So we have been on this road no place pacific for half a year now and we haven’t written much or checked in regularly. We have a good excuse though. Our days and nights have been filled with fun things, fun people, fun, fun, fun. And work. Performing on the street involves a lot of walking around and set up time plus 2-4 hours of actual playing. The walking around is fun though because cities are full of strange and exciting people, advertisements, shops, et cetera. In addition to that we have been making constant improvements to our lifestyle. We have recently added a latrine and a road bicycle to our happy household on wheels (see our post on getting a free bike at Community Cycles). We now have 10 wheels to play on: (4 on the car, 2 on the bike and 4 on the longboard Paul brought). 6 of our wheels require no gasoline and those are by far the most fun way to get around a city.

What have we done these months of radio silence? Well it seems like we have been watching every sunset and every moonrise and making comments on the stars and constellations we know and how stunning they all are above a collosus of quiet country. We were learning to rock climb with our new best friends in Boulder. We have been learning new songs sitting around in sunshine-steeped parks. We have been finding pounds upon pounds of trash and treasuring the way it fills our tummy’s.

Paul right before sunset over Little Kachess Lake in Seattle. (Took a morning dip).

Sunset in the desert near Moab, Utah

It feels like we are finally coming into our own after six months of minor hiccups, and discomforts, and loneliness. No longer must all hours of my day be spent just surviving this unusual lifestyle. Not that it was unenjoyable before, it’s just that the joy that was already there seems to have doubled in size in the past month and a half, probably beginning in Boulder. It’s great to finally feel on top of our game. Our street performing has gotten more fun and we have go-to outfits that help us get in the mood (mine includes black and white striped prisoner pants and suspenders. One way to feeling good and meeting strangers is wearing fancy pants and I don’t mean Country Club Fancy I mean Carnival Fancy.)

We picked up these pants in Moab for 3 dollars! Paul’s fixing up the bike strapped to the roof.

Our new friend, Xavier from Boulder who served as our climbing guide numerous times around Colorado. Here he’s getting his chalk bag ready to lead climb up a face in Boulder Canyon rated a 10 or 11.

I’m using my body every day and it feels great. My hands are sore from playing, my feet are sore from walking, my body’s sore from whatever active thing we did that day. As I fly down boulevards on our new bike or duck and weave through trees lining neighborhood blocks on the skateboard, I take full, deep breaths of this west coast air and I know I am alive. It all sounds silly when I put it in words but this really feels so good, so right and exactly how I want to be spending my time. There are concerns about the future, about money and the constant warnings and advice I get from others but I know deep in my heart that the things that matter in this short life are being fulfilled by my current lifestyle choice. I can feel and watch myself growing and learning things every day. I feel like a rushing stream not a stagnant puddle of muddy water. Whether it’s sustainable in it’s exact form or not doesn’t matter because right now things are moving.

So we are in Portland now and the traffic lights are nearly perfectly timed on all main boulevards so that when you are cruising through traffic you can watch the green lights open up in front of you one by one. It’s quite fun and reminds me of the Aloe Blacc song, Green Lights.

We will be in Portland at least through Monday to play another game of dodgeball (every Monday and Thursday nights 8PM-10PM on the tennis courts at Col. Summers Park if you find yourself in Portland) then after that we head South through Albany and Euguene, Oregon and on to California on the 101 and then the 1 to keep the neverending summer thing going.