We arrived in Lawrence fresh from our experience with the police. All things considered, it was a rather successful interaction. We were not arrested, accosted, warned, nor beaten, and we'd had the chance to share ideas and information with an extension of the law. The police have a job to do, but they also have the power to determine how well they do their job. I hope they will be less willing to persecute people for their interaction with this magnificent plant.

Our friends, Daniel and Daylen and others were happy to see us once we arrived. We hung out together, and then decided to head downtown to the Replay for a night out. Keith's under-agedness came to bite him in the ass when we got to the bar. After eating a bit, I said goodnight as I popped Hemphry's top and Keith crashed. I hung out with Daniel on the patio, soaking in the Lawrence nightlife until we went home to sleep.

Keith and I made friends with the local organic dumpster, and scored a big bag of almonds, some spinach, apples and citrus. We found beans, coffee, trailmix and almond butter. We used the almond butter in a stirfry that we made later that day.

We also met a brother who tipped us off to an incredible event: The First Annual World Music and Cultural Diversity Concert for Peace and Solidarity, at the Union building of Kansas University. Thomas Mapfumo was headlining, after several other acts, which included Tabla drumming and Native American Dancers. Thomas Mapfumo is known as the Lion of Zimbabwe and has been part of Zimbabwe's struggle to loosen the chains of bondage and oppression that have been inherent in Africa since Colonization. The songs are based on the music of the Mbira, or thumb piano. The man who played it was beautiful. He has a great smile and was really engaging. You'd be dancing and when you open your eyes, he'd be looking right at you, smiling.

It was a really uplifting experience to be in Lawrence Kansas, in the middle of America, feeling the good, solid vibes of people from all over the world. Music helps ease our souls of the pain that many of us have experienced in our lives. Dancing and playing music brings us into the moment, into now. We all are experiencing the same thing at the same time, as the next moment is being created. And since the vibrations of the music are so pervasive, we all become attuned to the same vibration. The more we dance, the more we let go, and just let the music do the moving, the closer we all become. Peace and Unity through music. I love it!

Keith and I went back and hung out with a young couple who had a good thing going on. They were planning on moving to Peru to escape the tyranny of America. I don't blame them, especially to raise kids. America is a pretty daunting place to be, and we've ruined many of our water sources. My only concern, is that unless we in America change, the rest of the world will only experience the weight of the U.S. even more heavily. It's up to us in America to stand up for the rights of people around the world, and not support businesses that are ruling and ruining the Earth. In the meantime, we can all co-create the reality we want to see. We are the change, so we must live the difference. Louise L. Hay says that if we want to change, we should affirm this to ourselves daily. By saying out loud: "I am willing to change" throughout the day, changes will happen more readily. Speaking of change, would you like a pack of Tree Free, Hemp Papers for like a buck? Or Spare Change?

Finally, on the Friday, a long awaited package turned up at the UPS office. More papers! Phew, I was like on my last box. Keith and I wandered around the downtown, swinging up some gas cash for the next leg of our journey into the deep south, into Bayou country. Before we could leave, we had to experience Lawrence for a little while longer. We found out about a bluegrass happening, and it sounded fun! Some of our new friends were there and the vibe was great. After circulating, and meeting a few folks, I was encouraged to break out the Hemp Treasury. People respond well to the Bush 9-11 dollars and to the tree free papers. Everyone agrees that it makes no sense to clear-cut thriving forest in order to supply our culture's paper demands.www.wesavetrees.org www.cascadiasummer.org

Speaking of paper, I am absolutely appalled at the lack of recycling that happens in America. The World's greatest country can't even get it together and reuse the pulp of the trees that are increasingly scarce. I can't comprehend the mentality of a culture that destroys our source of life in order to make trash. Every child knows that we need trees to breathe, so why do the adults forget such a basic truth? Hemp can only help our situation, but we need to help ourselves first. I recently heard that there's more wood-pulp on the island of Manhattan, than in the Brazilian Rainforest! That's both appalling and inspiring. The pulp can be reused several times, and if we infuse hemp into the pulp, the extra strength makes it go even further. We need to become an ultra-conservative society, environmentally speaking, especially if we go along with Bush and his cronies, and take over the world. Global Domination is the goal, so lets dominate the Earth with Environmental appreciation! I guess Domination and Environmentalism are contradictory. Maybe we should choose one, and go with whichever seems to be the one that will lend itself to our species' survival.

Political boundaries are imaginary lines drawn on Earth. Dividing people, is one way that greedy, power-hungry men continue to dominate us. We all are much more similar than we are different. We need to celebrate our differences, while acknowledging that we all are different faces of the same being. Treat strangers like friends until they give you reasons not to. Imagine how great life would be, if we thought everyone would be our friend. Trust is integral to life, for we can't fully live life without trusting.

So the Bluegrass was great! The band was called loose-knit strings and they were. There were lots of guest players, and the strumming never stopped! While there, I met a wonderful woman who was involved in the legal process. She lobbies the State legislature on behalf of herb and herb users. She's helped non-violent, first time offenders stay out of jail. I believe Kansas had a mandatory jail-time law for drugs before she got involved. She was very adamant about people getting involved to change the laws, because until the laws are changed, the police will continue busting people, whether they like it or not. She has a point. The police always tell me that they're just doing their job, and until the laws change, they'll keep enforcing the law. As commonplace as herb-smoking is, the movement has so much room to grow. We all have to step up and assert our place in society as shameless users of a natural substance, which helps us more than harms us. To quote Jimmy Carter: "Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging than the use of the drug itself." He was the president. Surely we, in our day-to-day, can represent to those around us, a similar kind of logic. We can also register to vote, and vote for anyone beside Bush.

After the night of Bluegrass, we were invited back to a house, where the jamming never stopped. I put my rolling skills to good use, and rolled up a big herbal cigarette, which we all shared. Oooh, how sweet it is! The Kind is around in the mid-west, and that's a good thing! Lawrence is sort of a refuge in the Prairie. It's a bit more relaxed, and seems to draw a musical and liberal type of folk. Thank god for University towns!

On Saturday, we celebrated Earth Day with the rest of the town, because it rained the last weekend. We brought Hemphry down to the park and set up a table amongst the other environmental agencies. There was a spot waiting for us, and a good place for us to bring the table and set up the Hemp Treasury. People of all walks respond well to the message of Hemp, and how hemp can help. We handed out information and showed people different examples of hemp in different products and in different stages. There were representatives from a wetland that is threatened by development, and another group was promoting recycling. They gave me a magnet with an 800 number on it that will tell you where to recycle anywhere in the U.S. If I find the number, I'll post it. The recycling thing in America is just so redundantly dumb. Recycle, Recycle, Recycle, then compost the remainder. It ain't that hard. The only thing, is that it may cost a bit more money to recycle. This is a good example of how the free market doesn't always work. Though it's in our best interest to recycle, we've been conditioned as consumers to go with what costs less money. Money has an imaginary, agreed upon value. Trees are real, and have an incalculable value. Would you rather enable your children to breathe pure air, or inherit a bunch of money, which they might be able to purchase oxygen with? It sounds a bit simplistic, but that's how I'm choosing to view the world.

Other groups tabling, consisted of a local Organic Bakery, and a local Vegan outreach group who fixed me up with a bunch of pamphlets, and a cup of Soy Delicious ice cream. Now I'm not vegan, but I'm close. I say I only eat happy meat when asked. Rarely do I come across the carcass of a dead animal and feel compelled to eat it. Sometimes I eat deermeat. Cheese is my biggest hook to animal-based eating. Hey! We're all at different stages, and I encourage you, wherever you are on your path toward oppression reduction.

It just happened to be one of those days, where everything falls into place! There was a Tibetan Monk in town and he was speaking at a church at six. We made it down there a bit late, so I missed hearing about all of the gruesome forms of torture that he endured while in prison in China. Palden Gyatso was a prisoner for Thirty years for not giving up his Buddhist Faith. One form of persecution he lived through, was having his hands placed in the hot oil of a deep fryer. It was incredible to see his compassion so clearly through his cheerful eyes. He holds no ill intention towards his captors, for they were just following orders, and they would have been beaten if they did not beat him. He would testify, however, if he had the chance, to bring the Chinese authorities to justice in a war-crimes tribunal. His plea to America is to pressure China to withdraw from Tibet, and to release the Panchen Lama, Tibet's youngest political prisoner. At age six, he and his family were kidnapped by the Chinese authorities in 1995, just days after he was recognized as the Panchen Lama. He is growing up under house arrest, and no human rights agency has been able to contact him or his family. Tibetans yearn for his release, as he is a spiritual leader who has the importance of passing on the spiritual legacy of Tibetan Buddhism.

My camera had been missing since the night before, and I wasn't sweating it, but it was a loose string nonetheless. The lack of camera is precisely why there are no photos of the Earthday celebration. You can picture it. I'm sure.

We met a girl named Hildie who knew the bluegrass guys whose house I figured I'd left it at. She happily came along in Hemphry, as we went on a mission to find the camera. The Bluegrass guys weren't home, so we went by Daniel's house and packed up all of the stuff I'd taken out of Hemphry. It took a while, and Keith and Hildie helped by washing dishes and packing up the rest of our dumpstered food. Next we went to her house, and Keith got online to talk to his girlfriend. Hildie and I cruised in her SUV (she won it) to the café where we were the night before, and to my great surprise, Heather, the (wo)manager had found the camera, and kept it safe. She's totally awesome. I got nothing but good vibes from her the night before, so I knew she'd have kept it safe, which she did!

With all of our stuff in order, Keith and I were prepared to leave. We drove all night long through Missouri, into Arkansas. Arkansas is a pretty State. Pretty conservative all right. I just found out that there's still "dry counties" where you can't buy alcohol. We were oblivious to this as we travelled through the country. We stopped at a crystal shop and ogled the rocks! I picked some stones, including Anemonite and some Orinthians? They are fossilized crustaceans from about 300 million years ago, and are found on beaches in Madagascar. They were pretty, and polished and make good little gifts.

At one point, we were flagged down by three guys who wanted to check out the van and share some of their local knowledge. They could not believe Hemphry and his paint job and the stickers. I could sense that they were nervous and definitely fearful of the local authorities. Keith was still down by the van as a cop pulled up. One of the guys we were with bolted, and ran off into the woods. I'm like: "if that's not an admission of guilt, I don't know what is". The cop didn't see that, and asked Keith if everything was all right, and Keith said yes, and the cop took off. We were all a bit rattled by this experience, and Keith and I said thanks and split, even before the other buddy came out of the woods. Maybe there was more to his story than meets the eye, and a simple interaction with Johnny Law could have caused big problems in his life. I don't know.

What I do know, is that many everyday Americans are very fearful of their Law Enforcement Officials. There's not the feeling that they're here to help. Police Officers are Public Servants, yet they seem to be serving the interests of private corporations; Especially now, with the modern industrialized prison complex. Law Enforcement is Big Business.

I also wonder why so many Americans think that the American Military is so helpful abroad? That just doesn't make sense to me. Everybody knows it all just about money and control. Americans are totally oppressed by their own government while being told they're free. And they actually believe it! I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of... Everyday for more than ten years. If that doesn't leave a mental imprint, then I don't know what does.

To this date, they have not found those elusive Weapons of Mass Destruction, while they have tallied a death-toll of over 20,000 Iraqi Civilians. Way to go Uncle Sam! Keep liberating those poor Iraqi souls from their lives!

We crossed the State line into Texas, before passing through Texarkana, into Louisiana. Wow, we were in Texas! Keith and I pushed on into Louisiana. We went through a stinky town that turned out to be the home of a Domtar paper mill. It was no surprise to me, because I've smelled that sulphur smell before. Dryden, Ontario comes to mind, and that place stinks. Domtar is a big source of dioxin, a by-product of the wood-pulping process, and one of the most damaging substances to water. I wonder if the fish know that the water isn't supposed to sting their eyes?

We pressed onward, driving South, deeper into the deep South, below the Bible belt into the Bayou. We pulled over to sleep in Opelousas, roughly 24 hours since we left Lawrence, Kansas. Hemphry averages about 55 mph, with his bug engine pushing lots more than a beetle.

We awoke on Monday Morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, eager to get to N'awlins. Keith and I decided to find the health-food store in Baton Rouge, for a late Breakfast/Lunch. We followed the directions in the Tofu Tollbooth to a health-food store that turned out to be more of a pill/supplement store than anything else. We had passed a restaurant called India's that was listed as being a good one, so we went back to it.

I've been eating a lot of Indian food lately, and I can tell you that this particular all-you-can-eat buffet is great. There were Pakoras, Nann, vegetable Biryani, several curries, a great Dahl, and the Spinach with Paneer was out of this world! While dining, we made friend with two Ladies who came in and said "that we must be the guys driving the bus!" Well, yes we are. They were really excited, and thought that it was a great idea. It turned out that they were from the drug court, and had helped lots of non-violent, first-time offenders stay out of jail. Their approach to drug addiction is one of harm reduction. They were supportive of Hemp as an industrial crop and they feel that Marijuana should be accessible, because of it's therapeutic value. Their suggestion for jazzfest was to bring lots of water. Thanks Ellen and Joan!

We met some other folks who liked the van and one guy told us that Tippitinas' uptown was a good place, as well as the Mermaid Café and Café Brazil. Everyone told us not to wander too far off the beaten trail, because the crime is high. I guess it's an impoverished area, and there's a lot of addictions that people are trying to feed on a daily basis. One guy said they'll slit your' throat for Ten dollars. Undaunted, Keith and I continued on to our destination.

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Johannes Chapman, Pure Hemp Caravaner