1000 Americans: Barry Notmeyer, Mendocino, BikeTraveller…

 

Barry used to be a national champion in weightlifting when he was young, but nowadays enjoys surfing and cycling a lot more.

He hosted us for a night and we had many laughs together. We set up a free blog for him on http://BikeTravellers.com, check it out here:

http://spokingup.biketravellers.com

 

Barry is 50 but looks much younger and is very fit. He is cycling from Mendocino, California to Florida, to raise funds for the CRCMC: the Cancer Resource Center of Mendocino County.

“I am a longtime coastal resident and supporter of the CRCMC. My own expenses will be paid by myself, 100% of the money I raise with this ride will be donated to them, so they can continue providing services free of charge to anyone facing cancer in Mendocino County.”

Go Barry and do not stop bringing joy to the world!

1000 Americans: Todd Light, Haley’s Grove

In our guidebook, some words were scribbled in the sideline. In Vancouver, CA, Kristen had written the name of Todd, and that we should try to find him when we were in Haley’s Grove, a collection of old houses in the Redwoods. She had stayed with Todd on her bike trip and said he was a great guy.

When I stopped in Haley’s Grove, a car just drove up.

‘Are you Todd?’, I asked.

‘Yes, how do you know me?’, he replied, and I showed him the paper. We ended up parking our bikes inside and staying a night in his house, enjoying telling each other stories from the road and from life in general and Northern California in particular, in front of a warm woodstove…

He own quite a bit of land, with still some redwoods and other vegetation.. But he is getting tired of the cold and wet weather and has asked us to look around for a spot in Belize…

1000 Americans: Johnny ‘Juan’ Angus, Redway, California

Johnny is a designer and loves his peaceful place in the pleasantly smelling woods of Northern California.

He is a traveller and a great Couchsurfer and introduced us to his local radio KMUD, with great international music as well as local news…

1000 Americans: Dakota & his horses

 

 

Dakota has been travelling step-by-step through the US for 25 years. He doesn’t say much, but enjoys the time on the road, with his 3-4 horses (he has to retire some of them), that pull his wooden cart.

Actually, not even all of the USA, but just ‘West of the Mississippi, I never crossed it!’ …

As he is the only one travelling slower than us, but he mostly takes up an entire lane, wile we stay on the shoulder where available. This has caused him to be expelled from the Highways many times by police, forcing him unto even smaller & steeper roads…

 

1000 Americans: Dub & Beth, Eureka, California

Actually, Dub’s real name is Dubya, but for obvious reasons Dub & Beth decided that it would be better to call the cat ‘Dub’.

They live in a nice place in Eureka, which has a friendly downtown with Victorian-style houses and a nice harbour. Beth loves to host people and does so with a lot of positive energy!

1000 Americans: CouchCycler Louise from McKinleyville, California

Louise, Her Husband Brian and her kids have lived in Malta & Mongolia but are now based in McKinleyville, California.

She loves to ride her bike and came to pick us up on the road when inviting us to stay in her place! next day, we rode together to the city of Arcata, where this picture was taken.

It is great to see that many Californians care about their health and that of the planet and ride bikes everywhere…

1000 Americans: Carol Mone’, Trinidad, California

Carol is a teacher, a profession that is underrated and needed now more than ever. She lives in her favorite place in the world: Trinidad, which is not as Caribbean is it might sound, but very charming nevertheless..

Oh, she is also a great host, with a comfy ‘couch’ 🙂 and a collection of flags from all the travellers that have stayed with her. Thanks Carol!

1000 Americans: Loatian Hmong from Minneapolis in Samoa, California

Samoa is not only the name of an island in the South Pacific, but also of a very small town in California.

And exactly here is one of the largest gatherings of the Hmong people in the USA, where all American Hmongs gather to celebrate Happy New year, in this case on 7th December of 2008.

This couple, who was selling a large collection of Karaoke DVD’s at the feast, came all the way from their home in Minnesota to celebrate. As Ivana had already met many Hmong during her bicycle trip in South East Asia, I had heard about them.

I asked him, why would a Hmong (Originally from the warmer part of the world), choose to live in Minnesota (not so warm in winter..), but we could not really understand each other.

 

Back online i started to investigate more and was surprised by the history.

Read the Wikipedia article, it gives a very interesting insight in the South East Asian ethnic group and their involvement in the US foreign politics in the area (Vietnam war etc).

Some quotes:

In the early 1960s, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) began to recruit the indigenous Hmong people in Laos to join fighting the Vietnam War, named as a Special Guerrilla Unit led by General Vang Pao. About 60% of the Hmong men in Laos were supported by the CIA to join fighting for the "Secret War" in Laos.^{[25] [26]} The CIA used the Special Guerrilla Unit as the counter attack unit to block the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the main military supply route from the north to the south. Hmong soldiers put their lives at risk in the frontline fighting for the United States to block the supply line and to rescue downed American pilots. As a result, the Hmong suffered a very high casualty rate; more than 40,000 Hmong were killed in the frontline, countless men were missing in action, thousands more were injured and disabled.

The Secret War began around the time that the U.S. became officially involved in the Vietnam War. Following the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam in 1975, the Lao kingdom was overthrown by the communists and the Hmong people became targets of retaliation and persecution. While some Hmong people returned to their villages and attempted to resume life under the new regime, thousands more made the trek to and across the Mekong River into Thailand, often under attack. This marked the beginning of a mass exodus of Hmong people from Laos.

Throughout the Vietnam War, and for two decades following it, the U.S. government stated that there was no "Secret War" in Laos and that the U.S. was not engaged in air or ground combat operations in Laos. In the late 1990s, however, several U.S. conservatives, alleging that the Clinton administration was using the denial of this covert war to justify a repatriation of Thailand-based Hmong war veterans to Laos, urged the U.S. government to acknowledge the existence of the Secret War and to honor the Hmong and U.S. veterans from the war. On May 15, 1997, in a total reversal of U.S. policy, the U.S. government acknowledged that it had supported a prolonged air and ground campaign against the NVA and VietCong.

Plans to resettle additional Hmong refugees in the U.S. have been complicated by provisions of President Bush’s Patriot Act and Real ID Act, under which Hmong veterans of the Secret War, who fought on the side of the United States, are classified as terrorists because of their historical involvement in armed conflict.^[48]

Many Hmong/Mong refugees resettled in the United States after the Vietnam War. Beginning in December 1975, the first Hmong/Mong refugees arrived in the U.S., mainly from refugee camps in Thailand; however, only 3,466 were granted asylum at that time under the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975. In May 1976, another 11,000 were allowed to enter the United States, and by 1978 some 30,000 Hmong/Mong people had immigrated. This first wave was made up predominantly of men directly associated with General Vang Pao‘s secret army. It was not until the passage of the Refugee Act of 1980 that families were able to enter the U.S., becoming the second wave of Hmong/Mong immigrants. Today, approximately 270,000 Hmong/Mong people reside in the United States, the plurality of whom live in California (65,095 according to the 2000 U.S. census), Minnesota (41,800), and Wisconsin (33,791).

1000 Americans: Ken Neeley, Brookings, Oregon

Ken was one of our US Couchsurfing hosts and celebrated our last evening in Oregon by taking us to a nice pizza and beer place!

It is nice to meet someone who combined his love for the outdoors with his work, as he moved from Arizona and now works in one of the State Parks

Thanks Ken!

1000 Americans: Lily & Terry, Coos Bay

Terry and Lily did not only offer us a warm and dry shelter as well as a wonderful meal, they also taught us a lot about a new way of building houses more ecologically. He showed us examples of Straw bale or Mud houses, ‘green’ houses and all the benefits that come with it (energy efficient, ecological, cheaper, stronger, personalized).

It was very nice to see his passion for the subject and definitely had made us think about any future house we might build…

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