First days

After a couple nights sleeping in wet tents at Riverglen Farm in Kanata, just west of Ottawa, everyone at the get-to-know-Otesha week began to adore bottom-charred camp-stove oatmeal with a new found reverence. Actually, the food was great, prepared by well seasoned tour veterans with a knack for turning chickpeas into so many identities we lost count.

We got to spend training week with the Great Lakes Tour, another group of Oteshites who are riding by a slightly different map, the fabulous Otesha staff, farmer Dave and his ukulele, and Peter the dog. We held workshops on how to make consensus decisions as a group, how to re-spoke wheels, and how to pretend we know what we're talking about while on stage. Every person involved is amazing and engaged, and we've had the chance to only begin what will be life-long bonds for many.


We left the farm on our bicycles on May 7 and have performed our play in Ottawa and the towns of Arnprior and Renfrew. Response to our group has been amazing. As many motivated individuals as laughs are coming our way. In Arnprior, people were energized to rally for better water treatment facilities. In Ottawa, a couple of Columbian exchange students vowed to switch to buying fair-trade chocolate after learning that their choices here could directly affect their grandfather who farms cacao back home. Getting to intereact with people has finally made this whole experience become a reality for me, and my bones tell me only how much better its going to get. From here, we are moving up the Ottawa river valley on our way towards Algonquin park.

Still flat-free,
Greg