My daughter Jane went shopping yesterday for some more doodads to fix my new phone line so I can go online. In doing so she ran across two Canadian young men on bicycles who are on a cross-country trip to Florida. They had flown from their home near London, Ontario to begin their journey in San Diego, and had just completed their first day's ride, which was all uphill to an elevation above 4,000 feet. They were tired and ready to camp for the night. She overheard them saying that $25 for camping one night at Live Oak Springs was not within their budget. They had been planning this trip for a time right after they graduated from college just for adventure, but one of them had served with an organization in Africa so they decided to turn it into a fundraising mission to get people to contribute to feed starving Africans. That brought with it certain rules.
Jane guided them up to our little house here on this windswept hill. She showed them a place in her garden area where the ground was softer than elsewhere for them to pitch their tent, and also offered to let them sleep in her trailer that is parked just outside our chain-link fence. With a cold wind blowing they opted for the trailer.
They were two of the nicest young men I have ever met. One was named Nathan Ferguson, and the other Joel. I didn't catch his last name. They agreed to be our guests for supper, so I heated up the hearty fish chowder and a big Thailand salad I had already made, and then I got busy and made a from-scratch apple pie. That was a mistake because it was already late and I would have to serve it hot right out of the oven. I rushed things and took it out of the oven too soon. It was done but runny. It needed about 20 to 30 minutes more to be the right consistency, but they protested it was good anyway. Canadians are so nice!
We sat around talking for about half an hour, but by 7 PM I saw Joel's eyelids closing and soon they went out to the trailer to sleep. It was the coldest night we have had for about a month or more, but they said their sleeping bags were good down to zero, so they were probably OK. The weatherman had predicted a low of 34 degrees for last night and it felt about that low with the wind blowing strongly all night. But when they came in for breakfast they sure looked cold. They were surprised it got so cold here. The national weather channel shows the temperature all over Southern California as being the same - usually in orange indicating temperatures up into the 80s. But at higher elevations it is a lot colder. It cools off at night a lot anyhow. Campo, about 15 miles away, claims to have the longest thermometer in the country. It can be in the 80s or 90s in the daytime and dip below freezing that same night. Ice on water buckets has been reported in the early predawn hours in July.
When the boys came in to warm up, Jane offered them breakfast and that sounded good to them. She had to go into her bedroom/office to work on line at her medical transcription job, so I heated up some potato pancakes and beautiful cheese biscuits she had already made, and I fried up some bacon and eggs to go with them. Then I watched with pleasure as Nathan and Joel stowed it all away.
While I was at it, I told them some of the tales of the Wild West around here from back about 1858 to 1900. There was a shootout in Campo in 1875 that was worse than the more celebrated one at the OK Corral in Tombstone. And I told them about the pretty English girl who had taken the same route they are taking, except from east to west, and she did it on a horse. That was about eight years ago. I wrote Gather articles about both topics sometime back.
We traded e-mail addresses, and then the boys packed up their stuff, gave us both big hugs, and were on their way by 7:30 AM. I told them they had only one more small grade to climb, and then it would be all down hill, or a flat road, all the way across the Sonora Desert as far as the Yuma Crossing. They told me they had estimated to go about 60 miles a day, but I bet they made closer to 100 miles today. And down there at about sea level they probably have a lot warmer temperature tonight.
This is the first time that either Joel or Nathan has ever taken a long trip on a bicycle, and they have no idea about where they will pitch their tent at nights. They will be traveling quite close to the border for a long way, so I hope they will be able to camp out of sight in case bad guys from Mexico intercept their path, or they might be hassled by our own Border Patrol.
I expect Jane and I will be worrying about them for days, but they will probably do just fine. They are both such big, healthy looking and personable young men probably other people along the way will be inviting them to stay for meals and camp in safe places. I just hope they will use those e-mail addresses we gave them and tell us all about it when they get home to Canada.
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Comments: 21
It might be interesting if they were to exchange e-mail addresses from coast to coast, and stop at libraries to blog about their adventures. It would be great to have them on Gather!
Lynn, a young friend of mine from Saint John, bicycled from Victoria, BC to Bonavista, NFLD, a few summers back. She was with a group of 20. I think they paid so much for the trip before hand. Someone with a camper carried all their equipment and they had destinations every night. Every evening she wrote an account of her day, and every morning I wrote her a note back.
What courage these people have. What stamina!
That is so cool that you guys were able to help them get off to such a good start on their trip; thank you.
You are such a sweetie to take them in :>}
I tend to want to pick up hitch-hikers because they are usually in such remote places on an on-ramp to I-8. The weather is often cold and windy, or very hot so unprepared people can die of exposure. So, I say a little prayer for them and pass by most of them. It is a dangerous practice, especially for a lone woman.
Our Canadians were very clean, bright-faced, and had well equipped bikes, and also Jane had a chance to size them up at the store before she offered them a place to spend the night. It was a very good decision. We enjoyed their company very much.