Day 1 of YERT: Happy Energy Independance Day!!!

This might be a long one- Today marked the 1st official day of YERT!

Bright and early, we rose. I greeted the lovely Erika Bowman at the door (who is quickly becoming the 4th member of this adventure even if she DOES stay in Pittsburgh) and then made breakfast of blueberries/yogurt/coffee...Mark arrived and we headed out for the homestead of Rachel Carson - she would have been 100 this year and, as she is considered to be the godmother of the environmental movement, we wanted to honor her memory as the cornerstone of the trip. Seems bizarre that so little has changed since she first wrote Silent Spring in the 60's. We have come far is many ways (technology) but in some ways it is as if time stopped (pesticides, still)!

On the drive, my new camera's battery promptly died, leaving zero opportunity for catching nice stills, and reminding us all of the necessity to make sure we are fully locked and loaded before we leave home. Well, not Mark. Mark does not need reminding about checking those things. so, me. (Moment while I actually go plug in the camera battery right now...)..ok back.
**Important note: we decided to follow our instincts and roll audio in the car while driving to/from destinations. After only one short drive, we feel like we are onto something pretty important. The drama is in the car.

Rachel Carson's house was beautiful, unoccupied for the 4th of July holiday, and birds were singing out loud and proud in her yard. We were happy to note no "Silent Spring" just yet. We were planning to read some words of inspiration from her book but no dice. I got to laughing hard just trying to find any positive spin (see chapter title: Rivers of Death). Nevertheless, we felt her spirit in the car several times try to steer us back onto track and so we decided that she is our guardian angel and that we no longer had to look for a name for the car. The car is called Rachel.

Next stop was at Tim Palucka's house (WYEP) where Tim engaged us in a radio interview about how this all got started and what we're about. Then afterwards, his fine wife Connie made homemade gingercookies and sent us off with the lot. I tied them up in my bandanna after we had each eaten several, and stuffed them in my backback. Connie scribbled down the states where we still need help and volunteered to contact anyone she knows there who she thinks might be interested in having us or helping us for a bit. As we left, Erika remarked how refreshing to see Americans opening their hearts and hearths to us... she hadn't known they would be so willing to help. Smiles.

Next stop: Station Square and the 4th of July festivities. (Erika had to run catch a bus for her very first day waiting tables at the Cheesecake factory. We parted super reluctantly.) Ben donned the ghetto Uncle Sam suit, in the parking lot, w/hat and beard, and carried a microphone with a little American flag. Tim carried audio equipment and wore cans. Mark had the beautiful new Camera A and headphones for sound. I carried the release forms on a clipboard with a pen and wore a straw cowboy hat with a R/W/B tie around its middle. Armed as such, our motley crew strolled onto the Waterfront. Almost as soon as we had settled on the least noisy spot, a little boy approached Ben, "Hi Uncle Sam!" and thus did the ball start rolling. Child after child approached Uncle Sam and I followed them to find their parents to sign release forms. All but one mother were happy to oblige. And Man alive, is there some precious footage. Costumes seem to be key. Hmmm...Costumes and props... right back to theatre? lol

Some few grownup interviews later, feeling quite nice about our day's reap, and ravenous (and a little rain), we packed back into Rachel Carson and onto the road in search of sustenance. Almost immediately we remembered Erika and her first day working at the Cheesecake Factory, so we made a beeline straight for her. It was only a 10 minute wait! We surprised her; hooray! She brought us brown bread with no butter (bc butter comes in paper to table and we don't want to have to throw away), and brought our waters sans ice, lemon or straws. I tried to get Ben interested in eating the red and yellow peppers on our shared plate bc they were so yummy but he would have none of it and even got upset that i was "micromanaging" his supper. I had to watch, a little, the puppies out the window, and Mark offered that he sometimes longs for that kind of mothering...
When all was said and done, Erika came back to us with the check and a look of disbelief. The Cheesecake factory ended up being just as generous as the majority of the supportive peeps we encounter. We did not have to pay for our supper. Amazing.

We're tired tonight. Ben is working madly on pods, Mark is working madly on many things, not the least of which is packing, and I am writing here...and thinking about packing...
Ben and I did walk over onto the 10th St Bridge to watch the fireworks display. My inner "Nancy" tssked over the amount of pollution/garbage being created all over the country shooting fireworks and BBQing all over the place...but I told her to Shut it and Enjoy those sparks and enjoy sitting together with all the people on the bridge coming together to watch big sparks and feel happy...we DO this...even if we don't really know what we are celebrating anymore...there seem to be so few community events that really bring people together anymore. I let my "Nan" pick up litter on the way back home as consolation. It was all recyclable yet i didn't bring it all the way home; I tossed it in the trash outside of the Holiday Inn Express. (sigh.) Guess i only take responsibility so far and then i leave it at the curb.

But YERT's trash for the day was accounted for: 3 Clifbar wrappers are now lying flat and inert in our plastic shoebox (will hold our garbage for the entire month. All 3 of us.) WooHOO!!!
Happy energy Independance Day, America! Get out the compost bins, we're coming over!