Intro Part II

....Seattle will always be one of my favorite cities in the US.  It's hard to beat a setting with two mind-blowing mountain ranges bookending the east and west of the skyline and killer Puget Sound. What's more is the liberal activism, rocking music scene (both local and national bands that continuously gig the area), lip smacking cuisine (both on the cheap & for a night out dressed in 9's), and mouth-watering microbrew (Mac & Jacks, your Amber will be missed).

   Yet, for all its pros, 5 straight years of Metropolitan life-style got to be a handful for a dude who grew up, went to high school & college in small towns. The best cure-all for the desk-job blues was blowing money on the weekends on latest toy gadgets, over-priced drinks and the trendiest clothing. Have we really gotten to a place in humanity where the deeper v-neck shirt a man wears, the superior his manliness? If you didn't keep up, it could be difficult to compete for the attention for a female counterpart with all the other wannabe alpha males on the prowl. eHarmony provides convenient services in the date department, but takes all the fun/headaches out of meeting people spontaneously and/or having friends introduce you to their available friends. Besides I'm too cheap to pay for online dating memberships.

   The club bar scene got old for me real quick and soon enough I gave up on finding a partner and dedicated all my attention on the band. Originally after quiting the job, the plan was to go on tour with State of Murdoch along the west coast and southwest. When the other two bandmates couldnt save enough to go on a prolonged tour, I went ahead with leaving the company and sought other adventures available along the road. Instead of limiting myself to the originally intended western portion of the country, the first solo road trip of mine transformed into one around the country. You only live once right?

   Weekly visits to the Ballard Farmer's Market in Northwest Seattle piqued my interest more and more in sustainable farming and a random google search into volunteer opportunities on organic farms uncovered the world of WWOOF'ing  (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). The goal in WWOOF'ing is to volunteer 30 hours a week on a farm and in return get free room & board, along with meals. Most importantly you learn a valuable lesson in its inherent sustainable agriculture practices. My conscience determined awhile ago after reading Michael Pollan's, 'Omnivore's Dilemma', that the just way to eat livestock was to learn first hand the ways of raising animals the way evolution designed them to be. There's a long list of reasons factory farmed meat is unethical and disgusting in my book. More over, eating produce, which I could have hand in, came across a new refreshing, rewarding experience. If I'd be getting a free place to crash and eat, I could prolong my journey across the country even longer. Win-Win!

FUZZOLOGY 101 is a recap of the knowledge learned from farming thus far and other thrills which have taken place on my series of sojourns. With enough luggage for all 4 seasons, a REI Novara Rivet Cyclocross Bike, my trusty Martin DC16 and an entire CD collection to get me along every major highway without one disc being repeated all packed into a 1990 VW pop-topped Vanagon, the trip was a go. The first stop on the journey was a 3 week stop in Wikipedia's one-paragraph-summarized Buxton, Oregon, a 45-minute drive west of Portland and situated just on the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the beginning of the craziness. It should be noted that some names of people met & places travelled may have been changed for protection.