Why is this man so happy?
Because he left today!
Well, day one is in the bag.
After 308 miles and about six hours, I can safely say that this long
awaited trip has finally started and I feel great! The power of positive thinking turned our lousy weather into a clear (but cool) day without one drop of rain. Weather
was good except for the last 40 or so miles, when straight out of the north
comes a crosswind that blew me sideways on the highway and it kept up for the
rest of the ride, also dropping the temperature at least 10 degrees. I ended the day in Port Huron, MI ... just the other side of the border from Sarnia, ON where I had originally planned to stay.
Today was pretty uneventful, but I do have
one story for you.
It’s early in the trip and I stop at the Lancaster, NY rest
stop (just east of Buffalo). As I stand
by my bike adjusting my luggage, I notice 4 obviously foreign gentlemen staring
at me. They finally approach and say, in very broken English that they are
visiting from India. One of them smiles,
points at the bike and says something I can’t understand. I think he’s complementing me on how good it
looks, so I smile and nod. At this
point, he sits on the bike, grabs the handlebars and his friends start shooting
pictures while I’m wondering what’s going on.
Then, smiling and talking in barely understandable English, each one
takes a turn doing this. But, wait for
it … this gets even better.
Right about the time the fourth guy finishes posing, four
more of these guys come out of the rest area and … you guessed correctly … they
also pose on my bike for pictures. By
this time, I’m laughing so hard I can’t talk.
Finally, three or four of them proceed to pose with me in front of the
bike. About this time, I’m thinking I
should charge for this photo op! The
session ends, we all shake hands, they hop in their van and they are off to their next stop, which I
think was Philadelphia. Once I’m back on
the road, it occurs to me that while I didn’t want to unpack my camera for
this, I did have a cell phone that takes pictures … oh well. Anyway, stuff like this always seems to
happen to me!
Tomorrow, a short 220 mile ride to Muskegon, MI and then the Lake Michigan Fast Ferry to Milwaukee.
