La Pine, Oregon
I am on the road again, on my way down to San Francisco. Yesterday I loaded up my beautiful new and very yellow pickup truck (bought at a bargain price – probably because there are very few macho truck-driving types who want a rubber-duck-yellow vehicle) and headed south. It was a beautiful, clear, crisp day as Quackers and I drove over the snowy pass past Mount Hood and on down to Bend.
Last night I stayed with Molly Mac (mother of Hawaii Mariya) in La Pine. We are hatching a plan for me to do a presentation here in May as a fundraiser for Search and Rescue. It was minus 11 degrees Fahrenheit here last night (minus twenty-four degrees Celsius) but we were snug and warm in front of the woodburning stove.
Today I am heading back out into the cold and the snow (grateful that I have four-wheel drive) to drive down to Chico in California where I have a meeting with someone I met through my old Oxford college – we will be discussing my environmental message for the Pacific row: drawing attention to the issue of plastic debris in the world’s oceans.
I am working on an approach involving various nonprofits and government agencies, with the goal of using the publicity around my row to raise awareness of this large and rapidly-growing problem. The plastic debris doesn’t just kill wildlife and contaminate fish and shellfish – it fundamentally alters the ocean ecosystems which will ultimately affect the health of the entire planet.
Can I save the planet? Of course not. But through my rowing I can do my bit to help.