- 3 bedrooms (stocked with clean linens)
- 1 bath (stocked with clean towels)
- kitchen (stocked with cookware, dishes and silverware)
- dining room
- living room with cable TV
- basement/gameroom with computer (high speed internet), pool table and ping pong
- deck with furniture
That evening I fixed a salad with spaghetti and garlic bread. We sat down at the table with real place settings and ate like kings. After dinner, we cleaned up and as the sun set, we mosied to the back deck and enjoyed a beer or two.
I benevolently invited him to stay in the extra room of the guest house and all he would have to pay is the $35 for an additional person. He gratefully declined, pointing out that he was starting this fall in elementary education and was on a shoestring budget.
As we continued to talk, we learned that he started riding in Minnesota and was going to visit his sister in DC. He was hoping to make it by Saturday. I didn't have the heart to tell him that riding 115 miles/day on the C&O Canal Trail, on a bike that breaks spokes every 40 miles was as likely as a snowballs chance in hell.
Never the less, this young man's story and enthusiasm were inspirational. On his trip: He had retired truckers invite him to stay with them. He helped deliver a calf. One night, as he slept, he had a coon eat all his food and spread the contents of his panniers in a 50' radius. He had ridden from Minnesota on a bike I wouldn't trust to ride across the street. This young man was a true adventurist. When Bob and I bid him farewell and went into the house to go to bed, I thought I'd heard the last of him. Yet, a couple weeks later, when I got back home, the Tandem Couple from Ohio sent me an article from their local newspaper. It turns out our young adventurist in Rockwood had passed close to their home town and stopped at a local bikeshop to, get this, have some broken spokes fixed! Check out the article - Cyclists find a friend at Elmore Shop. We live in a small world.
No comments:
Post a Comment