Chain Ring Cowboy

The new year is here. I haven't written in the blog for a long time. It feel strange typing in this text box that has become distant to me. I've changed jobs, went from riding 28 miles a day to 11. It's nice though. The only pictures taken while riding is of automobile license plates of those I deem have infringed on my safety, my space, my life. Only 2 so far. I am glad I renewed my membership with Public Data. Everyone says how the riders don't have a chance around here. I don't believe it. It's no worse than anywhere else. There is a big football game today in this city, the Sun Bowl, that will be nationally televised. I met a guy at Starbucks the other day. I was surprised that I rode a bike because even though he thinks this is a great town to cycle, nobody does it. His being pleasantly surprised is what caused him to approach me. He lives in Portland OR where cycling is very common. He was in town to see the game, to support his hometown school, the Oregon

Beneath the morning shadows of Hueco Tanks lies an old wolf dog. May he be resting in peace in this sacred place in the desert. Hershey is his name. Hueco Tanks and the surrounding area are rich with an indigenous history of various Indian Tribes, Conquistadors, the Butterfield Trail, the US Calvary, and then, us. The resting spot falls in a basin of fertile loam surrounded by rocky desert mountains, serene, always a breeze, native plants and numerous game trails. Wolf Dog Hershey was a true individual amongst domestic canines. Most people who have pet dogs usually acquire their animal by going through a search for a certain breed, or to the pound to rescue, or a friend who has a litter, or some other form of hunt. But Hershey is the one who chose where he was going to live and who he was going to live with. He was wandering the streets close to the desert when he made a stop for inspection at Marcy’s house. That’s where he decided to stay. He wasn’t always obedient, and his want for r

The El Paso Holocaust Museum put on a fundraiser bike ride Yesterday, Sunday, and one could not have asked for better weather. My man Matthew was cranking along very well on his mountain bike, in fact he beat us all to the finish line. Matthew and Marcy in the first mile of the event. April was in the field also, just back behind mom. If you click on the pictures it will enlarge for better viewing.

Even if you weren’t watching the final presidential debate, you have heard about Joe the Plumber by now. It seems that this guy in Toledo Ohio became the celebrity of the hour. First brought up by McCain as an example why Obama’s economic plan wasn’t good. Joe was contemplating purchasing the plumbing company he worked for, but if he did, then his taxes would go up since he would be making more than a quarter a million dollars a year. With John bringing up Joe’s name, Obama also used it to make points in his plan. Joe suddenly was the main character for the entire debate. Joe became instantly popular, with the media at his doorstep. He was on national radio spouting off deep economic thinking, like a good business man would do. It was a case of the little guy acting like a big guy, as it turns out Joe was the exact type of citizen that would benefit from the plan he was criticizing. You see, Joe the Plumber isn’t a plumber. He works for a plumber in a two person company. It sounds like

As you can see it was dark when this picture was taken, which was around 6:15AM. It seems not that long ago when the sun was peaking over the tall mountain about 3 miles east of where I begin my morning bicycle commute. I noticed that today, the sun showed the top of itself at around 7:20. I've already written about how long the the dawn takes in these parts, so I can start to see the road and countryside well before the sun actually shows shows itself. It's cooling off a bit also, one of these days I wlll need warmer gloves and jerseys. When I first started riding from this spot, the Landmark Mercantile Company, a place with horse equipment and medicine, all kinds of cool things to do work with, clothes and more. Jason McClure, the owner was very nice to allow me to park outside the property fence from the day I first approached him about the prospect of parking there. I get there before his business opens in the morning and get there when most of the help is gone at the end o

I'm not sure what is happening: Are more businesses getting in on the gold market to sieze an opportunity for the fearful times we are in, or am I more in tune with gold sellers because of my fear of the economical times we are in? Is it better buy gold or buy a certificate of gold? What the heck is that? Is there a place where I can buy just gold? Not a coin, not something stamped. Once a long time ago I made a mistake, a good mistake. I bought some old 1870 something ten dollar gold eagle coins, all in good shape. I bought quite a few of them. I was barely 20 years old. I didn't know what I was doing, but had the cash flow to allow me to spend money on gold. A few years later I made another mistake, a bad mistake. Before going any further, let me be clear, I've made lots of mistakes, but today I am only talking about two of them. You see I had a scrape with the law and needed an attorney to help me keep my freedom. The attorney I hired needed retainer money. The only thin

Capitalism: Take your profits and live with your losses. I get down on one knee to beg you, "Please don't pass the bailout". It's gonna hurt but it's not as bad as they make it out to be. Let the Free Market work this out. Hey, I may lose my cushy job, but I can do something. I bet there will still be bicycles to ride and gasoline to buy and cell phones for the kids to fondle all day and the rich will still be rich.

The experienced cyclist has learned, usually the hard way that risky behavior can lead to certain danger, like a crash. Going down a hill too fast to negotiate a sharp curve or not slowing down while heading into an intersection not checking for cross traffic until the last second is what I call risky behavior. If the cyclist’s hands are not close to the brake levers, the cyclist’s reaction time determines how quickly he/she can stop. Even if the hands are on the levers and at the ready, it may be too late to prevent a crash. At that certain moment when a crash is imminent, there is little to do but experience the crash and hope for the best while maintaining awareness so as to mitigate any major bodily harm. Usually harm is done, and usually it stays with the cyclist for life, like a scar or a tender joint when the barometric pressure changes. The point is the experience, once lived through is better for the cyclist in making decisions in the future as to how he/she will navigate arou

When the sun rose this morning you could see that the place it made its first glimmer of appearance at your part of the world it was coming from due east. Assuming that you were up this morning and looking for the sun to peek over the horizon to kick off your new day, it may not be so terribly important to know just where due east is anyway. Equally, the sun will set at due west this evening as well, because today is the September Equinox, the first day of autumn. Yep, the sun's traverse today will cross the equator to the south at solar noon today. I would like to call that high noon, but don't think i am qualified to do that. For me the ride, I can now expect to experience cooler mornings, see more tractors and harvest activities. And that brings more aromas like cut alfalfa and chilies. Welcome Autumn 2008.

Austin Texas is a cool place to live and ride a bicycle. If you know Austin, you would think there are a lot more cool things about it than the riding tolerance. Culturally, it is one of the more progressive cities in the country. The public radio surpasses all the rest, especially around here in West Texas and South east New Mexico. BUT......... There is more to savor in life in this wide world. As the days get shorter, I find myself riding to work in darkness, something I am long accustomed to. When I would begin my ride in darkness in Austin, somewhere along the way it would all of a sudden be light. Dark, dawn, daylight, quickly transposed into another day. I ALWAYS welcome a new day! Here in El Paso I start my day in the car by pulling out of the garage which was already backed into the night before, it's good and dark. Dark that is except for like today a waning moon shines bright. The stars can still be seen through the residual moonlight, more so than can be seen in Austin

Saturday, we went for a walk for heart health awareness and had these fine officers controlling the traffic for us. The bicycle/walk path was way too narrow to accommodate all the walkers which caused the crowd to spill over into the street. There wasn't much traffic at that time of day, so I don't think it was a hindrance to automobiles. It was a fun time that set the tone for a day of volleyball and chores. On my way home from work Friday I was "squeezed by this truck. In my mind, I am certain that this driver was intentionally intimidating me by creeping into the bike lane just after his cab passed me. That is, the trailer was moving ever closer to me. By the time the rear tires were beside me, they were so close that I had no choice but to stop. The driver then eased back into his entire lane. This took place in Old Message, New Mexico, a small village-like town, where the traffic is fairly slow partially because of traffic lights and partially because it was rush hou

You Can Ride Yes We Can Drill Baby Drill Now here’s what I would like for you to do. When I finish this sentence and every other sentence, before reading the following sentence, say You Can Ride; or any of the other three word mantras listed above. You Can Ride. It seems that the folks that gave speeches in both political conventions ended sentences with their chosen mantra. You Can Ride. It didn’t take long for the conventioneers to get the hang of it. You Can Ride. It reminded me of some sort of brain washing You Can Ride. Maybe it gets the crowd in some kind of frenzied trance. (Don’t forget to say it, You Can Ride). Then those of us watching go into a sedentary trance. (Keep going, You Can Ride). It may all have started long ago when television began piping in laughter letting us know what was supposed to be funny and queue our chuckles. It may be that today’s song lyrics contain three or four words sung over and over for maybe five minutes. Perhaps we have always been susceptible

Rain in the west. I can't see the mountain, don't want to ride in the rain today. This ride, the 14 miler from Mesquite NM, to Las Cruces NM is a good ride in many ways, however there isn't much to write about. To report that I got a flat tire the other day and fell behind on schedule for 10 minutes just isn't going to get it in journaling. Oops, it just got there. 911 today, with reverence, the day will be remembered that the world was changed forever in many ways. Our man, who will soon be 37 has come out of retirement. Old news I know, but what bicycle blog site would go without mentioning Lance Armstrong and his bid to win 8 Tour De France titles. I really hope he can pull this off, I mean get in shape and be there for the competition. It doesn't matter yet to me if he wins or not. Lance is good for the sport and the cause for cancer awareness. He is going to be under the magnifying glass for doping and he is going to need to curtail his womanizing if he wants t

The place where I park my car at around 6:20AM most mornings is 14 miles from the office. On that two lane road the traffic is anywhere from about 45 miles per hour to as high as 65. keep in mind this is a country road, so two lanes are pretty narrow. It is nice that the great majority of traffic gives a wide berth when overtaking me. Stern Road in a north westerly direction comes to and end, or tees with Union Avenue, which obviously presents a situation to where one has to either turn right or left. I go left, at least up to now because I don't know the town that well to risk getting to work late by exploring. Today as I negotiated getting into the left only lane and come to a stop at the red light, a guy in a car in the right turn only lane rolls down his window and asked me if I make this trip everyday. I told him yes, I try to. So we had a short conversation about distance and the like. He gave me a vote of encouragement. He said he noticed me everyday, that he passed me on hi

Two Holidays In One Marcy and I celebrated our First Anniversary on Labor Day. Last year the wedding was on the Saturday before which made it to where I could stay another day in El Paso before going back to work in Austin. We still have our honeymoon to do. Now that I think about it, getting married on or around Labor Day may have been a great idea because we have long weekends. This particular Labor Day was spent as a pun, being that we did a lot of work around the house. We did get some great fun in also with my mom, dad, and aunt over to eat steaks on Sunday. We went to a festival as well, allowing us to enjoy some good food, music, and people watching. When the time came for Marcy and I to present anniversary gifts the decision was made for her to open her card first. Just as she was taking hers, the one I gave her out of the envelope, I could see a look of surprise on her face. I immediately figured it out that each of us had chosen the exact same card. That seemed to make the oc

She emerged from the thaw of what used to be called permafrost. Hissing charm, forked tongue precedes the asp-esque slithering search for prey. Besetting with trance to feed of its own first before stalking the enemy

Raining again this weekend, the desert is not at all the way I remember it. I wonder if the climate change is affecting this part of the planet by providing more moisture. There is a plant that I call Grease Wood that when the the land is parched would be the only thing growing. It would look very thirsty, but refuse to die. when the rains would finally come to the drought, the Grease Wood would perk up, turn leaves green and make the air smell good. Now a days, it seems to me, that the Grease Wood is competing with weeds and grasses and such for space, all looking very happy. Maybe I moved from the Texas Hill Country in time to see the greening of the desert. It may be hard for you to see the writing on the sign, but it says that is my reserved parking space. Located at the Dona Ana County Assessor's office, inside the archives and records vault, some of the guys cleaned out an space, parked my bike, and put up a sign. I think the intentions were both in jest as well as a nice wel

Two friends of mine, Jon & Jeff, ex co-workers, fellow cycle fiends, GIS experts, are riding their new Surly Long Haul Truckers through the mountains and desert lands of West Texas this week. They plan to begin their journey in Alpine and wind their way through the country that leads to Balmoreah, then back to Alpine with alternate routes in mind. The Long Haul Trucker is a great looking bicycle.I am sure Jon & Jeff are going to have a great time. I will be living vicariously through their trip, hopefully I will get some updates as they go. It just so happens, Marcy, me and the kids are going to Fort Davis this weekend to try to see another Star Party at the McDonald Observatory. The last time we went it was too cloudy to see stars outside, so they gave us an inside show with slides. Saturday afternoon starts the new moon phase, if there are no clouds the night should be pitch dark with stars shining so brightly it seems you can reach up and touch them. Fingers crossed. All tha

This flower makes a great landscape item to have around this high desert. I am not sure what it's called but it defies the blistering sun and heat. At lunch each day I walk next to this farm and have come across a pair of burrowing owls. I may have mentioned that already. This guy, finally let me take a picture of him. Maybe tomorrow I can get a little closer. The ride in today was especially nice because of the cool temperature and bit of a tail breeze. Yesterday coming home from work I had to deal with a bit of a headwind making for a nice workout, but got me behind schedule with family. We went to a grand opening of a place called Bahama Buck's, a kind of smoothie type place. Good stuff, try it if there is one in your neighborhood. The presidential race environment is picking up in fervor with the Democratic Convention going on. Tonight Hillary gives a key note speech, I am looking forward to watching that.

I grew up in a valley, carved out of the desert by the Rio Grande. The beginnings of this river start somewhere near Silverton Colorado, works its way south through New Mexico, meanders through what is now the international border between Texas and Mexico, finally dumping itself into the Gulf of Mexico around Brownsville and Matamoros. There was a time when the big river flowed robustly, water carrying collected sediment to its mouth for deposit. Nowadays, maybe for the past couple of hundred years or so, maybe not that long, a mere trickle would be lucky to reach the gulf. This valley, the Rio Grande Valley has fertile soil for farming; the only thing it really needs is water. Irrigation is the answer for that All I know is that in the early and middle 1950’s there was an irrigation ditch behind our large lot that provided wonderful brown water for thirsty crops and yards. A place to play, when the gates were first opened it was a thrill to see what was coming with the shallow waters,

I remembered today on my ride in about an incident that occured when I was about 8 or 9 years old. I was riding on the handle bars of Warner's bike. Warner gave me stern warnings well in advance about keeping my feet away from the spokes as we rode home on at that time was nearly a country road. I thought I was taking heed, but one bump caused my foot to get right into the spokes and when the ankle met the fork, it was end over time and down to the ground I went smashing my face onto the pavement. A couple of cars saw it and stopped to offer help and see if I was alright. One side of my face was one big scab for awhile, but I was alright. I don't think I ever rode on the handle bars again after that. I chose a new route to ride to work this week, which takes me through the middle of farming country rather than on the outside of it. The corn stalks are at least 7 feet high, the cotton about 4 feet, and one red chili field looks ready to harvest. I did pass a large green combine

I went Mountain Biking for the first time this past Saturday, on the invite of my new Director who belongs to a club of sorts. I used his cool bike, a very nice one indeed. I forgot the name of it, but it was a nice one with 29" wheels. Being the total beginner, I had some gnarly crashes but am alive to talk about it. I landed on my Camel Bak a couple of times, it makes a great cushion against the rocks. If not for hydration, it served well for protection. Not far from the start was a monument set by the Bureau of Land Management, a location point for surveyors and GIS nerds like me. The trails were rough because of the recent rains and high temps. There is a plant that I had not heard of before called the White Thorn, a bush I now know pretty well. the trails were canopied by this pesky, but attractive plan, just high enough to scratch you up well from the kneecap down. I am wearing them two day old scratches on my legs like a badge of honor. When the clouds decide to form, they

As I was getting out of the lush pecan farm area of the county and getting closer to urban civilization, I came upon this relaxed commuter. I followed him awhile, then went around to the left saying, "Howdy, going to work?" "Oh yeah, well gotta work round here." "I know that's right", I say and then went on ahead. I wonder if I will see him again? I suppose because of all the yellow flowers I spoke about, there is a large population of caterpillars racing to and fro. With a thorn on the rear, the move their little feet very fast making themselves move very quickly. The road is littered with caterpillar fatalities. One will be going eastward across the highway, while another will be scurrying westward. I think if they could communicate and all stay on their individual side of the road they came from, there would be a substantially larger survival rate. I am thinking that these critters are planning on being moths someday.

I am beginning to think that sand floats in the air. I reminds me of other parts I've been to where moisture hangs in the air on an autumn foggy morn. But here it's sand. Sand everywhere, even in the chain and on the chainring, amazing. The pesky stuff with all its peskiness is worth putting up with to get a whiff of the desert air. I know I've mentioned this before, but I can't get over the wonderful smell of the desert. Right now these little yellow flowers are in bloom and the scent I get from them makes me want to keep taking a breath inward until my lungs are totally full and I have no choice but to stop and exhale. These flowers, which are weeds to a grassy lawn don't smell like honeysuckle or Bird of Paradise or any of the sweet nectar plants. They smell like a weed, but I absolutely love it. That weedy smell laced with the aroma of the Grease wood make me so appreciative that I was outdoors. I could have not really received this gift in an automobile. The bi

Marcy and I got up fairly early Saturday morning. The Olympics were on but nothing interesting to us was being shown. We decided to run some errands around town, meds for the old dog, and just stuff from WalMart. The air was nice and cool, there was no traffic to speak of, so riding was very enjoyable. We have ridden together in a family group but I consider this our first ride. She was on the new Jamis, I on the touring bike. For me, that was fulfilling, getting a ride in to start the day always makes me happy. I wrote earlier about the new member of the family, the Jamis, a really nice bicycle. I hope it/he/she gets a name soon. I like the fact that the helmet which was purchased a year ago on sale made by Specialized, has a perfect compliment to the paint on Jamis. Being red is cool too as that's Marcy's favorite color A Third Person Thought, Valuable To Only Two Gailinda Petrasuki was running out of time to deliver her message born from an ear, carried on the wings of praye

let me introduce, well she doesn't have a name yet, but was created by Jamis. It's marcy's new bike. It's actually used and in really good shape with good components and rides like a dream. The next few weeks will be devoted to tweaking the already good fit for Marcy. We welcome her especially since she is the right color, red.

This is my second day of riding my bike to work in New Mexico. It's a drive/ride situation. I parked my car 14 miles from the office building I work in. The terrain is like mild rolling hills on a two way access road mostly parallel to I-10. The traffic, for two days now, coming from my back, that is going the same direction I am, give me plenty of room. Kind of a farming and dairy area, those kind of folks tend to make plenty of room on the road anyway. For now this seems like a good way to go, but I understand that to the south of this road, down in the valley there are some really nice roads canopied by old pecan trees. Perhaps that is in the future. When I first started driving to my new job I was on the lookout for potential places to park so I could ride. I kept passing this one place, Landmark Mercantile, thinking the distance was just about right. I had some trepadation to go in and see about the possibility of parking there during the day, thinking that the last thing a me

Of the small amount of city riding in El Paso, I think I've done enough to get an opinoin established. I have heard that El Paso motorized vehicle drivers are intolerant of us cyclists, that it is a very dangerous place to be. I can't say that yet though because when I ride VC (vehicular cycling), my experiences so far have been just like those in any other city I've ridden in. Of course Austin is the one city where I rode the most, and that city claims to be a bicycle friendly town. Granted there are far more cyclist to be seen per capita in Austin than El Paso, but the point is that if one would ride in accordance to the traffic laws, it is safer for everyone. I don't think motorists go out of their way to hurt anyone, but when they feel their space if violated, they get a little hissy. The thing is they outweigh the bike and rider by a lot. I've seen more aggressive behavior with car on car, which size to size, they are more equally matched. Road Rage happens and

Three more days until we head out to Oregon to our family reunion. Northwest part of the state is where we will be stationed. I am sure there will be some good pictures to come. I hope to find a bicycle under a rock somewhere, it's not practical to take one of mine. I am having trouble getting onto blogger this morning, and this was the one morning I wanted to post some imagery. Oh well, I'll just leave this little paragraph.

I got up fairly early this morning to go on a Sunday ride. I was going to just take off and see where I went, no mapped out plan in my mind. I got about a mile away in a southerly direction when it started raining. It didn't take long for me to decide that I didn't want to ride in the rain today. After drying the bike and oiling the chain, I came into the house and turned on the TV just in time to see Cadel Evans being cared for by the tour doctor. There he was on his bike hanging onto the car, bloody with scrapes all over him, clothes all torn and tattered. The doctor was probing him, reaching through holes that were torn from the crash, squirting some sort of disinfectant repairing him in motion. it was an inspirational sight for me to see. I decided this guy might be my new hero for this year's Tour de France. The commentators were mentioning that he was a former world champion mountain biker and that he had broken his collar bones 7 times already in his life. What a tou

April and Rhyanna celebrating a high school graduation. I couldn't miss the opportunity to pose for this one. Sometimes pirate cmes out in My Marcy . This picture was taken yesterday when I was driving over the mountain. The moisture is so welcome to that big set of rocks. This morning as I drove over the terrain again, it was clearly more green than before.

When it rains it's a good thing, anywhere. But when it rains in the desert, it is cause for great joy. The aroma from desert foliage is sweeter than any perfume. Parched plants seem to turn green right before your eyes as they've waited for so long to get the quench from large, cold drops slamming down from the dark cloud above. I think that we people and even the plants forget for a moment that it will soon be gone, making the definition of the word desert return to what it is.

On my drive to work this morning I veered off the interstate path to scout out a likely place to ride in to work. I am resolved to the fact that I must find a place to park my car, unload my trusty commuter and get some pedal time in before and after work. My daily 60 mile commute already makes the day long, robbing time from the family. Something reasonable is in the works I feel, to let this all happen, but it hasn't quite come to me yet. I will be working on it. I gotta tell you though, that seeing the Organ Mountains in las Cruces is a great sight to see each day. What a wonderful view. Today I thought about taking a picture of it, but knew that the camera would not serve it properly. I looked up this picture on google images which will do for now. If you ever get the chance, get up next to this wonderful rock.

This past weekend was a long one for me so I got to get in some good road riding. Riding the loop to the top of Trans Mountain Road is about 22 miles from the house. I am amazed as to how much of a workout it is to make that distance. The change in elevation is from 4000 feet above sea level to exactly a mile high to the peak of that road, so it does take some work for me, a guy who has loved in 500 feet elevations for the past 28 years. The hills in the Texas Hill Country can be tough but while I am still acclimating, the toughness is here, now. I am still working on my plan to do both ride and drive for my daily commute to work. 60 miles one way is too far to ride and too costly to drive. There has to be some solution to sharing both. Finding the right place to park is what I am trying to do right now. I am sure something will work out pretty soon, but until then, driving over the mountain is what's working. I "borrowed" these pictures from my boss's web site The De

Since June 12, the last time I posted on this site a lot has happened. It seems funny to me that when things are so busy there isn't time to spend writing in the blog. And that's usually when I should be writing the most. The move from Austin to El Paso and getting the job in Las Cruces New Mexico has been a whirlwind of activity. I will attempt to fill the gap of these past couple of weeks mainly because many thoughts and ideas have come up. But for now suffice it to be that I actually got back in touch with the Internet world. I did retire though, this picture of me and Andrew (my old boss) is supposed to be proof that I worked at the Texas General Land Office. This is at the goodbye luncheon. I received a very nice framed map of Texas, a letter from the Commissioner and a signed book that will be special momentous to me. There are people here who ride bicycles, my new boss being one of them. That's pretty cool. I am having to work out the problem of long driving commutes

I am down to maybe one or two boxes left to ship in my great move to El Paso. I am thinking of riding the empty trailer to the UPS Store, dismantling it, then ship it as the last shipped item. The bike will ride in the car with Marcy and me when we make our departure trip, or should I say our arrival trip, depending if you want to think of it as coming or going. Let it be known to the world though that cycling in Austin has been a whole lot of fun. More than that. It has been a wonderful way of life. It's no secrete that there are some cities in the USA that are more bike friendly, I think Austin is one of those. However there is always competition for space on the road no matter what city or what form of transportation. Cars, trucks, motorcycles, and yes, even bicycles jockey for space when the asphalt footprint gets crowded. This news clip from California gives good reference to this situation. Let's all get along and Share The Road

Lindsey Pereira is someone very special who will be riding across the USA on a bicycle while devoting her time to a worthy cause. You can scroll down the page to see her picture and profile link near the bottom of the page, left hand column. I plan on following Lindsey for the summer. Click on route status map and you can see that she is just over a week into this ride. Oh what fun this must be. Go Lindsey go.

I am sitting on the threshold of a new and exciting life, going back to my home town, which by the way, one time some 28 years ago, I said I was not going back to. "Never say never" is a saying that is coming back to bite me now. Each day, hour and minute, my thoughts are consumed with all the details that will make this move organized and efficient. With this consumption my heart beats a little faster at times. The future I face is a total departure from the routine I've lived here in Austin. Change, they say, is most always for the better. There is one element of change that I feel a little apprehensive about. Over the past few years I have built up quite a few carbon credits in my account. My carbon footprint has been minimal, which has been a source of satisfaction and fulfillment for me. I am now faced with the necessity to begin cashing in and carbon credits I've earned over the years and ext ending my carbon footprint because my new job is about 50 miles from

It was forty years ago today that Senator Robert Kennedy was shot, then some two days later died. If he were be alive today, he would be in his early eighties, some ten months younger than my dad. I was nineteen years old on that fateful day for Bobby, soon to be twenty. Times were rough for the country back then with the established society being picked apart with cultural and racial tensions and a strong call for change. First Martin Luther King, then Robert Kennedy and finally Bobby, taken away by some dark force that only the universal mind knows. On this side, the earthly conscious side of life on this planet it seems there are many points of view on any situation at hand, and it was very much that way forty years ago also. The country was being divided causing many gaps with families, groups,and individuals that lasted for years. With this anniversary I am reminded why I don't think that my country is pure of heart, always ethical in its ways, and that I have a pervasive mist