Day Totals: 16 hrs, 20 kms

Here I am, sitting at a cafe on the square, exactly in the same place I was 1 year ago. Here are some of my thoughts...

15 months ago I was in the middle of the most adventurous year of my life. During a 9 month period I visited a whopping 403 towns, spending 136 days on the road, taking nearly 7,000 thousand pictures and walking 3,228 kilometers. I had the feeling that my life might be about to slow down, so I wanted to cram in all the exploring and parkbenching that I could first.

Now things have slowed down dramatically. In the last year I've only explored 40 new towns and spent a mere 44 days on the road. It suddenly struck me the other day that this is the first time since I reached adulthood that I've gone more than 7 months without crossing an international border!

So what's the purpose of this slowdown? Here are some of my thoughts:

- This is a chance to focus on quality over quantity. Try to make sure each day really counts. Notice more details. Write more about what I observe and experience. Make more of an effort to meet people. When traveling through an exotic foreign country you don't have to try very hard to discover new things. When exploring you own country, where everything is pretty familiar, you do. Hopefully this experience will make me a better traveller.

- Reconnect with the experience of the common man. I like to hope that I inspire people to live more adventurously and explore the world more. I've always liked to say "anybody can travel--you just have to be courageous and think outside of the box.... it's not about how much money or how much time you have, it's an attitude" Now is the chance for me to prove it. Can I still keep an adventurous spirit with limited time and resources? How flexible can my Adventure Life be? What if I only have a couple hours a week?

-The chance to let it go for a while. With a guaranteed vacationtime every 2 1/2 months, I almost felt like I had to travel while working in Morocco. Now, giving up travel for a bit (and maybe focusing on some other things) gives me the chance to step back and see if the passion is really there--or if this had just become a habit

- Look at the big picture for a bit. Make sure I haven't gotten tunnel vision at the expense of other things I should be thinking about.

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So here I am. I'm not stressed or frustrated. It sort of feels like I've made myself a cocoon, and I've allowed my project and lifestyle to die, with the hope that it will come back to life a whole new creature. And I'm ready to start taking some little baby steps to start bringing the Global Parkbench Tour back to life.

So why not start by exploring Chambersburg a bit more? just a bunch of short little hikes--a couple hours here and there... paste them together unti there are enough to make a full Adventure Day?

So here they are:

(2 hours) Cafe on the Square: just soaking in the downtown Chambersburg vibe

(2 hrs) Coffeehouse Gig: played an unplugged gig at a shaby chic coffeehouse here in town (actually had my daughter with me for that one--a first!). Not a lot of people--but it did feel invigorating to be back in "gig mode" after so many years.

(3 hrs) Playing at the Chambersfest: Artfully Brewed invited me to perform in front of the coffeehouse during the Chambersfest summer festival. This was a chance for me to think over how I might want to give a visual presentation of the Global Parkbench Concert Tour. I opted for a presentation board with photos from parkbench sessions around the world, with a map in the center. I opted more for audience photos rather than beautiful scenery photos as a way of saying it's more about the people than the background. Made a couple of good contacts during this time (including a fellow who plans to join me for a stretch of my Superhike!) and overall

(2 hrs) Walk with my brother: This was more a chance to revisit a couple spots around town that bring back memories for both of us. Andrew also lived here in Chambersburg for a year at a critical phase in his life, so it was a nostalgic walk for him as well.

(2 hrs) The Projects: One corner of Chambersburg I'd missed during my last tour were "the projects" a low income housing development. Simple houses, but well maintained--certainly no real "ghetto" feel here. A reminder that just because it's a low income area doesn't mean it has to be run down and dangerous.

(2 hrs) Open Mike at The Cottage: On up Wayne Avenue I was pleasantly surprised to come across an Open Mike at The Cottage. Good atmosphere, some really good musicians and attentive audience--even though I had a rough time with the sound equipment. Refreshing to be among kindred spirits right here in Chambersburg.

(3 hrs) Industrial Park: This is an industrial/warehouse area on the south edge of Chambersburg--a pretty boring walk, but I suppose I should add it as it is a very important part of Chambersburg economy and culture. Places like this are what make Chambersburg a magnet for job seekers, rather than an exporter of job seekers. Thanks to a combination of good location and policies that makes this area attractive to new job creators.

I do this hike at night--no need to wander around here in the hot sun. Lots of memories come back of various jobs I've had in here... There's the place that makes plastic pots for plants... back in 2001 many of the workers were illegal immigrants who didn't mind working the mandatory 7 days a week (they've cleaned up their act since then). Ironically, for me this was my first "serious" job--the first job where I felt I could actually earn enough to support a family just working one job. Good memories of interaction with Guatemalans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, Dominicans... very hard workers--many very grateful for the opportunities offered to them in this country--doing work that few native born Americans are willing to do.

Then there was a temp job at the perfume packing warehouse... then another at a health food packing place... Then the department store warehouse where I worked at for 3 1/2 years. It was this job that first allowed me to be a world traveler, allowing me to work extra hours during the busy season and take a month off during the slow season. Before this I never would've imagined that I could be a blue collar worker, a family man and a world traveller (2-3 mononths a year) all at the same time.

I continue on, past the few remaining cornfields and farmhouses sandwiched between the warehouses down to Highway 11. Here I pause for a minute in front of Budget Inn, the hotel I stayed at for a week when I moved back here 8 months ago. Mixed memories from this place. On one hand, it felt good to be able to prove I could move back to America and stand on my own two feet on my own--however, it was a bit nerve wracking to apply for job after job and get no answer. Here I had a glimpse at the lives of those who "fall between the cracks" of the American Dream. People who, through their own mistakes, or possibly now have a very difficult time getting jobs or finding permenant lodging.

I realized that things have changed since I was here 10 years ago. Things have gotten much more impersonal. Nowadays you can only apply for jobs by computer--and the computer is programmed to "weed out" undesirable applicants. So you might apply for a hundred jobs, but if you've got some blot on your record, the computer might kick you out every time without an actual human even seeing your application! The same goes for renting an apartment: if you don't meet the standards, all of the rental agencies will turn you down.

So what are these "imperfect" applicants supposed to do? I used to have this mindset that folks who can't find jobs in America are just lazy. But this experience gave a brief taste of what it might be like to feel "locked" out of the American Dream--and unable to do anything to change that.

Of course, compared to most countries, there are still far more opportunites here in America--even for undesirable job applicants. But now I have a bit more sympathy for that feeling of helplessness some people might feel. That feeling that the system is working against you and there's nothing you can do to change that can be pretty overwhelming I'm sure.

Anyways... there's a 24 hour gas station where I grab a walking taco (that's a bag of chips with meat and other stuff put inside it)... chill out for a bit and reflect a little more on my memories from this area...

So... those 7 "mini-hikes" add up to 16 hours: equal to one full day in Adventure Mode.