Dispatches: April 19

 Dispatches from the road by Bill Poindexter

April 19.

Well the last couple days have been interesting to say the least. Let me start off with yesterday, I left Sebree Kentucky fairly early in the morning and I made my way to the not the next town but the second to the next town can’t think of the name doesn’t really matter and I stopped in a general store and had some food and just relax a little bit. There’s one of those stores that used to have hardwood floors where everybody would come in and have a fun time discussing the weather and the current crop situation. I stayed there about an hour and I left heading east and to my surprise a lone cyclist was coming down the road and we stopped and chatted his name was Julian he was from Calgary and he had been down in Florida and was biking from Florida all the way to Calgary Alberta Canada. Julian had been on the road for 30 day’s. We had a nice conversation together and he was asked me about traveling by bicycle and I was asking about his past adventures as well it was just one of those moments sort of a crossroads where

two like-minded souls connect for a meal and a cup of coffee and a general store in the middle of Kentucky. After our conversation Julian went on his way and I went on my way. I was able to ride another 50 miles that day ended up riding a total of around 80 and ended up making my way to a campground at McDaniels Kentucky and slept soundly that is until I had to get up in the middle nigh for more clothes as the temperature dropped down to 34f. But I was fine I’m used to the cold weather. So I got up this morning and organize my gear had a really nice breakfast and made my way to the east and started noticing that I was getting a clicking sound which in my experience means that somethings going on with my pedal or my bottom bracket was going on- my mind flashback’s to the storm I wrote in a few nights ago and how the bike got drenched sitting outside in a thunderstorm. I probably should’ve had the bottom bracket changed before I left Kansas City but the bike shop said it looked good so sometimes things just happen on the road that’s just part of bicycle touring. But as I rode I kept hearing the click louder and louder and it started to wear on my mind as the route I’m on there are very few bike shops so if something does happen you have to basically find somebody to drive you to a bike shop or hitchhike or you push your bike. So I was stopping at a gas station for lunch and had just gone from one map to a new map and I noticed that Elizabethtown,  Kentucky was only a few miles away and it looked like there was a bike shop there and actually there was two so I called them up and luckily the first bike shop was only 13 miles away so I rode there and unfortunately they weren’t able to help me but they tried they were very kind that was the Schwinn shop and I called another friend his name is Adam and he also has a bike shop but it’s more of kind of an underground type bike shop and he actually had the part I needed in stock which was indeed a bottom bracket because mine was starting to fail. So I rode my bike to him we had a fine time talking about bicycling and the philosophy around cycling. He and I were definitely on the same page and he did a good job fixing my bike and I feel really good that I have a new bottom bracket sometimes it’s just a little things in life. He and I were talking and he was about finished there was a woman who came down, Lindsay, and she was there for a bike ride as she is a runner but builds up her muscles by cycling as well. She saw my loaded bicycle and started asking the normal questions where are you going what are you doing where do you sleep and I told her that because it was late in the day it was already like 6 o’clock but I didn’t really have a place to go that night so I was just going to sleep somewhere in town and she offered her home as she and her husband have a Farm just 11 miles from town. So that’s where I am tonight warm and toasty in a bed in Lindsay‘s and Nathan‘s home and I’m very thankful to be here. I feel very strong but I’m also tired to. Lindsay is very passionate about her life and the Wanderlust she and Nathan share is contagious and they have a beautiful little farm! It is so much fun to meet like-minded people! 

I love the passion to be outside, I love the passion to invite a stranger into your home, it’s people like this and at the bike shops today and those people that just really make me happy. I know I need to start writing more about nature in what I’m seeing from the road too -by the way Kentucky is absolutely gorgeous. But I just keep meeting these people and I needed this uplifting gracious soul loving kind people that really gives me faith in America and that there are lotta good people here. I know this is a common theme-I hope you’ll be patient with me I’ll get a Nature we live in a world world though we’re a lot of people that are scared out there and confused but I’m telling you there’s a lot of really good people out there and I think we’re gonna overcome all the weirdness it’s happening. Trust me. Well I need to sleep. Thanks for reading my words again. Maybe I’ll see you on the road. Peace and love from the road, Bill