It’s been awhile. I thought I’d give the Planet ISKCON community a heads-up about what’s going on in my life.

There is a 3,400 mile, coast-to-coast endurance event for scooters that takes place every other year. It’s called the Scooter Cannonball Run (no affiliation with Burt Reynolds). 20 or so scooterists ride from the Pacific to Atlantic Oceans over the span of about 10 days. It’s a grueling event that puts you in the saddle for sometimes over 400 miles a day.

This year’s Cannonball starts on Sept 11 in San Francisco. It ends ten days later in Ocean City Maryland.

Some ride for fun or to see if they can do it. Some ride to race. And some ride for charity (with a bit of the other two thrown in). And that’s me.

After a lot of thought, I’ve decided to do it. I’ve also decided that I will be riding to raise money for Food For Life, a world-wide prasadam distribution organization.

Currently, I’m in Portland, Oregon, having ridden my Vespa GTS from New Vrndavana, zigzagging my way across the country for a distance of 7,500 miles. You can keep up with those antics here.

After visiting Seattle and getting some work done on the scooter, I will be riding back to New Vrndavana and central Pennsylvania (where I live - for now) in the next couple of weeks. Then, in mid-August, I’ll be heading west towards San Francisco for the start of the Cannonball Run.

How you can help.
Like I said, I’m riding to raise money for Food for Life. I’ll be doing this via my blog (which will cross-post to Planet ISKCON and whomever else wants to pick it up). You can donate a flat sum or donate based upon how many miles I do (for example, if you donate a buck for every 100 miles, at the end of the Run (which totals around 3,400 miles), you will have pledged to donate $34).

Whatever money that is donated goes to Food for Life. None of it goes to me. I’m keeping not a farthing. I’m only asking you to donate to Food for Life, I’m not asking you to fund my vacation.

All of this will be set up in the next month or so.

How you can also help is hooking me up with a place to stay and some nice prasadam. Naturally, during the Run, the accommodations are taken care of, but on the ride out to San Francisco, I’ll need floors to crash on. I’ll also need a place to be for Janmastami. I might be near the Denver area by then. I’m hoping to be in Berkeley by Radhastami. I have a place to stay in Berkeley, but meeting some devotees there would be great.

I have little doubt that I can complete the Run. The scooter is in great shape and so am I (relatively speaking). I’m used to long days in the saddle and riding a ton of miles a day. The only differences will be that I’ll be “racing” a bunch of other riders and I’ll be riding with a purpose other than “seeing what there is to see.”

I’d like to get the word out about this as much as possible. Food for Life is an often over-looked ISKCON-related project. Also, Hare Krishnas riding scooters for charity isn’t something that happens everyday. Some HK media coverage would be a means of getting the word out and raising more money for FFL. I also happen to think that it would make a nice Back to Godhead article. :)

Any comments or questions, just leave them below.

Karmis LOVE Synthesizer Kirtans!

MINNEAPOLIS - A shocking new study conducted by Rupanuga Vedic College shows that karmis absolutely love synthesizer kirtans.

The findings may contribute to understanding how wildly popular synthesizer kirtans have become at ISKCON festivals like Ratha-yatras, says RVC representative Yazananda das.

“When we, as Hare Krishnas, put down the archaic mrdangas and kartals and pick up a Yamaha DX7, the karmis go wild!”

Click here to read on…

Nursing Temple — A Positive Alternative

FLORIDA - When the International Society for Krishna Consciousness was first incorporated in 1965, the Society consisted mostly of young men and women, but as its members grew older, the dynamics of the movement changed.

Many of the nation’s elderly live in nursing homes, enduring chronic pain and loneliness. Though the aged are greatly inconvenienced, they lack better options. This is where the devotee-fronted business Nursing Temple, Inc. comes in.

Click here to read on…

Brahmacarini Gets the Hell Out of the Way

MEMPHIS - In what brahminical sources described as strict attachment to the Krishna conscious philosophy, local brahmacarini, Abhava devi dasi, threw herself against the wall on five separate occasions yesterday to clear the path as saffron-clad male-bodied devotees walked past her in several different hallways.

“It is fact,” said two-year adherent, bhakta Randal, “she is nicely following Vedic culture by getting the hell out of my way, otherwise, she is simply prostitute.” Adding, “Could you let her know that I think it’s really nice, that she gets the hell out of my way? Could you tell her that for me?”

Click here to read on…

I’ll be there, in both places, over the weekend.
Nrsimhadeva’s appearance day is on Sunday - so just thought I’d ask.

Anyone?

Riots in Chowpatty Over Who Is Most Fallen

MUMBAI - What started as a discussion of humility between two residents of the Chowpatty temple has ended in a series of bloody riots that has shocked this Hare Krishna community.

Dozens of devotees, most in traditional religious dress, fought with each other for hours, throwing punches, pulling homemade weapons and hurling Molotov cocktails.

Click here to read on…

This morning Madhava Gosh, Soma and I took a walk behind Rati and Dwija’s at New Vrndavana to the Peter Crow cemetery. Now, while this isn’t a devotee cemetery, it was pretty cool.

Gosh knows I’m a sucker for old cemeteries, so when he asked if I wanted to check it out, I jumped at the chance.

On the walk there, Gosh told me about how they used to plant corn and make hay on surrounding hills. Also, he said that this place was called Mahavana. There are twelve forests in Vrndavana, India and this being New Vrndavana, at one point, the devotees named twelve areas after the forests of Vrndavana.

At New Vrndavana, the best known ones are Bahulavana (where the old temple - but not the old, old temple - is), Talavana, Vrndavana (where the old, old temple is), Madhuvana (where the old Jaganatha temple was - just before you get to the palace). The area where the cemetery lies is Mahavana (meaning “large forest”).

The cemetery was from the early 1800’s and was pretty run down. Neat though. Took a bunch of pics, though my camera was funky. You’ll see.

As we were walking back, I asked Gosh (pronounced “Ghosh,” btw) what the large hill over yonder was. “Govindaji Hill,” he said. There was going to be a temple on the hill, circa 1975. They leveled the ground and even laid a cornerstone with a deity of Ananta-sesa inside of it. But the temple was never built.

I was told to follow the ridge and it would take me there. We counted some cows in a pasture below us and then parted ways. The walk along the ridge was great. Wonderful views. I got a bit winded walking up the hill though it was really worth it. You could see where the ground was level. This would make an amazing place for a temple. Such a shame that they never built it. Of course, by now, it would be abandoned and falling down.

Down from Govindaji Hill was the place where Srila Prabhupada gave his Bhagavat Dharma discourses. I walked down there, passing Sky Bear’s old trailer and outhouse (near the pump house) and walked up a lane to where this white bus that was used for the Rainbow Gatherings. However, it was on this spot where Srila Prabhupada sat. Amazing. Srila Prabhupada was HERE!

There’s a monument to it as well. There are a few monuments around Bahulavana that explain that Srila Prabhupada was here and a bit of what he did.

I then walked down to the Bahulavana, poked my head into the temple and wished that it would somehow all come back. The place is run down and basically beyond repair. Nevertheless, I have an attachment to it that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. This is New Vrndavana to me. The temple now, even though Radha-Vrndavana Chandra are there, is simply not New Vrndavana to me. I don’t know why though.

Well tomorrow I’m back on the road. The rest was much-needed, but it’s time to get down to it. Tomorrow I ride roughly 325 miles. Luckily it won’t be too cold. I’ll hit some rain and it will take a hell of a long time, but by tomorrow night, I’ll be in a motel in Indiana along US Route 6.

Anyway, I took 108 pictures. Some of them are pretty crap, some of them are lovely.
You can check them out here.

The Bhaktivedanta Memorial Home for Retired Sannyasis

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

Are strict sannyasa vows getting you down? Do you like the worship and prasad, but just can’t stand the commitment? Is retirement from the sannyasa ashrama on your horizon?

If so, then look no further.

The Bhaktivedanta Memorial Home for Retired Sannyasis is here to serve you!

Click here to read on…

As most of you know, I’ll be riding Scoot 66 till July 4. I will be updating along the way, posting trip reports and a ton of pics.

I won’t, however, be doing it via this blog. I have set up another blog for such things.
That blog is here.

The only things that will be posted on the Little Black Star blog will be links to Hing articles and other things that I want to post to Planet ISKCON (Krishna consciousness related things). Such as if I visit a temple or meet devotees or have a fairly KC post. However, they will be on both blogs, so if you just stick with the Scoot 66, you won’t miss a thing.

If you’d like to keep track of my travels, check out the blog for the trip. Comment if you like, they’re like letters from home to a kid at summer camp.

This is the RSS feed for the new blog.

So, to sum up, I’m not here right now. This will be the last post on this blog for awhile.

Now I’ll be here:

Of course, there’s no way to really tell - anything can happen to mess up a schedule. But for now, here are the projected dates.

Route 66
Date    Start                       End                      Miles
4/30	Lewisburg, PA	         Wheeling, WV	   350
5/1	Day off in Wheeling!                                 20
5/2	Day off in Wheeling!                                 20
5/3	Wheeling, WV	        Auburn, IN	           300
5/4	Auburn, IN	                Joliet, IL	           200
5/5	Joliet, IL	               Springfield, IL	   165
5/6	Springfield, IL	       St. Louis, MO	     90
5/7	St. Louis, MO	        Lebanon, MO	    170
5/8	Lebanon, MO	       Springfield, MO	     60
5/9	Springfield, MO	       Tulsa, OK	            200
5/10	Tulsa, OK	               Oklahoma City, OK     130
5/11	Oklahoma City, OK       Mena, AR	            235
5/12	Mena, AR	               Bonham, TX	            217
5/13	Bonham, TX	              Oklahoma City, OK	    207
5/14	Oklahoma City, OK       Elk City, OK	            100
5/15	Elk City, OK	               Amarillo, TX	            155
5/16	Amarillo, TX	               Tucumcari, NM	     125
5/17	Tucumcari, NM	       Santa Rosa, NM	     80
5/18	Santa Rosa, NM	       Santa Fe, NM	    120
5/19	Santa Fe, NM	      Albuquerque, NM	    100
5/20	Day trip to Moriarty, NM                     	    100
5/21	Albuquerque, NM	       Gallup, NM	           160
5/22	Gallop, NM	               Holbrook, AZ	           110
5/23	Holbrook, AZ	       Flagstaff, AZ	   100
5/24	Flagstaff, AZ	       Kanab, UT	           225
5/25	Kanab, UT	               Mexican Hat, UT	   277
5/26	Mexican Hat, UT	      Canyon de Chelly, AZ 172
5/27	Canyon de Chelly, AZ	Flagstaff, AZ	  233
5/28	Flagstaff, AZ	         Kingman, AZ	   165
5/29	Kingman, AZ	       Needles, CA	            75
5/30	Needles, CA	               Barstow, CA	           175
5/31	Side Trip to Tehachapi Loop, CA		    200
6/1	Barstow, CA	      Los Angeles, CA	   120

Total 5232

The Return Trip
Day    Start                       End                      Miles
6/2	Day Off in Malibu Creek State Park                0
6/3	Los Angeles, CA	      San Luis Obispo, CA   270
6/4	San Luis Obispo, CA    Berkeley, CA	            261
6/5	Day Off in Berkeley	                               0
6/6	Day Off in Berkeley		                       0
6/7	Berkeley, CA	       Donner Pass, CA	    253
6/8	Donner Pass, CA	       Austin, NV	            220
6/9	Austin, NV	               Delta, UT	            300
6/10	Delta, UT	               Salt Lake City, UT	    109
6/11	Day off in SLC / Trip to Orem                     100
6/12	Day off in SLC                                           0
6/13	Salt Lake City, UT 	Logan, UT	            172
6/14	Logan, UT	                Jackson, WY	    195
6/15	Jackson, WY	        Bozeman, MT	    211
6/16	Bozeman, MT	       Forsyth, MT	            304
6/17	Forsyth, MT	        Bowman, ND	    177
6/18	Bowman, ND	       Aberdeen, SD	    263
6/19	Aberdeen, SD	       Pipestone, MN	    237
6/20	Pipestone, MN	       West Bend, IA	    177
6/21	West Bend, IA	       Mt. Zion, WI	            244
6/22	Mt. Zion, WI	        Kenosha, WI	    175
6/23	Day off in Kenosha, WI                               0
6/24	Kenosha, WI	       Plymouth, IN	            161
6/25	Plymouth, IN	       Wheeling, WV	    343
6/26	Day off in Wheeling                                   20
6/27	Wheeling, WV	      Parkersburg, WV	     90
6/28	Parkersburg, WV	      Hungry Mother, VA	     272
6/29	Hungry Mother, VA      Lexington, VA	     234
6/30	Lexington, VA	      Gettysburg, PA	     253
7/1	Gettysburg, PA for Anniversary                    40
7/2	Gettysburg, PA for Anniversary                    40
7/3	Gettysburg, PA for Anniversary                    40
7/4	Gettysburg, PA	       Lewisburg, Pa	     100

Total 5261

GRAND TOTAL  10493

Haribol!

Starting on May 2, The Hing is going bi-weekly, just when you need it. We’ve been kept up several nights in negotiations and it was decided that The Hing needs every other week off.

So that means The Hing will publish every other Friday for a bit.

I’ll think you’ll be ok with it.

As for Hing submissions, keep them coming! I’ll have zero time to really even look at them till July, but keep them coming. They’re great! A few are set to run in the coming months.

My crappy blog is broken. I woke up on Friday morning to it being all messed up. It’s mostly a sidebar issue. I don’t know what happened, but it’s weird since I didn’t mess with it. It just happened magically. The Scoot 66 one was too. So I decided to make a change. I changed the theme of the Scoot 66 one and after a whole bunch of tweaking, I really dig it.

I think I’ll be using the same theme here, but will wait till I get back from the trip.

So feel free to check out the new blog. Let me know your thoughts.
Or else.

A couple of days ago, I read an article about the $100 fill up. Some folks were bitching that their 10 mile per gallon truck wasn’t as cost-effective as they hoped it would be.

Seriously?

Listen, if you drive anything that gets worse than 30 - 35mpg, you have no right to bitch about gas prices. Ever.

At this point, if you can afford a car, you can get one (even a mid-80’s compact) that gets 30 - 35mpg.

Or better yet, get a scooter. My Vespa gets 75mpg. My fill ups cost about $6. Sure, maybe I’ll someday have to deal with the horror of a $7 fill up, but I’m ready for it! What I’m *really* hoping for is the $10 fill up.

I have a two gallon tank. I usually fill up when it’s about 1.75 gallons. A $6 fill up means that gas is around $3.45ish. A $7 fill up would bring gas to an even $4, something I’m likely to see on my trip.

But a $10 fill up would be $5.75 per gallon. Hell, let’s go for an even $6.00 per gallon. It’s still over $2 cheaper than gas in England.

What would gas that’s $6 a gallon do to SUV drivers? Hell, probably not much. It would pretty much double their gas expenditures. However, I can’t imagine many would drive less. The folks in the article would pay around $150 per fill up. $150 for 200 miles (they said that’s their range). That’s $.75 per mile.

My range is 150 miles. With fill ups around $6.00, I pay a whopping $.04 a mile. Sure, I can’t pull a trailer full of horses, but I can cross the country a couple of times with a fuel budget of $400 for $10,000 miles. If the folks in the article were to do my trip, it would cost them $7,500.

Again, if you drive anything that gets less than 30 - 35mpg, you have no right to bitch about gas prices. And if you drive anything that gets 75mpg, you don’t have a whole lot to bitch about.

Even better yet, if you live in a city, there’s public transit, ride share, bikes, etc. A scooter or motorcycle is great because it can go pretty much anywhere a car goes (if you have a fast enough one) for a fraction of the cost.

So what will I do if gas prices climb to $7.00 a gallon? Nothing at all. My $.04 per mile will go up to $.07 per mile. But nobody is predicting $7.00 a gallon anytime soon. They’re predicting $4. And with such a slight increase, I’ll never even notice it.

-

Incidentally, here’s a fun article from Time Magazine (from almost a year ago) explaining that 100 years ago, gas was 18 cents a gallon—or about $4 in today’s currency.

Spurting Ganesha Lingham Fountain Sends Shockwaves through ISKCON

NEW YORK - For years, resin figurines of Hindu deities have adorned the houses and even altars of ISKCON devotees. While these hand painted miniatures of Siva, Laxmi and baby Krishna go unnoticed, collecting dust upon countless whatnot shelves, the most recent edition from Hindu-Tacki Collectibles has stirred undeniable controversy and, according to some, has led the the degradation of the human race.

Click here to read on…

Looking at the weather, I think I might be changing the first day’s travel.

Originally, I was planning on riding north to US Route 6, then west, staying the night in Kane, PA. The next day I would head south to Rati and Dwija’s in New Vrndavana, WV.

But due to weather (it seems it’s going to be pretty chilly in the morning, possibly 35 degrees), it seems weird to go north. So now my plan is probably going to be a one-day trip straight to New Vrndavana. I’ll then get back on schedule by staying two days in West Virginia with Rati and Dwija.

If I do this, I’ll head south along Route 15 and then west on US 40/National Road. Or possibly I’ll head west on US Route 30/Lincoln Highway. Not totally sure just yet.

-

Last night I did Chinese with Smartz (such scandalous activity!!!). On the way there, I rode through a very wet rain storm. Oddly, nobody else anywhere got rain. Oh, but I got it. By the time I got to the Chinese place, I was soaked and cold.

I didn’t bring my rain gear. Why? Oh who knows. But I wouldn’t have had time to put it on. So what I need to do is waterproof my coat. I wish I could waterproof my pants. Water pools in some very … uncomfortable places. But when I’m on Scoot 66, I’ll have my riding pants on over my regular pants.

-

If anyone is hoping to see me before I leave, I’ll be at Cherry Alley Cafe in Lewisburg on and off. I’ll definitely be there on Tuesday, the day before I leave. I’ll get there at 8am and will probably stay till close.

Haachaa!

The start of Scoot 66 us merely one week away. 95% of me wants to leave NOW. I’m ready.

Well, not quite.

I have to get a rear tire. That should be in “’round’bout end of th’ week er so.” Not really sure what that means, but I hope it means that I’ll have a new rear tire by the time I leave.

And you know what? That’s it. At this point, I’m waiting for a new rear tire.

I am READY. I don’t think I’ve prepared as much for anything as I have for this. And it’s great. I’m freaked out and scared and will get lost a WHOLE bunch, but I’m ready for all that.

Now, the weather has to co-operate. If it does, all should be fine.

I’ve gone back and forth on my white Stella scooter for so long now. I’ve tried to sell it and due to all the mods that I did to it, it won’t sell. I’m sure I could get a couple of grand for it…

However, after being in New York City and hearing the wonderful sounds of a two-stroke, I’m again thinking about keeping it.

The problem I have with it is the gearing that I installed. It’s sluggish as hell and basically reduces it to three gears with a fourth gear being an overdrive. It’s an interesting set up and definitely should be experienced, but I’m pretty over it now. I’ve got a big ass pipe on it as well. It’s loud. Really loud.

So yeah, I’m thinking about keeping it. I’ll be moving at the end of summer and if I have a place to put it, I’ll keep it. Of course, if someone offers me $2500 for it, I’ll take it. :)

The one thing I’m planning on doing is getting a whole new engine. It will be this scooter’s third engine, but hey. I’d love to get a 200cc engine (stock is 150cc). But I’d settle for a 150.

The new Vespa is great. I couldn’t (rather, wouldn’t) do Scoot 66 on a two stroke. But there’s something about being able to fix it that makes me happy. If something goes wrong with the new Vespa (which is unlikely), I have no idea how to fix it. But if something goes wrong on a two stroke (which is fairly likely), I have at least some idea how to fix it.

So if fall rolls around and I have a place to keep it, I’ll get a new engine and smaller pipe and install them (because I can) and I’ll have my two stroke back.

Just thought you’d like to know.

I’m not trying to be morbid here, but for my ride today, I thought I’d go visit the grave of my friend Amy.

I’ve not really had to deal with a lot of death in my life. Just both sets of grandparents and my best friend Amy (from when I was in high school).

Amy is buried in the New Berlin cemetery. I have visited her grave site twice. When we were in high school we went to the prom together and basically hung out every day. She’s the one who got me into the Grateful Dead. Her favorite song was “Casey Jones.” Probably because the reference to cocaine. She was wonderful, but kind of lame sometimes.

We were also into quite a bit of punk rock. She fancied herself the Nancy to my Sid (though I was hardly a Sid… come to think of it though, she was a lot like Nancy). She wasn’t the perfect girl and not really the perfect friend. She lied pretty much all the time and it was really hard to get her to be real. Eventually it became easier to tell when she was lying. Even through the lies and the fighting, we were really close. It was a weird combination of girlfriend/boyfriend and best friend and would often teeter between the two.

Before she died, we drifted a bit. She had gotten really into drugs and drinking and I was a little straight-edge kid. We hung out here and there, but not like we did. The sad thing is that she sobered up and got pretty clean right before dying. We started to hang out again and she had changed a bit, but was still Amy - just not as weird. I think she may have been a bit medicated - she had been through a few sessions of rehab.

In the Spring of ‘94, she was picking up a car with her mother (who was basically a second mother for me). While her mother was driving behind her, someone blew a red light and plowed into Amy’s car. For two weeks she was in a coma. And then she died.

I didn’t attend the funeral. It was weird. I was one of her only friends. Everyone else made fun of her, mostly for lying and being fake. I didn’t want to deal with them “mourning.” Her gravestone, picked out by her mother, is nice with two deer on it. The daisies were a lovely touch. She liked flowers.

It would be really interesting to see what she would have become if she had lived. I don’t speak to anyone from high school anymore, so it’s odd to think that she and I would have kept in touch. But it would be nice.

“Casey Jones (Live in Lewisburg, PA, 1971)” by Grateful Dead

Though she liked “Casey Jones” best, “Me & Bobby McGee” has always reminded me of her.

“Me & Bobby McGee (Live in Lewisburg, PA, 1971)” by Grateful Dead

There are only 10 days left till the start of Scoot 66. And while I’m 95% ready to leave, there are still a few things I need to do.

I need to get a new rear tire. The one I have won’t make it to Albuquerque, where I’m scheduling a maintenance stop. And speaking of that, I need to schedule it with the shop.

Also needed is a new face shield for my helmet. The one I have is pretty scratched up.

I also need to cancel three or four reservations I made before extending the trip. Mostly KOAs. Maybe I can just change the dates.

And I’ve also go to make reservations at the two motels I’m definitely planning to stay: The Blue Swallow and the Wig Wam (in Holbrook, AZ). I’m pretty well not making reservations anywhere except those places (and a campground in California). All because you really have to if you want to stay there.

So basically, I’m almost ready to go.

But what I really can’t prepare for is how nervous I am about it. I’m pretty ok with being alone, but I am prone to bouts of loneliness from time to time. The fellow doing Vespadition is going through that. And he’s REALLY social. He talks to tons of people. I wonder if I won’t just become some desocialized hermit or sociopath or something. Shit, maybe I’m the next unibomber.

I’m not really worried about getting lost. I’ve been lost a bunch of times. Never really liked it, but I’m used to it. My directions aren’t perfect. The things I want to see are random and scattered. I will get lost pretty much every day. But I’ve got some good maps and guide books and a lot more patience than I used to have.

I’m not close enough to my departure date that I can see how they’re predicting the weather will be.
As of April 20, the weather on April 30 will be: Periods of cloud and sunshine. High of 55, low of 40.

I’m ready as I possible can be, sans the rear tire change and a few reservations and stuff.