Adventurer

The woman from Holland that I ran into the other day was not lying when she said she was going to send in a story to the local newspaper. An article authored by Truus Leader was found in the Northwest Signal the day after I met her. You can find the article she wrote as well as a picture of me at the following link:

http://www.northwestsignal.net/articles/2009/09/04/news/doc4aa113febc2e3889705164.img

The article was titled "Adventurer." That's got a nice ring to it, maybe ill change the title of this blog to "The Red Adventurer" or "AdventuRED" or "I was the subject of an article in a small town newspaper titled Adventurer". Naw, I think Ill just stick with The Red Rider.

The past couple of days have been host to some firsts for me. The list of these follows:

- I saw a wild dog. It was a Shiatsu. As I came down a country rode a dog looked at me and immediately started running as fast as it could away from me. After about 100 yards, I pulled up next and saw that it was a Shiatsu just before it ran into a soy bean field. I have always wondered what a pack of wild Shiatsu's would look like, and though it wasn't a pack I feel like I finally got a glimpse. Dreams really do come true.

- Shortly after seeing the wild Shiatsu, I rode past a few interesting carcasses. The first was a beaver, the second a turkey buzzard, and finally someones well-groomed Westie, collar still on it. The beaver was a surprise because I have only seen one on the trip and it was in Oregon. The Turkey Buzzard was shocking because it was so large and I have never seen such a massive bird up close, even dead. However, the Westie was the find of the month because as I came up to it I thought it was some kind of pillow or something. I slowed down as I passed it and noticed the collar and finally I saw its face. It had a look on its face as if it was just hanging its head out the window of a car and enjoying the smells when the driver hit a bump and out went Princess. I don't know how long it had been sitting there, but I was surprised that nobody had moved it out of the road. It was right outside of a town and a stop sign.

- Somewhere in either Ohio or Indiana I found myself at a non-participating McDonald's. At the end of every McDonald's commercial, you will hear the words "Only at PARTICIPATING McDonald's." I have never paid attention to it and simply assumed that all of them were participating. This is not the case. Everyone knows what they are going to order when they go into a McDonald's, and for me it is always a $1 large drink, a McDouble Cheeseburger, and a McChicken sandwich. All of these items are off of the Dollar Menu and apparently are optional menu items for McDonald's owners. After listing off my order, the woman looked at me as if I had just ordered a Whopper, 30 Sliders, and a Gordita Crunch. I was shocked to hear the words, "I am sorry sir, we don't have any of those things." I was appalled! I chuckled and replied with "this is McDonald's, what do mean you don't have those things? Every other McDonald's between here and the Pacific has had them." I was clearly upset by this. "Yes sir but we don't participate in the promotions." A non participating McDonald's...this is the kind of thing that would throw an OCD person into a seizure.

- The final first of the trip was Confederate flags that were flown in front of 2 houses and swastikas were found not far away. I expected to see signs of America's divided past at some point, but didn't expect that it would be in Ohio.

Several times in my life I have heard the saying, "Every man needs a vice." I am not sure if this is a quote or what it is, but I was thinking about it the other day. I realized that if there is one thing that I over consume or indulge in excessively, its donuts. Now you may consider donuts to be relatively healthy as far as vices are concerned, but if you are thinking this, you have obviously never seen me consume donuts. Its really becoming a problem. The other day I stopped in a gas station to get a donut and some coffee after about 30 miles of riding. As I reached for the tissue paper I noticed a box of 1 dozen donuts for $2 with a sticker saying "Day Old". The sticker didn't phase me as I put down the tissue paper and picked up the box of donuts. I packed all 12 of them away before I left the gas station.

Two nights ago I camped in an RV park. It was a huge lot right off of Interstate 80/90 and marketed as a camp site for families visiting Cedar Point. There were about 100 camp sites, but only about 4 of them filled. One of the sites was taken by an old guy named Dick and his Golden Retriever Bonnie. As I came close to them Bonnie started barking ran out to the street. After setting up camp, I walked past them again and received the same welcome from Bonnie, but this time I stopped to say hi. Dick and Bonnie were out touring around in their camper called "Cub". Dick is an 81 year old retired school bus driver that is the spitting image of Brooks Hadlin, the old man/librarian in the Shawshank Redemption. Dick just lost his wife a little over a year ago to Diabetes. He is one of the saddest/most depressed looking guys that I have met in a long time. Since his wife past, he says he has been spending almost all of his time either at their house or in the parks that they used to enjoy going to. The camp that we were staying at happened to be one of their favorite spots. One thing he kept repeating was "there are so many memories here." I can't describe how bad I felt for the guy. I talked with him for a bit and watched part of the Bears vs. Browns game that he had playing in the window of the camper. While talking, he started to remind me of the book that I was reading, "Travels with Charley." The story is John Steinbeck's account of traveling around the United States with his dog Charley to satisfy a desire for adventure. Though I had not finished the copy of the book that my friend Tim had given to me, I decided to give it to Dick with the hope that he would read it and it would encourage him to go out and see the world or try something new. I promised myself that I would buy the book the next time I saw a book store and finish reading it. Dick was very grateful for the book and even asked for my address so that he could write me his thoughts on it. I ate breakfast and had a cup of coffee with him in the morning before I left. Upon hopping on the bike, he said to me "You take care now Red, ride with Jesus...ride with Jesus." I look forward to hearing from Dick and Bonnie and their adventures on the rode.

-Red