A Freethinker's Exploration of Religion, Science, and the Mind

This was one of the “non-random” parts of my road trip. I planned the trip so I could spend a day at the Oregon Country Fair on July 9th before attending a surprise birthday party for my brother-in-law in Lacey, Wa on July 10th. I can say this because I am writing this post after the fact. Actually, about two weeks after the fact! This post should have been published on July 9th but I lost my “posting rhythm” after getting a kink in my neck (and consequent pain in my right arm) from too much driving. It made typing at my computer painful. It was almost all gone a couple days ago, but came back after driving 300 miles to Seattle and back to pick up another brother-in-law (Professor Robin Collins) and his wife for their summer visit.

Anyway … getting back to the fair: IT WAS GREAT!!! Colors and life and infinite variety and creativity and music and music and music and dancing! Pure joy! Here are a few pics of the event. There was a giant Stalla Octangula marking the entrance:

And here’s the banner greeting you at the entrance: Read More »

I awoke early this morning and had my coffee and wi-fi at the Beachcombers Organic Coffee House in Trinidad. Then I hit the road, since I need to make about 3oo miles today. I stopped near Orick and hiked five miles along the Skunk Cabbage section of the Coastal Trail. Here is the sign at the trailhead:

The hike is through magical plants – large ferns and massive skunk cabbages and slugs and fungus and everything moist and and green: Read More »

Slept in my van on a side street in Eureka, CA. Drove up Highway 101 to the next town for breakfast in Arcata. Then spent the day exploring Trinidad. They have a little organic coffee house that also serves up free wi-fi so I helped myself to both.

There is a beautiful path up to the top of the hill on the right that gives an excellent view of the town: Read More »

I left San Francisco and headed north on Highway 101 and then traveled the parallel “Avenue of the Giants” which has many places to stop and wander through the groves of Redwoods. Unfortunately, pictures just can’t capture their grandeur. Here is the Founders Tree (12 foot diameter):

And here is a shot looking straight up: Read More »

I toured San Francisco on my bike today. I began in the Tenderloin District where Rich lives. He likes this area because it is “edgy” and “real.” This description from the Wikipedia seems pretty accurate from what I have seen:

There are a number of stories about how the Tenderloin got its name. One is that it is a reference to an older neighborhood in New York with the same name and similar characteristics. Another is a reference to the neighborhood as the “soft underbelly” (analogous to the cut of meat) of the city, with allusions to vice and corruption, especially graft. There are also some legends about the name, probably folklore, including that the neighborhood earned its name from the words of a New York City police captain, Alexander S. Williams, who was overheard saying that when he was assigned to another part of the city, he could only afford to eat chuck steak on the salary he was earning, but after he was transferred to this neighborhood he was making so much money on the side soliciting bribes that now he could eat tenderloin instead.^[2][3] Another version of that story says that the officers that worked in the Tenderloin received a “hazard pay” bonus for working in such a violent area, and that is how they were able to afford the good cut of meat. Yet another story, also likely apocryphal, is that the name is a reference to the sexual parts of prostitutes (i.e., “loins”).

I then road down past the City Hall:

And across the street I found this sculpture which must be the incarnation of the San Francisco definition of a “straight line” – Read More »