THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS
We're in Pt Stanley tonight, a sweet little town with a large swimming beach on the shore of Lake Erie. We just returned from dinner, where I passed on the "local specialty", which is pickerel. I don't know what that is, but I just need a little break from the Local delicacies. Just when I had exhausted all the USA candy bars, we've discovered a treasure trove of Canadian ones. Kami's working her way through the Coffee Crisp line of chocolate bars, and I'm so happy to have found the BOUNTY. It's the candy bar of my dreams. It's like an Almond Joy without the almonds, it's like a Mounds with milk chocolate. In other words, it's just what I want!
Yesterday and today we've had such good experiences---riding out of Wallaceburg on Monday, we knew we were headed into a storm. We didn't know how bad it was going to get though. We met a long distance cyclist (Connecticut-Ohio) who told us about some construction ahead of us, and a good diner. We were looking forward to the diner, but we got there at 1:52pm and it closed at 1:30. Just as we were pondering our next move, a brief rain cloud passed over. It was just enough to get us in our rain gear again, and get all our bike bags covered. We sat at a picnic table under a tree and when the clouds passed, we took off again. But, in the distance there was a much bigger and more powerful storm brewing. Within about 5 minutes of leaving that intersection, a man in a car pulled up next to me and rolled down his window---he asked me, as we were both moving, if I was scared of the rain.... I looked behind me, and said, "yeah, a little bit" and he asked if we wanted to turn around and come back to his house----he had driven out JUST to catch us, and reel us in. I noticed his yellow LIVESTRONG bracelet, and thought, "right on!" I didn't realize there were severe weather watches out, and I told him we were going to try to beat it to Eatonville. We couldn't get there, though----the sky turned dark and the wind began gusting at forces that were blowing us out of control. We stopped at a farmhouse, and ran up to the porch---past the grey-muzzled old dog giving us a perfunctory bark. Inside the house, a woman peeked out with the 2 year old twins she was baby sitting. She told us we could wait on the porch, then invited us inside as the lightening began striking all around us. After about an hour, the storm passed---it knocked out "hydro" or power to the communities, and spawned a tornado!!! We took off for our campground and stopped at a little market, where a man offered to cook us burgers on the grill. We told him that sounded great, we were starving. When he heard that he began bringing us all kinds of food, at his own expense, including ice cream! Then, he told us to come back in the morning and his wife would cook us breakfast!
The folks at the campground were on the lookout for us, and welcomed us with a hearty greeting when we rolled in. They yelled, "Oh! You made it!!!" and showed us a spot on "high ground" for our tent. As it turned out, they knew the storm hadn't passed the Lake after all. But, the early evening was clear, and a woman who works at the camp store asked if we would like "some chicken". We said "Sure!" and she went to her trailer and prepared us two big plates with chicken, bread, cheese and pickles. I have a feeling it was everything she had, and she shared it with us. It's such a humbling experience to be traveling this way, and meeting these people who make it so much easier and better for us. We stopped back at the corner store this morning, and sure enough, Larry's wife was waiting for us and asked us if she could make us omelets. They don't serve omelets, or breakfast there---but they did this morning just for us. It rained all night last night, and rained most of the day---Everyone we met expressed concern for us in our journey and went out of their way to make our travels better. I see so much goodness in people, it's overwhelming to me at times.
Yesterday and today we've had such good experiences---riding out of Wallaceburg on Monday, we knew we were headed into a storm. We didn't know how bad it was going to get though. We met a long distance cyclist (Connecticut-Ohio) who told us about some construction ahead of us, and a good diner. We were looking forward to the diner, but we got there at 1:52pm and it closed at 1:30. Just as we were pondering our next move, a brief rain cloud passed over. It was just enough to get us in our rain gear again, and get all our bike bags covered. We sat at a picnic table under a tree and when the clouds passed, we took off again. But, in the distance there was a much bigger and more powerful storm brewing. Within about 5 minutes of leaving that intersection, a man in a car pulled up next to me and rolled down his window---he asked me, as we were both moving, if I was scared of the rain.... I looked behind me, and said, "yeah, a little bit" and he asked if we wanted to turn around and come back to his house----he had driven out JUST to catch us, and reel us in. I noticed his yellow LIVESTRONG bracelet, and thought, "right on!" I didn't realize there were severe weather watches out, and I told him we were going to try to beat it to Eatonville. We couldn't get there, though----the sky turned dark and the wind began gusting at forces that were blowing us out of control. We stopped at a farmhouse, and ran up to the porch---past the grey-muzzled old dog giving us a perfunctory bark. Inside the house, a woman peeked out with the 2 year old twins she was baby sitting. She told us we could wait on the porch, then invited us inside as the lightening began striking all around us. After about an hour, the storm passed---it knocked out "hydro" or power to the communities, and spawned a tornado!!! We took off for our campground and stopped at a little market, where a man offered to cook us burgers on the grill. We told him that sounded great, we were starving. When he heard that he began bringing us all kinds of food, at his own expense, including ice cream! Then, he told us to come back in the morning and his wife would cook us breakfast!
The folks at the campground were on the lookout for us, and welcomed us with a hearty greeting when we rolled in. They yelled, "Oh! You made it!!!" and showed us a spot on "high ground" for our tent. As it turned out, they knew the storm hadn't passed the Lake after all. But, the early evening was clear, and a woman who works at the camp store asked if we would like "some chicken". We said "Sure!" and she went to her trailer and prepared us two big plates with chicken, bread, cheese and pickles. I have a feeling it was everything she had, and she shared it with us. It's such a humbling experience to be traveling this way, and meeting these people who make it so much easier and better for us. We stopped back at the corner store this morning, and sure enough, Larry's wife was waiting for us and asked us if she could make us omelets. They don't serve omelets, or breakfast there---but they did this morning just for us. It rained all night last night, and rained most of the day---Everyone we met expressed concern for us in our journey and went out of their way to make our travels better. I see so much goodness in people, it's overwhelming to me at times.
posted by Laurel @ 7:42 PM
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