Warmshowers

This section was written by Tina. It happened a couple of years after I retired and moved to Ashland. Warmshowers is an international group that gives travelers (usually cross-country bicyclists) a place to stay for a night or two at no charge. They have an app that allows you to contact individuals who are members and set up accommodation for your bicycle travels. It also allows members to communicate and validate hosts and guests based on their experiences with them. And yes, after this incident, we joined the ‘hosts’ list. –LE

Warmshowers by Tina W.

A funny thing happened on my way to get Worcestershire sauce…..as we pulled into the grocery store parking lot, three men in black on heavily packed bicycles rode up at the same time.

As the temperature was in the high 90’s I was only able to rein in my curiosity long enough for them to remove their helmets before I bounded over to verify their sanity. But suddenly remembering I am a polite Kentuckian now, I swallowed my first question and asked instead “where are you going?” New York they replied (which I thought was overly ambitious), which led to the question “Where did you come from?” and I was floored when they said Oregon.  A brief conversation later, I offered to let them camp in my backyard.

Long ago, in my thin and reasonably youthful past, I decided to get fit by riding my bike to work, which would be 15 miles a day over a series of small hills. At the time, I was a secretary for a construction company. The crew I worked with all lived in the next town down from mine, a fact I forgot about, and on the way home they came across me lying down in a farmer’s field, purple in the face and puffing hard. At first, they were alarmed, but when I recovered, I gathered up my shreds of dignity, determined to put a quick end to their hilarity.

They deliberately drove their caravan of pickup trucks directly behind me at ⅛ of a mile per hour (approximately my speed) hooting and hollering and honking their horns in the most humiliating, embarrassing and, thank God, only parade I have ever led.  I still love bicycles, though, in a more abstract way now.

To be Continued…

–TW