Derek's realization come late at 1:30 in the morning

so, I write in a journal everyday and make sure to remind myself of the ridiculous things that happen along the way. I wish I could write them all down but I better go to sleep soon.

However, to tell you of my day today would suffice for you to understand my state of mind which is teetering somewhere between happiness and peace with a little bit of spice added for good measure. I woke up and felt like making pancakes. That happened, with the added pleasure of orange juice and peaches in yogurt. I'm a Taurus, and food makes me very very happy.

We finally fully cleaned our clothes at the laundrymat and were glad to hang dry them on Kirsten and Evan's clotheline in front. We eventually, with Kirsten's guidance, meandered our way through the city on this amazing bike path that followed the creek, went through the residential areas, passed through the university and high schools, and landed us in downtown. I was very impressed with Boulder's system of bike paths....Davis could learn from this town. We happened to be here on a Wednesday, one of the days Boulder has its Farmer's Market, which I have been personally reading about for quite some time given its zero waste recycling program. I spoke with the market manager and was able to get some contacts to see if the Davis Farmer's Market can move in the same direction.

In the summer, if you're in Boulder, you'll expect a short rainstorm to come in the afternoon, around 4 or 5pm. so it rained on us, Kirsten called Evan and asked him to take our clothes off the lines at home, which was very cool of him to given he needed to get to his class in Denver. We ducked in the Russian Tea House, an amazingly beautiful building filled with handcarved support beams, and painted mosaics on every wall. We sat down and had tea there and I learned that this building was a gift from Boulder's sister city in Tajiskstan (I know I butchered that one but please comment on this with the correct spelling). we went back to the farmers market and saw a performance of interpretive dancers doing incredible and funny acts with a bucket of water. they eventually incorporated me into their dance, which was alright with me after I had my yerba mate fix.

When we returned back to the homestead, Kirsten gave me her favorite banana bread recipe, which I made with her help and tried some mead that her friend made.

What i learned from this rest day is that I may one day come back to Boulder to experience life here as a resident. I haven't had such a positive feeling about a city as much as I had with this one. I also gained an appreciation for getting to know Kirsten and Evan, who both are amazing people and hosts and made this day special for me.

so it's 1:45am and Ima going to a sleep!!! By the time you hear from me again, we may well be across Kansas already. can't wait to have some of that famous pie.

by the way, I'm planning, upon my return to Davis, to give a slide-show/anecdotal/interpretive "dance" of this 4,600 mile journey, so stayed tuned for the time and place (probably some day between September 23-27, in one of the UC Davis Tri-Co-operative houses).
love,
derek