Happy birthday, frohe Ostern, happy Hanukkah, gesegnetes Ramadan, frohes Neues, happy Thanksgiving, froher Namenstag

to me.

Dear A,

I’ve been writing emails to plenty of people now and since I am currently on an email writing frenzy and that I cannot control myself anymore because of my apparent OCD… I’ve never actually asked my doctor if it was OCD but sometimes I go crazy on simple things like this ( and actually I like it because i always feel fulfilled once I’m done… 3 hours later ).

You kinda gave me an idea. I don’t know if I told you about this but I am seriously considering hitchhiking Canada. I would start from here in the province of Quebec, then I would go to Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta and then I would come back. If I have more time on my hands and everything is right I also consider checking out Yukon. I started planning stuff. I began thinking about what I should bring and what I shouldn’t bring and what kind of craziness might happen. In between this I began to realize that I needed something to attract drivers in order to be picked up easier and faster so I don’t stand like a wounded dog under the rain for five hours. I almost immediately thought that I should bring my guitar ( and that means I have to re-learn how to play it ) but then I thought that it would be too big so I thought of the ukulele you kept mentioning and now I am considering buying a cheap ukulele!!! Wouldn’t that be the coolest thing!?!? I mean I would be known as the legendary ukulele wanderer!!! I would make the news like ” Have you seen the Uke Traveller?! ” and ” The Ukulele Wanderer strikes again! “. Ok, ok, I’m dreaming here… But I do think about bringing a ukulele with me.

So yeah I’ve started planning this thing. I subscribed to a hitchhiking forum where experienced people will probably be able to give me some advice. I plan on doing this in two years from now on june 2011. I will try not to spend money during this trip and I expect to spend most of the summer travelling this way. I still have to tell my family about it and I am pretty sure everybody’s going to freak out so I have to choose the right moment or unless they will believe I am in some sort of state of distress or something… Frankly I have no idea how I will present this idea, most especially to my mom, because I’ve been there forever for her and she has been there for me as well.

I see this as a personal journey rather than a travelling experience. I will write my daily experiences in a journal that I will bring with me. I will also bring my Canon camera that is neither too expensive neither too crappy so I will bring some great pictures ( I think ). I’ve started thinking about some “tricks” like putting two 200$ in two plastic bags and hide them in my two shoes for desperate measures. I also plan on bringing my cd player and some amazing cds like Sigur Ros!!! I will try not to go in hotels and rent rooms and I will try to camp as much as possible and for this I expect to deal with cops and thugs so I will bring my best smiles with me for the cops and my little handy knife for the thugs…

I think what’s triggered me to think about this seriously is Jack Kerouac’s book titled ” On the Road ” which is all about hitchhiking. The guy in the story is pretty messed up and I am different ( I think ) when compared to him, but I still need that freedom I can’t seem to find in here. Plus, this Jack Kerouac guy, well, the “hero” in the book, is him and it’s mostly an auto-biographical novel. I don’t know if I told you about this, but I have always had some sort of love for the 50s and when I found the Beat Generation writers like Kerouac I immediately associated myself to them and Jack Kerouac seems to have some sort of link with me. He was french canadian too! I don’t know what the hell is going on between him and I.

I’m pretty sure that what I am searching for won’t be found during this trip but I have been sick enough in the recent years to see people around me are living in a daily routine and I don’t want to live that. I’ve spent some time in hospital beds and when I would talk with other sick people the topics were really different. We would talk about simple things. Things you don’t think of when you aren’t sick. I remember I spoke to an old man while we were eating that horrible hospital food and we were wondering what we would eat and drink when we would get out. I remember I wanted a good bloody steak with mashed potatoes and some green broad beans. It was enough to make me feel happy and I wanted to get out of there just to eat that. Nowadays I’ve begun to fall back into routine and I almost forgot about that desire I had back in the hospital and I don’t want to forget about that and that’s why I want to leave this place with a feeling of uncertainty so I can enjoy everything I see, taste and touch. It’s like in my favorite book, “The Little Prince”, when he goes to the well in the middle of the desert and he drinks water with the aviator. The water would be ordinary to other people who drank water everyday, but to the aviator, it was the product of their desire to get water, the fact that they walked so long and the fact that they had to use the pulley in order to ultimately get it! That’s why it tasted so good to him and to the little prince.

The fact is that I am doing this knowing that I will probably find adversity. It’s not like I am going there with an improvised bag using a red cloth with white spots on it, all of it attached to a wooden stick like in the cartoons. I know I’ll probably be unable to sleep during some nights. I might get robbed or beaten or whatever. I’ll try to avoid this as much as possible, but I still have to hitchhike the way I want to or else it won’t be hitchhiking anymore. Still, I have to train my body for this because I’m pretty sure I’ll be dead tired most of the time so I have to be in the best shape possible.

That’s why I’m going to walk practically everyday from now on. I’ve already been walking pretty often but it was only for entertainment purpose or to go out with friends. I don’t have a car and when I have to buy stuff or whatever I just WALK to the store and bring back the goods home. I still don’t get the car thing and I don’t understand why so many people have cars. I don’t know if I missed something here. So, yeah, from now on I’ll walk a lot. Next summer I’m planning on walking from home right to the camp ( which means about 250 kilometers… and seriously I won’t do the math to explain how long that is in miles because you americans need to use the metric system ). I will bring the usual stuff I bring when I go there ( clothes and books and some cds and other things ). It should give me a preview of a hitchhiking experience without drivers picking me up ( which should be the hardest days ).

So, yeah, I’m going to write a book on this. I don’t expect it to be published by anyone but I’ll try to if I feel like the material is somewhat worth it. I’ve never studied literature ( so my curriculum vitae in that department would be pretty short ) but I think I’m pretty good ( in french, at least ) and I know a couple of authors in the area who might be able to help me.

I’ve recently met very old friends who were in classmates in primary school and high school. When I was really sick I lost sight of them and back then I thought that they were really ahead of me in studies and jobs. I mean, they are. Some of them are going to be doctors and pharmacists, others already have great jobs and live a steady life. But somehow I feel like I have something more inside my head that they don’t have. They don’t question society like I do and they don’t see the things I see. They don’t know how to write either ( I found that out on Facebook ). I think that all these years of illness I’ve spent reading and listening and watching others is finally paying off. I feel like I am stronger inside. I also am sad to see that these young minds who sometimes were breaking laws and questioning so many things in life ended up as ordinary human beings with very little imagination, ideas and hopes. Of course they still have these things but it’s hidden deep inside now and it will only bloom when it will be too late.

I can’t believe I wrote so much stuff! I don’t even know how much time I spent on this email! Ok, I have to stop myself now. I guess I had to tell someone about this and since I’m too chicken shit to tell my hitchhiking plans to the people who live next to me and I wanted to tell them to someone like you who can’t really judge me or anything. I guess this is the good side of internet? I don’t know, really. This place is both full and empty at the same time. It’s confusing.

Thanks for reading my “dreamer’s melodrama”,

X

Where’s the Bald Eagle?

You get a gold star if you can use your ‘eagle eyes’ to spot the bald eagle in this photo.  In April 2007, Ken and I were driving back to our cabin after a long day of hiking up mountains and digging snowpits, and out of the corner of my eye I spotted this bald eagle off in the distance.  Coincidentally, a year prior I spotted a bald eagle about 500 feet further down this road sitting on a rock ledge…same one?!?  You be the judge…if you can see them…

Bald Eagle Avoiding My Camera – April 2006

Im Irish Pub Dexter Island entstehen historische Bilder der Rheinfurt Duisburg neu. Hier trifft sich die Riverford-Szene von Alt-Homberg und Duisburg. Was die gesellige Runde vereint, in Gedanken genüsslich durch die mittelalterliche Rheinfurt zwischen Duisburg und Homberg zu waten. Ganz trocken blieb man nie – gestern und heute.

Den Charme des historischen Vater Rhein , bevor Mutter Zivilisation das Nudelholz schwang, lässt heute das Herz von Freigängern beim Satellitenblick erahnen.

Es lohnt, den Blick von Karte auf Satellit zu wechseln.

Die größte Flussinsel als Welt-Kulturerbe:

View Larger Map

Google Maps

Die jüngste Flussfurt als Beispiel für die historische Rheinfurt zwischen Homberg und Duisburg:

View Larger Map

Google Maps

Das sind Planungsgrundlagen für das Hellweg-Jakobsweg-Trajekt, der Hellweg-Westerweiterung zu Der Westen Duisburg. Schön wäre ein Interesse der Archäologie Duisburg.

Mehr als fünf Monate reiste Berthold Baumann mit Bus, Bahn, Auto, aber vor allem mit dem Kanu sowie zu Fuß kreuz und quer durch die Wildnis des Yukon Territoriums in Kanadas Nordwesten. Heiter-ironisch und mit knorrigen Kommentaren versehen, schildert er äußerst lebhaft seine Eindrücke von Land und Leuten. Spannende Erzählungen von abenteuerlichen Begegnungen mit Bären, Wölfen und Elchen, einsamen Kanufahrten fernab jedweder Zivilisation und schweißtreibenden Wanderungen in den entlegensten Regionen wechseln sich mit witzigen Begebenheiten ab, wie etwa dem nächtlichen Kampf mit einer Mäusehorde im Auto. Die Wanderungen führten ihn hauptsächlich durch den Kluane Nationalpark und den Silver Trail, während die Kanutouren über den Teslin, Yukon, Ross, Pelly und McQuesten River gingen. Mit dem Auto nahm er jeden Highway des Yukons und einige Straßen in Alaska unter die Räder sowie zahlreiche Nebenstraßen. Dabei verbrauchte er drei Autos. Mehr oder weniger durch Zufall kam Baumann dabei an ein Grundstück und eine Hütte – wobei die beiden zuerst über 500 Kilometer von einander entfernt lagen. Der Clou: Die Geschichten, die er Verwandten, Freunden und Bekannten per E-Mail aus Kanada geschickt hat, wurden um deren lustigste und interessanteste Antworten ergänzt. Ein quasi interaktives Buch.

Für eine Textprobe klicken Sie bitte auf das Bild

Berge können nicht Kanu fahren (Abenteuer-E-Mails aus dem kanadischen Yukon Territorium)
184 Seiten, 53 SW-Bilder, 2 SW-Karten
Größe: 17×22 cm, Einzelpreis: 11 Euro

Our special guest this evening, Dr. Micheal Coffman suggested  a couple of websites for more information;

www.NOCapandTrade.us

and this very informative site;

http://www.globalwarmingclassroom.info/

Dr. Coffman also has a program to help get the information and science about the other side to global warming into middle and high schools.   Your contribution will help this effort and you will get this DVD free!

Global Warming Emerging Science and Understanding

also you may be interested in Sovereignty International.  Dr. Coffman is the Executive Director of Sovereignty International where you can find education on Agenda 21, Global Governance, Land Use and more.

Thank you Dr. Coffman for all of your hard work and for being such an interesting and informative guest!

We spoke to Sherry Clark, the founder of The Liberty Voice and her story is an inspirational one.

Sherry’s desire to share information that the mainstream will not cover spoke about how she handed out DVD’s and flyers before she hit on the idea of a newspaper.  She shared with us why she believes the newspaper is the best format for reaching the most Americans.

Sherry you sold me on the idea-too bad my plate is full.  I am hoping that Holland takes up the challenge-he would do a great job!

Thank you Sherry for all you do.  Your spirit is and enthusiasm is infectious!

http://www.thelibertyvoice.com/

Each month, The Liberty Voice is distributed at no charge to thousands of readers around the country.

READ the current print copy online

At present all costs are covered by a few dedicated individuals.

Become a subscriber and help support independent media!

The Liberty Voice is now available in

• 36 cities scattered over 10 states
  
• Over 200 locations!

Find out where you can get a copy of The Liberty Voice near you!

Ms. Clark has a collection of her writings published at OpEdNews

UPCOMING EVENTS

James Lane informed us about the END THE FED rallies that will be held in OKC as well as nationwide on Nov. 22.  Rally for sound money and holding the Federal Reserve accountable!

Then, there are activist trainings coming up, with the first being held this Saturday Nov. 21st in Yukon Oklahoma;

contact the OCA  by email info@oklahomaconstitutionalalliance.org

and see their online calendar of events at;

http://oklahomaconstitutionalalliance.org/

Tony and I are delighted to introduce you to the newest partner/owner of Folbot — Bill Turner.

Bill joins us with a lifetime of involvement in manufacturing and sporting goods, along with a recent foray into commercial banking. Bill is passionate about helping continuously improve Folbot’s manufacturing processes and operations and is looking forward to learning  every aspect of how to make a Folbot. He may not yet know how to sew, but he will!

While he is enjoying paddling Folbots, Bill has yet to declare a favorite. But here he is paddling a Kiawah with Tony (in the Yukon) and me (in a Cooper).

David, Bill and Tony

Please join us in welcoming Bill to the Folbot family. You can reach him at bill@folbot.com.

Welcome Bill!

David A.

British Columbia Mountain in Summer

British Columbia Mountain in Winter

This is the closest I have been to Alaska…the Canada/US border is about 10 miles beyond this mountain in British Columbia.  This spot is located just off the Klondike Highway that connects the Yukon and British Columbia to Skagway, Alaska, and was the location of some snowpits and vegetation surveys we conducted during the summer/winter in and around the Yukon.

In the summer, the spotty patches of snow were cool to see, but the thick blanket of snow in the winter was even more impressive.  Where we were at the base of the mountain (~3000 feet above sea level), the snow was about 2 meters deep (the deepest snowpit we did…that was fun to dig out!), so you can imagine what it was on top (~5500 feet above sea level)!

Wer kennt sie nicht, die Erzählungen Jack Londons, wer war nicht schon von Kindesbeinen an von den faszinierenden und abenteuerlichen Erlebnissen vom Leben in der Einsamkeit und Wildnis des Yukons gefesselt? Einmal das geheimnisvolle Flackern der Nordlichter in klirrender Kälte erleben, mit Huskys durch die stille Winterlandschaft ziehen, auf einer Kanutour mit und in der Wildnis leben, spüren, was das wirkliche Leben ausmacht … Lange Jahre waren das nur Träume. Aber dann wurde aus diesen drei Worten das Signal zum Aufbruch. Aus den Abenteuern mit Huskys bei kaum vorstellbaren –50° und einer unvergesslichen Kanutour auf dem Big Salmon entstand dieses fesselnde Buch, das den Leser von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite in seinen Bann schlagen wird. Vielleicht beflügelt es den ein oder anderen, auch einfach mal aus dem Alltag auszusteigen, lang gehegte Träume wahr zu machen und zumindest für begrenzte Zeit in ein bisher unbekanntes Leben einzutauchen.

Das Buch ist im Verlag Verlag Kanada Aktuell – ISBN 3-9808808-1-8 – erschienen. Neben den Berichten über die Abenteuerreisen enthält es im Anhang noch einen umfangreichen Informationsteil mit zahlreichen Links und Adressen. Hier findet man allgemeine Informationen über den Yukon, über Veranstalter von Husky- und Kanutouren, Ausrüstung, Kartenmaterial, Buchtipps usw.

Hier können Sie direkt die Webseite von Inge Cieslak besuchen.

Two Girls Waffle House, Anchorage, AK, between 1900 and 1916.

Gut, dass es nur kälter werden kann.

Das nächste mal mache ich Work & Travel auf Hawaii

After lots of shopping & discussion with my wife, I picked up my new Yukon Denali tonight.  It’s sure gonna make family outings and trips a lot more comfortable.

It’s pretty sweet!

Cheers,
Braddog

OK, here’s the thing drug dealers of Yukon, Oklahoma, when you cram your cell phone into your coat pocket, make sure it’s on lock or you might find yourself in a little bit of strife. When a  drug dealer’s phone accidentally rang 911 the dispatchers could faintly hear what they thought was a deal going down. They traced the call and sent police a knocking and low and behold they found  $20,000 worth of Xanax, Hydrocondone, Oxycontin, Ecstasy and marijuana. Hmm, Mark Alan Clair and Shannon Blake McAlister take a bow! Dumbass 911 callers of the week and you didn’t even know it!

A la fin du 19e siècle, le Klondike a été pris d’assaut par des milliers d’hommes (et quelques femmes!) à la recherche d’or. Ce furent deux années (1897-1898) de pure folie!

Le Musée McCord a produit une vidéo sur le sujet, que voici…

Jack London , l’auteur, a même participé à la ruée vers l’or…

Les aspirants devaient vivre dans des conditions difficiles… le froid, la faim, la nourriture pas toujours bonne…

Klondikers Camp, Head of Yukon River, 1er mai 1898

En complément: vivez cette époque fébrile grâce au jeu La ruée vers l’or du Klondike du Musée virtuel du Canada.  Aussi, en 2008, Radio-Canada Alberta a produit des reportages vidéos et radio sur la piste Chilkoot qui menait les prospecteurs potentiels à Dawson City.

Prochainement, je vais vous parler du roman Lili Klondike qui traite de cette fameuse ruée vers l’or…

Billets reliés (abonnés par courriel, cliquez sur le titre de ce billet pour pouvoir consulter les hyperliens qui vont suivre:

• Lieux patrimoniaux du Canada
• Journaux francophones du Canada (1808-1919)
• Entre les lignes: témoignages de la Première Guerre mondiale
• Nos Racines: pour découvrir l’histoire  locale et régionale par les sources

What a spectacular day in Charleston. The weather forecast is demanding that some Folbots get paddled today.

Hmmm… what kayak should I take? The Cooper? The Kiawah? I know Tony will want the Yukon.

Just another day in paradise.

David A.

Congratulations, you have found one of the top home business opportunity
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Pray and give thanks for what God has done through this event and all the people involved. Give Him praise for all the youth that were touched and changed through this event.

For Updates and Contact

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