There are talks going on about the idea of renting a land whale and travelling in a big loop spread out over three weeks. At the moment there would be me, jocelyn and my friend geoff. Jocelyn is talking about forest might be along for part of the trip. The tiniest land whale seems to have three beds - so there would be and empty bed for part of the trip.

Some rough calculations on the cost shows ..... a lot of cost. Thousands.

We are currently throwing around lots and lots of ideas.

I've been asked to speak at a bunch of places and they always seem far away. So now it kinda seems like it is possible that I could come to those areas. Several of those speaking gigs sound like they are willing to shell out a few bucks.

Getting a slightly larger land whale costs just a little more. And will probably use just a little more fuel. If that could then accommodate two more people, then that would probably dramatically drop our carbon footprint per person. And maybe other folks would be game for coming along for part of the ride and chipping in for the expenses.

Currently thinking about three weeks, starting and ending in seattle. The loop would go through oregon and california, ending in sandy eggo, then coming back inland including phoenix and salt lake city.

Currently in the brainstorming phase. With the idea of stopping by lots of permaculture sites all along the way.

Anybody out there want to get in on the tour and chip in money and driving and food and cooking and stuff? Maybe for four days of the three week trip?

Sounds like you're going down the 101, but if you pop over to the Sacramento Valley you could come through Chico, (and maybe Davis) as you proceed to SF. At a recent talk I saw bits of Carla Resnick's place in Chico (also featured at http://www.permaculturezone.net/). She might be down to show you what she's doing. My spanking new HK beds are not much to look at, yet.

Our local Weston A. Price Meetup gets good turn-out for presentations. About 40 folks paid $12 to listen to Carla talk about permaculture stuff, 700+ are expected for an upcoming Joel Salatin gig. http://www.meetup.com/Chico-ButteValleyWAPFChapter/

Mike - that sounds very doable!

Here is what a lot of my destination ideas sound like so far --- keep in mind, these are just brainstorming ideas, I haven't asked any of these folks:

- battleground, washington: friendly haven rise farm (jacqueline and joseph freeman) (the CCD video and snakes vs. slugs vid)

- portland?

- silver creek falls (because it is cool) and maybe salem (geoff's mom)

- oregon coast (somebody wanted me to speak there last year but it didn't pan out - plus the oregon coast is awesome)

- eugene/dexter: rick valley, and lost valley

- north calif: marina and robert

- albion, ca: steve heckeroth (solar, electric tractors, natural swimming pool)

- SF (just wanna gaze at the museum of fine arts for five minutes)

- yosemite: visit park, plus glenn K has an oehler structure out there somewhere

- santa barbara: art ludwig (greywater, outhouses, composting toilets, permaculture, art)

- a little further south is Jocelyn's sister

- sandy eggo: my cousin has a swimming pool and is a surfer!

- phoenix

- prescott?

- grand canyon: never been

- SLC: got invited to speak there, and my friend andrew lives there

- boise?

- la grande: I have kin there.

4000 miles in 21 days. running the math ..... mileage charges .... gas ... food ...

Are there people out there that would want to rent a bunk, plus contribute to cooking and driving for, say, $150 per day? So this would include going to cool permaculture sites with me and jocelyn and geoff. And visiting about permaculture stuff.

The idea is: should we try to get an even tinier land whale to save money, or maybe we should get an even bigger one to lower the carbon footprint per person and make it so more people can come along.

How much time between Portland and SF? We might meet up for a extended part of the trip!

Miel DuBois wrote:How much time between Portland and SF? We might meet up for a extended part of the trip!

Dunno. Kinda trying to figure that out among a dozen other things.

How about ending at Burning Man, starts Aug. 27 and bring a perminculture "thing" there. It's near Reno On the playa (black rock city).

Paul,
If you come to CA be sure to let us know your schedule. I'd like to meet you, hear you talk, and see some cool permaculture sites.

joshuab

Eureka - Redding - Chico - SF can all be done without much backtracking. Adding Albion would make lots of backtracking. I'd love to meet you while you're in the SF area.

When are you going to be in San diego? We would love to organize something. Let us know what you would like to do and when you are here.

I guess I was kinda hoping there would be a dozen people that said "I wanna go with! I'll put in money and driving and cooking!" and then the whole thing ends up being way cheaper.

As is, it looks like I would be shelling out $6000 to $8000 to do this and getting cold feet. If it was $2000 I would think "let's start locking down stops and dates and stuff." But when the numbers passed $5000 that takes a bite out of the farm fund.

Let's oganise some stops in sacrento and Davis. Also look into renting a large passenger van with roof rack or ask around to borrow a free land whale, I'm sure someone out here in cyber world would give you a lNd whale to use.

Sacramento has some very cool movements going on, heck I even know a backyard cob home being built in middle of the city. There is also sac valley permaculture guild and liberation permaculture.

In Davis there is a large movement too and you can visit village homes the permaculture community, farm 2.6, te domes and ec gardens.

I can even arrange for sleeping etc.

If know exact dates and how many days you want to do it for I would be willing to partake in part of it, maybe all of it.

Here is an idea for you which could be lots of fun and is much cheaper, but you won't be able to cover so much ground. Ride bicycles. The best way is to go north to south - the wind is with you. There are lots of campgrounds along the way, if you want to be more comfortable for a night, motels are good for hot showers and doing laundry. It is great to really see the area yoga re traveling through...... And when you are done, take the bus or train back - or forward for parts if you want to reach certain destinations. I have done this starting from San Diego going to Eugene, Oregon and then later back the same way again. It was great and if you think you are not in good enough shape - you will be by the time you are done . another way for a group is to have a mini van transporting gear and giving those who want to go shorter distances a ride to the next stop.....

Chia Olin wrote:Let's oganise some stops in sacrento and Davis. Also look into renting a large passenger van with roof rack or ask around to borrow a free land whale, I'm sure someone out here in cyber world would give you a lNd whale to use.

Sacramento has some very cool movements going on, heck I even know a backyard cob home being built in middle of the city. There is also sac valley permaculture guild and liberation permaculture.

In Davis there is a large movement too and you can visit village homes the permaculture community, farm 2.6, te domes and ec gardens.

I can even arrange for sleeping etc.

If know exact dates and how many days you want to do it for I would be willing to partake in part of it, maybe all of it.

Yes, some of those stops sound great, though it sounds as if there is an idea here for arranging transport and lodging just in the Sacramento/Davis area, which doesn't quite solve travel details in other states.

Marianne, the bicycles would be amazingly cheaper and more sustainable, (and goodness knows I could use the exercise!) but not only would that take a LOT longer, we'll also be working with computers to keep up with our day jobs, and bicycles, a van and tents would make that more challenging.

I have a minivan, with a luggage rack on top, and we have traveled lots of places in it. For this magnitude of a trip, however, we were looking at a way to bring a hotel room with us. Which could be far cheaper than staying in hotels along the way. Plus, setting up and taking down tents, or even moving in and out of hotel rooms takes precious time.

One possible solution is a good handful of speaking engagements where the fee or proceeds at the door are +/- $400-500 per event. I'd help with publicity and press releases for these.

I manage an urban permaculture farm in Portland and rent rooms (and soon a yurt!!) very inexpensively via Airbnb.com (a home stay site where you support the locals instead of the hotel chains!!) Might I suggest utilizing something like this to keep costs down? (I know that there are other permie and urban farm hosts on there as well that may even be interested in some sort of barter or trade....!) Some great resources for setting up events in Portland are below, I'd be happy to assist in organizing any Portland events or sleeping arrangements!!

http://www.meetup.com/Portland-Permaculture-Meetup
http://vbc.cityrepair.org/ - Village Building Convergence - 12th annual 10 day community building event through permaculture and natural building May 25 - June 5
http://tryonfarm.org/ - Urban 7 acre Permaculture Eco-Village
http://columbiaecovillage.org - Urban 4 acre Permaculture Eco-Village
http://planetrepair.wordpress.com/ - Awesome Urban Permaculture Site & the Planet Repair Institute

other Portland Area cohousing and intentional communities:
Cascadia Commons www.cascadiacommons.com
Daybreak Cohousing www.daybreakcohousing.org
Peninsula Park Commons www.penparkcommons.org
Trillium Hollow Cohousing www.trilliumhollow.org
Kailash Ecovillage www.kailashecovillage.com

Have you considered doing the trip in a vehicle that runs on Waste Vegetable Oil? Last spring I went from my home in British Columbia to Colorado and back and was able to source fuel for $1.50 a gallon and 35cents a litre. Could significantly decrease costs of the trip and provide a fun experience/exposure to alternative fuel sources. I've seen vehicles converted to run on WVO for as little as $100, not sure when you are thinking of heading out on the road and I am unsure of my schedule so I can't volunteer my rig - but thought I would put the bug in your ear as I tour around pretty cheap on grease.

So the big show stopper for me so far is the expense. At this moment it looks like about $8000. Maybe more (due to stuff I haven't thought of).

So I'm thinking .... maybe I could talk to my brother. He might be able to buy a land whale for $8000. He would then be able to massage it into awesome running order. Then we use it. And then when we get back, sell it for something like $6500. Only, knowing my brother's skills in this space, he would probably buy an $8000 land whale for $5500 and when we get back, he would sell it for $10,000.

So this might dramatically cut the expenses.

Next, I kinda thought there would be a dozen people jumping up to say "I wanna go too! I'll chip in!" i was even riding an arrogant glow thinking "maybe I can ride my celebrity-ish-ness and actually break even!"

Hmmm ... maybe I should charge a little something to give presentations along the way and have that pay the bills.

It sounds like there might be one or two interested in chipping in to be in on the ride. Definitely worth figuring out how to pull this off. Maybe some others will pop up later.

Veggie oil: well, yeah, that would be cheaper and more eco. But is it a land whale that you have that does this?

portland: we were there last summer and had a great time. And pie! We spent a day getting good footage. I think it would be great to spend another day in portland!

sacramento: I never knew! Sounds good!

Jocelyn told me this morning that she is working up a better schedule. I'm getting really excited about this trip (although I am still nervous about the costs).

I do not drive a land whale, my rig is not super comfortable for more than 4 with gear. If you are considering buying something to flip after the trip for around 8000 then you could easily pick up a small passenger bus and convert it, plus do whatever you want for the inside. Almost any diesel engine works. When are you planning on doing the trip?

Possible dates: August 17 to September 7

The tour is happening--Aug. 17 to Sep. 7! I will be coordinating our itinerary and some speaking engagements for Paul--private message or e-mail me if you have questions or want to schedule Paul to speak, etc.

We'll post more about our stops along the way as soon as we get some of the key dates firmed up.

Edit: dates have shifted later - read farther down in the thread.

Update!

There is a strong chance that all of the dates will slide back 8 days to make sure that we connect with Steve Heckeroth. So it will be 8-25 to 9-15.

Also, my brother is doing an excellent job of whittling away the expenses of the land whale. The one being looked at right now would have two extra beds that can each take two people. I'm thinking that some people would be willing to go along for the whole trip. And some people would be willing to go along for a few days.

One person could have a whole bed to themselves for the whole trip for $1800. Two people could share a bed for $1200 each ($57 per person per day).

A person could have a whole bed to themselves for three nights for $400. Two people could share a bed for for $250 each.

This includes VIP access to the sites we visit plus on-board food. There would be the expectation that you help with the cooking and what-not.

I would love to know what day you will be in San Diego, I'm sure some people would be interested enough in hearing you talk to pitch in some money.

hannah ransom wrote:I would love to know what day you will be in San Diego, I'm sure some people would be interested enough in hearing you talk to pitch in some money.

It currently looks like Sep 7. Maybe Jocelyn will have the schedule nailed down this weekend.



Burning man: I've never been to burning man. I've known a lot of people that went there. I'm not into drugs, but the art seems like it would be cool. It sounds like reno is 2 hours and 15 minutes from sacramento - how far is burning man from sacramento? Is it something that would be advertised ahead of time so there would be a for sure audience? Or is it something where you show up and you get what you get? In fact, I cannot imagine giving presentations at burning man.

Sorry, I haven't responded more about the schedule and dates. Dealing with things akin to death and taxes...more this weekend.

Just wanted to let you know I'm interested in joining. I can't really give you anything more than that right now, since I don't know what that end of the summer looks like for me yet. But I thought I should speak up now just in case.

The land whale has been purchased!

It has three beds.

One bed is currently unspoken for.

My brother is going to add in two hammocks.

I'm gonna stick to the thing I said earlier: One person could have a whole bed to themselves for the whole trip for $1800. Two people could share a bed for $1200 each ($57 per person per day). A person could have a whole bed to themselves for three nights for $400. Two people could share a bed for for $250 each.

I'm gonna say that the hammocks will go for $1000 for the whole trip or $200 for three nights.

Through the end of April, I will only consider folks that wanna do the full trip. If there are still spots open then I'll consider the three nights thing.

First to pony up dollars to my paypal account gets a spot.

It will be cool to get speaking gigs lined up. Jocelyn is gonna manage all that. This is a good time to express interest. I'm open to speaking for crowds of 50 or more.

Also, when in towns it would be cool to line up a person who can lead us around to cool permaculture stuff in an area. So we would need volunteers for that.

Yup, as Paul said, it looks like San Diego will be (loosely) September 7 or 8, give or take a day or so.

There are some primary speaking engagements to firm up, then we'll be giving better shape to the rest of the trip. Here's some loose dates and general places:

Aug. 25-26 - leave Seattle area and head through S. Washington
Aug. 27-29/30 - Portland, OR out to Tillamook and then Eugene (Tillamook folks, if you see this and are still interested in a presentation, pm me!)
Aug. 30- Sep. 1 - Northern California - Redding, Chico?, Albion
Sep. 2-4 - Occidental, San Fran, Yosemite
Sep. 5-6/7 - Mariposa, Santa Barbara, Encino
Sep. 7-8 - San Diego
Sep. 9-10 - Phoenix, Prescott? AZ
Sep. 10-11 - Grand Canyon!? AZ (Paul, Geoff and myself have never been there!)
Sep. 11-12 - Salt Lake City, UT
Sep. 12-13 - Boise, ID
Sep. 14/15 - NE Oregon, Leavenworth, WA?

Geoff and Paul will drive over from Montana to Washington to tour some Bellingham, WA farms prior to the "big tour" so this will make quite the loop!

I've received some private messages (thank you!) about speaking engagements, any body else want Paul to speak in their town?

Let me know either in this thread or via pm. I know a bit more about our logistics and will be refining the schedule this weekend.

Hi!

I am new to the forum, but enthusiastic at the least. I'm very excited by the notion of this tour, even more so by the idea of seeing some really amazing permaculture examples for extremely cheap. I don't have PayPal, but I would still be interested in reserving a seat or just expressing a sincere eagerness to join you! I live in Portland, and have family and friends throughout California and Arizona (my former home). In reality, I may only be able to commit to getting on your waiting list (if you have one) since I am waiting to hear back about a potential Food Corps job and a potential tooth implant to occur sometime this summer. Either way, this would be an experience of a lifetime! Thanks for opening up some seats to the rest of us : )

- Genevieve

The whole bed for one person for the entire trip might soon be taken. The PayPal payment has not been received just yet (this person has some logistics they are investigating) though it could be paid and the spot reserved within the next week.

I think there have been a few others interested in the whole bed for the trip, so if you want to be in line just in case this person's logistics don't work out, send me a private message.

IF this bed is taken, that means we just have hammocks available. So far, no one has requested a hammock that I'm aware of. In case you're worried the hammocks might not be all that comfortable, at least one of the stops along the way has offered to let us use indoor space for sleeping bags and such if folks want, and we might have some options for tents at some places, too.

Apologies for not updating the calendar yet. Client work exploded, and then I traveled to Montana where I am with limited access to internet. More as soon as I can.

The third bed is now taken!

I'll announce more about him later.

Hammocks are still available.

Prescott is good, but i think Arcosanti would be better, will draw a bigger crowd, and is well known by the alternative crowd.

Sometime around aug 18th I would like to make a trip to bellingham. Is there anybody out there would like to help coordinate that?

Paul, regarding Bellingham, I'm not sure what it is you require as far as coordination, but I'm down to benefit from any wisdom you'll be spewing when you're here.

I live in Portland and have a pretty well established food forest. We have a couple of rooms you could crash in. My wife is an award-winning pie maker. I don't know how to contact Jocelyn directly. We have a lot of interesting exotics and fruit. Contact me if you want me to participate.
Thanks
John Saltveit

I live in Encino. I saw it listed as a stop on the tour and was wondering if there are more details on what is happening there.
Thanks,
Michael

just wanted to tip you off to a few cool projects in san francisco:

http://www.hayesvalleyfarm.com/ (sweet urban farm, very permy indeed... i am a full time volunteer farm manager here.)
http://www.alemanyfarm.org/
http://www.permaculture-sf.org/projects/18th-a-rhode-island.html
http://www.thefreefarm.org/

still on the fence about grabbing a hammock spot... lo siento.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:Aug. 30- Sep. 1 - Northern California - Redding, Chico?, Albion

Did my hippie brother in NorCal put you up to this? He's been bugging me to get to visit them in Redding for years now. I'm off to move heaven and earth a bit to get there...

Charles Kelm wrote:Paul, regarding Bellingham, I'm not sure what it is you require as far as coordination, but I'm down to benefit from any wisdom you'll be spewing when you're here.

Paul is visiting a couple farms in Bellingham, no speaking gigs at this point, but I'm sure Paul would love to spew a bit if you want to set something up.