By Velvety Black Earth Tongue (aka Tammy Davis)
Editor's Note: In the Spring 2002 issue of Talking Leaves (Volume 12, Number 1), we featured an interview with The Blazing Echidna (aka Ethan Hughes) about the Superhero rides he had helped organize (cross-country in 2000, in Maine in 2001, and a then-upcoming trip in North Carolina in 2002) as well as the local Hero Alliance he'd been part of in the Cottage Grove-Eugene area of Oregon. The Superheroes are dedicated to "doing good" wherever people need help, coming together in adventures of service that spread a spirit of joy and celebration. They have developed a "Superhero Start-Up Kit Coloring Book," containing advice on how to start new Superhero trips and projects (portions are reproduced in these pages). Their most recent trip took place in December 2003 in Arizona. Lost Valley community member Tammy Davis joined the heroes this year, along with many others who'd been (or who have since become) interns, program participants, and/or simply friends of Lost Valley. Excerpts from her journal follow.
Day One
Nov. 30th, 2003... A bus leaves Maitreya Ecovillage in Eugene miraculously at 9 am with 24 caped superheroes, two bus drivers, and 24 bikes plus a few trailers compactly strapped to the roof of the bus. Boxes of food, delivered in the dark and driving rain the previous night by special forces who have teamed up, Dancing Dragon and Spota, are shoved under the benches on the bus. A whole crowd of family and supporters see us off...waving and cheering in the relentless Oregon rain. Our fearless and generously tolerant bus drivers, Allan and Kevin, give us the lowdown: "Make sure you each have a 'buddy' who intimately tracks your every pee break so you don't get left behind at a gas station at 3 am." We superheroes insist on having our own special superhero "count-off" as back-up. Number One--"Honesty Man" (Lawrence), "able to create and destroy relationships with a single phrase"--starts the count-off, 2, 3, 4... I, "Earth Tongue," am 16...Janna, "Serpendipity," is 17 and keeps forgetting to say it out loud, even in the rare case when she actually is on the bus and ready to go on time...Oh yeah, and Sky, who is "Reflecto...Something?" and loves to surf the edge of tolerance, keeps repeating his number, 14, throughout the rest of the count. 18, 19, "fourteen!", 20, 21, "fourteen!"...Brownie Boy (Evan), who ate at least a pound of brownies within the first few hours of the bus ride without barfing, rarely says his own number...usually Purple Monkey says it for him while socking him in the arm for not participating in the count. One of the bus drivers finishes the count for both of them saying "25, 26" while rolling slowly out of the parking lot as we finally finish the heroic count so we can hit the road.As the snuggle pile on the platform in the back of the bus continually shifts and people rotate from the couches along the sides of the bus, we cruise south, shedding the rain and daylight. Somewhere in California during various hours of the night we add riders until our count is up to 31! Buffalo Gal shows up at some random gas station exit with rhinestone sparkles aligned perfectly on her forehead.
Day Two
Still on the bus...watching a spectacular purple orange sunrise in the Cali-zona desertscape, silhouettes of saguaro cacti on the horizon. We get a kick out of walking in and out of gas stations with our capes on. We stop for a game of Frisbee in the sun, (finally.....ahhh, the sun) while the drivers fiddle with the bus. Mark, the owner of a gravel trucking company, buys a frilly black tunic at a truck stop to sew his sparkly red cape to, magically transforming him into "Super Softie." We finally get close to our destination at dusk, only to be turned back by a tunnel that seems to measure the exact height of the bus plus the bikes on top! But after almost shaving off a few bikes under a gas station awning, we decide not to risk it and drive around...so it is dark by the time we reach our rendezvous point at the park in Douglas, AZ. The bus seemed to circle the park three times before settling down for the night in an empty lot. The rest of our Merry Band of superheroes we found cheering our late arrival by a bonfire they built in the BarBQ grill near some picnic tables...Among many was "Compashman" (Christian), who was a Permaculture apprentice at Lost Valley when he met Ethan at Naka-Ima and signed on immediately to join the league, the artist formerly known as "Purl Roshi" from Twin Oaks in Virginia, who changed his name to "the Vitamin Kid" after just recently finishing the book Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolpho Anaya (it's a great book, read it!), Ethan's momma, the death-defying "Desert Queen," and the famed "Wander Woman" and "Luna, Warrior Princess" from a previous ride. We set up our tents and crash, finally able to get the whole group horizontal at once after the long bus adventure.
Day Three
Honesty Man is going nuts because his watch battery died and he can't tell what time it is at 2 am while sleeping...go figure. I wake up throughout the night with the sickening realization (too late) that I am catching a cold. I pray for no fever.We circle up and get into parade formation for our virgin ride (a whole 16 plus 6 blocks) to the unmarked secret location of the Hope House, a shelter for battered women, to help them repaint the interior. We ride back and forth and up and down the block, discreetly dressed in outrageous superhero costumes unsuccessfully looking for the place until we finally call the director on Desert Queen's trusty cell phone and ask her to please step outside the place and wave to us so we can find it!! We split off and half the group heads to Hope House's thrift store across town to build a dressing room and lots of shelves, sort donated items, and collect more costume pieces and "stuff" to haul around on our bikes for fun. Spiral comes up with a tongue for me, Buffalo Gal scores some horns for her helmet, and Velvet Revolution finds a fancy belt to add to his get up.
Meanwhile, I decided to take the reluctant-to-paint-boys on a mission to track down the Stealth Angel Love Bomber, allegedly traveling on foot across town, to show her the secret location of the Hope House. We stopped in front of the local bike store and decided to pick up trash in the street and apartments next door while waiting for her to pass by. One old lady was so impressed with Brownie Boy, Ragin' Cajun, and Reflecto...Something? picking up trash, she gave them a dollar and they decided they would give it to Ethan later. As we searched behind the 7-11 for a dumpster to deposit the trash, just who drives up in a rental car but Miss Love Bomber. The story goes like this: She was looking for a ride to Tucson, she considered the bus her best option, but since she was just walking right by a car rental place, she went inside. The guy at the counter was upset because he wanted to drop the car off here and they told him he had to get it to Tucson to turn it in... so he notices the lady behind him in the cape and makes a wise-crack: "Well, maybe Wonder Woman here will take it for me!" And the rest is history...
Day Four
"Plenty of Time, Nowhere to Go." We woke up and took our time packing up camp, building just a few more shelves for the shelter, making banners for the bike brigade, and fixing up bikes. After we tucked away every last shred of evidence we had been at the park, we went over the directions: 16th to A Ave., take a right, merge with Highway 80 West and go 'til mile marker 379, take a left at the Windtree Ranch sign and then it is just 6 miles up a dirt gravel road with a 1,200 foot elevation gain. Well, after numerous map checks at every turn, ten flat tires, one wipe-out on the gravel road, and one fiery orange-fuchia desert sky sunset that Groovy Swirl and I stopped in awe to watch, we ended up shuttling our bikes and trailers up the gnarly last half-mile rutted, rocky, and steep hill IN THE DARK! As I approached the first steep hill I was greeted by Somebuddy, GreatGitchigumi, and Serpendipity, who began running alongside my bike saying " Welcome to Heartbreak Hill, you will probably make it up three-quarters of the way and then fall over, so we are here to give you a boost and catch your bike if you fall over!" Such teamwork! On the next hill, it took at least three superheroes with enough leftover leg strength to push each bike or trailer up the hill; that rider would keep going and the other two would run down to shuttle the next bike with one new person joining them. Blazing Echidna and Blue Heron got caught in a space/time loop and went up the hill six times! Artemis Fartemis team cooked up a hearty meal for the worn-out heroes so we could get to work at the ranch the next morning.The adventure continued...but Tammy Davis ran out of time and energy to transcribe her journal. You can find out about the next Superhero ride, and/or inquire about a "starter kit" for creating your own ride or project, by contacting Superhero Headquarters, 78590 Echo Hollow Lane, Cottage Grove, OR, 97424, (541) 767-9604. A Lost Valley community member and Naka-Ima staff member, Tammy is also involved in education about Permaculture, Compassionate Communication, and related areas.
©2004 Talking Leaves
Spring/Early Summer 2004
Volume 14, Numbers 1 & 2
Person and Place: Adventures Here, There, & Everywhere