Thank you for your encouraging words and support as we pedaled our way, 1200 miles worth, from St. Louis to New Orleans to Baton Rouge and now back to New Orleans.

The tour has been great. I learned a lot about small groups, the kindness of strangers and my own strengths and weaknesses as an activist and riding companion.

The kindness of people who don't know us has been astonishing. We stayed, all ten of us b/c we picked up some riders in New Orleans, with a guy who offered to give us a ride in his pick-up truck 20 miles outside of Baton Rouge because it was raining. It turns out, Karl and Toni opened up their home to hurricane relief workers right after the storm and the generosity of their hearts stayed strong through that experience and is probably part of the reason they opened their home up to ten kids on bikes. I have talked with many locals who say that the kindness people have shown each other since the storm has stuck and that people have really woken up and realized that it is neighbors helping neighbors that will make the difference in terms of us getting along and rebuilding. That's what I like to hear! Grassroots organizing and community building is what gives me hope for our future.

The common ground collective in Nola is awesome. There are internal struggles and things don't always run smoothly, but overall, it has been a great collective effort that has produced many fruits, including a community bike shop open to the public and neighborhood kids three times a week. It was inspiring to see the radical infrastructure that has been built here and I hope that it will stay with me as I go back to my community in California and work proactively to create sustainable infrastructure so that before disaster hits, we have ourselves a safety net.

Thanks again for all of your support! Bike peace to you all!

love, thistle