{"id":623,"date":"2011-10-24T02:51:42","date_gmt":"2011-10-24T02:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blamming.wordpress.com\/?page_id=623"},"modified":"2011-10-24T02:51:42","modified_gmt":"2011-10-24T02:51:42","slug":"23-christianburg-splurge","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ehomba.ro\/blamming5\/23-christianburg-splurge\/","title":{"rendered":"23. Christianburg: Splurge"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sunday evening, October 23rd<\/p>\n

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I covered little ground today and bought myself a night in a motel room. I paid a bit more than I\u2019d intended to, but I really want to watch the World Series game in comfort this evening. I also wanted to catch up with my Internet postings and regroup psychologically.<\/p>\n

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In all my years of bicycle touring, I think this is only the third time I\u2019ve done this. In the summer of 2001, I paid for a room in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, because I couldn\u2019t find a secluded place to set up camp in that \u201cVenice of North America.\u201d A year later, I paid for a bed and breakfast in Portland, Maine, so I could hang out stylishly in town before my 11-hour ferry ride to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, the next evening.<\/p>\n

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This morning, I spent a long time in a Burger King, mostly tracing out my route on google maps, from this part of Virginia all the way to Lewistown, Pennsylvania, from which point I have decent maps, torn from DeLorme atlases of PA and NJ. I made handwritten notes, and think this should suffice to expedite my journey. The food was crummy, and a man behind me had a long, loud phone conversation that got me cursing at him under my breath. But I concentrated and finished this important planning.<\/p>\n

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Yesterday I ran into trouble on 460, not realizing that the lower section of that road is closed to bicycle traffic. I had to get off onto a business route, figure out where I was, and how I\u2019d proceed the next day.<\/p>\n

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It was getting late, so I walked into a Comfort Inn, thinking I\u2019d do my splurge on a motel room yesterday. When the lady at the desk told me a single would cost $250, I burst out laughing. She immediately said she could come down to $150. I said I\u2019d be willing to pay forty. We were miles apart, but she did give me a good map of the county, which was helpful. Virginia Tech had a big football game yesterday, so all the lodging in the area was at a premium.<\/p>\n

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There was a Mexican restaurant right next door, and I was hungry. I also noticed a possible hobo campsite immediately behind these two buildings. I noted from items of trash, and a gently worn footpath, that people had taken refuge in there before. But it was secluded enough, and I figured it would be OK for one night. I did take the precaution, however, of locking my bike to a tree limb before going inside for dinner.<\/p>\n

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The dinner was good. In fact, one of the things I\u2019ve realized on this trip is how ubiquitous Mexican food has become in the United States. People of all social classes love it, and every little burg has at least one Mexican restaurant. After an hour in my tent, I returned and sat at the bar till quitting time, watching the World Series. When I had to leave, the Cardinals were ahead 12-6, and I was certain they\u2019d win. So I didn\u2019t mind missing the last few innings. I did feel that the staff at the restaurant was unfriendly. I had just showered and shaved that morning, but my style of dress might not have been up to the standards of their usual clientele.<\/p>\n

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I enjoyed talking with two couples that sat next to me at the bar. I had not visited a bar in ages, and I\u2019d forgotten how congenial it can be to mingle with strangers in such an environment.<\/p>\n

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The first couple, almost 20 years younger than me, had their own business installing medical equipment in the Philadelphia area. They were down in Blacksburg for the game and parents\u2019 weekend. They have twin boys, one here at Virginia Tech and the other at Temple in Philly, and two girls about ten years younger. Very wholesome people. When they left, a fellow about my age took their place, along with his wife, who had little to say. They were from Virginia Beach, also in town for the game. We talked about baseball, political science, cultural changes in the US during our lifetime. Like me, he\u2019d imbibed deeply of the hippie movement in the sixties and beyond. He expressed interest in the book I had open on the counter, and we talked a little as well about its subject: man\u2019s changing view of the cosmos.<\/p>\n

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When the place shut down, I snuck out to my campsite in the shadows nearby, hoping nobody would notice me slipping back in among the trees and brush. I knew this was unlikely, and I have a pretty good sense of what\u2019s going on around me in this regard. But I felt distinctly how much I dislike being furtive, and how eager I was becoming to live a normal life again back at home.<\/p>\n

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It also struck me how all the calculated risks I\u2019m taking \u2013 risks of embarrassment, hassle, or worse \u2013 seem to work out in my favor; often, in fact, remarkably well. Like my night of free lodging in the shadow of the Comfort Inn, plus a good dinner and big screen television for about $17. That\u2019s not a trifling sum for me to part with in a day, but it\u2019s not off the charts, and arguably it\u2019s well spent in the line of a low-budget trekking adventure.<\/p>\n

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One shouldn\u2019t take too much for granted. Prudence and caution ought to be exercised. But if you set out to do something with determination and reasonable preparedness, though there will be challenges along the way, I think it\u2019s generally true that you\u2019ll find a way and achieve your goal. In the cases where you don\u2019t, it\u2019s often the case that what you do wind up with is something beneficial that you couldn\u2019t have imagined in advance.<\/p>\n

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Here is an assortment of images from the past two days.<\/p>\n

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