Dispatches

 Dispatches

Dispatches from the road by Bill Poindexter

Well things never happen as you expect them to happen. Right? Take for instance the last couple of days actually last five days so last five days I did a lot of climbing and a lot of hiking bikes pushing my bikes mountains and it was a lot of fun and I loved it and then I made my way from the Highlands to Charlottesville and stayed with a Warmshowers host with six other cyclist who I would say become my friends and some of them even become my yoga students. Yesterday I took the day off and thru- hiker lingo it was a zero day well not quite zero as I rode to Monticello to see were Thomas Jefferson lived. And staying at the house and Charlottesville was a lot of fun especially meeting our host Melanie. So this morning I got up got all organized Taught a yoga class and was making my way to Mineral, Virginia it’s only 50 some odd miles away but right away I knew I was in a little bit of trouble the legs were heavy a little bit swollen one day off should’ve been two days off would been better If I eaten enough food and maybe I had but the whole day was just a grind if you’re touring cyclist you know that sometimes you just have these days and there’s really nothing you can do -you can’t speed it up and you can’t make everything better all you can do is kick it into an easier gear and let humility take over and just go slow and so that’s what I kind of focused on and but still I stopped even in the first 35 miles- I stopped three times and actually laid down and just did not feel up to my game. It’s not the first time I’ve been here this type of slow bonking (bonking-when you expel more calories then you’re taking in) and that’s probably what it was as bonking is an old friend. Although I’m sure I had enough maybe I’d maybe I didn’t. And then to make matters worse the weather was starting to turn there was a tornado watch and I was running out of water and I still had about 18 miles to go and I rolled by a house and I saw a woman walk out with her dog and waved to me and I stopped and asked her for water and she waved me around and next thing I know she invited me into her home, and that would be Janis. She offered to get me a hotel room because of the impending storm and I declined so she ended up offering me a place to stay in her home but being single and us not knowing each other she and I felt a bit uncomfortable so we ended up having dinner at her place which was fantastic and then she drove me to mineral- so I actually hitched a ride again because I’m in pending thunderstorms and to a bed-and-breakfast here. Now I understand that I’m tired you can probably tell that just from this writing . I’ve been on the road for 35 days and I’ve done a lot of climbing and a lot of hard riding and I think my body just today just needed to say hey we need a break. So I’m very grateful for my trail angel Janis and her two dogs and her three cats and the lift to this place can’t even tell you what the name of it is doesn’t matter I’ll do a picture. It’s only the second time that I’ve taken a room and paid for it in a hotel even though this is a bed-and-breakfast. But it does seem like a good idea today. My other option would be to camp outside in a tent here in town by the volunteer fire department. And it’s going to storm all night so and I don’t mind that but I’ll take the bed and breakfast tonight. So that’s kind of where I’m at right now laying in bed in a room I’m really tired and a little bit of a headache drinking some coffee which really isn’t a good idea but just the way it is even though I just ate a couple hours ago I’m in I’m hungry again so I’m probably gonna dig in my bag and see what kind of food I have. There might be some food here at this Inn. But I want to talk about little bit about humanity. I had some great conversations with the two 73-year-olds about life and some younger people in their 20s about life and then a person my age about life and good friend of mine Brian actually bought me some coffee and sandwiches and he made the statement that this is because “you’re you” and he wanted to buy me multiple coffee and sandwiches which I’m very grateful for. By him saying that I’m just being me by doing the things that I do and write about things that I write about and write about this great country and write about humanity being still good he recognizes that and I love that because it’s true most people in this world are good and if you don’t know that you should!

I met a lot of them on this trip if you look back at my back posts you’ll see some of them. And then tonight people like Janis and I was just offering to help I’m not even being really comfortable with the fact that bringing a stranger into their home but still doing it because it was a right thing to do. She even told me the story about when it was cold still that she saw a homeless guy with the dog and she got him a hotel room for a few days. Who does that anymore right?

 I just take the homeless people clothes and stuff. It’s people like Janis people like Brian people like my 73-year-old friends who are heading to Oregon on their bicycles and all these other people I know that inspire me to be gone a better person I told you early on in this trip that I’m not gonna make it so I am a hero by doing this ride and I haven’t been. I’ve gotten my butt kicked and there’s been times when I’ve cried and I wanted to go home and I felt sorry for myself and I felt lonely but you know I see how people in this country live and survive and I see goodness in many many people and that really inspires me and comes down to also that we live in a great country as well and we need to remember that 

as I’m getting closer to Yorktown I am reminded of the sacrifices of people like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington general Rochambeau French general and many others and all those Frenchman that  came over on the boats into Newport Rhode Island and 1781 I believe that were instrumental in helping us defeat Cornwallis at Yorktown so we could separate from the great Britain. And I don’t know there’s more I’m gonna talk about this more as we move closer to the coast less than a couple hundred miles away now. The plan is to slowly make my way to the coast over the next 2 to 3 days then double back to Williamsburg and then take a train from Williamsburg to between Rhode Island and Boston and then the bike down to Cape Cod and get the ferry and go to Martha’s Vineyard, and I’m heading to Mermaid Farm and creamery and Chilmark Massachusetts to be a field man and a cheese maker-top that one right? OK well that’s enough for tonight I’m gonna drink my coffee dig for some food and we’ll see what tomorrow brings. If you like my writing you want to support my journey by buying me a sandwich and a cuppa coffee I greatly appreciate that you find me on Venmo or just reach out to me directly. Peace and love from the road, Bill