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I’ve been “on the road” for eight days now, of which four of those have been actual touring days.
In Athens, I engaged in my first experience as a couchsurfer. Having done a fair bit of hosting in Gainesville, i was interested to find how the other half lives :) And Ayla and Alise…sisters…took me in for the weekend. I’m not sure if they know just how helpful they were to me…i learned on my arrival from Decatur, GA that my panniers, while doing their job mostly as intended, were not quite as waterproof as i’d hoped. They gave me the space to >dry off< (for one thing), and amend my gear to seal the little remaining spaces that water could slip through. And they were great guides around Athens–i hope that when i have a couch again someday, they will come stay with me!
I am currently harbouring a love/hate relationship with my bicycle and my whole touring setup in general =)
In Toccoa, GA i was looking for a place to stay. The first i asked for advice was the pastor of a church (and his wife?) where i had stopped for a break on the south end of town.
Stephanie and i once stopped at a church near Jacksonville Beach and asked to camp on their expansive lawn and were shutdown. Her comment on the situation was something to the effect of having never been well received at churches, or having never been offered help from the same.
And this situation was no different. Ha, and i wasn’t even asking to stay there…instead i asked "do you have any ideas where i could stay". Both of their eyes glazed over as they mildly shook their heads "no".
In town i looked for a single open restaurant or coffee shop so i could check my email (i had found one available couch for Toccoa on couchsurfing.org and wanted to make a last-minute check to see if my request had been read). No.
About 8p, i was directed to a place called Perk Up Cafe where the employees and i chatted…and they knew the guy who i had couchrequested! But couldn't help me beyond that. No.
Having learned from the same people that the roads to Curahee (the feature that brought me to Toccoa) were washed out, i made a mental note to title this day's crazyguyonabike.com journal entry “No!ccoa”
No no no! All day, it seemed, even from the weather. I finally take refuge on the raised steps of a church several miles north of town, heading in my next general direction (Bryson City, NC)
The reason i am headed toward Bryson is because some fellow touring cyclists who live there spotted my crazyguyonabike journal and kindly offered, should i care to slightly alter my route, that i could stay with them (Bryson City is only 16 miles from the southern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway situated in Cherokee, NC).
But i don’t even have to wait until then for the universe to balance against the palms of rejection that flooded my direction.
The next morning i wake up and start to situate myself. Next door to the church (a residence), a man is helping his children into his truck to take them to school. I ask to use his tap, and he grants me a spin of his faucet. We talk a bit about where-i-am-going and what-i-am-doing and say our goodbyes.
I’m heating a can of lentils on those same church steps when Chris pulls back up bearing some hot food for me! Before i left Gainesville, i had conversations with friends about my dietary choices (which are most closely aligned with veganism) and how travelling might affect that choice. The perception is that quality vegan foods might be difficult to come by, or that it might not be healty/enriching enough to allow me to sustain the kind of energy expenditures that daily touring requires?
I’m certain neither of these are true, but what has occurred to me is that i perhaps should not refuse a free meal offered in good spirits. And accepting a “more vegetarian” diet versus a “more vegan” diet is almost not a question–an easy leap.
I recognize that there *is* enough food in the world, but i also recognize that our current food culture doesn’t encourage people well enough to provide for themselves, and that our educational system doesn’t include critical life-basics like tying knots or identifying local edible flora. Because of this, i can’t bear the notion of wasted food…if for no other reason than the sheer amount of energy that goes into its production.
So i had to ask myself, in the back of my mind, what i would do the first time someone freely and willingly offered me something made from the flesh of an animal. None of my friends asked this question–perhaps it seemed, as you might guess, out-of-bounds. I’m not wondering anymore.
What kind of message would i reply to the universe, if in the face of genuine generosity, i said “no thanks”.
The only stressful counter to this notion is the ideal that i am what i eat, and that in any diet there are good choices and bad choices, and i care to consume only the highest quality foods. This is my vessel, i feel compelled to care for it so long as it shall be mine to traipse around this earth–so that i may use it for its intended purpose…to ask those questions…to get those answers…
But i am only one cell in the organ called humanity. and perhaps some small leaps or compromises can create space for greater contemplations. I like that i can change my mind and my self according to what life/the universe/everything asks of me. Flexibility. Good.
I am in Bryson City now, staying with Raquel and Jack. They tour by bicycle whenever they get the chance. They are also foster parents, and are currently providing house and home to two bright teenage boys, Jacob and Brad. Both of these fellows are intelligent, respectful and interesting. I’m not entirely sure what their backgrounds are, but know they can see they have been given, as i have been given, an opportunity to experience the real meaning of human spirit through Jack and Raquel. They give so openly, and willingly! New friends, indeed. Seems they might have some west coast action next year much like myself. Sounds like an opportunity to coordinate =D
So my bicycle is working out well. I set out to create a bicycle with trailer-like capacities but without the trailer. Two wheels is easier to move around than three or four! And i was successful! And the long wheelbase makes the ride smoother. And it just looks so weird and this gathers some positive attention.
But having trailer-like capacities doesn’t mean you have to fill up all the space, and i’m finding that (while i am more nimble than with a trailer) i am not nimble/light enough. What i mean to say is that i think my ideas about touring, and the way i want to go about it are changing. That i want to be ultra-light and super-minimal, just because it occurs to me that it might be the way i want to be.
But i am happy up high on my monster mountain masher, and will happily ride it so long as it will carry me.
To Ayla & Alise, Chris, and Jack and Raquel–i offer my gratitude, for their openness, for their inclinations to share and to trust…for being positive cells in the organ called humanity, making this world the world it has the potential to be. And shoring up my faith that it is possible yet.
My red 1994 jeep cherokee settled down next to the curb in front of Kathryn’s house–a friend of Sharon’s who lives in Decatur, GA, who agreed to let me park at her house as a starting point. Got the bike off the roof and packed up without delay or incident.
A neighbor strolling by with his dog made some comments and light conversation about bike touring (seems i have run into a lot of people who have done this in their lives…) and he grants me directions to the Freedom Park Trail.
This trail is part of my choice to start in Decatur, having learned about it only last night from Kathryn. That, and Decatur lies East of Atlanta, saving me the grief of pedaling through metropolitan traffic.
The trail takes me east and slightly north, terminating at Georgia’s Stone Mountain Park where i pause for a few pictures of this seemingly out-of-place behemoth of stone. But today is about biking, not climing, so i swing a leg back over the top tube and plant my butt in the saddle for roads ahead. At this point i have only traveled about 8-9 miles!
Its another 10, moving on US-78 toward Snellville before the skies open up, and on my first day of touring, i’m already donning the raingear. I’m wet for the rest of the day. Too bad too, because some picturesque scenes that graced my retinas would no doubt have enjoyed the CCD of my camera as well. Oh well.
I was on a road called Punkin Junction. Hah.
And then hill after hill. And I’m too heavy. And too top-heavy, introducing an unnerving wobble in the steer tube as the bike shimmies back and forth a bit according to the whims of the wind. I’m going to have to lose some stuff. Funny…before i left Atlanta, i went through my things and set aside a fair number of things which i thought i could do without, thinking i had fairly minimized the load. Also funny is how many additional things you think you can get rid of when you’re walking your bike up a hill. Regardless, Florida boys have much to learn about northern Georgia hills.
My panniers are not as waterproof as i’d hoped, despite being constructed with an inner layer of tarp material. I think a bit of seam seal will rectify that. But this is minor…i love them…they’re working out well!
Getting into Athens, i let myself into my couchsurf hosts’ house (according to their insistence), soaked to the bone and feeling very worn. 60 miles was perhaps too many miles out of the gate, having not done much distance riding in a while, especially without this kind of weight.
I’ll spend a few days here, checking out the town, and hopefully letting this weather pass before heading out again. Next stop…Curahee!
mad as in happy like a lunatic. its beautiful, bikes everywhere. monumental architecture like an old european city. the air has a slight chill, and the yellow-tipped leaves of the trees around the capitol building suggest that photosynthesis is losing ground to the changing seasons. its delicious.
I drove North from Gainesville today. Seems like every song on the radio was about traveling or saying goodbye.
And so i’m off! The only plan, thus far, is to leave the plans open-ended. But I have good ideas. I’m in Atlanta now, staying with my sister Sharon and her husband Adi. Tomorrow, we’ll pile in a car with their friends and head North to Madison, WI where she and Michelle will compete in Ironman.
We’ll return to Atlanta on the 15th, setting me up to pedal back out on or around the 17th. I’ll end that first day in Athens where I may stay for a few days before making my way to Cherokee, NC and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Stops in Asheville and D.C. before making my way down the East coast in time for the Horrible Hundred with my parents in Orlando. All of this is subject to change, of course, at a moment’s notice =)
I left many things behind in Gainesville, but one thing I did not leave is my relationships. I have many loving friends in town and though I feel a strong pull to make this journey, similarly I am drawn to them. To quote myself, “I think we come to know ourselves best through our relationships.” That is to say, each friendship may be a part of myself that is dying to express, or a part that is well expressed, and better with company.
In short, I have learned a great deal from them, about life, the universe, and everything. And I have so much yet to learn! And I love them.
<3
Satya (the Scarlett Avenger) and Sydney Elizabeth Nightengale Rothschild
Seems there’s only one way to go from here…
