Relative Something

Not all the entertainment on our bike trips comes from the riding. There are always a variety of options from which to choose after we reach our daily destinations and put up our tents. Sometimes, just getting the tents up is a game.

Steve is calling for a break from Rhonda's "Kate Smith" impression.

I don’t remember quite how I triggered it, but while we were working on putting up tents in Huston, I inspired Rhonda to provide us with her impersonation of Kate Smith singing “God Bless America.”

I think Mary was off hunting geocaches with Rich, so after I got my tent up, I pulled out hers and slid in the poles to allow it to air out and dry. I was thinking that if she arrived soon, she could select the best spot and orientation to suit her desires, so I didn’t stake it down yet. Then I headed for the showers, hoping no wind would suddenly appear and send the upside-down tent tumbling away. When I stepped back outside, it was the first thing I looked for.

There was no wind, but that tent had disappeared. All that remained was Mary’s duffel bag. I immediately suspected a prank by my tent neighbors, but played it cool, hoping to buy time while I gathered more data. It didn’t take long for them to reveal their ruse when they discovered that they hadn’t stolen my tent after all. They thought they were taking my tent when they stuffed it inside Curt & Suzanne’s larger palace of a tent.

This year, some of the days had short mileage and several times we found ourselves wandering toward the business centers in search of lunch. I should admit that I also had an additional goal of finding a sports bar at each stop in hopes of catching the afternoon broadcast of World Cup soccer matches.

It was around 2:00 one afternoon when I joined a small group to look for some food to tide us over until dinner. As we approached the area of restaurants, one of our fellow bikers told us of a burger joint that was just closing. He said the grill would still be hot and we should go directly there and tell them “Charlie” sent us. It worked. We got in and sweet-talked the staff into serving us. Just after we placed our order, one more of our pals slipped in and we were able to include him, in the nick of time. The thing is, we were very visibly seated in the window and from all outside appearances, it looked to be a great option for lunch. It didn’t take long for two more from our bike group to show up in hopes of food, just as our lunch was arriving. By this time, the woman serving us needed to draw the line and had to turn them away.

Through the glass of the window we tried to communicate the confusion of our being served in a restaurant that was already closed, as they made faces of sadness and woe over their being left out and they lingered for a bit to offer us their hungry stares at the scrumptious offerings of burgers, fries, and onion rings that we were about to devour.