Chris’ USA Tour 2006/2007

After my night at the Chelsea International Hostel it was time to step on my bike and head for my first trip. What I didn’t know at that moment was that on that same day I would meet with an unbelievable amount of hospitality that would, either make me one hell of a lucky dog or characterize a lot of Americans that I would be meeting during my journey. At that moment though I had no idea about this and I was already very happy to know how to get from my hostel to my beautiful motel in Jersey City. From there things got to be a bit tougher. The direction that I was heading for was cut through by quite a few rivers and the bridges that went over these rivers were mainly, and for as far as I could judge only, built for highways. And although I wasn’t planning for sharing myself on these bridges with millions of cars (I wasn’t, I wasn’t, I wasn’t!), I guess I was sort of lured into it. After I had made several detours hoping to find a crossing that would not be too dangerous, I finally came at a bridge with only one lane curling upon it. So I decided to wait until there were no cars behind me and ride this lane up to the bridge for this bridge appeared quite safe to me. But at the moment I almost got up to the top I suddenly hear the roar of more cars, a lot more cars and when I get to the top of the bridge I see that this is no one-lane, but a four lane highway and cars and trucks fly by making noise like a heavy metal band. Though, in stead of stopping and deciding to ride back I feel my feet pedaling crazy and before I know I’ve already crossed a good third of the bridge and by the time I’m halfway I think, this isn’t so bad, the trucks aren’t making as much wind as expected . It’s only before I’m nearly at the end that I notice I’ve got this lane for myself. Everybody had already made it to the inward lane before the even got to me! When I’m finally at the end it appears that this is still not the end for me. It’s only after a good fifteen minutes more that I can exit the highway. Ten minutes later I’m recovering from my little shock at a gas station, sipping from a nice cold can of coke that I just bought.

Not long after that I’m riding into the next problem. The sunset. Because of the detours I had to make it will be dark long before I’ll arrive at my camp ground. When the batteries from my front light also started to show signs of exhaustion, I decided to shift my attention to the houses next to the road to see if there would be any garden in which I could set up my tent. Not a minute later I see someone working on his driveway and I decide to take a shot. At first the man doesn’t understand what my problem is. Why don’t I just drive a few more miles to the next campground? Until he notices that I’m on a bicycle. He assumed that with bike I meant motor bike, not that I was actually on a bicycle. ‘Are you serious?’, is all he manages to say at first as he stares in complete disbelief at my fully packed bicycle. ‘Are you serious?’ And I tell him with a small grin on my face, ‘Yeah, I’m serious’. After pausing a few second he says it’s no problem as far as he is concerned, but he wants to check with his wife to know how she feels about it. And if I would like to have something to drink in the meantime. Half a minute later he comes back from the garage with three bottles of water and a bottle of Gatorade. Then he steps inside his house to go check with his wife and comes back after a short while with a proposal. If I wouldn’t like to stay over in a hotel for the night, in stead of putting up my tent in the garden? Without having to pay for it of course. For about half a second I feel a heavy internal doubt if this is an offer I’m allowed to accept, but almost simultaneously I realize that such courtesy in this stadium would mean no solution and eternal regret, so I accept the offer, feeling extremely stupefied by such graciousness. When the hotel also turns out to be very beautiful with a very lovely bed & bath, I feel like I’m in seventh heaven. Unfortunately it was too late to participate in the hotel diner, but luckily I still had some bread and half a pot of peanut butter so I didn’t have to slide into the warm bath with an empty stomach.

The next day when I’m passing the house of William Monangai, that’s the name of this good man I thank him again and continue my trip to the camp ground. About five kilometers before I’m at the camp ground I got stopped by a fellow bicyclist who asks me where I’m going. After I told him, he offers me to sleep at his house. But there was a small catch; his house was on top of a hill I at that moment couldn’t see the top of. And boy-oh-boy, was that tough, but totally worth it! Before we even enter his house I’ve been introduced to good friends of Peter as well as the house that he’s been planning to exchange for the house he owns now. And that is what I call hospitality! Also, the fact that I could take out of the fridge whatever I would like to eat or drink wasn’t just an act of hospitality, it was showing me refrigerated heaven! Maggie Moo’s Chocolate ice cream, numerous types of fresh salads from King’s ‘Super!’ Supermarket, fresh fruit so fresh that I even liked it and on top of that gallons of Tropicana orange juice. And also very important, to please my readers, I could use his computer to write additions to my travel journal. When I got a little bit of the flu, he advised me to take some rest, which I did. But tomorrow I’m really going to leave. Even though this was a far more luxurious stay than I even dream of having again, the first real kilometers need to be made some time, otherwise I’ll never get around the United States!