Archive for May 31, 2008
What a wonderful world
There are more stars than you would believe overhead, and well fed campers are climbing into bed. We just got back from the Stagecoach Restaurant in Stockton, Alabama, which is full of some of the most warm, generous people we’ve met so far. Today was our day off the bikes, so we took advantage of our leisure time to get to know each other more and break out the costumes (and the fire dancing equipment). We were probably the biggest show that Stockton has seen in a while – Erin broke out her Dolly Parton costume, circa 1985, complete with frizzy blond wig and heels. The rest of us were dressed in an array of brightly colored wigs, boas, and assorted accoutrements. We walked into the Stagecoach and a woman poked her head out. “Ya’ll the ones that’s biking to New York City?” she asked. We told her we were, and she said “You go on in now. It’s on the house.”
We paraded inside and proceeded to stuff ourselves with one of the best seafood buffets I’ve had in my lifetime- boiled shrimp, catfish, clams, and all the fixin’s a group of hungry cyclists could dream of – slaw, grits, green beans, baked beans, and peach cobbler for dessert.
On the way out, we stopped to take a picture at the buffet, which was in the shape of a stagecoach (complete with awning, or whatever you call the thing on the top of a stagecoach), and Miss Nancy, the piano player, broke into “what a wonderful world”. All twelve of us linked arms around the piano and sang together “I see skies of blue, and clouds of white, the bright blessed day and the dark sacred night, and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.”
I feel so incredibly lucky to be on the road with these women – I have already learned far more about myself than I ever thought possible, and we are already so much deeper into this living, this life on the road, than I thought we would be only five days in. It’s funny how hard it is to anticipate what it will be like, because it’s always beyond my wildest expectations. Tomorrow we hit the road again, and I can’t wait.
For those of you who are reading this before June 4th, we’re still looking for a place to stay in Birmingham, Alabama, next Wednesday June 4th, so if you know someone who can host email me at wanderlust at protectchoice.org
