Nature story

 

A nature story for you 

the seedling

By Bill Poindexter

 A story inspired by Iohan, (Yo-Han), the bike wanderer and a man with kind dark eyes.

 

“Far away, long ago, there was a man who traveled the Earth on his bicycle and his name was, Iohan. He was of average height, had dark hair and dark eyes that looked very kind. All he wanted to do was explore the Earth and see what it was like from atop a bike.

 To earn a living he took odd jobs, one of the jobs was planting trees in an area where old trees had been cut down.  He said he enjoyed planting trees in the summer. He would walk all over Canada planting seedlings to fund his bicycling adventures. One of the seedlings grew into a fine very tall tree.

 The young tree grew and…”

Go to the site for the full story,

It is a 8 minute read 

Or listen to the audio by Aimee Hughes 

Read:

https://wholeearthguide.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-seedling-by-bill-poindexter.html?m=1

Audio:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/william-poindexter/episodes/The-Seedling-e28p83g

Thanks for reading my story. If you like my writing please subscribe to the site. If you’re interested in supporting my writing and journalism you can find me on Venmo. 

Peace and love 

Bill 

Bicycling touring with Jesus

 On a bicycle tour with Jesus (pronounced hey-zeus)

Easter Synchronicity 2022

I’m not gonna tell you whether or not God exist, or that Jesus was his begotten son… I’m just not that arrogant. I don’t really know. I wish I did, I’d like to think it true. 

Here’s what I do know: The earth, nature, animals insects and most people are good. The moon, the sun the stars in the universe are beautiful… And came from somewhere. I feel everything. I always have. I can’t explain it, and I’ve always been on a search for truth and where we come from and why are we here.

And more recent years, I have come to see that synchronicity plays a big part of my life, especially on my bicycle journeys. If you don’t know this about me, I travel by bicycle and ride whenever I get a chance. I’ve ridden all over the states of Missouri and Kansas, rode from New Mexico crisscrossing the continental divide multiple times all the way up to Banff Alberta Canada. I’ve ridden all through Montana and from California down through Baja Mexico, across Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, all trips are self contained meaning I carry all my camping equipment, clothes, tools, food and water. 

In recent years, I’ve actually had people come up to me, strangers telling me that God loves me and has a purpose for me. I’m serious. I’ve also had people that I know say the same things “Jesus has something in mind for you“ they say. I smile, and I wonder how they know this. I like what they’re saying, but shouldn’t I know it? I’ve always been open the supernatural. 

I digress let me get to the point. It’s like I said synchronicity plays a big part of my life and I have lots of examples for you all all and will share more about it later but for now I’m gonna talk about one example. Which happened in a small town last year the day before Easter 2022.

It was late afternoon. I’ve been on the road all day. It was day 17 of my bicycle trip from Kansas City Missouri to Yorktown Virginia via the Transamerica trail. I just rolled into the town Clay, Kentucky, and on my maps  there was a notation the town had a outdoor shelter in a  city park that I could set up my tent. It was the day before Easter. Clay Kentucky is a small town with just over 1000 people. I decided to explore the town while I was looking for the park. After a bit I thought it would be a good idea to ask for help and looked for a place where I could ask for directions, just then, I turned a corner and I saw a young man mowing the lawn, and I asked him where the park was in town.

He turned off his lawnmower, and came over and smiled. I saw he had some gray on his beard, little bit of a belly, and very kind eyes. 

I asked him a question.

“I am cycling the Transamerica trail and I’m looking for a place to stay for the night and I know there’s a park with a shelter”

He smiled, “Yes there is, and you can stay there, but, if you’re open to an alternative, I am the Pastor of the Baptist Church we have a youth center you can stay at if you like?”

A town of 1000 people, and I just happened to stop and I asked one person and happen to be the pastor of a church. I guess if you were playing the odds -one in a 1000? Synchronicity.  

I graciously agreed and rolled to the church. He met me there later and showed me where I could stay, invited me to his Easter service the next day, which I attended after a breakfast with the congregation and was welcomed by a lot of lovely people. 

I’m not gonna go into details about that. 

I left shortly after the service. Spent the afternoon riding in the rain. It was cold, but my heart was warm with that experience… this is what happens next:

From my journal dispatch,

“April 18. I’m in Sebree Kentucky right now, yesterday, Easter, I spent the morning and Clay Kentucky at the first Baptist church with their congregation had a fine breakfast, Easter egg hunt, and joined their service. It was a lovely time and very nice people. I ended up leaving town around 1 PM so I rode through the lovely hilly countryside of Kentucky, so far a beautiful state, and I just made my way to the second town over -Sebree and as I rolled through town a older gentlemen stopped me and asked me if I wanted to have some food with him and his wife there was a bike bike hostel in town at the first Baptist Church, his name is Bob and at the time I told him I wanted to keep going because it was still fairly early only around 330 but as I thought about it and the weather was cool and look like rain was coming how decided to take him up on it and I met he and his wife Violet, and made my way back to the church where there’s a fine bicycle hostel hostel here in the town, I was able to shower do some laundry and Violet invited me over to their home for a fine meal of Cornish game hen, baked potato green beans and a salad and some fun conversation. Bob and Violet have lived in a town for 35 years, where Bob had been the Pastor of the Church amd recently retired. Violet, Could only be described as a southern belle from Mississippi, is one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met. 

Going to roll out fairly early this morning. A cold start 42f, it did rain last night so I’m glad I was inside. 

Thankful for this opportunity although I tend to feel like I’m rushing it a little bit even though the mileage is not that great, I feel like I need to still relax a little bit and really enjoy countryside nature, the people of been fantastic go on the whole route. I’m very grateful to be here.

 I sent a note to a friend of mine, Fred, who is a good soul and that he and his wife Lauralyn in Kansas City. Fred is very unassuming just a very good man Low-key and has a wonderful soul.

Told Fred I felt a little rushed, and these are his wise words he sent, and to me it’s really more of a poem and metaphor for life so I thought I’d share:

“h Bill

we both have u in our minds

… all the time

u got born with  all the molecules needed  that getu where u need to go

lucky man you are

im a complainer when it comes to cold and rain

… the only way id get thru… is have buddy like u thee to tell me to shut up and get back on my bike

;)

yes

older guys are like someone hungry at food counter ordering too much food

u know your pace… u ll get there soon enough

when its over … u ll probably wish it lasted longer

 

see ya on the other end

:)”

Wise words in deed, I love it! Well that’s it for now it’s about 4:42 AM in my sleep for a couple more hours and then get up and make a pot of coffee pack up some food and roll. “

Was any of this Providence? Chance, fate, or destiny?

I don’t know. But I do know that something good happened and it was very comforting. And sometimes when I’m on these long-distance cycling trips, I catch myself talking to Jesus.

Thanks for reading my writing. Happy Easter 

Bill Poindexter 

Bike touring words

 bicycle touring words 

By Bill Poindexter 

Now having over 100,000 miles of touring and daily commuting by bicycle in my repertoire, I feel even more comfortable sharing my adventures with you, whether you are a cyclist or not. My words are about life and living a life on my own terms, with faults to be sure, but integrity intact. Over the next few days I will be sharing stories from my trips as well as the home front, Kansas City, Missouri, USA.

I hope you enjoy the simple words. BP

Sunrise fields…

I am lucky. I am one of those people who can sleep anywhere. My favorite thing to do in life is to go on a long cycling holiday, weeks or months, bike all day and as the sun starts to set find a nice patch of ground to lay my bedding.

 I have slept in many fields, once you’re tired from riding all day, any place will do, usually stopping, going past an open gate and walking the bike to a spot where I know I will have the sun shine on me in the morning to come. A road, a field, mountains or plains off to the east, and I settle in for a night of new sounds and sights. 

I always wake before the sun’s first light, like a little boy waiting for Santa, I am eager for the first glow in the distance. I can feel the ground below me awake and all the plants, animals, insects…life arising for the new day, time resets and a glow from the East sprouts slowly like a flower blooming. A day a new. I feel everything and grateful for existing, as part of the energy of our universe. I rise and stand with the warmth of the  sun on my body. I pack up and ride, smiling, wondering what the next spot to sleep will be after the sun as traveled across the day. 

I am truly happy. 

New adventures

 New adventures: So rolling south east from Kansas City, Missouri to the Ozarks then will turn east and connect with the Trans America Trail and follow it to Yorktown, Virginia (with a few side adventures). Then plan to roll north using multiple routes which parallel Revolutionary Routes from the American Revolution to Newport, RI and then catch a ferry to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts where I will be working on a farm and dairy as a field hand and cheese maker for the summer. At least that’s the basic plan. I won’t be posting too much but will periodically and will share some videos. 

But I will be writing about this entire endeavor and interweaving the cycling expedition and farm experience with history and sharing my thoughts on the present, past and future and maybe offering some solutions on how humanity can get along and treat the planet well so we will survive.

And I will tell stories along the way as well that won’t be so ‘deep’ but still interesting.

You can find the videos at wholeearthguide.blogspot.com

Doing this on a tight budget $14/day, cooking my food, won’t pay to camp, so will rely on the kindness of strangers so should be interesting, will use the traveling cyclists hosting service Warmshowers periodically for a shower and laundry. Excited to send dispatches sharing my adventures with all of you. I will be true to my writing and won’t sugar coat anything. 

If you like my writing and stories and want to support my journalistic endeavors there is link on the site or just reach out. A cup of coffee and a sandwich will help with the budget. But only if you find value in my voice or words.  

I want to find America again, that’s where the history comes in, sort of a reverse expansion to find our roots from our past start here in KC where Lewis and Clark started in the Frontier for the Western expansion, I will be heading back East sharing their stories, Civil War stories, 

and reminding us about why the American Revolution happened while I roll over trail and share stories of those who came before and are here now and my thoughts on our future. 

Here are some images of

My basic route. I leave KC on Friday morning…April Fools day:)

Hope you follow, and feel free to invite your friends and family. I will share my gear list in the next few days.

Thanks to Robert Thompson, Natalie, Aimee, Lauralyn, and Justin M Short BA for your generous support as well.

Bill Poindexter

Living carfree

10 years of living car-free!

Hi, as you know this site has not been very active over the years. I am curious to know if you all are still following or have your eyes and hearts on the carfree life style. Send me a note if you are out there!

bill@poindexterrecruiting.com

I am working on multiple projects to promote carfree living with the primary focus being to promote a healthier world-people, environment and community.

Over the last two years I have traveled by bicycle to Mexico, Canada, and on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route which spans from Banff Alberta south to Mexico. I have had some extraordinary adventures.

Feel free to connect with me on Facebook to learn more!

Here is a tale from the road:

Tip : How to find a place to sleep while traveling on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. What “they” don’t tell you in the Guide books.

(Non racing)

Jack, Anna, Bahne, and myself had come off a long climb from Pinedale, WY heading north and were a day away from Grand Teton National Park. At the bottom of the mountain we stopped at a lodge for the usual GDMBR fare: burgers, fries, beer. I noticed a couple and a older woman, the mother in law staring at our disheveled group, but being a vagabond and wanderer I was used to the stares, as we were a live story.

After we ate I walked outside to gather water bottles for refills. The couple and old woman followed me out.

They smiled. “Where are you traveling from?” The man asked with kind eyes.

“New Mexico.” I said and explained the route to them, that we were self contained, the four of us met on the road, and were traveling together for a few days.

“Where do you sleep” the woman asked as though somehow searching for her past. 

“Any place.” I say simply. “On the side of the road, in a shelter, bathroom, campground, back of a restaurant, lawns, people invite us into their home, but really, when the sun starts to set any place will do.” 

Their eyes widened , they looked at each other and nodded in complete understanding. 

“Where will you sleep tonight?” The woman asked.

“Dunno?” I said smiling. “There is a campground a few miles up the road, or we may just keep moving till we find something and head into the woods, something will present itself, it always does.”

The couple thanked me for telling them about our travels.

I walked back in the restaurant and told my companions what happened. Seconds later the man came back in, and said, “My wife says you all can stay in our cabin tonight.”

We graciously agreed, and half hour later we were at the cabin. Jerry and  Anna, and Anna’s mother hosted us for the night. Unconditional. 

Full-blooded Arapaho, Jerry later that night confided in me -he longed for the “old ways” of his people. 

He said, “The way you are traveling on your bicycles, with your gear, free on the land, was the way my ancestors traveled on horseback or foot. I am envious.” He gave me a serious look, “You will always be welcomed here.”

That night I slept deeply. Embraced by kindness, present and past. That’s the Wild West, that is the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. 

The next morning we rose to coffee, off the balcony, good food, took pictures of our new friends and us, then we rode.

Side note: While on the Divide three Native Tribes showed me incredible hospitality- Pueblo, Apache, and Arapaho. I came to the West to see how the past and present meshed with smells of sage and pine.

Surly Troll review-getting lost in Montana and Canada

Surly Troll Review-Getting Lost in Montana and Canada                        

South Fork Road between Polebridge, MT
and Eureka, MT

I recently completed a 22 day, 1250+ mile, self contained bike packing tour from Missoula, MT up into Canada much of which was on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. Primarily the roads were gravel, forest service roads, minimal maintenance,  single track, and pavement. This is my Troll review from that trip.

When buying a bike I look for these things: Durability, minimal maintenance, utilitarian options, and looks. The Troll met all requirements-and then some.

For specs go to Surly website: http://surlybikes.com/bikes/troll

Overall: the Troll handled well over the myriad of terrain it was put on.

Safe ride: whether climbing on loose gravel for 15 miles or bone jarring descents, I felt completely safe with the Troll’s abilities. One reason was Jones Bars: They gave me wonderful control on the down hills, and a great feel on the climbs the wide bars helped open my chest so plenty of oxygen could get into my lungs. They took me awhile to get use but once comfortable I adapted-I won’t go back.

 

mud somewhere on the GDMBR in Canada next to Weary Creek

The Micro Shifters: Simple minimal maintenance. Options to make them friction so no adjustments needed-I liked that a lot!

Gearing: The 27 gears gave me enough options for any terrain, there were some hike/bike sections on the GDMBR and some of the other trails I rolled over, but for the most part I was able to stay on the Troll.

Seat-WTB: I really like standard seat that comes with the Troll, plenty of cushion and most riders I came across, like myself, wore regular clothes and no padded bike shorts.  

Steel Frame: Heavy-yes. But as they say, “Steel is real.” Tough and absorbs road shock well. Tough tough tough!

Brakes: I love the disc breaks. With all the downhill sections I would have worn out pads, but the disc brakes perform excellent. I did have to replace the rear caliper but that was only because I did not adjust them properly in the first place. Your local mechanic should teach you how to adjust them as needed. 

Bowman Lake, Glacier, NP

Wheels and tires: I used my own custom wheels but my tires were the Surly Extraterrestrial 2.5s. They proved to be a great choice for the rough roads- I just lowered the tire pressure and rolled comfortably. When on pavement for long stretches I would pump up the tires and glide smoothly. I was able to ride with other cyclists who were on slicks. The rear tread wore down quickly-2000 miles, but that was expected considering the differences in terrain. Openly: I beat the crap out of tires and had ZERO flats-will use them again.

 I love my Troll and feel like I could take it anywhere: pavement, single track, gravel, it can adapt to most terrain. Truly it is a bicycle you can take to the ends of the Earth and –get lost!

The only thing I don’t like, yes there is always that, is the horizontal dropouts for the rear wheels. Surly says they did it this way for other options-single speed, Rolf Hubs, and other cool things I most likely wont use. I prefer vertical dropouts. But then again-options.

 

road going to the Sun in Glacier, NP

Other considerations and thoughts: I used a Surly Rack. I like the entire eyelet options for water bottle cages and anything cages. The fact there is the option to ditch the disc brakes and go with old school brakes is appealing especially if traveling in a 3^rd world country. 26in wheels VS 29ers-well that is just personal preference, although again in a 3^rd world country 26in wheels are said to be easier to obtain.  If you want one bike that can do everything well that is extremely durable, cost effective, and will have little, if any, maintenance issues the stock Troll is an excellent option.  I met many people on the road with Trolls who were happy with their choice. Surly has other excellent choices as well for your cycling needs but the Troll met mine.

One last thing, I did not realize how much this bike meant to me at the end of the trip, until I got off the train and Amtrak told me they could not find my bike. Now I am a simple man, I don’t do the whole material possession thing, but when I was told that my heart sunk as though I just lost my best friend-we had just spent the last 22 days, 1250+ miles exploring multiple national parks and forest over terrain that would scare a Grizzly, but we did it and survived. Over the next few days I came to realize how connected I became to the Troll on the trip. This confidence it gave me on the tour was amazing, sure it

back home safe and sound

was partly me, but not worrying about the durability of my bike, well, that was priceless for a bikepacker like myself. I got it back three days later, but without explanation. I like to think it wanted to have its own adventure.