January 29, 2008

Today’s miles: 41.5 on bicycle

I woke up later than usual in Greensboro, made breakfast, did some planning for the day, Travis taught me how to change a bike tube, and got on the road finally around noon. All went well (although a little sore from my 70 miles yesterday). It was a cloudy, warm day. The problem began when I got to the Bryan Park golf club and realized that I wasn’t allowed to bicycle on the trails, or at least half of them, and the other half were mountain bike trails. Anyways, I had to find a way to bike around them. I found a map partway through my detour and sat at a coffeeshop in Summersville with the map finding my route on it.

I set off to rejoin the MST and search for a ceramic studio that was supposed to be on the trail, but I think it must be closed. So I kept biking, looking for the right place to camp, passing pastoral heaven on every hill, the red clay churned up in the fields. Ending up in Stokesdale, I stopped at a gas station to ask for advice about dinner and was given an earful about Stokesdale (7,000 pop, and rapidly growing) and its highlight: the worlds largest coffee pot.

I found the coffee pot a half-mile down the road on Hwy 158 N, behind (unceremoniously) a retirement community’s sign. Well, this I was not going to miss. You don’t see the world’s largest coffee pot any ole day, so off I went to see it and bike to Parker’s to find some grub and ask for a place to camp. It was a little diner, with the waitress/mistress of the joint Misty bustling every direction to take care of things. She offered me a place to camp on the property near the restaurant, and I accepted, then a couple in the restaurant asked if I wanted to stay in a house they had nearby, and I weighed it and decided that I would just as soon stay near to my bike and things. As I was setting up my tent outside in the dark, Misty’s grandmother came out of her round house and came over to give me a hug, then dragged me to the garage and insisted that I stay inside, propped on some old couch cushions and next to a plastic sword and a large, dried fish.

I am overwhelmed by the generosity of strangers.