While I didn't go to work today, I drove over 70 miles. Here is where I went—and what I thought of it all...

It was a very nice, sunny day, in the mid-60s. Blue skys, not a cloud in sight. Just a great day to be out, enjoying it all.

The grass was green, the sky was blue, everything was great for a hike. Heading back on County Route 352, towards Medusa, to pickup my sister at Greenville High School, the first ridge of the Catskills looked so nice. You could see all those nice farm fields around—dotted with houses along side the road.

It's sorta nice not having cops around all the time, watching your every step—like how it feels in the city. No dirty blacks in sight. It's open.

Before that all, I was up in Partridge Run. Quite nice there too. I went for hike along the Long Path, from the Parking Lot near the gravel pit, to the 4-wheeler trail, just past the grey trail. I was listening to, and enjoying a tape of Easy Rider, and the more peaceful Peter Paul and Mary's See What Tommorow Brings.

I guess you could say, the trail had no suprises—after all I had been over it before, and also the grey trail, so I generally had a handle on that part of Partridge Run. But, everytime you walk a trail, you always see something different. I guess that's just part of the nature of trails.

Playing Easy Rider, and driving around this ever so buetiful country got me thinking, about one of my favorite themes—freedom. As Americans, we cherish freedom so much—even if we can't easily define what freedom is. Yet it seems people out here (and my personal experience), are generally free—at least on their own property—with limits (which brings up the question—are they really free?).

Is freedom—the freedom from dependence on others? It seems like city people have to rely a lot on others to get by—but heck, nowdays, most people in the country are no better. Nameless, faceless people; they are dependent on. Those they have to trust, that they care, or at least give a damn about them. I'm talking about quality of goods, factory farming, and responsibility to the environment—these nameless, faceless corporations—do they really care?

Maybe we should look at the family dairy farms that dot the countryside. I guess you could in one sense view them free—or at least more free. After all, they make their own decisions, with results that directly effect their own lives. If they screw up their soil, don't take care of their cattle, they will lose—many with limited social network to protect them.

But are they really free? Not by my defination—as I'm explaining it. Family dairy farms are highly dependent on the government for their survial. I've heard that $.49 out of each dollar of US farm profit, comes from the government. Many family farms around here recieve at least some subsidies— but not enough to keep them going—the net result is they are dependent on the government. They sell their milk to large, faceless corporations for very little—and the net product—with no connection to the source, is sold in stores.

People wonder why so much food is such low quality—it's because we are so extraced from the source. Farmers are dependent on big business and government—with all it's rules, regulations and red tape. But they are more free. They can race cars in back fields, have a dump on their property, burn things that would be prohibted in many other areas, and don't have to follow the rules and red tape as closely as others. Their ulimate fear is not cops and police raping them—but the quality of their crops. Corprates and government are working to take that away.

But to see the wonders of government, you have to also look no farther then Partridge Run. It's free—anybody in New York State can use it, for a variety of purposes—and during the week, it's vastly isolated—especially when you get off the roads. It's great to have a government that distributes the cost evenly among it's many citizens. Yes, there are rules and red tape up there—but your isolated, and if you stay with in certain wide norms—you'll be ok.

Maybe I'm too critical of cities, corprations, and formal law. Yet, there is no question that the level of enforcement and entrapment is less in the country. Maybe it's the cows, the farms and the burn barrels, or maybe I just love our country—the rural part of it.