So.
There have been some changes in my life since that four day ride to L.A. back in March. For starters, I'm not living in Santa Cruz anymore. The job market in Santa Cruz... well, it's practically non-existent, so I decided to head back to Jacksonville, FL for a while. I grew up there and my mother still lives there. The plan was to find a job and not pay rent at my mom's. Of course, all that is easier said than done.
My mother lives in the boonies. I mean, it is technically within Jacksonville city limits, but only because in the sixties Jacksonville extended its city limits to the county limits. Most of my friends and most of the places I would go to have a life are in what is legitimately the city, fifteen miles away. I'm a pretty serious proponent of cycling as a primary mode of transportation. While my mom kept talking about me needing to get a car, I would bike fifteen miles to get a beer with a friend and then turn around and bike fifteen miles back home an hour and a half later. It's exhausting. You expect it to be 85 degrees when you get on your bike at 6pm, but when you're biking home at 9pm and it's still 85 degrees, well, let's just say it started wearing on me pretty quickly - both physically and mentally.
I started writing for a website, but I wasn't getting much done (I could work at my own pace thankfully). So, I got a job wrenching at a bike shop. That was kind of cool. The people who owned the shop were really nice, down to earth people.
The problems culminated on Cinco de Mayo. I rode to the side of town my friends live on and hung out for a bit. I went to a bike themed art show (it was not impressive) and met my friends for a few. I then decided to ride home. Right when I passed the bike shop that I'd just interviewed at (but hadn't yet been offered the job), someone poured powered something out of their car window onto me. I still don't know what it was. I shut my eyes tight, did a long exhale, and pulled over. I had some in my mouth, but I didn't taste anything. I was pretty angry, and I got my bike and kept riding.
A few miles later I'm sitting at a light about to make a right hand turn and the girls in the car next to me threw a water bottle at me. They were right there. I turned around and looked them right in the eye. They were laughing. I mean, they weren't six feet away. That's when it hit me: I don't have any business being in Jacksonville - none whatsoever.
The next day I got on idealist.org. I typed bicycle into the search engine, and I hit enter with no geographic parameters set. There were a number of jobs that popped up, and I started sending out resumes. Meanwhile, I started working at the bike shop. I wasn't there two weeks and I got an email for an interview in Washington, DC. I packed a backpack with a few days worth of clothes, found a rideshare on craigslist, and I was off.
The interview was with an organization called Casey Trees. They are working to restore the urban tree canopy of DC. The position was for their fledgeling Water-by-Cycle summer program's Crew Captain. It involves pulling a trailer hitched to a bicycle around DC. On the trailer is hoses and equipment to hook up to fire hydrants. The Crew Captain then waters trees planted by the organization while supervising three teenaged employees who also bike around and help.
Fortunately, I had experience pulling around trailers for PedEx delivering food for Bike to Work week. I had experience working with teenagers when I taught outdoor ed for LAUSD. And, I had experience as a bike mechanic. They seemed as genuinely stoked about me as I was about the position. They offered me the job, and I called my mom to send me a few more things than what fit in my backpack.
So now, I'm working in DC for the summer. I'm repairing bikes, and pulling that trailer 40 hours a week. It's pretty great, but I don't have much energy for riding on the weekend.
