Green Thumbing Across Texas for a Gig

As a performing songwriter, I am expected to be a troubadour as well, traveling from town to town, serenading strangers in different settings. But driving from town to town is not so green. Nor is it cheap. I sat down and did the math for a performance I had scheduled last weekend in Far West Texas, one of the most remote regions in the country. The truth in the math suggested to me that I should cancel the gig. Why ? The round trip in my red Volvo, “Ruby”, would cost me about the same in gasoline as I was getting paid for the gig. And driving solo all the way across Texas is the sort of guilt which keeps me awake at night. Not wanting to let down the venue or lose work ethic points, I was determined to find a solution.

Amtrak services the Big Bend area, but from Austin, it is $150 round trip and includes a 9 hour layover in San Antonio overnight...making the total journey over 50 hours long on the train ( vs 16 hours round trip in a car ). There is no bus that goes out to Big Bend from Austin and no mass transit of any kind once there in the area.

So the only answer was to find drivers already heading that way.

I had participated in many rideshares before, but only between major cities, and never for a gig where I needed to haul my guitar and other related paraphernalia. I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to pull this off. I closed my eyes and thought about all the vehicles whizzing around everywhere with all their empty seats. Surely I could do this. The adventurer within was awakened.

The first part was easy. I got on craigslist and searched the rideshare ads. Luck struck ! There was a driver heading out West from Austin Texas to Marfa, TX for a Film Festival. I contacted her. Even though her email alias was tagged as “Creepy”, I took a chance. I attributed the name choice to the Greenland/Iceland reverse psychology theory. She turned out to be rather normal, not overly normal, and a very good driver. The other passenger and I had some friends in common. After our rideshare team was assembled, we headed out west. The trip to Alpine cost us each $13 in gas in her Toyota Corolla, and placed me within 80 miles of my final destination. My Volvo would have charged me close to $60 each way if I had driven these 400 miles solo. Ruby demands premium gasoline. I have tried to trick her a few times, but she knew the difference and did not react kindly.

In Alpine, I stood on Hwy 118 and stuck out my thumb. Hitchhiking is technically illegal in Texas, but when the sheriff drove by, he smiled and waved. A new red pick up truck pulled over. Kaleb told me that he had seen me perform in Terlingua before and offered me a ride. After he dropped me off about 15 miles from Terlingua, I accosted the mailman. He told me he was heading into town, and so I rode with him to Terlingua. Once in Terlingua, I got lucky again and encountered the bartender of the “Thirsty Goat” in Lajitas, the bar I was playing in that night. Against the will of the drivers, I pitched in for gas for these shorter journeys to help the drivers a bit with their guzzlers. All in all, I got from Austin, Texas to Lajitas for $22.

In addition to the savings and free adventure, my final reward came from a very appreciative gentleman in the audience who started throwing $100 bills in my tip jar. No Joke !

Yes, it pays to travel green.

bicycles and gardens

I have started riding my bicycle to get my mail. The mailboxes are about 3.5 miles from me, so it is a nice 7 mile roundtrip exercise chore. The ride takes me on dirt roads right past camel’s hump. It then spits me out onto the Terlingua Ranch road, which is paved and mostly flat. Sure beats driving ! The weather right now is ideal for bicycle riding. Most of the year is condusive to bicycle riding really...may have to just adjust the time of day you choose to ride ( mornings and evening in mid-summer, mid-day in the winter ).

In other news, I planted some seeds today. Tomatoes and beets. John Wells then showed up with some green bean and squash seeds, so I planted those too. I attempted planting tomato seeds twice already, but they didn’t germinate in this soil. It dries out too fast. This time I used potting soil so we’ll see what happens. Planting seeds is a good practice in patience and planning. It makes the fruit of one's labor that much more tasty. There are many ways to plant seeds in our lives and those are the things that are most worthwhile. And the motivation behind it is that while new seeds are being planted, older ones are yielding, giving a constant flow of, in this case, FREE food. It works the same way for energy and water harvesting. The instant gratification of a mass produced, purchased item can wear out quickly without leaving any residue of appreciation for what was consumed.

The dome building is back to a snail's pace since Emile left back home to Oregon, but progress is being made. The window wells are now fully lathed, and I've started to stucco them.

I have been listening to too much news while working, so I have begun listening to a music station called Sirius Disorder, a satellite station that is actually pretty good. No commercials. I am still only using 45 watts of solar panels, but it has been plenty so far, especially since Don Mcdowell ( another local Don ) graciously donated a brand new 12 volt battery. Thanks again Don !

Don't forget about total lunar eclipse tomorrow !

vamanos veggie

Sometimes the best work parties are the ones that happen unexpectedly. I met Jori and Betsy at the Terlingua Ranch Lodge when I played a show there a couple of nights ago. We got to talking. They told me about their travels across the country on waste veggie oil. They have traveled over 5000 miles by using the grease that restaurants throw out. They spent the last couple of nights camping out at Earth Language and today they helped us finish the foundation of the dome. Their help turned a full work day into half that. We spent the rest of the day hiking and playing an old Yiddish card game called Klabberjass that my grandparents taught me.

To finish the foundation, we filled in the gaps between the bricks with the same materials as the bricks themselves ( 5 parts gravel, 5 parts sand, and two parts cement ).

Here is a link to Jori and Betsy's blog about their travels using grease.

Big Bend People and Goats

Today, Don and I made a trip to Alpine. We both had things to do in the "big city". Alpine has a couple of large grocery stores, hardware stores, a radio shack, a movie theatre, a credit union, county offices, and a few other things that you can't find in Terlingua. Don also wanted to visit his friend George in Alpine. George is turning 89 today and Don wanted to make sure that George is eating right. Don brought with him an article a friend downloaded for him about nutrition. When trying to find George's place, we got a bit lost, so I pulled out my Garmin GPS. I was explaining to don how my GPS unit worked. He held it in his hand and exclaimed, “It takes a photo of the streets as we pass them by !” I explained that the unit has all the maps of the USA, Canada, and Mexico pre-programmed into it. He said, "Let's take it to Mexico !" George Floro runs the goat club in Alpine called "Big Bend People and Goats" and has a publication that goes with it. He invited us in for dinner. During dinner, George’s wife, gave us fermented goat milk, which is called Kefir. On our way out, they gave us gave us some goat cheese to take home. Their goat cheese is sold in stores around this region. Delicious !

Thanksgiving in Terlingua

My mom and sister graced the area this Thanksgiving weekend. We rented a strawbale house in the Terlingua Ghost Town, went on a river canyon trip in Big Bend, hiked in Mexico, looked at "art" in Marfa, beat the heat and weathered a snow storm...all in the same weekend. We all agreed that it was the best Thanksgiving ever. My mom and sister arrived by Amtrak. It was a 16 hour train ride from Houston, TX. It is an overnight train ride. The comfy seats lend themselves to a good night's sleep and that helps to pass most of the time. The train costs about $74 each way. Driving from Houston would take about ten hours. Here is a link to a photo slideshow of our weekend.

Desert Volvo Shop

My neighbor charged me $60 to repair my volvo . The Volvo shop in the city wanted to charge me $260. The Volvo shop here has a much better view. A penny saved is a penny earned....especially if they are Canadian pennies. Now my Volvo is like new again, which is good because it also doubles as my bed and office sometimes.

I was very fortunate to find a rideshare partner out to Terlingua ( who'd have thunk ? ). Cynthia is spending two weeks out in the Big Bend area to visit friends before she heads down to Mexico. Splitting expenses from Central Texas, we each only spent $25 in gas. We found that we have some friends in common, though she is friends with Lucinda Williams and I only wish I was. Ridesharing out here is a huge help, being that distances are far in this remote region. There is no area Craigslist ( where I've had the most success with rideshares ), but there is a Big Bend Bulletin Board where rides ( and other things ) can be posted. The pictures in this post were taken by Cynthia. Click on them for larger photos. Cynthia also has a blog, where you can find out about the papercrete studio she built in San Marcos, among other things.

BIG BEND BULLETIN BOARD

Check out the new Big Bend Bulletin Board for posting rideshare ads, items for sale, etc. If the link doesn't work, it's at www.bigbendbulletinboard.com . Hopefully, Craigslist will step in soon. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Red Rover, Red Rover

Thanks to Abe and Josie of Vela Creations for passing along this red rover...or should I say, solar rover. It'll be powered by the sun and will also double as a battery bank for the dome by using six 8 volt batteries. We boosted the charging power of the solar panels by connecting them together as a chain, much like a battery chain. With this rather minimal solar array, it will take about a day to fully charge the rover and have a range of about 10 miles. This is a good distance for gathering building materials such as adobe, rocks, and sand, and hauling them to the building site. It will also get me to neighbors, the grocery/hardware store at the freeway, and the postal boxes. A future project may be to install a more powerful solar array on the roof for real time driving power. A wind turbine would be ideal for recharging overnight.