"It's like Christmas!" she said.

[channlluv]

So DD and I are driving back across the country from Florida to San Diego, and we find ourselves in sunny West Texas, approaching Kerrville, when we're heading up a long hill before the rest area there and we see these cyclists on the highway! There are three of them, and it's a long hill, so I honk some encouragement as we swerve left to give them plenty of room.

At the top of the hill, we stop at the rest stop there for a potty break, and when we come out, the cyclists are there. I see the man parking his bike and look around for the other two, and I find them on the other side of the building near the picnic area.

They're two college students, Bree and Lindsay, and Bree's dad, George, who used to run cycling tours in Europe. Bree and Lindsay go to school in New Orleans, but they're cycling home to Oregon. I asked how they were set for supplies because we're out in the middle of west Texas, where it's 100 miles between towns with grocery stores. I offered them some snacks and just ended up handing over everything edible I had in the car.

Cliff bars, Kashi cookies, Kashi granola bars, a box of green tea bags, and five chilled nectarines, which they dug right into.

bree_roxy_danielle_lindsay_intexas.jpg

They were really, really nice people. I wish I'd had a house to invite them into.

Lindsay is keeping a blog - lsmizell.blogspot.com (http://lsmizell.blogspot.com/). They look to be a few days behind on it, but Lindsay's an engaging writer.

What does it take, really, to plan a cross-country cycling trip?

I was amazed and inspired.

Roxy

Photo one: Bree, me, Danielle, and Lindsay, holding all the goodies we just gave them, and their bikes are in the foreground, of course, with all their gear.

Photo two: Lindsay showed me her solar panels that keep their cell phones charged. I thought that was pretty cool. She said she ordered it online from voltaic.com and that it's been working out great.

[katluvr]

what a cool story (and chance encouter)!
Thanks for sharing.
Started my morning off on a bright note!:)

[runningteach]

How cool! You are a great role model to your DD and so are those women. Nice that you gave them stuff. I never knew they had solas covers like that.

[channlluv]

As we were walking back to our car, my daughter looked up at me and said, "You were just really nice to complete strangers." I said, "You don't often have the opportunity to be kind to strangers. Feels good, doesn't it?" She nodded.

I was floating high for another two hours.

Roxy

[graceomalley]

I've always loved the expression "Practice Random Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty" and I think you depicted it in a lovely and concrete manner here. Thanks for sharing this! :) :)

[Zen]

You are what is known as a Road Angel.
Good for you!
and a good thing you had all that food in the car :D

[Tri Girl]

What a great story, Roxy!!!! How nice that you were able to pay it forward to those weary travelers. Awesome pics!!!! :D

[solobiker]

As we were walking back to our car, my daughter looked up at me and said, "You were just really nice to complete strangers." I said, "You don't often have the opportunity to be kind to strangers. Feels good, doesn't it?" She nodded.

I was floating high for another two hours.

Roxy

That is great!! I am sure they will always remember you.

[ekcjwc]

Those college students will always remember you too!

[channlluv]

Me and a few others, it looks like. I was wondering what happened to them and so I found their blog online, and while reading, I found a reference to our encounter - and TE!, along with a really nice list of other kindnesses they encountered along the way. Makes me want to take off on a road trip of my own.

found here: http://lsmizell.blogspot.com (the first one is about me and DD!)

the state of the union

No end in sight. The incline snuck around a bend, and then kept going. Lowest gear. Just put your head down and conquer one foot of pavement at a time. A car honked encouragement. Finally, reprieve. We rolled into the rest area at the top of the hill outside of Kerrville, TX. While gasping for air, a woman called out to us. "Hey, I'm a cyclist,too." She told us about a women's online athletic network of which she was a part. "You guys need food?" She returned to their van with her daughter and pulled out several bags of Cliff bars, nectarines, crackers, cookies, cans of tuna. Is this really happening? "Take as much as you want." I started to grab a couple of each thing. "Really, you can take it all." Our jaws dropped. They were on a cross-country journey themselves, yet gave us ALL their food.

We pulled into the only gas station in Gap, AZ. One-hundred and fifty miles left to Kanab, UT and one day until we needed to meet a friend. "You headed north?" Bree asked a man in a red pick-up. "Eighty miles," he said, "Hop in back." He slowed for pictures at the breath-taking views, paused in Paige to buy us ice cream, climbed to a look-out point, then dropped us at Lake Powell National Park and paid for our campsite.

Before crossing into Utah, we stopped for lunch near a line of roadside stands where Navajos sold jewelry and handicrafts. A grey-haired woman with turquoise earrings invited us into the shade of her next-door canopy. We pulled out apples, crackers, and tuna. No can opener. I inquired the elderly woman. She retrieved an old-school version from her truck and opened the can for us.

On a stretch of barren highway outside of Bryce Canyon, we needed water. At a road junction, two men sat in lawn chairs selling beef and bison jerky. "Are you selling any water?" Bree asked. "How much you need?" They filled our four water bottles and camel packs, then pulled out pomegranate juice and fruit snacks. "Here, load up for the road," they insisted.

A gust of wind and water nearly blew Bree across the shoulder. Rain, coming down in sheets, blurred my sunglass lenses. Forty miles through barren northern Utahan hills until the next town. Here comes another semi. Bree pulled over. No communication necessary. We stuck out our thumbs. Several trucks passed; then one stopped. A woman and her three kids. "I never pick up hitch-hikers," she said. "My kids were freaking out." We loaded up. "I usually take the suburban into town. I don't know why I drove the truck today." The rain beat down. She dropped us off at Snowville, UT's only campground. The proprietor pulled up. "We need a tent campsite." "Not in this rain, you don't," he replied. "Take cabin number 1 and I'll charge you just the same."
Posted by Lindsey at 4:17 PM 0 comments


Nice, huh?

Roxy

[annielynn]

That is just amazing! I think that is a story that your kiddos will remember for the rest of their lives. Just amazing.

[zoom-zoom]

We cyclists have to look out for one-another. That was wonderful of you and your DD...paying it forward is beautiful. :)

[shootingstar]

I missed out on this amazing story the first time. :)

[moderncyclista]

Wonderful Story. I missed it the first time too. How wonderful would this world be, if only everyone took care of a stranger - like they were a brother or sister...? :) So nice of you.

[channlluv]

Eh, good home training, as they say. I can credit my grandfather for teaching me that no random act of kindness is ever a waste of time, and my father, for telling me a long, long time ago that it's never wrong to do the right thing. That may be one of the few positive lessons I ever learned from him, but it's a good one.

I think most people would have done the same thing. I mean, honestly, if you came across some starving, hot people who'd just cycled 60 miles through central Texas, and you had a cooler full of fresh, cold, juicy nectarines, wouldn't you hand them over? Of course you would. It's just the right thing to do.

Roxy

[marni]

if they were riding out of kerrville, and going up the hill, they were very close to medina downhill from them and home of absolutely stupendous apple pie and hog trap capital of Texas.

Road angels like you and the truckers are special people and you will be remembered in stories they tell their children.

marni

[maillotpois]

Great story!

[malkin]

We cyclists have to look out for one-another. That was wonderful of you and your DD...paying it forward is beautiful. :)

Now if only we humans could all work out how to look out for one another...
*sigh*