Left for Rainbow

I left Austin, Texas with a purpose: to "rove". The festival had become stagnant and I knew that in order for me to achieve my purposes with it I needed to rove. So I teamed up with the one and only Freeman from the Freeman Perspective along with two close friends and headed out for this year's National Rainbow Gathering in the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming. On our way there we stopped in Colorado to visit the Garden of the Gods, near Colorado Springs and to stay and visit with some fantastic glass blowing brothers.

When I reached the National Forest I was promptly welcomed home, and after spending one night in the parking lot, we made the 4 to 5 mile hike into "Main Meadow". Mostly we "plugged in" to Milliway's kitchen, "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" where "Tea starts wars!" There I met so many numerous, wonderfully lovely brothers and sisters and we worked hard to feed the masses with so many varieties of pizza and zoo-zoos.

On the 4th of July all 20,000 of those naked hippies in the forest remained totally silent in contemplation of world peace. This has got to be one of the most profound experiences of my life. To think of this many peace loving brothers and sisters coming together in the middle of one of the most scenic and aesthetically beautiful forests I've ever seen to remain totally silent through an entire morning, contemplating. Of course everybody still meandered, looking for breakfast or that morning bowl, but without saying a word.

At noon, the children from Kiddie Village paraded down to the peace pole in the middle of Main Meadow while all 20,000 present held hands and ohm'ed at the perimeter of the meadow. Once all the children reached the pole, everyone at the gathering broke their silence in an eruption of cheers. And the party went on all through the night.

I've since met a beautiful rainbow sister who has encouraged my friend and I to come visit the Great Northwest. So I'm in Portland, Oregon. I've already been whisked away to Siuslaw National Forest to see the beautiful Oregon coast line and to somewhere near Hood River to venture into a rock-built hot springs on the Washington side of the border. It's amazing to me already that I've gone from about 8,000 ft in elevation in the Wyoming mountians to be at the Oregon coastline three days later.

And the light and life of the Rainbow Gathering continues as I've run into many brothers and sisters from the gathering here in Portland, and the general attitude of the town seems to be of the same spirit. I think I'm going to check this place out for a while.