New Friends in New Places

One of the obvious draws to bike touring is the scenery.  Getting to see this country at such a slow place offers things that traveling by car cannot.  The other big draw, however, is the people.

No, not this guy

My mother always told me not to talk to strangers.  To be fair, it wasn't really her that told me, but, to be culturally accurate, that is what all our moms told us, whether they did or did not.  She did actually tell me to be careful and I am sure she actually was worried about the quality of the character of some of the people I would meet. 

There are many modern conveniences available to the bicycle tourist today but there is one that has, far more than any other, made my trip so much better than it would be without it.  Its not a GPS (don't have it), or a cell phone (mine is off nearly all the time) or even a bungee cord (not all they've cracked up to be).  The real life saver is WarmShowers.org.  Its a reciprocal hospitality website specifically for bicycle tourists, closely related to CouchSurfing.org.  The idea is that if you are traveling, there are probably a bunch of people in or around your destination who would put you up for the night.  The expectation is that you will use it as both a traveler and a host, but neither is required, per se.  You can always say no, and it is always free.  

The first thing many of you will think is that this sounds like a great premise for an episode of prime time murder mystery TV suspense: unsuspecting suburbanite admits suave killer into his home only to be murdered in his sleep and robbed of all assets by dawn.  This could not be further from the truth.  This is all a part of the "don't talk to strangers" mentality that our culture tries to ingrain in us.  In fact, strangers are actually quite nice people.  Did you know, for instance, that you are a stranger to nearly 100% of the human race?  How many people would you kill in their sleep, especially after they gave you a freshly baked cookie?  You are probably not such a bad guy, once you get to know you, and the rest of us are like that, too.

The experiences I have had so far with these services has been 100% positive.  In 47 nights since I have started, I have slept at a stranger's new friends house 17 nights.  None of them live the same way I do, but none of us really live the same as anybody else anyway.  Steve in Orick, CA, had an incredible farm in his backyard, and hosted groups nearly every single week.  Gretta in Bayside had a huge edible garden.  Her children hung out with us most of the night.  John and Doris were retired geologists in a retired geologists paradise. Donna and family made me feel like I was back in Vermont.  Mike was an ex-cop in Vegas.  They were all such amazing people and they all treated me with such warmth and love and care.

Granted, signing up to host bike tourists probably attracts a certain kind of crowd, and bike tourists are probably a "type" of their own.  But this doesn't change how we are treated by every other person we meet on the road.  As a bike tourist, you really learn to drop the whole shyness thing and you wouldn't believe it, but everybody we talk to is a regular Joe, just like you and me.  Even the homeless ones, the smelly ones, the rich ones, the happy ones, and the sad ones.  Everybody is just a dude (or dudette) trying to figure out what the heck to do today.  Some people go to work, some people ride bikes and some people get drunk, but we are all just trying to figure it out.

There are no strangers, just friends you haven't met yet. Thank you Clark Family, Ted and Bria, Gerry, Steve, Gretta, Jib and Jane, Mo, Mark, John and Doris, Donna and Roger and Jenny and Adam, and Dace.  You have all made this trip a really incredible one.

In other news, Nevada was kind of weird.  I really did love the time I spent with my hosts in Pahrump and Las Vegas, but I was glad to leave Sin City and not look back.  Do you really need to gamble that much, Nevadans?  In the grocery store?  Can't Arby's just be a down home roast beef joint?  Lets leave the video poker out of it.  You don't need to fill every vacant space with a slot machine.

Crazy Nevada, this map is upside-down

The fountain show in front of the Bellagio was pretty cool

We did a bit of time traveling this morning as we cut across the northwest corner of Arizona.  As you may or may not know, the entire state of Arizona except for the Navajo Indian Reservation decided to NOT adopt daylight savings time.  Couple that with crossing into the mountain time zone and quickly entering Utah, and Ross and I are still trying to figure out what time it is.

After tonight in St. George, we head for Zion National Park, then Glen Canyon and the Grand Canyon.  Flagstaff, AZ, will be our next big city.

Until next time, babbity boop.