Adventuring - The Bear Creek Commentaries

--- Some developments ---

Religion and politics

It's like shopping - if you see it and want it, you'd better get it then, because there's a good chance it won't be there the next time. Of course, that's not really the way it is but it happens often enough, and would be expected to by pure chance, and is irritating enough that it just makes a lot more noise.

I was looking forward to checking out the Fellowship of Anglo-Saxon Heathenry and now it seems to have disappeared and that seemed to be the only accessible Norse based religion in the Denver area. I'm pretty sure that there are other individual adherents of Asatru, but I've been acquainted with those before - the organized group was provocative - I wanted to know.

I've known three Asatru (everyone I've known associated with Asatru called individual adherents "Asatru", but I don't know if that is formally correct or not) and found them to be personable, if a little gruff. They don't proselytize but are not particularly secretive about their religion. There are many good webpages about the religion so, if you're interested, the information is easily available.

On other fronts, I'm volunteering for a door-to-door canvas for a state political campaign, so I should have some adventures to post on that between now and July.

I've also started exploring the rails around Denver. Transportation is social. It's how we establish face-to-face contact and, in Denver, the rails are at least spatially central. The light rail system connects all parts of the Denver Metro area with a web that ties together bus lines, streets, waterways... For instance, the north-south line from Mineral into downtown Denver parallels both Santa Fe/CanAm highway, the South Platte River, and the Platte River Trail, three of the main arteries for traffic, water distribution, and foot/bicycle traffic in Denver.

My modus operandi is to start at Mineral Station, the southernmost point on the light rail and hike from one station to the next, one link at a time, and then take each rail line clockwise, exploring what goes on around each link.

Mineral Station has been my way station to Waterton Canyon. Today, I walked from there north, instead of south. Now, I've walked all of the Platte River Trail from Mineral Trail to Bear Creek Trail. I'll detail that trip in the next blog.

So, do you know any Asatru or are you an adherent - and what can you tell me?

Have you ever done anything that required you to knock on doors? Did you enjoy it or hate it, and what did you learn about human nature?

Are you going to be active in the upcoming political goings-on? I've heard that our last presidential election saw the smallest turnout of voters in the history of the United States, and a lot of people I know were quite unsatisfied with the results. Do you know how your political machine works? There are many windows into the guts of the machine - you might want to take a peek.

Do you have a light rail or bus system near you? To quote Dr. Suess, "Oh the places you'll go!"