Postcard - my kind of people

Stayed a few nights in Ocracoke at the Sand Dollar motel on a tip from the old dudes on bikes. The old dudes - they were my favorite people I met on the trip. It was somewhere in northern Virginia, north of Chesapeake Bay, on a two lane road in the farm country. I crossed paths with two cyclists headed north carrying even more stuff on their bikes than mine. They were loaded down with front and rear panniers, sleeping bags and tents. They were tanned and laughing. We stopped and met in the middle of the road.

-Where you coming from?
- Boston!
-Boston! By yourself?
- Yep!
-Good for you!!
- How ‘bout you?
-We started in Key West and we’re headed for Maine.
- Holy Cow!
-Yep! been on the road about a month. Gone... 1400 miles now.
- I started the same time in Boston... gone nearly 600. You boys are making me feel like a slacker!

I’m 40, they’re both over 70 - and they were having a great time. They then proceeded to push all kinds of food on me: nutter-butters, granola bars, an orange... I told them to stop giving me more weight, I had enough to haul with this rig. We all laughed. Then we headed off in our separate directions.

It was the only time on the trip where I met folks who understood what I was doing and didn’t think it was completely nuts. Then again, they were kinda nuts themselves...