oh the places you'll go...

Pig Turd Alley for instance. I saw this house across the street from a gas station in North Park this afternoon & ave been giggling all evening.

(UPDATE: I guess I should explain... since the camera on my phone is a piece o' crap... the white road sign on the lawn reads "Pig Turd Alley" ;) )

definition of scary

no, it's not Damian from Omen... it's your's truly in maternity drag! From the Roadie Fashion Show on Day 3, I give you The Camp Signage Team! We had so much fun. I miss these people incredibly.

I don't miss that damn dress though!

...

Okay, maybe just a little...

;)

the ordinary world

I've been back home in San Diego for 4 days now. I still keep waking up in the middle of the night and not recognizing where I am in my own home, thinking "aw crap, gotta use the port-a-potty", or trying to figure out if I have enough time to sleep in an extra 15 and not risk being late getting my tent folded up and getting in line for oatmeal. It's really odd.

And then there's the jarring you get being back to things like work, worrying about bills, commuting, having to cook dinner... and so many other things. You get so used to the close knit community of "camp" that you forget that the real world doesn't have that feel of community. And then you begin to wonder... why doesn't it?

One of the most sobering things about LifeCycle is being among so many like minded, cooperative, sometimes cranky but ultimately supportive individuals... all working towards a unified goal, as a community. You begin to think to yourself, "God, if only the rest of the world could cooperate on this massive a scale, we could solve so many problems that face society today"... energy consumption, community health, poverty, violence, HIV... if we all had such a close knit sense of community, and smaller communities seeded, informed and communicated with other communities... truly, there may be no limit to what we might accomplish.

I have just seen Al Gore's movie, "An Inconvenient Truth". I can't help but think that part of our problem with all of these things, not just global warming, not just HIV, is the lost sense of local community. How many of our neighbors do we even know by name? Remember when we were kids and used to invite the next door family to dinner? When is the last time I greeted a pedestrian, or even another motorist, with a smile and "hello"? I grew up in Colorado, and remember a time when passing people on country roads, it was simply common practice that you wave while passing.

I miss that. I miss that sense of community. I miss that connectedness. I crave it... not like craving caffeine or a hot shower, but more like craving a home cooked meal after living alone in a college dorm for too long.

honorary lesbian

Got to drive this big butch diesel truck for several days at the ride, hauling our equipment from camp to camp! WOOF!! Never felt so butch in my life! ;)

Remember when

Remember when this happened last year & I wasn't able to keep up with photos & the like? Don't know how I let this little detail slip,but wow, its a hell of a lot of work putting this event on!

On our way to Santa Maria today, day 4! Time flies! I've only clicked about 5 photos. Promise Ill have some to share later though. I've met lots of friends with lots of digital cameras. ;)

Catch up with you all later!

Hut sweet hut

Welcome to the tiki tent! Cool thing about being a roadie is you have tons more time for home decorating!

Camp, Santa Cruz

This is the tent city for our first camp. Its amazing to see a community this size move piece by piece every single day to support over 2000 people.

On the road

Lots of cropland out here!

Day One

Go riders! Rideout is beautiful, whether you are a rider or roadie. Its amazing to see 1800 people united, embarking on this incredible event together.

Beauty above comfort

4:00 am, Day One, & still undeniably fabulous...

tomorrow, it begins...

Well, here at the end of Registration Day, I find myself pretty well exhausted! Aside from registration, meeting up with old friends again and just getting into the event, I've been staying with some friends in San José over the weekend until the event begins. The commute keeps one rather busy, Daly City isn't exactly next door!

I've been getting in some great food though before resorting to camp... not that camp food isn't good, but there's not a great chance of my getting Almond Milk Tea with Boba at QCup or Korean Barbeque!

Later went to go pick out costumes for the fashion and talent shows at the ride, as well as red dress day. I'll give 'em something to talk about this year, just wait till you see!

Tomorrow, have to be at opening ceremonies at 5:00 in the morning for planning and logistics, ride out at 6:00am, and then to work I go! Will be camping out in Santa Cruz by end of day. If you're in town, swing by and say hi! We're camping at Harvey West Park!

See you all on Day 1 with some photos and updates! Don't forget to check in at the ride page to see more commentary from other riders! http://experience.aidslifecycle.org. I just went there and noticed that they have an RSS feed posted so you can receive updates this week, including podcasts!

Propeller bear detail...

My favorite bracelet at the ride...

Propeller bear! :)

Arm bands and necktags

One gets a nice collection of accessories at the ride... Bracelets galore to ID us by permission to specific services & resources in camp. (That's my Korean Barbeque in the background!! Mmmmm!)

And lots of bikes

1800 to be exact...

Lots of people...

About 2300 this year...

The lines are long...

We line up to get settled, numbered, and checked in. Estimates this year are 1800 riders & 450 roadies.

Day 0, Registration

Well, after a night on the town in San Francisco, we find ourselves at registration for the ride at the beautiful Cow Palace in Daly City.

planes, trains and automobiles

Leaving for L.A. to catch my plane in a matter of minutes now...

Before I go, just wanted to point you all to some more information about the ride itself.

For those of you that would like to keep up with me and with the ride while I am out, you can do so at http://experience.aidslifecycle.org. From this webpage, you will have access to rider and roadie day journals, photographs, videos, maps and podcasts live from the ride. In addition, you can also send me a message of support via the website, just to say hi (if you don't already have my phone number)! My participant number this year is 9703... and for the record, you can find my participant page at http://www.aidslifecycle.org/9703.

By the way, I'd love to see any of you at the opening or closing ceremonies! You can find some information about where and when they are being held at this website... http://www.aidslifecycle.org/ceremonies.html. And for that matter, if you'd care to check in at any of the camps to look me up, here is a list of all of the towns I will be visiting. If you think you might be doing this, you will need to check in at camp services when you arrive at any of the locations. You'll also need to find me among 2500 people, and that's probably best accomplished by sending an email to me ahead of time... korourke50@sprintpcs.com.

how i'm doing this...

Via my pocket PC/cell phone, for those interested. I'll be taking photos on digital camera, transfering via SD card to the phone, and sending email to my blog. Pretty neat huh? As for voice, I'll be using audioblogger. And if I get really really fancy, maybe, just maybe, some video. All this from my mobile phone to you! Enjoy!

packing nightmare

I can't believe we're only allowed to bring one suitcase & a daypack! How did I manage this last year? Leaving for AIDS LifeCycle 5 tomorrow. For those that don't know, this is a 585 mile bike ride to raise funds for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation & the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center. I rode last year with 1600 other riders, raising a total of over $6.5 million!

This year, Bill & I are volunteering as camp setup "roadies". We will be helping with camp signage. It will give a total different perspective on the ride.

I am hoping to post all about it here, photos and thoughts, maybe even some voice & video. Stay tuned! For tonight, my task is to figure out how to make all this stuff fit in one suitcase!