1000 miles of kindness.

We have reached our first 1000 miles. This is a big accomplishment. It has made me think about many things, about my health and physical growth and how our bodies have changed; it has made me think about how quickly time passes, made me appreciate having become skilled at this new sport, made me think about the team work, and the relationship building and growth with my partner Cesar so far on this journey, but most of all, these first (and now last) 1000 miles, have made me look back and think about everyone along the way who has helped us reach our 1000 miles successfully. All the random acts of kindness we have been grateful to receive along the way, and so this blog is dedicated to those kind actions that have made our trip safer, and more enjoyable.

And here are brief stories of all the random acts of kindness we have received along the way thus far (1000 miles).

June 7th, Hamilton, MT
THE BOTTLE OF GATORADE
We arrived in Hamilton, MT on a Saturday night, most businesses closed. It was 7:10pm on a 54 mile ride day. As we sat on a bench on Main Street, a man approached us and handed Cesar a bottle of Gatorade. He then tells us he had seen us riding on his way back home and he thought we would be thirsty from our long ride, so he had stopped to buy us some Gatorade. Then he offered to buy us beer and hamburgers or anything else we’d like to eat. We thanked this man for his kindness and we declined the offer for food since we were still unsure of what our plan was for the evening. The man left, but not before offering us to set up our tent on his ranch if we needed a place to stay.

A WARM BED AND A HOME MADE BREAKFAST
After calling the Hamilton Campground and being told that all but one of their tent spots had been flooded and it would cost us $17 to camp, and after calling all of the 4 hotels in Hamilton to find that they were either over-priced or overbooked, we decided to go out for a meal at a fancy restaurant and figure out our sleeping arrangements after dinner. I picked a super cute restaurant called “The Spice of Life” only because from the outside it looked like a place i would frequent if i lived there; sure enough the atmosphere was great and the food was delicious. I ordered an Alaskan Salmon Salad, Cesar ordered a Japanese Vegetable/tofu stir-fry and we shared a bowl of Ginger/Vegetable soup. As we were leaving the restaurant we pass by a table of 3 women who had also been eating there; one of them (Amy) asks us if we have found a place to stay for the night, and within seconds was offering us a room in her beautiful farmhouse. She explained to us that she lived about 10 miles out of town, but that she lived in a big house all by herself and that we were welcome to stay in her guest bedroom, so we piled our bikes into her Subaru, Forester with the help of her two friends Laura and Jeneanne; Cesar and i crammed into the front seat and we were off to Wilcox Street. Amy’s home was beautiful, there were pictures everywhere and art from all over the world, there were plants, and big windows facing the Bitterroot Valley and one of its spectacular mountain ranges. We set up our panniers in a beautiful guest bedroom and shared great conversation over warm chamomile and mint tea. In the morning, Amy had made us a delicious breakfast. She had made Scones, eggs, potatoes, fruit salad, and hot black Mate with soy milk. We shared this delicious meal, spoke of NPR, and politics in Latin America; and then Amy offered us a ride back into town; dropping us off right outside the Restaurant where we had met the night before.

June 5
CYCLIST COMRADERY
We arrived in Missoula, MT and we checked our voice message to realize that Josh Tack, a member of warmshowers.org had agreed to host us in his Missoula home. When we met up with Josh at Adventure Cycling headquarters (where they offered us free water, soft-drinks, ice-cream and internet, as well as took our picture for their records), Josh gave us a map of Missoula where he had drawn for us the directions to his house, as well as informed us of some good Thai restaurants in town where we could eat. After an evening out in the beautiful city of Missoula we arrive at Josh’s house to find a note offering us the food in his fridge, his washer and dryer for laundry as well as a selection of over 300 dvds which he had left out for us incase we wanted to watch a movie that evening. The next day, i made spaguetti for dinner and we shared stories with Josh about his cycling experiences and other adventures; life in Missoula (where i plan to buy a house) and the cycling race in which he was participating in the morning.

TRAVELLER’S AID = FREE HOTEL ROOM IN GRANGEVILLE
We had crossed the Whitebird pass and there was no way we were NOT going to take a rest day. The sucky thing about rest days though, is that we usually over-spend what we have alloted in our daily budget since we are not riding, we are sedentary and looking for things to do, places where to eat, check email, drink warm tea, etc. Usually on our rest days in order to get a good night’s sleep we also tend to get a hotel room; especially on the night we arrived at Grangeville, a night of thunder, lightning and persisting heavy rain. So we overspent yet again and got a hotel room for the evening. The next day however, we decided we would camp out in the city park; but around 5pm while we left the Chinese Restaurant where we had gone on a date, it started pouring with rain and so i decided to knock in the United Methodist Church Door, to see if they had a community room where we could stay warm and out of the rain. We didnt want to spend another $50 on a hotel room. But there was no one at the Methodist Church, just a phone number on a flyer taped to the door. The phone number was for Pastor Cindy who was out of town, but offered us a Traveller’s Aid that her church provides to travellers like us and she directed us to the Sheriff’s department, where, in exchange for our California IDs we received a free night at the Downtowner Inn, a cute little (AAA approved) motel in the center of Grangeville. Of course that night we went on another “date” to the movies and watched “Made of Honor”

we’ve encountered many acts of kindness along the way. Whether it has been simple waves from cars passing us, a shout of support or a smile, or even in some cases a warm bed, and some delicious food, a good conversation or a helping hand, we have been blessed to have met many individuals whose kindness has helped us make our journey a safe, exciting and magical one.

(more acts of kindness soon to come!)

"And i would walk 500 miles, and i would walk 500 more" (only we replaced "walk" with "ride").