[NEWS, WEATHER, and SPORTS: November, 2010 - The Power of Magical Thinking]
Neil Peart has updated the News page on his website with some more stories from the road. This update is titled The Power of Magical Thinking and Neil describes his motorcycling adventures from the South American leg of the Time Machine Tour. Neil and the NeilPeart.net staff (Neil, Greg Russell and Brutus) were so deeply moved by the rescue of the 33 Chilean miners last month that they are making an appeal to readers to consider contributing to the Chilean Red Cross. Before getting to the story, readers are presented with the following message:
Dear Readers,
The staff here at neilpeart.net—Our Eponymous Founder, plus Greg Russell, Minister of All Things Creative, and Brutus, the Manager over at Bubba's Bar 'n' Grill—want to try something new.
Brutus and Our Eponymous Founder recently toured South America (see attached story), and were moved by the amazing rescue of the trapped miners in Chile while they were there. During the more than two months that ”Los 33” were trapped underground, the Chilean Red Cross administered ”Camp Hope” on the surface, for the estimated 2,000 gathered family members and international media awaiting the rescue.
The resources of Chile's ”La Cruz Roja” had already been strained by the terrible earthquake that rocked the country in February of this year—one of the strongest ever recorded, measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale, it caused massive destruction and killed nearly 500 people.
So we'd like to help—and ask for your help in doing it.
We're suggesting a donation of a mere $1.00—in return for the following story that all of us have worked so hard on (either by ”living” it, writing it, photographing it, or making it look nice).
We thank you all.
You are then given the option of contributing $1, $5 or $10 via PayPal before skipping ahead to the story. I made a contribution and I hope everyone else considers doing the same.
The story itself details Neil's initial apprehension (along with his family and friends) with his plan to motorcycle across South America:
... On the “business travel” side, I have been motorcycling to concerts for fourteen years—hundreds of shows and tens of thousands of miles—and have yet to be late even for a soundcheck, let alone a show. However, this time I would not have the “support crew” of a bus and trailer in the general vicinity (following the interstates while I explored the back roads). No spare bike, no BMW Roadside Assistance and well-placed dealers, none of the “easy” rescues available in North America and Western Europe. We would be pretty much on our own.
As I wrote to Brutus early on, when he was painstakingly researching and planning the journey (for about six months), “You know that a lot is ‘riding’ on this little venture of ours, and NOTHING can go wrong.” ...
But once he and Brutus settled into their journey they had quite an amazing story to tell. It's much too epic for me to try and summarize, you'll just have to read it yourself... and don't forget to contribute!
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