Milwaukee

In Milwaukee, I stayed with Tess Edmonds' (Olin '11) family, who were extremely hospitable hosts. I happened to arrive in time for a delicious Dutch South-African themed dinner they were putting on for some friends.

Tess and I saw the Mummies of the World exhibition at the Milwaukee Public Museum. The highlight of the show, in my opinion was a 6,500 year old mummy from Peru called the Detmold child (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvU831kZEGg). Just think about how long ago that is!

All that said, my favorite part of my time in Milwaukee was a little walk Tess and I took in a nature preserve bordering the Milwaukee River. The first 20 feet of the trail were exceedingly muddy, which caused us to vacillate for a few moments before decide to tramp ahead barefoot, carrying our sandals. Our adventurousness was repaid with a lovely walk to the river, where we were able to properly wash our muddied sandals and rinse our feet before muddying them again. The enjoyment I took from this little escapade reminded me of the joy of things that don't cost anybody anything, and the freedom of getting your feet dirty. So many activities are energy-intensive and must be supported by huge infrastructures - like say, the electric grid or Internet - but that which is enjoyable can also be simple and free.

In Milwaukee, for the first time in my travels, it finally began to feel like summer, with temperatures peaking in the 80s. My choice of clothing to pack now seems realistic rather than hopelessly optimistic. I'm in Minneapolis now, and the train ride here was the most scenic yet. After the Empire Builder crosses the Mississippi into Minnesota, it follows the river all the way to the Twin Cities while the sun sets in the background. I expect even more from my next travel leg, which crosses North Dakota, Montana, and the Rocky Mountains.

DR in pictures

During my visit, I stayed in the Timberframe, which is the house I worked on last summer. It's pictured first. Because there are trees in front of it, I stitched it together with this cool tool called MS Paint.

Pictured next is the common house, which houses the Sunflower kitchen, washing machine, library, and other community-use rooms. The electricity from the photovoltaic array can be used by anyone in the community.





On Thursday, Bear and Alyssa, who are building a new house, hosted a work party (meaning it's voluntary) to put on a finish coat of earthen plaster in their house's main room. The nice thing about earthen plaster is that you get to mix it with your feet.





So much of conventional construction relies on noxious or hazardous materials, but earthen plaster is made of sand, clay, and some kind of natural binders and fibers. In our case, we used cattail fluff and wheat paste. In this picture, we're removing the fluff from the cattails.








After being thoroughly mixed, the plaster is spread on the walls with trowels. We finished the room by lunch, once again proving that "many hands make work light".

It's been a great stay at Dancing Rabbit. The community and the people are one-of-a-kind. The folks here are really committed to living more sustainably, and to doing so as a community, which I find challenging and encouraging.

I depart for Milwaukee tomorrow. More once I get there.

How to fit 45 days into one backpack

I've received a few questions about how I packed for this trip, so I took the opportunity to organize and photograph my stuff. It's all here with the exception of my water bottle, sandals, camera, and the clothes I was wearing at the time.

Food at Dancing Rabbit

I write to you from Dancing Rabbit EcoVillage, stop 2 on my travels. For those of you who are saying "Rabbit-what?", Dancing Rabbit is an intentional community in Northeastern Missouri focused on environmental sustainability (http://www.dancingrabbit.org/). I lived here last summer, working on mechanical and electrical systems and interior finish work in a straw-bale timber-framed home. This time, I'm staying with Jennifer Martin, whose home Alex (Olin '11.5) and I worked on.

I've been eating with the Sunflower food co-op, in which we regularly enjoy rice, beans, and salad served 100 different ways. I helped cook on Sunday night, and I invented a recipe for curried lentil spread which you are welcome to try. It's included at the end of the post.

Tuesday night was potluck dinner at Sandhill Farm, a nearby intentional community and organic farm. This week's spread had the feel of an Indian buffet because, by coincidence, several people made lentil curries. Though my recipe was not made for potluck, it would have fit in quite well. Here it is.

Curried-Lentil Spread

• 2 cups dry lentils (I used green, but red would be good, too)
  
• 1.5 medium onions, chopped
• curry powder
• garam masala
• garlic powder
  
• lemon juice (1/4 cup, ish)
  
• vegetable broth
• salt

1. Cook, drain, and mash the lentils, adding the lemon juice and enough vegetable broth to give it a spreadable consistency (like hummus). You should definitely not overcook the lentils. They should be soft.
   
2. Saute the onions in oil with copious amounts of curry powder, garlic powder, and garam masala until they're soft.
3. Blend/food process the onions until creamy.
4. Mix the lentils and onions; salt to taste.
   
5. Serve on bread or crackers or something.
   

"A delay of unknown duration"

I finally made it to Chicago 13 hours behind schedule after a "delay of unknown duration", which turned out to mean about 8 hours in this case, due to trouble with a bridge in Albany. The delay did mean that I saw Lake Erie, which was an incredible view I would have otherwise slept through, plus the whole thing was good training in patience (pun intended). Adding to my lake tally, I walked along Lake Michigan yesterday after a delicious lunch at Chicago Diner with Elsa (Olin '12) and Hedi (Olin '13). I had a vegan Reuben.

After seeing innumerable priceless works of art at the Chicago Institute of Art, I headed off to Geneva, IL, to stay with my aunt Arlene and uncle Gregg for a couple of nights. My favorite piece at the Institute was Portrait of Balzac by Auguste Rodin, which manages to make a man with a large potbelly look like some Greek hero.

And finally for those of you interested, here's a picture of my unbroken wrist. This is from my cat scan, so it's only a slice out of the middle of my arm, but you can get the idea. The scaphoid, which was broken, is the bean-shaped bone on the right that looks half-black, half-white. The doctor gave me some wrist exercise to do, which include the incredibly humbling attempt to touch my thumb to each of my fingers (still can't touch my pinkie). This whole wrist healing business had been a "delay of unknown duration", and getting my strength back will be no different. I'll do what I can within my power (i.e. the prescribed exercises), but beyond that I must be patient.

That's all for now. Next update to come from Dancing Rabbit.

The four sweetest words...

"Take that thing off!" is what Dr. Savenor told me today after seeing my cat-scan results. As some of you may know, I broke my left wrist back in February, and today, on the eve of my cross-country trip, I am finally free of the cast that has been my constant companion since the snow was piled taller than me around the Frisbee practice field.

Speaking of good things, I graduated from Olin yesterday! A lot of my family came up, and I had a great time with them. The picture to the left is with Alex Niswander, my compatriot from Dancing Rabbit, suite member, and fellow graduate.

Tonight I'm crashing with Sallen (Olin '10), and it's about time for me to go. I'll write for longer once I'm in Chicago.

The Plan

This is the plan. 45 days, 10 destinations, a whole bunch of trains, and one piece of luggage.

On Sunday, May 15th, I graduate from college, and before I begin the next chapter in my life (which is applying for jobs in the great state of Texas), I'm taking some time off to travel. I'm going by train because I want to travel slowly and reflectively. I'll try to provide quick updates from each of my destinations, but no promises. My record with blogs has been terribly inconsistent, but I've never tried to keep one while traveling, so here goes nothing.

If you need to get in contact with me, try jacob.r.west@gmail.com, which I will check when I am in a city. If you live in one of these cities and want to hang out, please let me know.

Thanks for reading.