Thursday, May 17, 2018

Bike Tour in the USA (2007), Part 29


Tuesday, Sep. 19, 2007

Intimate Big Sur

Los Padres National Forest Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park
Distance: 84.14 km, Time: 6:04:24 hrs, Total: 938.44 km


   When I woke up in the morning the whole campground was blanketed with a thick waft of mist from the ocean during the night. 
   My tent was not only one the outside but more surprisingly on the inside (!) very wet, the same was the grass on which it stood and surrounding us. To wipe it off with a cloth I carried it completely on the road. While I was busy a pick up stopped right beside of me. In it sat the host of the campground and yelled to me with a boozy breath if I was sleeping on the road. My father was a drunkard therefore I hate them… Watching my eyes he pulled himself back onto his seat and answered his own question “obviously not!” and drove away.
   A female camper watching the whole scene comforted me with the kind words: “Don’t take it to your heart!” I answered with a smile: “I don’t let a drunkard disturb my day, thanks for your concern!”
   In the early morning my friend Tim already left the campground. Some readers might wonder why all my acquaintances just move on without leaving a word; actually I am asking myself the same question. It is a phenomena of this time that people do not much care about others so why should someone change himself or herself during a bike tour? The current US president is a pinnacle on how to separate people, how to play them for your own use, how to let your ego rule your own world...
   I personally try to brake out of this mold which is not that easy. I still see travel and my life in general as a way to meet new people, new environments and new countries and learn from it. I can not be responsible for others but, as Michael Jackson wrote in the song ‘Man in the Mirror‘,
“If you want to make the world a better place, 
take a look at yourself, and then make a change.”


   I was not in a hurry, at around 9:30 am I was riding on Highway 1. The road welcomed me with a strong headwind, together with the rising road it took a real effort to move at an acceptable speed…
   I came to the town of Lucia, a small settlement with restaurants and motels and a gas station directly beside the main road. I stopped there and went in for a breakfast with a good cup of coffee.
   While I enjoyed the breakfast beside the road I noticed some wet flowers covered with morning dew. I thought this was a nice motive and knelt down to take a picture of this natural arrangement. As I was busy with my camera a car stopped beside of me. The driver got off and took the same photo.
   For me this is a good opportunity to make new acquaintances. The driver was a pensioned farmer from Wales. He and his wife, his sister and her husband rented a car and wanted to discover the USA.
   He looked very young therefore I had inevitably to inquire about the retirement system in his home works. He told me that in Wales farmers can retire at the age of 55 (!). Because he owns the house they are living in the pension is enough for him. Compared this to my Taiwanese brother-in-law, a pig farmer, who has to work until 65 and gets only around US$180.00 pension per month. Fair?
   This ex-farmer joined an international housing exchange program in which the members exchange their apartments or houses, his partner is living in his house in Wales while he is living in his home in the US. I think this is a great system which gives everyone the opportunity to learn other countries and people for relatively few money.
   He told me about a Swedish biker laying hurt beside the road. No American driver wanted to stop for help so the biker wrote the emergency number 911 on a white paper. He, the tourist, stopped and called the EMT which sent him to a nearby hospital.
   We had a great conversation and I bid each and everyone of our group farewell...

(to be continued...)

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