Intro

Welcome to a story, or stories I should say. A compilation of adventure tales. An ongoing itch to see, smell, and touch the world, or at least the deserted roads and rarely trampled mountains of America. Characters within the descriptive paragraphs of these stories carve out the coming and going companions in life; vital life people and pieces that parallel a universe for moments, days, years. And then spear off, leaving granules of magnificent memories of magical places. They leave a lasting trace, a gained sense of courage to stand tall on oxygen deprived mountains and shout absurdities like: I love you Ralph! Ralph is a teenage reindeer stuffed of the finest synthetic polyester fiber poof; he says made in Indonesia but really tells me he is from the North Pole. Delivered through a chimney one December night 20 years ago, we instantly became cuddle buddies upon that morning's sunrise. He is the instigator. The inspiration. And the imagination. He breathes creativity. Laughter. His is a dear companion. And yes, at 4lbs he tags along atop a pack or strapped to a rack. In delirium of 107 degree heat, the small possession of material belongings gain a persona. Innate objects become friends of the road and trails. And as for the humans who accompany, their presence reads priceless. Without O'Reilly, a 29 year old New Hampshirian with superior taste buds, the mathematical six foot four inch tall German, or handful of organic peanut butter and 99 cent jam eating munchkins, there would be a lot less excitement. The encounters we make with our specie, encapsulating the world with their awkward ways and over consumerist love, somehow we have managed to become overly adored creatures. Their generous hearts restore a faith that goodness prevails in the upheaval of a sometimes lost humanity. As for myself, I'm just the navigator, paddling up the stream of life munching on Clif Bars, with an iPhone documenting the frailties and goodies underneath all the simplified complexities in the world we reside. So again, I welcome you to get lost and dream a little through this typed text and your imagination. My name is Kristen Gentilucci. I live in Berkeley California and I love dogs.


Monday, July 16, 2012

Day 28. :(

Build Day with Habitat St Louis

Streets lined with abandoned brick houses one after the other, a seemingly never ending row of one a booming city without an inhabiter in sight. Gosh, sounds like too many other towns we've come across. The population of this town, St. Louis, has been on the decline since 2000 and it shows. In 2005 a striking 10% of the homes were abandoned, boarded up, and home to squatters, homeless, and drug addicts. At 8am, there was no rush hour traffic and the downtown remained as empty as it did on the prior dats Sunday afternoon.

Yet despite this, Habitat St Louis heads the pack in building LEAD (green building talk) certified houses of all habitats with winter home energy bills as low as $45.

Our build site was not quite as exciting as these statistics. Hauling around piled trash, I've never moved so many toilets in my life. This was definitely the hardest physical build day yet.

I want to tell you how after a days hard work, I toured the city, to find the lovely arch welcoming all, the famous art museum, adult jungle gym, and the unlimited drinks at the Budweiser factory.

But no, 4 of us awoke to a head cold from hell, unable to enjoy anything but our thermarest and pillow. After staying clear from the traveling ring worm, poison ivy, and rashes going around, i couldn't beat this mucus infesting bug. It spreads like the plague here, like anything that would attach itself to 33 body's sharing every ounce of space, clothes, silverware, and water bottles. We loaded up the coolers up with 60 oranges and 2 gallons of OJ for breakfast. We will trudge ahead like the pioneers of the past, 3 centuries ahead of us, and heat to top it. They call it misery M.O., but I'll give it it's fair change first.