My Journey - March 2010

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

For reasons that have nothing to do with me and are not my business, it was a bad time for me to work at Cardo's Sprout Farm. Friday morning, was it only Friday, I rode into Denton, Texas for the weekend during the free music festival with Flaming Lips as the star performers (who are they?). Why go there then, you ask? Nate, one of the guys volunteering at Querencia Community Bike Shop, after getting his fill of all the free music (who is Sarah Jaffe?), was going to the Dallas REI SCRATCH AND DENT!!! I had money and a ride into and out of Dallas!!!

REI, Recreational Equipment... (Incorporated?) is the best sporting goods stores I know of. I bought a used $200 tent for $40. It was returned because it had water condensation on the inner wall of the tent in the morning. That is the nature of dew! Dew is condensation that collects on everything throughout the night. So, nothing was wrong with the tent. I also bought: a fancy bike light that needs repair, a bike computer (tells speed, miles traveled, etc), quite the shopping trip find. I got to meet Nate and his roommate, Liz too. We left Denton at about one in the morning and arrived in Dallas an hour later. It was cold in Denton when we left and freezing when we got to Dallas. That was Saturday morning. We set up Nate's tent and all three of us slept inside, on the concrete with only my (shared) sleeping pad and our sleeping bags between us and the concrete. It was a long few hours until first light when we got up. Liz and I walked to Wal-Mart but went the wrong way and had to backtrack. Walmart was almost across the street from REI. Sigh, if we had only looked that way instead of listening to Nate with his fancy GPS Garmin. I bought a bunch of junk food (with my food stamps) for our breakfast. There were about 50 people in line in front of us and about 200 behind us. Nate and Liz also got great stuff at incredible prices.

After we got back to Denton Saturday afternoon, I worked on my bike at Querencia then went to the Flaming Lips outdoor concert to volunteer as a bicycle valet. After the concert, I went to a party given by Devin's neighbors, across the backyard fences. Every time I got talking with them I had cut the conversation short to go do something else. I used the party to get to know them better. They brewed their own beer, five different kinds. I had a sip of each and asked about the differences. Their idea is a sip is different than mine so my tongue was soon numb. But it was fun. I walked back to Howard's house and slept in the bike shop.

In the morning, I finished working on my bike then rode back to Cardo's farm in the afternoon. That was Sunday. I told both Cardo and Brandon my plans to leave for Tulsa. They wished me well. I packed up a little and went to sleep.

In the morning, Monday, I finished packing and worked on adding my new toys to my baggage. By noon I was ready and headed out. I dropped off the bike shop tools I found I still had on me and found out how to get on FM 428 to get to highway 377 going north. A guy in a pickup truck asked me if I wanted a ride. Where had he been all this time I rode from Las Vegas? He dropped me off at 377 and pointed me in the right direction. It was dark, about 8:30 at night, 20:30 for the rest of the world. I got a few miles down the road before I noticed my lovely new bike computer was gone. I rode back to where he dropped me off and searched for this little black shiny thing the size of my thumbnail. No luck. I said goodbye to my new toy, (heavy sigh) we had only traveled together for a short time.

I looked for a place to plug in my cell phone so I could call the police and ask them where I could sleep. They found me searching for an outlet at a propane store. “Not inside my jurisdiction.” I rode back to the gas station landmark that was as far north as I had gotten (I hoped the cute young lady was still working there, she would believe I had been on the road for a long time) and asked the big guy my age (dang nab it!) if I could sleep in some dark corner like behind their store. “Yeah, I guess, it's not much.” It was heaven to me. I leaned my packed bicycle against the wall next to an air conditioner, pulled two wonderfully flat, plastic pallets together in front of the bike and put my sleeping pad and sleeping bag to use. The air conditioner made a steady noise that lulled me to sleep. The train whistle was not as loud behind the store as it was when riding down the road. This was good because, while riding, I felt like that whistle from the train running next to the road could separate body from soul.

I packed up in the morning and thanked the two older women (sigh, still not that cute young one) and continued on the road north. Where did I sleep the night? I forgot... But I know I had not slept in my tent yet, Texas does not allow free-camping. The Allison Cemetery, that's where I slept! The police said “as long as it is off the road (and not on private property).” I respected the dead and do not fear them, it's the living that give me a fright.

I packed up and discovered my front tire was going flat. I guess now was the time to upgrade to a tire with 'Slime' in it. My bicycle pump was not providing a seal to the tire valve... I walked to the main road and hitchhiked to the gas station back a ways. They did not have air; the business owners father borrowed the air compressor. That thief! The lady that gave me the ride took me up north, the other way where she knew they had air. It cost a dollar, my last dollar. I bet the other guy's air was free... That thief! I told the lady about me; Bike to Australia. She heard about me on TV, Dallas / Fort Worth! My outlook was suddenly a lot brighter. I felt like she had just become a good friend. She dropped me off at my bike, I gave her my email and thanked her. I wanted to hug and kiss her for telling me she heard about me on TV but I figure neither her nor her husband would appreciate my enthusiasm. I put my bike together and rode on.

I rode over a hill, looking down, I saw a narrow bridge, one lane each way, going a long ways across a big body of water. Maybe this was the Texas border?! But that bridge was so NARROW... The cars took up that much of their portion of the road, leaving that much left for me, which, over here... my portion of the road was... as wide as my shoulders! My tender viddles wanted to shrink up and hide at the thought. No way was I going, on my bike, across all that LONG, NARROW bridge! I displayed my bike to maximum advantage and hitchhiked. I hitchhiked for several hours. This was not working. I stood up, sat down unpacked my bags so that when I did get a ride I would not have to unpack. I repacked and moved closer to the bridge so people would see my bicycle and the bridge, adding two and two to see my dilemma. I reassessed the situation from this closer vantage. No way was I going to cross on my bike. It would be irresponsible, one little slip and I would be the dead bicyclist blocking traffic the only way across that body of water for miles around. Or the cause of someone else's death blocking traffic, etc. Finally, this worker picking up trash on the side of the road took me across with his big dually truck. It only took 5 hours to cross that mile of bridge and I was in Oklahoma where road-side camping is free (outside of town)!

I rode on. I pulled over for dinner and to put on or take off some warm clothing. The guy (Rafter J leather goods, GUNS and AMMO) who's gate I was using to prop up my bike came by on a tractor to see if I was alright... Alright? Anyways, we got to talking. Among other things I asked where would be a good place to camp for the night... OOP, it's 3PM now, better make it fast so I can find a place outside of Madill to camp... He said anyplace off the road, out of the way, nobody around here would mind. Go up that dirt and gravel road, off highway 377 and camp there. I went that way with daylight fading fast and went up what looked like an abandoned road or farm, certainly not taken care of for a long time, but there were four cars, several dogs fenced in and a well taken care of yard with a mobile home. Nobody home, time to back out, oh, here they come. I pray they don't shoot first. They said not on my land, try the gas station up the road a mile. The gas station was closed. Did they know it was closed before they sent me? Sigh. I rode back up that dirt road, past the 'not on my land' home and looked for a spot suitably far away from them. There was a tiny bit of land off the side of the road, about 10 feet across, think 3 meters, that my tarp barely fit on. I set up my tent for the first time. I decided not to try hiding from the locals with only 10 feet to hide on. There was a lot of traffic slowly passing by for such a back country road. I was worth driving to take a look at but they did not want to be rude and poke their nose in my business?

Each time I woke I checked the time; 8:30PM, midnight and 5:14AM. I woke, packed up and was back on the road before dawn. The dew had frozen, it was that cold last night. No wonder I could not manage to get warm even in my fancy new tent with my sweat pants and wool sweater on. I warmed up soon enough pedaling with the sun coming up. The gas station one mile up the road was now open and their coffee was hot. I told them to tell that Rafter J guy he told me the coffee there was free.

The pre-teen kid pretending to be cashier could not resist asking me where I came from and was going to. I said I wondered how long you could hold your curiosity at bay. I told him and painted a picture of my world view, my weltanschauung with words while I ate. Coconut macaroons and coffee are a great snack but a dubious breakfast. I rode on. Before I got into Tishomingo, the next town north, I flagged down a police car to ask about my camping and route choices. The Deputy Sheriff said my route was only a one lane each way road with no shoulder; take this way even though it is a little out of your way, you get 2 lanes each way and a much more scenic route up there (pointing on the map). As I have said, police have always been great people to me. I am in Madill now and there is no free WIFI when the library is closed for a day of training. :/ But the senior citizen center is next door. I asked if they wanted me to tell my story and ask me questions. The boss lady there said yes, lunch starts in 20 minutes, you can do it then and you can eat with us too. They had a good soup of beans with ham, some interesting pickled tomatoes and squash, milk, coffee, iced tea and water. I got interviewed by the Madill Record newspaper before I was even out of the senior citizen center. )

Saturday, March 20, 2010
I asked around for free WIFI and was told the Madill city hall had it. No, they don't. But they did have electrical outlets on the little wall next to the sidewalk ringing the city hall. I wrote this "March 18th" post then and there. Cut and paste, add the few days that passed and voila! Onto adding those few days...

I talked with the ladies at the Marshall County Clerks office and asked them if there was an abandoned property I could use to camp at. "Not on the road I am planning to travel on. But other counties on the way might have something for you." The ladies all agreed each route choice I had was only one lane each way. Back to "plan A" for my route. I rode out of Madill onto "Tish". There was an official wilderness area with camping sites that I turned into in late afternoon. I did not see any campsites but sneaked into the woods off the gravel road and started setting up camp there. A pickup truck passed by, I had great fun running and hiding but I thought they spotted me. If they did, either a ranger or someone seeing me as entertainment to torment, I did not want to be there when they came back so I repacked and moved to a more secluded spot. I was pretty sure nobody would see me and mine from the road. There were all kinds of animal life making noise as I set up camp and on into the night. Most of the noises were comforting, they get quiet when something makes noise the animals do not feel safe about - they are my alarm system. BUT, coyote sounds make me nervous, even though I know they do not travel in packs and I have heard they avoid humans and do not attack adults like me. Still... I also heard one animal making noise that the frogs or toads got quiet about. Later a guy told me there are wild pigs out there.

It seems every night (so far) starts out fairly warm; I am comfortable. But sometime in the night I wake up cold. I zip up my sleeping bag and crouch down inside, breathing my heat out into my sleeping bag and pulling the drawstrings shut so there's just a small hole for my nose and mouth. I alternate between heating up the bag with my breath while I can't breath very well inside the bag and breathing fresh air. Also, I sometimes need to grab the bag from the inside and flap it like a bellows, getting the sweaty air out and getting in fresh air, then back to heating that up again.

I stayed in my warm sleeping bag well past dawn, at least an hour. What a luxury! I shuttled my gear out of the bush, repacked and rode into Tishomingo, Oklahoma. On the way in I saw several farms had "Green Acres" signs on their fences. I thought they were part of a 'green' farming co-operative, how nice. Later, I saw "Green Acres Realty", Oh, how sad; they are selling their farm, their home and livelihood.

I stopped at the first gas station and saw a police officer getting gas. He was a state trooper so I thought he might not know about local resources; camping, contact people, organizations and locations. He asked if I needed gas. I said, "no I had beans yesterday." I asked the crowd in general about camping, shelter, laundry, etc and then inside. The consensus was the park for camping, it had a shower too. I talked with a guy at the mechanic's shop across the street. Howard is a serious talker, I felt pretty good about getting a word in edgewise every now and again. He had more info and told me the next few days weather was freezing rain and snow. That changed my plans. It was time to find serious shelter! He told me to ask at the lady at the Chamber of Commerce about shelter. Joanne? She was involved with the local churches and would know more about shelter.

I talked with Joanne, She suggested I talk with the "Assembly of God" church and gave directions. The popcorn she had with her lunch (it was noon) smells really good. The Assembly of God puts all of it's efforts into a food bank, no shelter there. Someone told me about this guy Rex that has a bicycle shop at his house (directions) and two other churches I could talk to about shelter. Nobody was at any of those; the churches or Rex's house. :/ BUT, along the way, I saw the Courtesy PC computer sales and service shop. They might be able to solder the bicycle light I bought at REI. They let ME do the repair job with their equipment! As I was walking into their store a guy was pulling off a sign from their window. "We just caught the guy." On the sign was written; "Have you seen this guy?" It turned out someone stole one of the employees cell phones then walked past the store the next day. Naive goes both ways.

One of the guys at the PC shop said I could be his guest at the fitness center in town and get a shower there. YES! Rex was on the way to the fitness center, so was one of the churches, but as I said, nobody home. There were two local police cars at the house next to Rex's but they had no new possibilities for me. I went to the fitness center, got my shower and talked with some of the staff at the fitness center about my journey. One of the ladies called around but found no answers for me about shelter from the upcoming storm. On the way to the fitness cneter I stopped at the Chickasaw Indian Tribal Office (or something like that) and found out about "Angel House" which I called using their phone (local call) but no answer. Sigh.

I tried finding the college in town, hoping to find students who would say "Cool! Come stay at my house for a few days! (laundry, maybe other benefits too?) But all, yes all, the students were gone on spring break. Wasn't winter break just a little while ago? I stopped again at Rex's house but still nobody home. I saw the library on the way back through town and stopped in to ask about free WIFI. They were closing but the librarian was the son-in-law of Rex; small world/town. I hunted down one of the two motels in town, "at the "Y" and asked them about exchanging my work for their room through the storm. I got talking with them, great people but no shelter. I scouted out the park and decided I could manage sleeping the night there.

In late afternoon I headed back to the park to set up camp but passed by Howard the mechanic and he hollered "How did it go?" I turned around and gave him an update. He got talking and I got listening... We got on like that for hours until 11PM (think 23:00) when he called it a night. He told me I could use the outside door to the toilet which is heated and just big enough for me to sleep in if the storm got rough. I should have gone there last night. My bike gear would not have been at risk for getting wet and I would have slept inside a heated room.

Today I noticed Howard throwing away the trash at his shop then driving off but he did not see me. I noticed the other motel across the street, left my gear at Howard's shop and went there to ask about my work for shelter exchange; 'come back in an hour to talk with the boss lady'. Howard pulled up as I walked back to my gear at his shop. He said I should go talk with the lady at the gas station about church member phone numbers she had. They have free WIFI at the gas station! Here I am sitting for hours updating my blog. I just got that phone number to the Calvary Church and left a message on their answering machine. :/

Sunday, March 21st, 2010
Howard let me sleep in the heated bathroom of his body shop last night. I locked the door before I went to sleep, can you tell where this is going yet? I woke up, dressed, packed and started loading the few things I took off back onto my bike. The bathroom door was locked with my backpack and cellphone inside!

The Tishomingo, Oklahoma Quick Mart has adopted me. It all started when I told then I am riding my bicycle around the world. There are a few shifts here so it took time getting all of them in the know. They have free WIFI, the coffee is hot and the french roast coffee is to my liking. The ladies are all cute, even the guys are fun to talk with. What's not to like? They are all good people, a tight-knit, happy bunch of people that all get along, amazing.

Thursday, March 25th, 2010 3AM
I said my good byes to "Tish" and got to the Connerville Tin Can Cafe where I stopped in for coffee, cheap breakfast, info and conversation. I got all that and more. Joann runs the place, they have excellent simple fare with lots of homemade treats; that's what sells there. I got a Mexican casserole and coffee. I told the cashier (Joann's daughter?) I am riding my bicycle around the world. I am sneaky. She mentioned me to the others eating, they said something about the ocean & 3 hours later I was leaving to do an interview in Ada, OK Joann set up for me with Justin Lofton of the Ada Newspaper. http://adaeveningnews.com/local/x58342345/Man-rides-around-the-world and a grocery bag full of snacks. You ladies ought to investigate this Justin character for medicinal purposes, of course.


I called Justin when I got to the intersection of Highway 3 and Highway 377. He told me go left and he would meet me in his maroon pickup truck. I asked him to flag me down so I would pull over. We met, he took pictures of me riding on the highway next to a highway sign saying “Ada” towards him, away from him, from far away, nearby and with my bicycle propped up against the Ada highway sign. I tried to lean flippantly against the sign. One can't always bring flippant into the picture.

He drove me to a restaurant and we did the talking side of the interview. That went very well. I am getting better with practice at interviewing. I feel challenged to avoid edging toward the dark side though; got to guard against becoming a news media mercenary, I have to remain genuine and not jaded.

Justin gave me directions to the police station, library and college. The library was closest. I talked with Connie, an attractive lady outside. She is old enough to escape being labeled as chasing after girls young enough to be my daughter. Connie voiced a desire I often hear; 'I wanted to do that when I was younger, wish I was and could go with you now.' I wish she could too, younger or not, companionship is a constant hunger. I talked with the library staff, gave them my name and blog-spot web address then went outside for my laptop. Another lady came outside at the same time I did. She overheard part of my conversation with the library staff and wanted to know more. I told her all. Ms. Dupy is a school teacher. I suggested she could incorporate my adventure into her teaching and gave her my blog-spot and email addresses. A preteen girl came out of a car nearby, and Ms. Dupy introduced her to me – he is riding his bicycle around the world! I forget the girl's conversation but I loved her sharp wit and 'smartie' attitude. Someone has to keep us adults on our toes.

I used the library WIFI until closing, checking my emails, posting an update to my blog and checking the route remaining to Tulsa. At closing I asked... I forgot the name of the male librarian but he is a bicyclist and, I later learned, part of the college news team. I asked the library staff where the college students hang out. “the Perfect Blend coffee shop, the bar across from there and the student union.” The bar was not what I had in mind, but the coffee shop is run by a church... that would be two birds with one stone and coffee too. When I got to the coffee shop there were only two employees, Garrett and Kandice, but no students. “Today (Monday) is the first day after spring break, things have not gotten back to normal yet.” I told them about my adventures and the interview scheduled for the next day with the Ada newspaper. I asked them if knew anybody that might let me camp in their yard or sleep at their house. I also mentioned churches for sleeping arrangements. “Sleeping in someone's house is going to be tough but you should talk with (they named some bicyclists that frequent the Perfect Blend coffee shop) AND there's a bike shop that is opening soon.” We looked up church phone numbers and I started calling. Three guys walked in and Garrett said “Ethan (a bicyclist), you got to meet this guy!” We talked, he said sure you can stay at my place. He had laundry AND a shower; paradise. Ethan called Chris, she is a bicyclist too and “Smitty”, he turned out the be a Cub Scout leader AND the leader of the bicycle club. Smitty came to the coffee shop with his son, both dressed in cub scout uniform. Chris called Smitty and told him to go talk to me at the Perfect Blend. Smitty said 'I am here now, talking with Ari, where are you?” Chris was on the way. I called Jim Thomas, the owner of Apex Bicycles, the bike shop about to open. Jim was out of town until tomorrow (Tuesday) but he could meet me in the morning. He gets up at 4AM to go swimming, FOUR in the morning!

I was at the Perfect Blend coffee shop deep into the night meeting people. Chris is a compact fireball of energetic woman, Smitty is whip-thin, calm lightening, Ethan is 25-ish, introspective with a distinctive beard. Most of the other people I met at the coffee shop fall somewhere between a) tattooed, spiky haired but polite and b) devoutly christian enthusisasts. You know who you are, that is if you, Ada Perfect Blend college students are reading this... I got a ride (my bike was too tired from the ride into Ada and I did not know the way to Ethans house in either case) to Ethans house. We talked until 1:30 in the morning.

Jim, the Apex bike shop owner was supposed to call me at 6AM but did not call until 6:45, small blessing. Jim picked me up at Ethan's house, with my bicycle and he treated me to breakfast at the Ada House (was that the name of the place?) restaurant downtown; awesome omelet and pancake. The pancake is as big as a dinner plate. We strategized our plans for interviews; there are 3 radio stations, a newspaper and a TV station in Ada! He proudly showed me his bicycle shop. I got to help him get his shop closer to ready for opening; cleaning, moving shelves and putting items on display. One of the radio stations scheduled an interview with me that day, the other for the next day (Wednesday) and the TV station was too busy today, how about tomorrow? The TV station interview never happened. The 'classic rock' radio station announcer had an 'on the air' voice / personality and a normal one. The 'county music' announcer, on Wednesday, talked normally, for a cowboy, the whole time.

On Tuesday, Chris invited me to the bike club ride with her, Smitty and Brian. “Brian is a bike mechanic”, “We better be there on time or Smitty will lave without us” Chris told me.

After the country music radio interview on Wednesday, I packed my bags and said good bye, thanks for all the interviews (plagiarizing Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) to Jim and his Apex bike shop. delivered my calling card to the library (their full page sized Bike to Australia blog-spot info on me was far better than my little business card.. I got outsized. I posted my card on the coffee shop bulletin board. I gave both radio stations my card during the interviews. I went to both window glass and mirror shops in Ada in search of the makings for my bike mirror. They are across from each other, how strange. Neither one had plastic mirrors. I stopped off at a resale and thrift shop, donating my sweat pants (no longer needed after getting military long underwear from the National Guard Armory in... Tishomingo?) and I talked with the young lady in a wheelchair behind the cash register at the thrift shop.

I rode on to Seminole, OK. I had an interview at the newspaper there, the Seminole Producer. I struggled to find a place I could weigh my bike. The closest scrap yard lost power, their digital scales were useless. The feed store scale and the one at the bank were not as highly recommended as the other scrap yard on the west side of town. All told my bike and I weigh 351 pounds! I weigh 200 so that's a 150 pound bike fully loaded! Something doesn't sound right there; too heavy.

I rode onto the “Catfish Round-up” Restaurant and RV park to camp the night. The Seminole Producer newspaper told me about them. I was so tired and zoned out from riding there. I asked if I could camp free in the RV Park, “yes” and told them about my adventures. I am glad someone coming in asked about going to the toilet otherwise I would have forgotten about that. After I walked out I walked back in with a new idea; I asked if I cold work for a meal. They talked with the boss in back who said my journey was great, sit down we will feed you.

I can't remember eating catfish, but I remember hush puppies taste great and BBQ sounds good. All you can eat catfish though... I only managed one plate of catfish, it was the fresh donut holes I kept eating that did me in.

I set up my tent, it was wet with condensation from the last use, oops. I planned to camp next to the covered picnic tables in case of rain. Then I talked with one of the RV campers who said I could use the carport overhang at that house (pointing) because nobody lives there. I just started moving camp when it started raining. The rain was not coming down hard and fast so I was OK. But the overhang leaked. Big, cold raindrops were a shock on my back while I was setting up camp. I felt quite cozy campng under the overhang.

I woke up at 2AM rested and ready to go. I knew it was early but I was awake and alert, ready to go. I got packing. I hunted out the gas station with WIFI, only $2 an hour. I am making a word document for a 'copy and paste' later. I sure am tired now, time for a power nap before dawn.

NOON, March 25th, 2010
So much for that power nap. I rode on. I got about 5 miles and the side of the road - one lane each way - faded away to nothing. The winds were fierce with rain and there was a lot of traffic; I hitchhiked. A guy in a work truck picked me up and dropped me off in Stroud. I rode through the wind and the rain until I addmitted to myself it was no fun anymore. I hitchhiked. A lady in a huge dual axle pickup truck picked me up and dropped me off in Bristow, OK. I rode through... wait, the library! I got there, logged into their desktop computers (no WIFI here) then asked them to call the local news and ask if they wanted to do an interview. Yep, it is a block away down that alley. I talked with Kala Grace Varner of the Bristow Record then got on their WIFI. I received, responded and sent emails, checked the weather and the route. Left a message with Marla of KJRH in Tulsa with my ETA. All that took hours. Oh and this blog update. Onward!