Day 49: Great People with Great Big Beds

Sunday...

So I wake up in room 30 of the Pelican Motel and I take a long hot bath… and It occurs to me that I haven’t taken a bath since the one I took at my office on July 17^th. I check out of the room at 10:55am and am forced to listen to the hotel proprietor give me directions for a half hour… directions I never asked for… This happens A LOT… I wonder if maybe I just naturally look confused and people just want to help…

I get out onto the road and I’m feeling very stiff… so I pull into a cemetery and do some stretching before continuing. About 20 miles down the road I run into Don? I think that was his name… a veteran/minister/dreadlocked recumbent cyclist who is doing the perimeter of the US… Neat guy… We didn’t talk long, he was enjoying his tailwind too much to waste it idling on the side of the road.

In Hawley… I stopped at a DAIRY Queen and a father/son were rough housing in the line… It was sort of bizarre how violent they were acting towards each other in such a public forum… “This is the sorta town where I could get myself killed someday” I think to myself. I pull out the camera and hit it a few times…. And Voila! It works! It’s criminal that it didn’t work all morning… it was without question one of the most beautiful mornings of the entire trip…. Such strange, surreal scenery… Take my word for it…. Really beautiful.

I passed a cyclist I believe to be Shane Watters, who also has a blog up on crazyguyonabike… He was on the other side of a divided highway so we just waved and kept on… it’s a real shame too… I wanted to talk to him cause I think he’s also from NYC. If not… It would be good to talk to someone… anyone… His blog is one of the more interesting ones as well...

The roads have these huge seams in them… so every 5 seconds…. Th-Thunk! Th-Thunk! Th-Thunk!

I ride into Moorehead, MN and it’s pretty neat little town…. I stop at a coffee shop and do some blog work… Then I give Larry from Warmshowers a call… I head over to his house and am always a bit nervous when meeting new people… Well… He was a super nice guy…. We hung out and talked for a while over a few beers. He grilled up some dinner and it was one of the better evenings I’ve had in a while… Maybe it was the beer… but it was a real good time. I can’t thank Larry enough for the hospitality… The bed is huge, and amazing, and it’s warm…. And I am reluctant to fall asleep… because I will have to leave in the morning. Such great people I've been meeting on the road. Great people with great big beds.