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  1. pcflvly

    Travelogue Ottawa and an STP connection

    I'm working on the fourth book in my series "Travels as Peaceful Valley Walker" about my epic ride through eight countries and 48 US states. I just now got to the part about Ottawa where I had an invite from an STP friend. Nothing too special about the story but I haven't heard from Drengor...
  2. pcflvly

    Bike ride from Florida to Montreal and on to Minneapolis

    Making progress on my next book, "Pipe Carrier" where I ride from St. Mary's, Georgia through Montreal to Minneapolis. It was part of a mostly penniless journey through eight countries and 48 US states. Three of the books are already published in a series called "Travels as Peaceful Valley...
  3. pcflvly

    Chased down in Newark, NJ

    This excerpt is rough draft writing from my next book. I was biking from Key West to Montreal and here was almost to Jersey City. Ever get chased when you were out traveling? ------ It was solidly dark by then and when I saw a spot under the freeway bridge where I could rest a minute, I...
  4. pcflvly

    2018 Jamboree Bikecore Nomadics

    Looks like I'll make it to this one and I might have a thing or two about living from a bicycle to share. Pencil me in for an hour and learn how to live on two wheels.
  5. pcflvly

    Colorado Springs to Tres Piedras

    I woke up far above Colorado Springs near Monument. I felt like I was in a new land and was welcomed to the region by magpies, a bird I hadn't seen anywhere north of there. The pass at the top of the South Platte River was indeed the entrance to the Southwest. It was a long ride downhill on...
  6. pcflvly

    Biking out of Boulder

    I woke at a state natural area near Loveland, CO. It was an okay camp, a sleeping mat on a concrete pad next to a picnic table. I felt a little more secure than at the last site because there were no restrictions posted. I was discrete and slept well. I've mentioned before that it takes a lot...
  7. pcflvly

    A Path to Providence

    I woke from a rock solid sleep at my camp in a centuries old quarry now thickly forested, the ground mattressed in a thick layer of pine needles. I arose with the sun and, with the gift of an eagle feather, spread my wings to fly. I was immersed in beauty. There was nature itself but also the...
  8. pcflvly

    Crossing the Susquehanna

    I woke up next to the tidal waters of the Bush River. I felt indigenous, one with the land and free but the ghost of John Smith still sailed on those waters here four hundred and ten years later. His landing, explorations, and the resulting exploitation resulted in a fragmented and owned land, a...
  9. pcflvly

    Are you bikecore?

    A patch I made to mend a hole from riding seven thousand miles on this gear. It was a traincore kid in Ocala who asked me that. She said, "are you bikecore?"
  10. pcflvly

    Easter magic on the Blue Ridge Parkway

    I said good morning when I walked in. I'd already ridden twenty-five miles and hadn't seen anyone, so it was still my morning although I had no idea what time it really was. She replied, "No, good afternoon". I asked, "Can a guy get morning coffee in the afternoon here?" She smiled and replied...
  11. pcflvly

    Free beer in Asheville

    I was spared the rain while I slept in Waynesville but by the time I finished my coffee and packed the bike, it began. I rode on into a drizzle. It didn't last long. Just all the way through town and past Lake Junaluska. I pulled my hat down low and kept pedaling. My route to Asheville passed...
  12. pcflvly

    Housed up in Savannah

    I passed the night in Savannah with the friend of a friend now a friend too and in the morning rode out to explore the city. The ride zigzagged through all the state streets, Kansas, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and more. I traversed a continent all in one small neighborhood to Park Avenue...
  13. pcflvly

    A Day in San Blas

    I woke early, rebuilt my fire, and watched the people make their way to their work at a campo farther down the road. I ate breakfast, packed my bike, and rode on. I'd been camped on the river so it was uphill, a long hill, and three quarters of the way up, I met a bird, Robin. He was wearing a...
  14. pcflvly

    Four New Friends - Central Florida

    Gypsy was from Cuba, a clerk at a dollar store and had been in the country for five years. She was intrigued after I told her and her coworker about my journey. I teased her with an invitation to leave her job and come with me but that wasn't in the realm of the possible so I left a part of...
  15. pcflvly

    A day in La Paz, Baja California

    This story is from a year ago as I completed my ride through the Baja. I woke up early, well before the sun. I'd slept rough under a palo verde tree. There was a homeless camp about a hundred yards away under a mesquite. I'd seen their fire when I made camp and saw them rebuild their fire after...
  16. pcflvly

    Prison Drops - NW Florida

    Before I disappeared into the landscape on the Acuilla River, a truckload of rednecks spotted me. They said something to me and I walked over because I couldn't hear them. When I approached, the driver said, "I thought you were someone else" and started to put his truck back in gear. I asked him...
  17. pcflvly

    Libeled in Louisiana

    The ride from Arcadia to Calhoun was pristine. It followed the White Lightning route which is all backroads north of interstate twenty. There was very little traffic and the landscape is forested hills with no towns. I stopped about halfway at a large United Methodist church where I made a...
  18. pcflvly

    Mississippi Magic

    I woke up with two songs in my head. One was Bob Marley singing, "I'm a rainbow too" and the other Peter Tosh singing, "I'm an original man". It was in the form of a round and also call and response. In the morning, come a the rainbow - original man In the evening, come a the rainbow - original...
  19. pcflvly

    Texas Coast

    Although the flooding from Hurricane Harvey was truly disastrous in the Houston area, the severity of the event didn't strike me until I reached Tivoli. Tivoli is a small Texas village in the heart of the coastal cotton growing region. I'd planned to camp there perhaps at the volunteer fire...
  20. pcflvly

    Fishhooks

    She carried all her fishing gear from her truck to the bay but forgot the fishhooks so when she saw me, she asked if I had any. I did. I'd been carrying them since Loreto in Baja California. I'd never used them and it took me a minute to find where I had them stowed, but I gave them to her. She...
  21. pcflvly

    Trip Update - Iowa to Texas

    Des Moines to Dallas by bicycle. Seven hundred and fifty some miles in two and a half weeks. I left Des Moines on new tires, with a new air mattress, and eighteen dollars. Thanks John. I got to Dallas with sixteen dollars and spent eighty along the way. Also notable was that my new friend Rob in...
  22. pcflvly

    World tour

    It's been a long time since I posted in here. If you remember, I was planning to bicycle to Montreal from Iowa. That was about sixteen months ago when I posted my plans. Well, I rode and I kept riding. I rode ten thousand miles through eight countries. This was all on a dumpstered bike and with...
  23. pcflvly

    Peaceful Valley Walker

    Welcome home, that's what we say in my tribe and just looking around here, this is my tribe. I'm an old traveler. I hit the road when I was 15, back in 81. Over the next five or six years, I hitched to 48 states and nine provinces of Canada. Full time on the road freegan style. I never flew a...