October 31, 2010

Bamboo particle

Today I want to introduce about one the way to use bamboo, this way is on going activity in Japan.
In Japan, there are bamboo forests, the area is about 16,000ha, about 1% of total forests in Japan.
You may feel it is little area, but now it is spreading, encoroaching the other plantations. Some of bamboo forests are neglected and causes some harms.
That is a social problem, "Neglected bamboo forests",
I want to contribute to raise awareness and to solve this problem.



Well,
bamboo is strong, but cut into particles, now in Japan bamboo can be uset in many cases. Bamboo has many good effects for us. I think it is possibility including secret effect whihc is not yet founded by anyone.
Maybe panda already knows!

And bamboo grows very fast, it takes about 3 ~ 5 years to grow up throughly. So we use bamboo product, we will contribute to Nature, Environmental, build sustainable society, green society.


1. Bamboo Fiber; it is used to make bamboo paper, bamboo wear.
                   Kagoshima-prefecture, Tyuetsu pulp and paper.co, ,i-bamboo
2. Bamboo supplement: it is used to some supplement for human beings, it includes some minerals, and vitamins.
                    Marudai iron factory (Marudai Tekkoh)
3. Bamboo  fertilizer: it is used to as a fertilizer to feed some vegetables, egg plants, tomatoes, or something.
                    Nagaokakyo-city


Takashi 2010/10/30@Heartland Regional Medical Center

10/30 @Hospital in Marion

10/30 Fine day at Heartland Regional Medical Center, Marion, Omile



I stayed in Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion today. Now it is still difficult to walk at an usual speed but the conditon is getting better than yesterday. I practiced to walk and bend left knee for some hours in hospital.
And I prepared for going to St.Louis. Ben Strong who is my best friend contacted his friend, Patrick, who is visiting to St.Louis now. If I can, I will go to St.Louis from here tomorrow and meet him, stay there, take rest, recover condition, and prepare for the next trip.



Today was one of "The Happiest Day" for me!
This was happy surprise!
Ben Walker and Lew Legacy visited my room to meet me whom we met in Marshville, Missouri. In Marshville, at that time, they helped me to search a shelter to protect from Tornado and Thunderstorm together. Today agian, I was helped by them, I got great power from them, and felt very happy.
And they gave me a warmful letter and trail mix. Oh, I could not forget this moment in the future of my life! I was almost crying.
Thank you so much Ben! Thank you so much Lew! To my heart I felt strong emotion! I never forget your kindness. Forever friends!


And today I met a car driver. I was happy to meet and talk to her. Still now I can remember her big and beautiful voice which I heard in an ambulance car, "I am sorry,Takashi!". Since that time to hear those words of her, I already have known that she has been always a good person.
No problem. I am fine. I feel good.
Don't feel any responsibility for me. Don't worry. It is OK.
I respect her very much to meet me in hospital after such accident. 
She is kind and honesty. I was helped by her much. Thank you so much! Next time I will be happy to meet her again not in such this case, but in other cases, anywhere / anytime! God helps us.


At night I catched some calls from some friends, and heard their warmful words. I felt so happy, I was glad to hear thier voice. I got a lot of energy, power from them. Thank you so much, my friends!

In night, I asked the nurse to give me some medicine to paste on the scraped places, on left leg and face. She was so kind that she brought some ointments and helped to paste those on the scraped places. I was helped, and I hope earlier recovery.



Tomorrow is Halloween. The doctor gave me a sweet snack. In the white board of this room, the monster of pumpkin was drawn. In Japan such a festival does not exist, so I am looking forward to seeing how the Halloween is. It will be the first time for me. The monster of bamboo bike may appear in front of me tomorrow....Oops!  


Takashi 2010/10/30 @Room 312, Heartland Regional Medical Center, Marion

10/29 @Hospital in Marion

10/29
Fine day, from Goreville to hospital in Marion, ??mile



Oh my god.
Now I am laying on the bed at a Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion city, Illinois.
I am sorry for everyone...who I met, supported us, hosted us in home, talked to us, invited lunch, dinner us / blog frieds, followers.
I am so sorry.
I am sorry for bamboo bike...
We were hit by a car on the road near Goreville where we stayed yesterday.
I was injured 2 parts of left legs, right side of my face, felt pain of neck and bamboo bike was almost broken,



(Left leg)
Now it was difficult to walk at an usual speed and to bend knee of left leg because of pain. I felt mustle ache under knee. One of the injured parts was almost scraped at large area. It was always painful.

(Right face)
The right side of my face was injured a little by a hit into the soft ground. When I bite some foods I felt some pain in the right side of my face. I am afraid of the conditon of my brain, and blood was left inside my head.

(Bamboo bike)
There were no possibilities for bamboo bike to run more further. Almost broken. I have 2 broken parts of bamboo bike. Sorry, bamboo bike...

We were both injured by a traffic accident.
But don't worry.
I could walk alone and bone was not broken. This was a lucky in unlucky.
And I don't lose challenging spirit yet to continue this trip. I had 2 broken parts of bamboo bike as memorial records of this trip. Oh...bamboo bike, I am sorry.



About accident, I could remember only that I have departed from State park in Goreville at 7:20a.m. and seen big sun between the trees, and turrned right to Tunnel hill road. But I could not remember the instance of traffic accident. I lost memory. When I recovered myself I already lay on the bed in a hospital in Marion. Because a bike lane in Tunnel hill road was very narrow, and sun was big and bright, so car driver could not see bamboo bike and me.
3 of 4 panniers were broken, and stove, diesel can, cooking can watch and some equipments were broken, and wear gears were torn. The left side of panniers were broken more than right side ones, so car maybe hit from the left side of us. Panniers helped me. Maybe because of the impact of crash I jumped in the field, and hit my right side of my face, and injured. I was lucky that I jumped into the soft field, not cliff, not tree, not concrete, not steel guard.


Hi,my friends / followers!
I never give up.
I will continue to travel with bamboo bike.
Though I need a few days to check my conditions of body, left leg, mustle, brain, and face. And I need time to parepare for some equipments, panniers.
But I never want to give up my trip with bamboo bike. I have a passion.
Because I am Bamboo Samurai.
Even if I will not be able to continue this trip this time, I will sure to come back on the road again with bamboo bike. And next time I will travel with the bamboo bike which I (Bamboo Samurai) make by myself by using only Japanese bamboo. Never give up.
This is my dream.



In hospital, though I could not yet take a shower, I took some rest and ate nice foods. Every 3 hours a nurse brought medicines to me, checked my blood pressure and body temperature.
Outside of the big window of room in this hospital, I could see a big flag of United States swinging by wind like a sea wave.
I said to myself, " I was very lucky" , " I am survive now". "Thank you so much". Though I did not realize to whom I should say thank you unconsciously I said to myself, "thank you so mcuh".


Good sleep.  Takashi 2010/10/29 @Room 312, Heartland Regional Medical Center, Marion

Feedback about adjustments of saddle

10/28
Since I have adjusted the angle of saddle on both 24 Oct / 25 Oct, I felt very good for riding.


I have hardly felt a pain of hand. Very good.
Thank you so much, Fred!
Thank you so much, Bill!
I was very helped by you, one physical stress was disappeared. I will continue to ride on this angle, on saddle.  This was amazing thing for me who was a beginner of biking. Such a small adjustment helps me so much, Unbelievable. Thank you so much!

Takashi 2010/10/28 @Goreville

10/28 Goreville

10/28 Fine day, from Chester via Murphysboro to Goreville, Fern Clyfee State Park, 76.5miles


Yesterday night I suddenly crushed...with non consciousness...because I drank "shot",Tequila. maybe...   But I had great sleep, thank you Billy and Tommy, thank you "shot".


I woke up 2:30 and wrote some sentenses for blog.
In my plan, today bamboo bike went to Murphysboro, but I felt we could go a little bite more farther. So I decided that we went to Goreville, and dropped by a library in Murphysboro and there I accessed internet, checked e-mail and posted diary up on blog, after that we started biking again aim to go Goreville. (It was 37.5miles from Murphysboro to Goreville.)
We started biking 5:45a.m, At Eagles in Chester, we had great time, they were all friendly, so kind to cyclist, got interested in activity in cyclist and bamboo bike. Thank you guys, Eagles, Chester city!


We went along the Mississippi river on Hwy3.
There were many big trucks on Hwy3, I felt some sense of danger, I thought we needed more sign or brightness, though bamboo bike was attached with one back light, luminant tape, and my helmet was attached one back light and wore luminant wear which David Cuzy gave me in Denver. I must think some way to light us up more, and should do that soon.

"The Illinois sunrise!"
we saw the sunrise in Illinois for the first time, this morning. Sun rose up 7:25 a.m. Beautiful!
Sunrise were always beautiful anywhere.


We arrived at Murphysboro 8:50a.m. Thogh we dropped by a library, library does not yet open, (would open from 10:00a.m.)  So we dropped by "Subway", ate breakfast, and talked to staff about our trip and bamboo bike. After that we went to post office and wrote letters to my parents. I wrote letters to my parents every states. In a library I could use wi-fi, so I used internet, checked e-mail, and posted diary up on blog. After that we went to Walmart store and bought some foods and energy bars.



We started biking again from Murphysboro, passed many small hills, up and down. We enjoyed biking. Though sometimes dogs attacked us, but I have already taken a somewhat endurance for barking dogs, I have already been accustomed to the barking dogs, I already have hardly felt mental stress from the dog's attack. Power up!



We arrived at Fern Clyfee State Park in Goreville, Illinois at 4:35p.m. Here was surrounded by many trees, there was a small pond in park, and there were some campground areas in this park. After arriving, I de-packed my panniers, and cooked dinner, ate 2 ramens, rice(chicken flavor) with tuna, and banana. 




It was getting colder around here. So I wore an additonal 1 clothe than usual. 




Tonight we stayed at campgroud at Fern Clyffe State Park in Goreville. There were no one around here in State Patk, I could see only fallen leaves and trees a, some of which turned red and the others already fell their leaves. I just alone. There were no light instruments. Sometimes I heard some barking of dogs. Getting cold, inside sleeping bag I felt a little bit cold. I must think some equipments / ideas to stay warm during sleeping soon because when I would go north, it may be colder than here. Good night. Tonight I lay on the table.



Takashi 2010/10/28 @Goreville

October 28, 2010

10/27 Chester ~cross Mississippi ~

10/27 Fine day, from Farmington to Chester, 47miles


In Chester, there were Mississippi river, Popeye, big trucks, beautiful church, good bar, friendly guys in the bar and good bike hostel.

Bamboo bike put the pedals on Illinois for the first time and crossed Mississippi river. When finished crossing the Mississippi river, (there were no bike lanes on the bridge), the statue of Popeye welcomed us.





In the morning, I spend some hours to re-plan our schedule in Al's place in Farmington.


Bamboo bike and I had valuable time, we were very helped in Al's place in Missouri, I could spend many hours to use internet, gather information, warm shower, soft bet, clean room, kitchen, and laundry. Thank you Farmington city, thank you Doug, thank you Missouri!
Bamboo bike started biking at 11:30a.m. Today we enjoyed biking, because on the way there were little cars, no dogs attacked us, surrounded many beautiful red, yellow, green trees. "A path in autumn" Good feeling.




I heard about 70% of this states of Missouri are forests. We saw the big turucks carrying timbers, I thought about industry of this states, maybe foests and timber industry was developed. I remembered the scenery of Wakayama prefecture, one of the prefectures in Japan and there were many forests like Missouri. Now in Japan sometimes logged timebers are neglected in the forests, because it costs much to transport these timbers, neglected timbers in forests causes increase of carbon dioxicide.

On the Hwy Z, which was a local road, there was a road work, and road was already closed...  But I could not find the alternate way, I could only Interstates Hwy 55 in the map, Interstates Hwy was very dangerous. So I decided to continue going on Hwy Z. Road work was executed but kind worker helped us, he was so kind that he stopped road work and we could pass beside the road work. Thank you so much.

We arrived at locak road, Hwy H near Chester city. The scenery has changed much, very different from Missouri. No trees, no hills, vast farms were spreading in front of us.
"Is here Missouri?" I wondered. It was interesting. We passed flat field for some time, we crossed the Mississippi river, and arrived at Chester city at 3:00p.m. I saw the statue of Popeye there. Chester city, the birthplace of Elzie Sagar, the author of Popeye. In my childhood, I played game "Popeye". I remembered that I ate spinach to be such a strong man, Popeye in my childhood. In a visitor center I talked to the staffs about my activities and bamboo bike.They got intrested in bamboo bike.



We arrived at Eagles, which was a bar, restaurant and bike hostel in Chester city. No charge for cyclist's staying, warm shower. In the bar I met Donna, the owner of Eagles and Richy, Jason, Tommy, Billy, and many guys. I enjoyed talking to them, they were friendly, and they were excited to talk about bamboo bike. Some people said "bamboo bike could float, you could swim accross Mississippi river. Funny, but Happy. All people in Chester city knew about bamboo, the fact bamboo grows fast, bamboo pole for fishing and bamboo floor.





"Beer blog"
In the bar, I drank 2 new beer tonight " Newcastle Brown Ale" and "Samuel Adams Octorberfest". (I drank normal "Samural Adams" in Cold Springs station, Nevada.)
And I ate many, pizza, potatoes, onions, bread, and fried fish. And at last Tommy and Billy recommended me, "shot", Tequila. I drank, shot..  Oops!..

"Nercastle Brown Ale":
 it was a darker beer, color was black. I like darker beer.  It tasted sweet, light, very fruity and strong, It was like a British beer.I like this.

"Samuel Adams Octorberfest":
It tasted sweet like sugar, I felt this beer was made from sugar cane. But I did not know. It was too sweet for me. I prefer "Newcastle Brown Ale".

Exceptional
"Shot, Tequila"
Strong...  Oops!

Bamboo bike and I stayed at Eagle's lodge for cyclist. There was history, there were stories of many cyclist here. We were happy to stay here, we could sleep on soft bed tonight. Thank you Donna, Richy, Tommy, Billy, and many guys. Thank you Eagles and Chester city!
Oops,,,,in my stomach Tequila rolled around... crush,,Good sleep.




Takashi 2010/10/27@Chester city