Gone in Search of the Truth

I made this picture of Jordan in November of 2009 shortly after he returned from the University of Maharishi in Iowa.
Quiet is the sound I have been hearing all around me since the early morning of August 1, 2010 when he started his journey. I have known about Jordan's choice to leave it all behind with a one way ticket(backed up with an emergency exit to Australia provided at the last minute by the Plastic Bottle Co. here in the Jar when the rules became as real as a .308 rifle on the bald exposed hills of Helmand Province) to Invercargill, New Zealand( New Zeal Land) for around two months now. Yes, Invergargill is the home of Burt Munro. His decision, although a difficult one to make, was an obvious choice considering the present now that we as Americans are faced with here on our own soil that was never ours to begin with. Right Now it is winter in southern New Zealand and the air is clean for the spin towards tomorrow does not cross over any war zones or landscapes saturated in the heat of an ego and a desperate dive for victory. Nothing but water and a small patch of the tip of South America does the earth's axis pass by from the visceral perspective of the southern tip if this far away place. I am truly happy for this fellow human whom I have shared honest experiences with since 2004, the year before the year of the Cool.

When I first met Jordan, he and his friend girl at the time owned and operated a coffee shop called Heck Yeah Coffee Hub at the McGill Rose Garden on Davidson. The morning place was safe, authentic and offered a place for thinkers to rest their souls and find interesting conversation. I was one of their regulars who found myself on the back porch with a cup of brew often enough that my place became familiar. The big buildings were close by over my right shoulder yet I could not feel them in such a wonderful pastoral garden setting. Their business effort gave me that sanctuary that could never be redone, for being there during my time of need I can only thank both of them.

Within a year Jordan and Kristin started asking me questions about a long bicycle ride that they were thinking about doing from Charlotte to Seattle Washington. I answered them as honestly as possible hoping to convey to them that anything they set out to do with truth could be accomplished by dropping all barriers and taking that step forward, or in this case pedaling forward towards their goals. A few months later they borrowed my B.O.B. trailer and set out on a trans-continent ride looking for a place in America to be their home. They found a constant dreary theme for the entire 3,400 mile ride but arrived safely in Seattle with the transfer complete. Coast to coast toon.

A week after their ride was finished Jordan managed to make it back east and then get on a plane with me to Stockholm, Sweden for SSWC06 and points north to the Arctic Circle. I was amazed at how easily adaptable to our surroundings that Jordan seemed. It was not only a landscape transfer but as well it was an emotional one meeting a new culture and trying to connect with a different society. We rode our bikes over some amazing terrain, we ate lindenberry reindeer pizza, we swam in the Lula Sulla Lava River, we talked with local residents, we slept on the ground on the arctic plain, we ran out of gas in the middle of the night and most of all we lived in those minutes that only international travel can provide.

After our return we both went on separately with our lives although similar, we are on different paths. Jordan was outside the court room when I exited after the final trial of the one who took the Good Spirit off the face of the earth. He supported me for the previous year that I was working on making sure justice was served. Sometimes as a sounding board and others he was an emotional force reassuring me that I was on the right track negotiating the sometimes scary Judaical system. Once again, I can never thank him enough for being there then telling me about the truth of which I was standing up for, but he already knows that.

Jordan then made some incredible rides with me including a 138 mile ride to the top of Mt. Mtichell from here in Charlotte at the end of one summer. A hilarious push indeed with two other friends was made even more funny with the dialogue that this kid could strike up just when you thought the suffering would never end. I passed him on the Blue Ridge Parkway just as he had laid down in the grass to give his back a rest. We were only about 8 miles from our goal but it was all up hill into the clouds from there. When he finally rolled up to me on the summit in the mist, he smiled a full teeth grin and said, "Holy shit, I just had not one but two inner/outer body experiences back there on the side of the road." I knew exactly what he was saying and laughed my only real laugh. The four of us plus our Montero driving support pretty girl slept up near the summit that night and all of us went on an amazing hike off the Deep Gap the next day. Transfer complete.

The next big ride we did was Ilan's best idea ever, the 220 mile Double Down to Isle of the Palms in SC from here in the Jar. The twist was that the following morning, the three of us(Jordan, Dude and myself) would wake up early and attempt the ride back to Charlotte in full cracked out(not or ever on crack) style. Back to back misery is the only way to roll. I remember at some point on the first day Jordan verbalized that we were on: The Toon to Toon to Toon Transfer. Once again his humor and humility tied into a knot of existence kept us smiling during this physical challenge. I made a major navigational mistake early on day 2 which basically turned the 220 miles into over 250. We made it 168 of those 250 before being extracted by a Ford F150 but somehow the quantifiable number goal fell away and in return we were rewarded with another physical and emotional body landscape transfer.

Not long after that Jordan took off for (Un)Fairfield, Iowa where he spent a year studying Social Engineering at the University of Maharishi and learning that sustainability is not sustainable. We talked from time to time and exchanged emails often. I guess we did what friends do who are separated by time and space.

Jordan had been back in Charlotte for about a year before he flew out for perhaps the last time the day before yesterday. In that year we have held many morning coffee meetings and discussed our perceptions and impressions of the present global situation. It is more than just creating a four foot barrier of happy space around our individual selves to get by on this planet. I have to feel it, look at it and experience it for what it is. As a fellow human and friend he is very similar, unlike the masses that I am surrounded by who constantly choose to not think about it. We went together to south Charlotte to support the family of a dead Marine whom was violently killed in Helmand Province in Afghanistan this past February. The heat we felt and the looks in the eyes of the people were real and reflective of the strategy of a nation at perpetual war. It is a lose-lose situation because there is nothing to win other than a contract.

Understanding. With all that we have shared of learning thus far in our lives, I feel so incredibly happy to know that Jordan has finally dropped all barriers and has taken that forward step towards his own destiny and the true freedom that lies ahead for him. Good luck young man, you crazy bastard and I hope to see you there in the clean air land before I see you here sporting a U.N. Uniform engaged in the mop up of what is left when the consequences of the criminality of this nation finally catches up to itself with no bail out left.

For those of you interested in following Jordy's ex-Patriot(nothing to do with Tom Brady) transfer be sure to link to his blog here or find him on my side bar with the rest of the internet famous folk. I am sure we will be seeing the for real without any product endorsement thrown our way because that is not what we really are craving, is it? No decoys will be needed on this one, only the truth.