6/10/2011
Bikers and I share a common bond. We both love the freedom the road gives us. I guess we are both very young at heart. Like I always say, I’ll be forever young. I refuse to believe there isn’t magic in this world. Perhaps I will always be a bit naieve and idealistic. But, my only alternative would be to live in a rigid world, a place devoid of the fantastic, a place where we have limits. I refuse to believe that I can’t change the world and I refuse to fail.
Today, I reluctantly said farewell to many of my new friends. But really, it’s never good bye, it’s just until we meet again. Oh yes, this is a small world.
I started a bit late today. I thought it would be fine since my destination was twenty miles away. Little did I know the kids in Odell, Illinois had other plans. I had planned to stop into their library but there is no way I could have prepared for these very extroverted children. Upon running into Odell, I encountered three kids on bikes: Miguel, Dylan, and Kaleb. They weren’t shy at all. They were super interested in what I was doing and I arranged to have them take me to the library. One way or another I get the kids to the library. On the way there, they kept trying to get me to eat candy. Isn’t that a riot? We tell kids not to take candy from strangers but we never tell them not to give candy to strangers.
When we arrived at the library, it seems that Cathy, who invited me there, had to leave unexpectedly. The kids hijacked me and took me swimming at the public pool. What a great idea. On the way to the pool, my new friends took turns pushing the stroller. They asked me if I could give them one to push around. I said I’d think about giving it to them after I reached my final destination.
The kids kept insisting I was famous. It made me laugh. I spent a half hour in the water then a half hour drying off and answering questions. I met more kids at the pool as well as some of their brothers and sisters. Five o’clock hit pretty quickly and I thought it was a good time to depart. My new friends didn’t share my sentiment. One of them even asked me to stay at his house.
It was a straight shot to Dwight and I made it to the driveway of the hotel in a little over an hour. That’s when the terror hit me. I looked the cupholder of my stroller and found my mobile phone was gone. I hate leaving it in there for just that reason. It pops out when I go over bumps in the road. I can’t believe this happened to me twice in the same week. First my roadrunner hat, and now my cell. Well, luckily I remember looking at the map on the phone and that was three miles back. It had to be somewhere in that stretch. I only hoped it hadn’t fallen into the tall grass on the parts of the road where I had to cut through. I walked backwards retracing my running path and found the phone about a mile and a half away. Whew! The thing had my credit cards, identification, and money in it. Oddly enough, I didn’t feel as sad about losing the phone as I did about losing the hat.
I closed out the day quickly and thought a bit about route 66 coming to an end. I wonder if the next patch of road will be as magical. I guess we shall see.
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