Magic People! I love you!
I'm on the road now, with two wheels and no motor. (One less car.)
The sun is hot and burns my skin. (But, I have aloe.)
The hills are many and long, and my burden is heavy. (I've begun casting off possessions in earnest.)
The rain is unpredictable and can be intense. (I have shelter from the storm.)
My cell phone is incredibly slow. (But, it works!)
My solar panels will not run my laptop. (But will charge my cell phone.)
The trucks and cars are many and big. (But, the drivers are kind and stop for me when I stick my thumb in the road, and even make room for my bike!)
Rainbow Family, alt.gathering.rainbow, and the Internet
Normally I read a.g.r in newsgroup form via a unique proprietary interface and pick and choose from subject lines as time permits. There is no way that I could handle being on the gathering mailing list and still do the work that I do.
But, tonight I'm in a small "fleabag" motel in a small western town, tired and burned. Alone and having nothing better to do, I tried something unusual for me; I used a special 800 number to access a.g.r and downloaded the past three or four days worth of messages all at once and read them.
It amazed me how the message traffic has grown since the beginning of a.g.r. It amazed me how a.g.r is becoming more and more a reflection (though necessarily a distorted one) of the Rainbow family and the Rainbow gatherings. It has also amazed me how a.g.r is becoming more and more a circle, a community of its own. It has also amazed me how many people are coming into a.g.r and in turn Rainbow from the net.
I believe that not only is the net becoming important for Rainbow, but also that a.g.r can be an important example for the Internet as a whole; so, please keep this in mind. The world is watching.
Also, it is my hope that those who stay behind, and do not follow us home, will watch our backdoor here on a.g.r while we are a gathering, and continue to spread the random acts of kindness and in fact beam the radiant light of love, beauty and truth around the world.
I'm still tuning in, and I'm still on my way home.... I just successfully bicycled over the Sawtooth mountains from the valley of the Great Salt Lake to the swollen Snake river, now on the historic Oregon Trail and fighting terrible headwinds from out of the west.
Although the Snake river is still as high as its ever been, it has begun slowly to recede, and seems passable and safe at least west from the I-84/I-86 intersection.
FYI, there is an official international youth hostel in Gooding, Idaho, for those in need of a pit stop coming or going....
Love... to see you soon! ;^) Marcus