Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Redneck training begins at an early age.......and Firefighters vs. Cops.

This is little Henry out in front of Carol Lee's Donuts...proudly displaying his coonskin cap and cinnamon twist. What more could a little boy want, except for maybe a high-powered air rifle. Come to think of it, I'm sure he already has one. Out here, I bet moms don't say "you'll shoot your eye out"!!

On another note, 61 miles today brings Nick and I to Max Meadows, VA. We are camping out behind the volunteer fire department. The guys let us in for a shower and they offered to leave the door open for us to use the restroom, even though they are all leaving for the night!! And, they said we could have Gatorade from the fridge. I continue to be both flattered and amazed by the trust and generosity I am seeing on a daily basis.

As I write this, I just finished dealing with an overly inquisitive cop. He shone his bright light on my tent until I came out of my sleeping bag to talk to him. He was an asshole, straight up. He talked to me like I was a criminal and never stopped shining the light in my eyes. Why does the guy have to immediately doubt my perfectly rational (and TRUE) explanation for why we are in tents behind the rural fire station!? It felt like I was a felon and had to talk my way into just being a tired, wayward cyclist taking advantage of fire department generosity. Jeez, man. Relax. Maybe the fire department needs to teach some interpersonal communication classes to the police department. (I know what you are thinking, Dad, but just let me vent!)

Hopefully we will have a quiet, uneventful night. Right now all I hear is an occasional cow's moo amongst the crickets' chirping. G'night all...