heads and other body parts. They are fighting over money. They are killing over money. If you ask them they will tell you they are 95% catholic there and 4% other types of Christians. You can look it up. The church of gold and coca. You see, because of artificially created circumstances ie Americas war on drugs and her drug laws which forbid the drugs her people crave, Cocaine costs 3 dollars per gram on one side of the river and sells for 80 dollars on the other side. The profits are so great that the Christians are slaughtering each other over who gets to bribe the DEA agents and make a fortune. It is the same thing as when slavery was illegal in Europe and the Christians (mostly catholics) could go to Africa and buy the people there for 2 dollars a head and sell them to the other christians for 50. The misery market. only now we use the coca and the heroina and create slaves, who can do nothing but sell their bodies for the sweet dreams they crave. So, beside the drug sellers, smugglers, growers and processors, who makes the money?? Here is the rub folks. find the correct answer to this question and the whole ball of yarn unwinds. If you know, don't tell!!!

I will leave Chihuahua muy pronto and take the fabulous (so I have heard) Chihuahua al Pacifico train through the legendary Barranca del cobre (copper canyon) one of the worlds great natural wonders. I will update you all on this later after i have experienced it first hand.

When I arrived in USA in July, I had already visited 46 of the 50 states here. I got back here to Klamath falls yesterday after going to Idaho (number47) and spending a night in Boise. The trip was by truck to go and pick up a 300pound (140kilos) vibrator that will be used to separate algae from lake water. Boise is nice.

This is a very interesting part of the country. The people of this area are said to be the most "conservative" or "right wing" in the whole of USA. They are beef ranchers and hunters and fisherman. They live off the land in an industrial way. They listen to "talk radio" all day. They believe we should use nuclear wapons in great abundance on all our enemys. They believe Israel must live so Jesus will return. They think if Jesus comes back and its Moslems there in Palestine, we are all gonna be in the shit.

They support the Israelites in all circumstance and think we should too. They believe gay people should not be tolerated, nor people who are not "born again unto jesus Christ". They think doctors who perform abortions should be executed and pilots who bomb villages should be elected to senate.They voted for Bush because they liked Dick Chaney. We didnt stay long.

Tomorrow we (my buddy Shanan and I) are going off on another road trip to go to Colombia River gorge in Washington state (state number 48 for me!) I hear this is one of Americas other great natural wonders. I am ready to go. Today I will soak in hot tub and make soup for my friends. I am having a great time in south oregon. I always like it here.

The drive to Idaho was fantastic. High desert scenery. We saw beavers chipmunks antelope, deer, owl, red tail hawk, and falcons. It is onion harvest time. There are huge fields thousands of acres of onions being picked. Dozens of trucks filled to the top of loose onions rambling down the line. Onions flying off at every turn and full stop.

Me and shannon began to stop and just grab up onions to take home. wonderful sweet wala wala onions and some lovely fat purple onions too. Then we saw an old mennonite guy selling onions on the side of the road. Mennonites are Christians who do not believe in homocide. They do not believe there are any loop holes to the comandment "thou shalt not kill". They believe in god and do not believe in lawyers so this is why they dont believe in exceptions to the commandments. They believe that the rich DO NOT GO TO HEAVEN So Shannon set in a supply for winter: 50pounds of wala walas ($10) and 25 pounds of purple Bermudas ($7.00 ) and he gave us a cantelope mellon as a gift also!! What a cool old guy. dressed in blue denim overalls with the bib in front, white straw cowboy hat, beard but no mustache must have been 90 years old. Great big smile and a friendly "God bless you" (via con dios) when we left.

I love America and think it is the most beautiful country in the world. There are of course other places that are perhaps just as lovely, but nothing i have seen is more beautiful. Sure there are problems, Every country has problems. They are all caused by the corrupt leaders of church, schools, and Govamint. The people are like angels angels with dirty faces maybe but angels none the less. Same as the palestinians and and the communists just angels with dirt on their faces...Greed and "money psycholsis" is the true problems.

People believe they dont have enough when they have plenty. They have insecurity about future so they try to horde all the wealth and treasure they can. They take all they can, regarless of their immediate need and then fight and kill to keep their excess out of the hands of those who are needy NOW. The money psycholsis. Every day I Thank all the gods because I have become free of this dreadful illness...Dont worry though the drug companies are working on a cure and when it is ready they plan to sell it for a hundred dollars a pill, take three a day!

Thats all for now folks. I will write again soon. Here are a couple of things to think about while i am gone.

Peace and love

Rambling Robert

"It is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read."Thomas Jefferson



"Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive”.— Howard Thurman



"Can't we all just get along?," Rodney King.

travel update from petaluma

Greetings to all of you.
I am in Petaluma California.I am staying with some friends and have only just arrived after two weeks in Colorado. I love the mountains in America during the summer. I really enjoyed what I saw in the apalachian mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina and Then to go right to Colorado and the rockies was just a great treat. The thing about the rockies that I find so wonerful is all the flowers. Shah the whole world seems covered in flowers. Also it seems there is a cool running stream with rapids or a waterfall virtually everywhere you look. This is partly because this is where the trails are and partly because there are a lot of waterfalls and beautiful streams, brooks and creeks everywhere.I also got to see some elk, which are like a huge deer and have great antlers and a mane like a buffalo or a lion!
Denver is a big city and I stayed about 20 minutes out side there with friends John and Suz. I have known them a couple of lifetimes and Suz is my yoga teacher. She has a lot of wisdom and is a great teacher. For Suz it isnt just about the poses, it is the yogi mind that is the key. It is the breath. It is about smiles. Her philosophy is simple "Eat good things, Be Kind, Tell the Truth" John is a songwriter and works in a bar. He is an excellent finger picker and writes real well.
They have a whole managerie of 3 dogs (two crazy one old) heck the sanest one is called Dufus so ya know...And 3 cats of colorful mind...And a now former 20 year old chinchilla named sidney who passed from this organic plane while I was there and now he rests in peace beneath the backyard.
I saw a good exibit on asian art and "American Western" at the Denver Art Museum and went to an event called "first friday" there. This event happens on the first friday of every month.
There is a small area where all the art galleries are crowded into. Maybe 4 streets long and two streets wide in the Down town of Denver filled with all these galleries and nightclubs and bars and restaurants. So once a month its a big open house and all the galleries give away little snack foods and you can buy wine and walk around and look at art. Lots of bands set up in parking lots and play for free and lots of people mill about and have fun. Saw some good art, heard some good music and had some not so great mexican food, which is a bummer in a city full of good mexican restaurants.
I also got to spend a lot of time catching up with Suzies grand children, who range in ages and interest from a 23 year old bass player in a rock and roll band to 7 and 10 year old girls who just steal my heart.We babysit by taking them to the neighborhood pool and swimming and picnicing. Great fun!
So here I am and I am here.I love Sonoma county. I lived here from 1977 to 1979, on the russian river between forestville and guerneville mostly. I am in Petaluma visiting at the home of my old buddy Morty who was my room-mate back in the days when I lived here. Back in 1974 we were in NJ and he was leaving to go and hitch hike to California he gave me a book called "In Search of the Miraculous" which changed my life forever.
He has a nice place here and stays with his wife and kids, but most of his kids are away at school most of the time now so its really just him and wife/mother Deb and thier daughter the Moon who is 10. They have a little guest house in the back and that is where i am staying. I am gaining a few kilos.
Not far from here in Freestone is Americas best bakery, the Wildflour Organic Bakery, which I usually call the Birkenstock Bakery. I go there everytime I am here. Fabulous breads. Fabulous scones, cinamon rolls, biscotti, everything these bearded birkenstocked hippies make is ab-fab!! We also took a cruise out to Marin County (what the wah hay it was a beautiful day and we were joy riding around stoned in the Mercedes with the roof down). It was time to visit the Roughe et Noir Cheese Factory. We got the gran rebaja (big discount) 6 cheeses for $20.00. All types of brie. like sundried tomato or pesto or garlic or blue cheese or regular or triple creme.Shahhh we took them all.Sat by the lake with our warm bread and cheese and so it is and so it goes...
Went to the Bodega bay wine and jazz and art and seafood festival. California has a lot of weekend festivals in the summer. So I got to hear some jazz and be festife with my life friend Hank. Hank is a guitarist extraordinaire and an old Gurdjieff-nick from the 60s and he has been something of an isnspiration to many of his friends including myself. He lives with heart. He is not doing so well physically these days but we had a great time. I am going over to his house tonight after I finish this update.
I had a moment of truth, a satori experience on the airplane coming from Denver to San Francisco. I usually hate to meditate on an airplane, but I was in the mood and I slipped right into this groove and the next thing I know I am breathng mindfully and seeing the truth in a kind of still life animated movie about how everything is determined by these vast mechanical laws of attraction magnetism and gravity Radiating out of or off of or by extraterrestrial beings (ie planets moons stars comets) radieant forces and also by terrestrial forces and we are being influenced and guided by thousands of rays of attractive energy from all different directions at once some as mundane as the TV and memories of how grandmother taught us to behave, others as complex as situational human dynamics can make them.This is how everything we "decide" to do is really decided. A continuing series of causes and thier results from all these out side infuences and not by ourselfs from within at all, unless we have developed a true "will".
I am taking a train to Paso Robles on the 9th of September I will b e in San Luis O bispo for 9 or ten days. If anyone wants to see me email me or call me at RB &Tawnyas
Well here are a few quotes to think about while we are apart...
Peace and Love,
Robert
"Human beings are more alike than unalike, and what is true anywhere is true everywhere, yet I encourage travel to as many destinations as possible for the sake of education as well as pleasure". Maya Angelou

"Illusions, mistaken for truth are the pavement under our feet. They are what we call civilization"...Barbara Kingsolver

"Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages."... Thomas Edison

"One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent."... Napoleon Bonaparte