May 18, 2015
Day 13: Zero Day at the QuiltMaker Inn, and 1st Philosophical Rant
I really needed a rest day, so I decided to stay put for 1 more day at the Quiltmaker. I got up early and said goodbye to Daniel, James, and Wesley knowing I may never see them again; such is the reality of the trail. By this point in the journey we all share a common bond, having suffered through the ascents of the Blue Ridge, Haytors Gap, Council hill, and many others including the steep climbs in the eastern Kentucky Appalachians.
I had the place all to myself most of the day and relaxed and worked on this journal. The Quiltmaker is a quaint old place and all the rooms are named. Here's my room;
And here's a bit of a shot of the inside of my room reflected in the mirror with my bike in the room behind me.
In case you're wondering, my "pajama" bottoms are a swim suit. Everything you carry on a bike tour needs to be able to function in as many ways as possible; so I can swim in my trunks, and use them for "PJs" at night. Yeah, I'm weird, but this works for me. Here's a shot of the outside of the QM. The entry door is on the far right and the rooms are located on the 2nd and 3rd floor.
And just one pic of a statue of Carl Perkins located nearby. Perkins was a local boy.
Later that afternoon, the entry doorbell rang. I was the only person around, so I scurried downstairs and opened the door and met Teun and Gerda, 2 Dutch cyclists doing the Transam. I "sold" them a room and helped them move their bikes inside - bikes can be wheeled in from the back directly onto the 2nd floor. And as I was walking down to the pizza shop to pick up my call-in supper order, I met Josh and Dan who were desperately seeking a place to stay. So, I "sold" them a room and moved them into the room that was occupied last night by Daniel and James. Later that evening, Cindy, the owner, showed up and was delighted I had recruited more paying customers. Cindy is an attractive gal who is engaged to be married next month to the town sheriff, Sean, who is also an owner of the QM and does other things as well. It's that kind of small town.
Teun and Gerda were great company. They had previously cycled the ACA Southern Tier route from San Diego to Florida, although I think they deviated substantially from that route.
And here's a solo pic of Josh;
If you wonder how I manage to update this journal while on tour, here's a shot of my gear;
I use an 8-inch windows tablet and pair it with a portable Bluetooth keyboard and Bluetooth mouse. All I need is a wifi connection - and of course, somehow I have to find the time to do it, and that's really the hard part!
You earlier heard me whine about walking a hill for the first time ever in 40+ years of cycling. I believe I have a slight muscle tear behind and immediately below my right knee. It has had me wincing and limping whenever I walk, though I can still cycle but not at full capacity. I was surprised to notice that my ankle had swollen and had some ugly discoloration as I was turning in for bed after my rest day. Here's the ugly truth;
I think that blood and other fluid drained down into my ankle due to the muscle tear and caused the ankle to swell. The ankle doesn't hurt and I have had no trauma to it, so that's my best guess. But you know what they say about folks who diagnose themselves; they have a fool for a doctor. I'm sure it will heal - as for now I'm still ambling along whenever I walk, unable to use my right leg fully.
Philosophical Rant:
I was as low as possible yesterday morning. I was injured and knew I would have to walk the steepest hills, and that was something I just didn't do. I was the guy who always told others that it was OK to walk the hills, that you were still getting up using your muscle power. But that talk was to comfort them - it wasn't for me, cause I don't walk hills. But yesterday morning I knew I would have to do so. The prior night I was in a location where I couldn't get a cell phone signal, and the motel WIFI was out of order. I was all alone and couldn't communicate with anyone. This combination of physical injury and depression from loneliness and inability to reach anyone was terrible; I thought about quitting. As it turned out, this was one of the best experiences of my life.
If you really want to know what you are made of, you must beat yourself down both physically and mentally to the lowest point imaginable, and then find a way to climb back out. I truly didn't know if I could climb back out from where I was. I had to really look hard inside myself to find the teeniest little ray of light to give me some hope to continue; hope was all I had at that point. I knew I had to move on despite my injury, else I was going to quit. I moved on, but it was an agonizing forced march when I hit the hill by Ashcamp and had to walk. When Wesley cycled by me on the hill it was even worse. He waited for me at the top, we talked a bit, and he took off. As I was flying down the hill, I saw him beside the road after he had crashed and I had to brake hard to stop and help him. And that's the moment I started recovering from my funk.
Wesley was concerned about his wounded knee. I helped him repair his broken pannier, and we devised a plan to cycle to the next store and clean his knee up for a closer look - too much blood to tell if he was hurt or not until we cleaned it off! We both had to walk the next steep incline, and Wesley had a flat, probably due to his earlier crash. At the top of the hill I helped him fix his flat. At this point he was really out of it; he had crashed, was wounded, had a broken pannier, and now had a flat. I rode with him the rest of the day till we reached the Quiltmaker. We were both physically exhausted and mentally spent, but I knew I had climbed out of the bottomless pit I had been in. Helping someone else who needed help was what did it - even when I thought I was totally spent, I had enough reserve to help someone else who needed it, and as it turns out that was the best thing I could do to help myself!
So that's my philosophical rant of the day. If we would all spend just a little time helping others who need it, we would all help ourselves reach a higher plane of existence. Wesley is young and recovered fast and has already cycled ahead. He will be fine. And so will I now. I experienced my low point and I beat it off; NOTHING can stop me now as I continue on this journey. If you didn't know this already, this journey isn't just about me riding a bike. I'm rediscovering some of the simple truths of life. But tomorrow is a new day and I will ride my bike and see where it takes me. Life is good, and my life is great - good night all...
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