Day 43: Walden, CO to Saratoga, WY (67 miles)
In Walden the night before we met two young hitchhikers on their way hitching across america. They were camping in the same park as us. The guy had been hitching for awhile and had his girlfriend with him. We need to rely somewhat on the kindness of people to get across America; if we hadn't been taken inside in Rush Center, KS, we would have been pelted to "pain" by hail. It would take us longer to navigate around detours. The trip would be less cool.
It was interesting to talk to someone who's philosophy was to rely on people's kindness entirely. They had soup to barter, which they hoped would net them beer or cigarettes... which was interesting. They were just two short college kids, so they were about as unassuming as if my kid sister suddenly bought a flannel shirt and start hitchhiking. But, I suppose why people would help folks even in this situation is because helping folks like that leads to an encounter that is totally unordinary. It's the same reason people like talking to random people at bars and why internet dating has some amount of popularity. Most of our days as humans living in society are totally routine... sometimes it's the wandering traveler that shakes it up a bit. I didn't buy him a 6-pack of beer for having the courtesy of talking to him, but maybe the next guy will. Until then, I'll enjoy his favorite quote:
"Generally in towns, I can manifest myself anything. Food, beer, smokes. Cyclists coming through all the time, people are used to it and pointed us towards the same general resources."
I've been trying to manifest things since.
Our ride from Walden to the State Line was 22 miles, where we stood at the state line and enjoyed the day. We were supposedly biking downhill the rest of the way when from the top of the hill we saw this:
A drop into a canyon with a huge climb out. Thanks Adventure Cycling for not putting this one on the map!
We made it to Saratoga, where we were able to soak our bones briefly in the free "Hobo Hot Springs". We met a few other cyclists coming the other way and I ate some awesome barbeque. The camping at the lake was beautiful. Tomorrow was an easy day.
It was interesting to talk to someone who's philosophy was to rely on people's kindness entirely. They had soup to barter, which they hoped would net them beer or cigarettes... which was interesting. They were just two short college kids, so they were about as unassuming as if my kid sister suddenly bought a flannel shirt and start hitchhiking. But, I suppose why people would help folks even in this situation is because helping folks like that leads to an encounter that is totally unordinary. It's the same reason people like talking to random people at bars and why internet dating has some amount of popularity. Most of our days as humans living in society are totally routine... sometimes it's the wandering traveler that shakes it up a bit. I didn't buy him a 6-pack of beer for having the courtesy of talking to him, but maybe the next guy will. Until then, I'll enjoy his favorite quote:
"Generally in towns, I can manifest myself anything. Food, beer, smokes. Cyclists coming through all the time, people are used to it and pointed us towards the same general resources."
I've been trying to manifest things since.
Our ride from Walden to the State Line was 22 miles, where we stood at the state line and enjoyed the day. We were supposedly biking downhill the rest of the way when from the top of the hill we saw this:
A drop into a canyon with a huge climb out. Thanks Adventure Cycling for not putting this one on the map!
We made it to Saratoga, where we were able to soak our bones briefly in the free "Hobo Hot Springs". We met a few other cyclists coming the other way and I ate some awesome barbeque. The camping at the lake was beautiful. Tomorrow was an easy day.
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