“Sometimes Indians both inside and outside of India think that we are preaching the Hindu religion, but actually we are not.”

“We are not preaching the present-day system of the Hindus, especially those who are under the influence of Sankaracarya, for Sankaracarya taught that the Absolute Truth is impersonal, and thus he indirectly denied the existence of God.”

“The Krsna consciousness movement has nothing to do with the Hindu religion or any system of religion.”

“One should clearly understand that the Krsna consciousness movement is not preaching the so-called Hindu religion. We are giving a spiritual culture that can solve all the problems of life, and therefore it is being accepted all over the world.”

“Strictly speaking, modern Hindus are not strictly following the Hindu scriptures. But our point is not to try to bring back the old type of Hindu society. That is impossible. Our idea is to take the best ideas from the original idea.”

“To practice bhakti-yoga [loving service to God] means to become free from designations like “Hindu,” “Muslim,” “Christian,” this or that, and simply to serve God. We have created Christian, Hindu, and Muhammadan religions, but when we come to a religion without designations, in which we don’t think we are Hindus or Christians or Muhammadans, then we can speak of pure religion, or bhakti.”

Not that it wasn’t fun. But mostly, I just took the interstates. I made good time, of course, though I nearly ran out of gas around the awesomely named town of Natty Glo, PA.

Today, I visited two places. First, the Galitzen Tunnels in the appropriately named town of Tunnel Hill. It was windy and cold and the museum closed at 5pm, so when i got there at 4pm, everyone was gone. Thanks.

The second place I visited was Horseshoe Curve. It’s a line of railroad track that is laid out in the shape of a (ready for this?) horseshoe.

There’s often lots of traffic on it and when I got there, I missed a rather long train. So I walked up the 40 million steps and waited in the windy cold for the next train.

Oh and then I heard a rumblin’ like there was a train coming! And there was! And it was exciting. There were two other guys up there waiting and I nearly told them that I heard a train coming, but then I saw that it was just two engines and that’s it. No train for Eric.

I waited a bit more and then left. Though I’m sure I missed the coolest train ever mere seconds after turning around and leaving.

On the way out, I stopped at some old furnaces that I spied to the right of me. I crossed a stream or two, walked past some newly rebuilt wetlands and found myself in a line of 40 or so furnaces. These belonged to an iron company in the 1800’s. There was even a small railroad that served them.

I took too many pictures and then left. Now I’m in Pennsylvania. We’ll see what that holds. I can’t imagine that I’ll be here every day. I want to get some traveling in. But for now, it’s where I shall be.

Look at my too many pictures of shit you don’t care about… here.

You know what I really like about me? Well, not a whole whole lot, but at least one thing. And that’s that I’m punctual.

Punctuality is next to awesomeness and that’s basically me today. Get this…

This morning, I left and said that I would arrive at 9pm. So I departed at 1pm and went to a bunch of places and got stuck at a railroad crossing (train decided it would be cool to stop for like an hour with three cars left to go). Oh, and I got lost in a town called Tunnel Hill.

And guess when I arrived! 9pm sharp. not 9:01, not 8.59. Oh nono. I dig that.

Is it important? Hell no. But that’s me: impressed by the meaningless. Wee!

More on this tomorrow. And pics!

goodstoryeric

I’ve decided to cancel my Seattle trip until further notice. I was stupid and didn’t leave enough time between arriving back in PA and leaving for Scoot 66 – not even two weeks. I wanted to get a lot more riding in before then.

I’m sort of terrified of the Scoot 66 trip. I really want to do it (and will), but unless I get more riding time before leaving, my confidence level will be really low.

So that’s my decision. I was dumb and scheduled too long of a time in Seattle and can’t change my ticket because it’s so restrictive.

There are a few smaller trips that I will take, both in cars and on the scooter, so all is not lost. And hopefully I’ll find my way out to Seattle towards the end of summer.

When I first posted this, the link was broken, but now it’s all fixed up.

Grhasta Unable to Follow Vows, Becomes ‘Retired Grhasta’

MILWAUKEE – Local temple authorities have announced that well-known husband and father, Parampati das, will be renouncing his married life and assuming the status of “retired grhasta.”

In a move that could be seen as controversial, the Grhasta Bargaining Committee has suggested that, rather than divorce, which is fit only for sudras, Parampati simply retires from the grhasta ashrama and will no longer present himself as a grhasta.

Click to read the rest of this story.

Upon coming back to WV, I had a few trips in mind. One was to Philippi and Rich Mountain (the first and third land battles of the Civil War)… (the second was The Battle of Big Bethel, in southeast Virginia).

Anyway, Philippi is about 2 hours of ridiculously twisty US250 South away. It’s beautiful, of course, but wow, it’s really freakily twisty. The towns along US250 are pretty run down, but would be great for a bit of urban exploration if you’re crazy enough to enter the rickety buildings of West Virginians with guns. Just a thought.

The towns of Littleton and Hundred were great and there seemed to be a bit of appreciation for their history. There was a rails-to-trails section along the old B & O Railroad bed (B & O stands for Baltimore & Ohio Railroad – they owned most of the rail traffic through here).

I stumbled across an old tunnel, but it had been bricked up. Hopefully it can be unbricked for future rails-to-trails stuff. But seeing has how the locals use the old railroad bed as a road for everything from ATVs to regular cars, it’s rather unlikely.

A bit farther down the line, the town of Mannington was pretty cool. There was a Civil War Trails plaque that basically gave an overview of stuff in the area. Union troops camped here in 1861, before any fighting took place.

While driving through Mannington, I saw a sign for “Round Barn.” Sarah, for some reason, was on a round barn kick a few weeks ago and yeah, I think they’re pretty cool too. So I hung a right and after a few miles, there it was. West Virginia’s only restored round barn.

An old fellow came out of his house, which I assumed originally was the farm house for the barn, though it’s a separate property now. He walked up to my car and asked “Is that one of them there hybrid cars?” I said that it wasn’t, “nope, just a normal car.” He asked how much it got per gallon. I said around 40. “Yeah boy, I tell you, that’s what you need nowadays. Gas is ridiculous. N’it’s just gonna git worse, I fear.”

He was a nice fellow and I got a smile out of him. Not a bad thing.

Back on US250, eventually it connects to it’s parent route, US 50. It follows along US 50 to Grafton, passing a really cool old motel. Grafton has a very large national cemetery where they’ve buried soldiers from WW 2 onward. I visited it looking for Civil War graves, but those are in another, apparently impossible to find, cemetery. I drove around the town looking for it and failed. I did, however find a sad, run down town that was desperately trying to find itself.

It was in Grafton that the Union troops coordinated the attack on Philippi. It was here that the Civil War’s first battle was planned. They really want to focus on that. It was also a pretty big B & O Railroad yard. And not only that, it was (supposedly) the place where the first Mother’s Day was celebrated.

While it’s true that Anna Jarvis founded Mother’s Day in Grafton, WV, the first attempt at an American Mother’s Day was by Julia Ward Howe after the Civil War as a call for peace and disarmament. It didn’t really take since there was a political bent to it. However, Jarvis’s “just celebrate mom” (a good idea, to be sure) worked. And in 1907, we got Mother’s Day. Though, nine years after the first Mother’s Day, Jarvis protested against what it had become: commercialized by American consumerism. Big shock.

They should have went with the original idea.

While leaving Grafton, I stopped at a Civil Monument. I usually just pass them by (seriously, I know it doesn’t seem like I do, but I really do!) and found this one to be very interesting.

This was the spot, the exact spot, where the first Union soldier was killed by enemy fire. Actually, it’s where the first soldier of either side was killed. Here is where, on May 22, 1861, Thornsbury Bailey Brown, Company B “The Grafton Guards,” 2nd Virginia (US) was shot by a Confederate sniper.

When the Confederates fired upon the Union-held Fort Sumter, in Charleton harbor, on April 12, 1861, it was considered the start of the Civil War. However, while the fort was surrendered, nobody was killed by enemy fire. So, well over a month later, we get our first casualty.

Coincidently, the first Confederate casualty was at the Battle of Big Bethel, hundreds of miles away, on June 10. The Confederates soundly defeated the Union, incurring only one death, though killed several (eight, I think) Union soldiers.

And from Grafton, on to Philippi! Philippi has a covered bridge. A big one. Oh I couldn’t wait! I had been there over a decade before and wanted to see it again.

It’s also the place where the first land battle of the Civil War took place on June 3, 1861. It was a fairly bloodless battle where the Union troops caught the Confederates by surprise. They fired a few shots and fled. Nobody died.

The real carnage of the war wasn’t a reality. Not yet. After Philippi was the battle of Big Bethel, hundreds of miles away and basically unrelated. Few deaths there too.

But The Battle of Rich Mountain had to have changed some folks’ idea of what the war would be.

Rich Mountain Battlefield, south of Philippi was my next destination. I had never been there and I really dig these small battlefields. The Confederate camping ground was still open land (treeless) and you could get a feel for how it was. The battlefield, just up the hill, still had fairly well preserved earthworks. I was pretty stoked about that. You don’t get to see such things very often.

Up the hill even farther, is where the real tumult took place. On July 11, 1861, the sneaky Union troops surprised the Confederates yet again and split them in two. After a two-hour (some sources say four-hour) battle, the Union had killed, wounded or captured over 400 Confederates.

After the war, many Confederate soldiers came back and carved the names of the fallen comrades upon the many rocks, memorializing the first who fell on their baptism of fire.

I had further plans for the day, but had taken too long along the way (especially in Grafton) to complete them. On top of all that, I had one of the worst headaches I’ve had in a long, long time. I decided to call it a day and head back.

Click to view pics of my day.
[a few, at the bottom, are out of order - I don't know why]

This pic posted to LOLcats not long ago…

I’ve seen it before and had a longish conversation with someone (who?) about it. I think it’s one of the saddest pictures I’ve ever seen. In a way. It’s also one of the happiest.

Ok, take a look at the guy. Not the most styling. The ladies aren’t exactly lined up to get a piece of that dreamboat. But does he care? I’m betting he doesn’t. Why? Well, he’s got his kitty. And while little Miss Princess doesn’t look too thrilled to be sitting in some department store while a sad little man takes her picture, she’s very clearly well fed (and that’s about as happy as a cat can get).

See, at first, I felt really bad for him. Oh let’s make fun of the loser guy! But look at him. Have you ever seen anyone more content with his life? Hell, he’s happier than 95% of the people I know. He loves his life and loves his cat and his teal sweatshirt and wanted to capture the moment for eternity at Sears Portrait Studio.

So, hats off to this fine fellow for realizing true happiness no matter what others may think of him. Weird guy, I salute you and your cute tubby kitty.