You are probably surprised to hear from us again so soon. With only three weeks of our tour remaining, we have finally started fulfilling our original intention of writing a "weekly" report.

This week was one of hard, steady biking - long miles, often in hostile weather. This gave us a touch of homesickness. We had quite a distance to cover after getting a late start on Monday due to bike trouble hung over from the previous week. Our Rhinebeck hosts, Dorothy and Leo Hellerman, had helped us make a round of bike shops only to find that none had the special "Presta" valve tubes we supposedly needed to replace the ones that had failed. So we had to order them to be Fed-Exed from Bike Friday in Eugene. When the tubes finally arrived in the middle of Monday afternoon, guess what? - they had the wrong kind of valves, the larger diameter Shraeder valve. At first, we panicked. But then Dick calmed down and began to problem solve. Perhaps the little hole in the wheel could be drilled out to make it the right size. So he examined it a little more closely and noticed that there was a tiny removable gasket in the hole. So he pulled out the little gasket and, guess what? The hole was just the right size - disaster followed by miracle! Since then, we have been having more flat tires, making up for several weeks without any, but at least we are still making our way toward Cape Cod.

While we were waiting for bike tubes, Dorothy took us to visit the Eleanor Roosevelt cottage, Val-kill, in Hyde Park. That was Eleanor's home away from home where she got away from her mother-in-law and did much of her great work for humanity. It is an impressively simple place, modestly furnished for a wealthy person who entertained royalty. Like much of Eleanor's life, Val-kill shows how very well ordered were that great woman's priorities. She was the principal drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - her ?most important life work - in addition to the embodiment of Democratic liberalism.

One of the interesting features of our vagabond lives these last few months has been the lack of predictability of each day. Below is a day-by-day, blow-by-blow description.

MONDAY

We didn't get started until late in the day, so we stopped at Interlake, the first and only campground - at $29 the most expensive so far. Then came a big downpour just after we crawled into the tent.

TUESDAY

This was the most beautiful sunny day of cycling that we've had in weeks. It was hilly, crossing a high ridge with spectacular views west to the Catskills. But the sunshine and perfect temperatures made it seem somehow okay. At an elevation of about 1200 feet, our picnic lunch in a cemetery was the literal high point of our trip.

A second ridge late in the day seemed much tougher. In the evening at the beautiful town of Litchfield, Connecticut, we met Ian, a guitarist, a gentleman, and a scholar. He invited us to camp in his back yard and even let us use his bath tub. After 55 miles and no campgrounds or motels in sight, boy was this appreciated!

WEDNESDAY

We moved eastward into Connecticut under gathering clouds while still enjoying warm temperatures. At the end of another long 55 mile day, we were greeted by a delightful surprise, the Kemble Farm in East Glastonbury southeast of Hartford. This was a scene that ached with nostalgia for Mona, reminding her of a former life back in Kitsap County while her children were growing up. There was an old house with wood floors, multi-paned windows through which one caught glimpses of small pastures surrounded by fruit trees and sheep-wire fencing, an old barn with bales of straw, dust-covered cans of solvents and this and that, the smell of chicken manure, the clucking and complaining of chickens, the bluster of kids (the Kemble's grandchildren) engrossed in play, the busyness of Joan, who doesn't have time to sit still for a moment. Joan and Tom, amazing UU social activists, have been living this way, supporting this life style with other careers, almost since the time in the late 70's when Mona started doing it. Hats off and congratulations to them!

Joan took us out to an Italian restaurant where we met and discussed global democracy and the Earth Charter with several members of the social justice committee from their church. They have a strong, growing congregation, just like the one in Rhinebeck, but were discussing whether to spawn a new congregation in the area or to expand their current building. We discussed our experience at a new, social-justice oriented congregation in Seattle - the wonderful vitality but also the financial limitations.

THURSDAY

It rained on us all through a hilly morning. We stopped in Colchester at a Chinese restaurant, supposedly for lunch - but really to dry out and warm up. In the evening we came to the home of Ellen Anthony and Andy Derr and their great daughters, Rosa and Clare. They are dedicated Green Party members and advocates of the simple life in a friendly, old, urban New London neighborhood. They too have a mini-farming operation with vegetable garden, chickens and lots of neighbor kids playing in their back yard. Adventurous Rosa is planning an exploratory bike trip across the US after graduation from high school next year. Dick gave her lots of tips, including the invaluable www.adventurecycling.org website. We wish her a good touring bike, strong bike-repair and map-reading skills, and a great time!

FRIDAY

If this trip had a bummer day, this was it. We biked US 1 in cold, steady rain all day - with a head wind. But we'll give Connecticut credit - there was a wide bike lane (break-down lane to motorists). The motel mentioned in our guide book had been converted to rental cottages, so we ended up dead-tired staying at an outrageously expensive Holiday Inn about 20 miles south of Providence. Mona joked that we'd need to make love the whole night to justify the expense - well, at least we slept in luxurious warmth and comfort.

SATURDAY

The weather was warmer, sometimes even sunny. The biking almost seemed easy for a change. We rode Highyway 1 into Providence, RI, with its little bouquet of lovely old skyscrapers and the modern transit center and beautiful Kennedy Plaza in the middle of town. We pushed the bike up a big hill by Brown University for Mona to keep her book signing engagement at "Books on the Square". She had fun talking to people but was in no danger of writer's cramp - nobody bought any books. In the evening, we came to the roomy and tidy home of David Hathaway, who took us to a Coffee House of great folk music at the Unitarian Society of Fall River.

SUNDAY

We gave the sermon and some readings this morning at the church. "National sovereignty" was the sensitive phrase brought up in the discussion afterwards - we say that it is worth it to give up some sovereignty if it is given to democratic institutions dedicated to the global survival, not to autocratic rule or private greed. It was lovely there on this sunny morning, with very high walls and bright, friendly people. The old, 1832 church with classic Paul Revere bell tower, had burned a number of years ago. Fortunately the bell was saved and the newer building is bringing in younger members. Their minister, Charles Flagg, is a prince of a warm, friendly person who welcomed our message with open heart, even supporting it with words and readings of his own.

We are so grateful to all the warm, generous people who have opened their homes, minds, and hearts to us during this and all the weeks of our journey up the East Coast.

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"Take action to avoid the possibility of serious or irreversible environmental harm even when scientific knowledge is incomplete or inconclusive."
- Earth Charter principle II.6.a.

"We advocate for the just rule of law at local, regional, and global levels."
- Affirmation from the Preamble to the Charter of the Global Peoples Assembly Movement

www.earthcharterusa.org/ecinaction.html.

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