Day 12: Is It Just A Pipe Dream?

#YourTurnChallenge was a 7-day blogging challenge started by Seth Godin's Special Projects Lead Winnie, which I was honored to take part in. And I'm gonna keep going!!! I've decided to extend the challenge to 30 days. I will blog everyday from Jan 19th until Feb 17th. Wish me luck and happy reading.



The preparations for my project, a year long road trip with dog, metal smithing studio, bike and laptop, are underway.  I plan to leave late summer/fall of this year. I’ll be hitting up all sorts of mountain biking trails, meet up with cyclists, artists, galleries, schools and more. Originally I wanted to do this by bike but India the Adventure dog is kind of a scaredy cat and said no. She has no problem jumping off a cliff but won’t sit in a bike trailer no matter the bribery. 

Transplant from Nebraska hanging proud in LA

Looks like we’re traveling cross country by car and this brings up a major concern, fuel consumption. It’s extremely important that I’m as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible. Nebraska has been the center of attention and a major contender against the further extension of the TransCanada Pipeline. Being in the center of all this talk has made me aware of my own dependence on oil and I boldly stand with the fighters. The awareness of the pipeline and other environmental issues such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has opened my eyes and are actually pretty damn scary. You should look these up and make your own opinion. Once I saw the scale of both of these and how they are already there I realized you just can’t shut them down or fix them in a snap. The politics and trash run too deep. They are bigger then us but we have to start somewhere, why not with me. Or you. This battle is gonna last a long time, remember the Dust Bowl? Probably not. Look it up. So does the fact that I will be traveling by car for a year make me a hypocrite? What can I do to make up for this or change this? I guess by starting out small. 

What are the most important items? Me and the dog. Everything else is an added bonus. I’ve given in to the fact that I may just have my car. This means major scale down of my possessions. As I saw the other night on Skid Row someone can survive or live with near to nothing. I’ll load up the car with me and the dog…well the bike too since I already have a bike rack…then hit the road. This is totally doable. I will just have to rely on camping out, staying with friends, family and colleagues. I can also work in other artist’s studios or maybe a school or art center will let me use their studio to metal smith while on the road.

Next idea, with the help of my super talented brother and his carpenter skills we can build a camper trailer to tow. It will have to be large enough for me and the dog to sleep in at night but small enough to tow. I also can add a back pop up trunk for a portable metal smithing studio. Again doable but this increases my fuel consumption but with my Scion XB it won’t be much. A down side is only working in the studio when the weather is nice, but I’m Nebraska bred and can handle most of Mother Nature…then again I’ve been in SoCal for awhile now.

There are many other options, buying an old RV and restoring it, getting an old pickup with a camper top, pop up trailer, school bus, van…I’m dizzy with all the options. They are endless. No matter the plan it has be as sustainable and energy affectionate as possible. I’m not sure what I will end up doing, but for now I’m gonna work with what I’ve got. 


Here are a few sites about the Pipeline for you to check out and form your own opinion.

BOLD Nebraska
http://boldnebraska.org/

Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikepatton/2014/11/24/the-truth-about-the-keystone-xl-pipeline/ 

Info about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/?ar_a=1 

And finally some info bout the Dust Bowl

This site is from the small town I was born in, pretty cool

http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_02.html


Rad Film by Ken Burns

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/


 

*I'd love to hear from you, have questions? Comments? Please contact me at casey [at] caseyshepparddesigns [dot] com Thank you again for reading*