SOMETIMES YOU MIGHT EVEN MEET A PRESIDENT

My best friend that I have been house/dog/cat sitting for got back from her Alaska cruise late last night, VERY LATE.  Like LATE.  I figured she didn't bring her house keys on board.  A taxi was bringing her back from Logan so I forced myself to stay up, work on figuring out my route to West Virgina and search for hosts along my path.  As my eyes started to close I switched over to the sofa and turned on the TV.  All those stations and nothing to watch.  How do people spend so much time in front of a box?

My friend got back here at 2:00am, we chatted and I went to bed at 3:00.  Oh how I am so not used to the night hours anymore.  Yes Buenos Aires is unprogrammed from my circadian rhythm these days. I need a nap.  It is 5:00pm and I am one dragging little gypsy girl. BUT I am going to get this post written because it is my duty to all of you to keep the DO NEWS musing along.

Staying up to 3:00am - not NEW
Mapping travel routes - not NEW
Searching for CouchSurfing hosts - not NEW
Running errands, going to the bank - not NEW
Going to the library - not NEW
Actually discovering a book in that little library about OFF THE BEATEN PATH of WISCONSIN - definitley NEW.

As I was leaving the library's main floor one of the librarians asked me if I found everything that I was looking for and wondered if I needed additional help.  I told him that I found some things and that I am going to West Virgina next week so the MOBIL guide should help and then there is this little gem on Wisconsin where I will be traveling to after WV.

He asked why I was going to WV, if I had family there and I told him no.  It seems my life this summer is traveling around to different states milking things. (Check out the book's cover - ha)  I told him I was going to do some volunteer work on some farms and get some NEW experiences.  That fascinated him.  He wanted to know how I found out about openings to do that sort of thing.  I told him about HELPX.NET and WWOOF.ORG and how these organizations are designed to connect helpers with those in need of help, WWOOF being for organic farms and HELPX for all sorts of things from farms to backpacker hostels, homestays, projects, etc.  I asked him if he had heard of COUCHSURFING as I am a moderator in Argentina.  I am looking for hosts along my path to show me their hood and let me crash for a night or two at their place.  All of these organizations were NEW NEWS to him.  I often forget that I live in a different world than most people.

When I speak of CouchSurfing most people ask about the safety measures and I explain about the Reference System, the Vouch System and the Verification System helping to ensure everyone's safe travel.  We are over four million people now and growing. I spoke of how I used CS in Spain and Portugal last year, that in the two months I was traveling I spent just my first night in a hotel (with other CSers meeting me at the airport at 7:00am to welcome me to Spain and get me to my hotel) two nights in a hostel as it was an impromptu stop, two nights in a student residence and then except for the 11 days that I walked the last 300km of El Camino de Santiago (impromptu decision too) all the other time I was with CS hosts.  I was welcomed into their homes and became included in their families.  It was superb.

He wanted to know if I had any bad experiences and I told him just one "odd" one.  I was driving from Florida to Massachusetts.  I was a member of the Cycling CS group and a few months earlier another member of that sub-group contacted me.  He saw that I was listed as a journalist and wanted help writing a press release about his bike journey across the USA for Vietnam Veteran's Awareness.  He then told me if I was driving through Georgia that I should stop and stay at Koinonia Farm (birthplace of Habitat for Humanity).  I did.  It was a pecan farm and Christian retreat center.  I was given an entire retreat house to myself as I was the only female outside visitor for the five days that I was there, two great meals a day and no one hit me over the head with a bible.  In fact I taught a workshop on energy medicine to thank them for their hospitality.  Since I was so close to Plains, GA I went to the church where Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school.  I met him and his wife Rosalynn.  So indirectly I met Jimmy Carter through CouchSurfing.  The "odd" piece of the story is that this fellow that invited me to the farm had an estranged daughter that contacted me to discredit her father.  Not bad, just "odd."  I hope they worked it out.

I am now in a future slot to speak at the library about HELPX when I come back from my trip and as we all know that will be a blast for me.  The librarian asked if I take a lot of photos.  Oh hunny you have no idea.  I take a ton and love to tell stories.

I guess a nap is out for today.  I asked my friend if she didn't mind if we just ordered Chinese or a pizza and stayed at home tonight.  I have a lot of reading to do tomorrow about all the cool places I can see from MA to WV.  I think looking at Alaskan photos or watching a movie will DO us both just fine.  She got to nap today.  It is hard to bounce back from a five hour time difference.

Have a wonderful DO NEW time this weekend.  HAVE FUN!