Generous Strangers, again

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Post for 29-30 June 2021

In 2018, one stranger told me to bring a gun after I told him I was planning a ride across the US. That stranger was my insurance agent. Maybe his work makes him think about risk too much. Around 2019, I saw a posting on Facebook from a guy who was going on his first bike tour. His gear included brass knuckles, a pistol, and a knife made more for combat than camping. I replied that instead of carrying all that heavy gear, I wanted to bring little gifts for the generous strangers that always show up.

Generous strangers show up so often that we have a name for them. In bike-touring and through-hiking, they’re called trail angels. For folks who paddle for 100s or 1,000s of miles, they’re called water angels. Of course, there are bad people in the world, always have been, but they get far too much attention.

Scott, me, and my bike in front of the lovely home he let me stay in.

In this post, I’m showing some generous strangers since a few showed up on June 29-30. The song for today is Old Friends by Guy Clark. I’m certain the generous strangers I met have many old friends because they have kind hearts and take a chance on sharing some generosity. This song is also for my old friends, like Carrie, Simon, Tomoko, Karl, Aimee, and Abbott.

There’s only one map showing my route since I took a day off on June 30, to give my legs a rest. I stayed at the home of my new friend Scott, one of the generous strangers in the pictures.

I started the day by stopping at an interpretive center for the Natchez Trace. It shows the many uses for the Trace during different decades and centuries.
Me and Dennis. We met a day or 2 before, and on this day, we cycled together for a few great hours.
The landscape changed.
Loved seeing a large lake again.
On June 30, I wanted some Southern Cook’n. After telling the manager about my ride, he told me the meal was on him. He’s in the picture with my very tasty meal.
I stopped by a bakery later. This nice woman gave me an extra treat, which she’s holding. It’s a cookie in the shape of Mississippi.
Scott, me, and my bike in front of the lovely home he let me stay in.

7 thoughts on “Generous Strangers, again”

  1. Happy Independence Day Weekend !
    Trail angels indeed. You attract what you believe in. And kudos for generously being a traveler-in-need to provide others with an opportunity to exercise their better nature.
    One-foot-in-front-of-the-other and onward next to the big river! Enjoy…..

  2. We were thinking of you last night while we sat around a small campfire in the backyard, wondering how and where you spent the 4th. I suspect – and hope – we’ll be seeing a post on that in a few days. Happy that there have been so many kind “strangers” (trail angles) on your journey thus far. Just a few more days and you will have completed the trek from “veritas caput” to “veritas os”. (I understand that Henry Schoolcraft came up with the name “Itasca” by combining portions of the Latin words veritas and caput to mean “true head of the Mississippi” but… I don’t think he or anyone has done the same for the “true mouth” of the river. So perhaps we can be the first to call it “Itsaos” when you get there? (I guess that name doesn’t quite have a nice ring to it it but….. )

    As ever,

    Karl and family

    • I had a relaxing 4th of July. It started with favorite way to start a day, good coffee, in a nice cafe, and some fun topics to write about. After that, I wandered around a nice Southern toItasca. as you suggested, a blog post will show up soon about that day. Thanks also for the background on Itaska.

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