Monday, 25 August: My friend's mom found an excuse to drive me out to Kent, home of Kent State University (yes, *that* Kent State), which was much appreciated, because it saved me at least a couple of hours of navigating my way through very populous, trafficky, boring areas.
I had a lame headwind today, but it was sunny and not too hot, and I spent most of the day out in the country, so it was pretty nice. I made my way east toward a nice long north-south paved bike trail. It is wonderfully smooth, with many lovely trees that helped to block the wind a little bit. I chatted with another cyclist, who gave me five dollars and told me to treat myself to dinner at the Dairy Queen that was a ways up the trail.
Toward evening I approached a small town just off the trail, and decided to look for a store and inquire about camping. A few blocks away from the trail, a kind woman hailed me from her yard, where she was out mowing, and asked if I had a place to stay. She took me in and fed me and let me shower and sleep in a bed. That was completely awesome. It turns out she and her husband have done some bicycle touring of their own, and she said a lot of people have offered them places to stay on their trips, but it's often too early in the day, when they aren't yet ready to quit riding. Her timing tonight was about as perfect as Brad Pitt. When I told them my next destination was Niagara Falls, they said they had ridden there before, so we discussed routes, and I got some useful information.
Tuesday, 26 August: Another fantastic day, with another fantastic headwind. I spent the first part of the day on the same trail that I was on yesterday. I met a nice couple who gave me $20. I love Ohio! Although I think that couple was actually from Iowa...
While I was having a roadside snack about twelve miles from the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, a woman came out of her house and gave me two peaches from her prolific backyard tree. She also brought wetnaps. Full service! We talked a bit, and I asked her about camping, and she offered to let me stay in her backyard, but I wanted to go further.
After a few more miles, I came across a guy on a bicycle who was having a problem with his bike. I offered him tools, but he said he could make it home okay. We rode along and chatted for a while, and he offered to put me up for the night. I hadn't gotten quite as far as I wanted to, but he seemed cool, and I didn't want to pass up a good opportunity just to make ten more miles. He and his girlfriend are really nice people, and we had a fun evening of pizza, booze and conversation.
6 comments:
I had no idea that Ohio was populated with friendly people who just hand out money to strangers.
I like your always-say-yes attitude, missy.
Also, I'm glad my (other) home state is taking such good care of you. Watch out for Pennsylvania, though, they're all jerks. And avoid Reading at all costs!
You seem to be meeting the nicest people ever on your trip. That helps restore my faith in humanity.
Heh, I'm glad I could help, Ed. For such a good cause, I guess I can accept free food and cash from people :D
How do you do it girl? I mean, come on, how many following this site, have just had somebody hand over some money....100 here, 20 there. Sheesh, share your secret, other than your charm, good looks and beautiful smile, what is the rest of it? And that lady waving you in to say you can stay there? How cool are all these people anyway?
It's largely the cycling community that is taking care of me, because they've toured and had people put them up, so they want to pay it forward. But also, people are intrigued by the journey, and want to hang out and ask questions, and help me to continue for as long as possible.
So I guess my secret is: load seventy pounds of gear on your bicycle and start pedaling. If you are too lazy to actually tour, and just want to take advantage of people's generosity, you could load your panniers with styrofoam and ride around your neighborhood telling people that you are from some city on the other side of the country.
But that would be so lame.
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