Planet Walk Day Two 2015

Steps: ~19,000

Today my walking partner is Anisa.

A photo of Anisa taking a photo

          I know we are going to go about twice the distance today. We're gonna start from a small town called Marion where we ended yesterday. A degree of calm leaving ng that small town. Their way of finding themselves seemed to be their little teenage-life crisis (as opposed to a mid-life crisis).

          I had walked through their feelings and we had lent an ear to their troubles. It felt as if there is a wide variety of troubles. There are the drivers’ troubles with seeing walkers. They seem to drive with caution, giving us right-of-way. It has probably been a few months since they had to know how to deal with people on the side effects of the road.

          I had taken a soils class and we were talking ab it about soils and how they are more directly important for different practices. As an environmental scientist, I feel I need deep understanding of soil in order to do research and talk to people about land and how they treat it. I found myself not walking on grass at the camp we are staying at with respect for the bulk density of the soil (amount of compaction (density) of a particular pedon (area and profile of soil)).  

America's praised 'white picket fence.'

A CAFO behind America's praised white picket fence.

          We treaded past a pile of snow that had fallen perhaps a month ago and was finally shrinking as the frozen water took its slow trip back to the soil. There was soot on the snow making it look darker than it would normally be. There were sediments as well. Sediments are broken down soil clods that can freely blow roll or float with the whims of the natural laws (usually pertaining to friction gravity and aerodynamics). The freeze-thaw cycle had gotten to this unfortunate portion of the soil. Thankfully it’s all part of a cycle.

          The cycle that we rely on for generating soil is impacted by the soil forming factors. Climate, parent material, biota (biology) relief (topography) modified by time. We humans are part of biota and deal significantly in the soil formation and deformation.

Planet Walk Day One 2015

Steps:~10,000

          The morning was cold but bearable. I started off doing some basic stretches that I do in kendo club practice.  The preceding night was spent keeping with the routine I've established, doing 200 sword strikes with the megaBoken, regular seburi and kata. I know we probably won't go very far, bit I want to be as ready as I can to take a long walk.

          It would be interesting if we had a faster pace.
The walk this time was around seven miles. Starting around eleven o'clock. It was not that windy as we started the weeklong trek.  After a series of photos to mark the beginning, we headed down the street. The first of many.

A non-selfie-serfie of the group.

          The pace was comfortable. There were a few people that hadn't done walking for an extended period of time. The first day was fitting of the atmosphere. The cool breeze brushed our faces gently, a prelude to what we would be Nature’s students were walking the path of wisdom some in single file, others and in groups of two or three.

I walked with Morgan (Purple).

Things we talked about 
*Walking the second time versus. the first time around

-There are some differences that I noticed this time as someone with experience. I had to take time with one person at a time or I wouldn’t be able to taken nature in its fullest. I walked with Purple today. She was also big on having more silence and conversation focused on the living environment around us.

*Different cropping systems

- It was obvious that there were differences, but we were interested in the differences in the decisions of the farmers especially since there were Amish farmers nearby.

*Hortonian overland flow.

- an occurrence where water flows on the soil surface with sparse (a little bit of) vegetation.

*Heavy soils and tillage.

Designated wetland sign. I was so happy when I saw it!

          The group is year has already split into two parts. I don't think it has to do with pace. I think it’s about involvement. Maybe some are seeing this more as a vacation than an experience. Near the front, Purple and I were burst ahead, away from what seemed like incessant chatter. We felt that a conversation about the environment could be achieved with observation coupled with our knowledge. She had taken a geomorphology class and was swing some of the landforms natural and man-made alike. I added my input with knowledge of soils and hydrological systems perspective. We noticed where tillage (inversion of the soil) was beneficial and where it was unnecessary and self-defeating. It was obvious where the people had some education or more sense for n the issues associated with water and soil interactions.

          During our walk, near the bridge (shown on the map as a pair of squiggly lines) we saw the second Amish buggy. There was no hood over this one. They seemed to be average on the bell curve of happiness.

          We ended in Geneva where we had a long conversation about small towns. Some of the kids had hurried resentment for their situation in the small area. There was a twenty-year-old that didn't really have aspirations beyond working in a factory. He started out in Florida... And then moved to Bern then to Geneva. In Geneva, there is a strange old fashion mentality where the kids are pitted against the older generation.
          The older people in n the community control most of the money and are the larger part of the decision-making process. The large complaint was that any god idea would be taken away and rebranded as the leadership's ideas. The kids didn't feel as if their opinions would he valued if they were given in for approval.

          Perhaps the worst part I see is that the kids may fall and not the same cycle as their predecessors. Think of the moms that put their daughters through valet because they didn't do that as children and wanted to do it themselves. Ellie, a fellow planet walker, suggested the awesome grant. The grant is given out to groups that want to pull it off a small project and project and they are given out frequently. That would free them from some of the autonomy issues that they face. 

Men!

That's the very first strike in Kendo that is learned. It is a cut to the head. a straight beautiful arc. 

It's a 45 degree angle from over the kendoka's head, extending the angles between the wrist and elbows simultaneously. 

The strike is completed when the tsuba (hilt) is in front of the striker's face. Upon impact the striker grips the shinai to let inertia finish the hitting.