Another Warmshowers.org plug

My husband and I had our 2nd experience with Warmshowers.org. Had a couple of guys that emailed me the day they wanted to stay. They were very sorry for the short notice but had not made plans originally to come through my town. I was a bit hesitant at first but so, so glad we accepted. They were so entertaining, very sweet and respectful. They were on their way to Maine from Key West, Florida. Found out one of the guys was the grandson to the former Athletic Director of University of Tennessee!!! If you have not signed up for warmshowers.org and were on the fence about it, I can tell you we have had a great experience thus far.

That's so cool.

I fantasize about someday having a place off the beaten path and somewhat near a bike tour route, with a nifty little guest cottage where I can put up visitors. It's fun to dream. :cool:

Yup. I love the idea, and can get all gung ho about it, until I remember that any couchsurfers would literally have to sleep on our single couch in our tiny living-room. Either that, or share a bed with us.

I signed up and we hosted two sets of touring cyclists, then my DH said he was uncomfortable with strangers staying with us and didn't want to do it anymore. And since it's OUR house and not just mine, I complied. If I was single, I'd host them all the time. We had a GREAT experience both times, but it's just not for him. :(

We are on the WS list and have hosted some tourists. We enjoyed it immensely. Two years ago we had a couple of young women from the east coast stay with us for 2 nights. My SO enjoyed tuning up their bikes.

We have also hosted tourists that we happened to meet when they came through town.

Also two years ago we ran into a gentleman from NZ who was in the US with his mtn/touring bike. He was doing Ride the Rockies (it was starting in our town that year) and then touring on his own. It was so wonderful to meet Roger and we still exchange emails with him sometimes.

Just last weekend we were at the library and found a couple of young women who were touring through. We invited them to stay with us. They stayed two nights. John tuned up their bikes. We had a canyon hike planned and we took them along and they enjoyed it. Their blog is here: http://appetiteforadventures.com/

We are also on the WS list and over the past three or so years, we have hosted many cyclists. Every one of them was interesting, shared their stories, and was very respectful of us and our home, and MOST appreciative of our hospitality. We live 30 minutes from the Trans-Am Adventure cycling route and have picked up people there and they had a layover day at our home. We let them do laundry, feed them, and transport them back to the "trail." It has been a wonderful experience.

Last summer, two couples (my DH, me, and another couple) rode around Lake Ontario self-supported. We stayed in three WS host homes and were treated royally! What we did for others came back to us ten fold! I can highly recommend WS. If you are nervous about someone who calls, get their phone number, read their profile on WS and make your decision based on what others have said about them. If they joined WS this week and are now asking me to stay, I am hesitant.

It is important that you and your SO, DH, or partner are on the same page about it. If one does not want to have "guests" then you should probably abide by that, but WS is generally all cyclists who are looking for housing and anyone knows that cyclists are all awesome people!!!

We are also on Couchsurfing, but that is more anyone, and not cyclists so I am much more discriminating when reading the profiles. I have turned down several requests on there because I wasn't thrilled about what I read. However, we have met some great people on that site, too, and also stayed with someone who had stayed with us.

This sounds great. I'd sign up in a minute but we are tearing our house apart in two weeks. Do any of these folks ever tent? We have a great back yard for tenting.

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Originally Posted by Irulan

This sounds great. I'd sign up in a minute but we are tearing our house apart in two weeks. Do any of these folks ever tent? We have a great back yard for tenting.

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on the DH's last solo trip he set up his hammock in the back yard of his WS hosts. Being the Bike Hermit, he is quite comfortable being by himself and really enjoyed being able to be in the back yard as opposed to the house We are on the WS list but have yet to host anyone.

I thought about doing this, but my children as still so young that I wouldn't feel comfortable with strangers in the house.

I signed up a while ago, I think it was after Biciclista's story about hosting. I've had a few notes from people, but no one has actually shown up at my house (I live a little off the beaten path). Well, it looks like I might actually have a couple of guests tomorrow! I'll let you know how it goes.

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Originally Posted by AnnieBikes

and anyone knows that cyclists are all awesome people!!!

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We had a few more WS people stay with us this past summer. A couple, for whom we went out of our way to help out, had an air of condesending about them, as our place may not have been as posh as they would have liked.

Another guy, who we accommodated on very short notice, and my bf helped him out a lot tuning his beat up LHT. We sold the guy a set of down tube shifters and he said he would pay us when he returned home ($40). At that time we emailed him to remind him and he gave us the proverbial middle finger about the whole deal. We took our name off WS after that. We also let the guy who runs WS, who lives in town here, we know him, know about this, not that he could do anything about it.

Anyways, we also met Zach on WS. 18 years old from St Paul. He graduated HS in June and got on his bike, a very old Novara Randonee, and pedaled west to see the country. He wanted to stop a while in my area and find some outdoor work to earn money for his ride. He spent a few days with us, calling every farm and orchard around. He found a peach orchard to work in, pitching his tent among the trees. On the weekends he'd visit us and we'd go yardsaling on bikes (he's very thrifty). After a months work he continued west to California. He ended up in WA visiting relatives for a while before returning to MN by train. He still calls us every week or two to catch up on life. He makes up for all those not-so-nice people we met before him.

Sorry - double post.

I'd love to do this but the hubby is pretty hesitant. I have a roadie friend who has opened her house on several occasions and have ridden with some of the guests before. Really awesome and fun way to meet more people.

Maybe after hubby has been riding a while, he'll be more open to it.

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Originally Posted by eofelis

Another guy, who we accommodated on very short notice, and my bf helped him out a lot tuning his beat up LHT. We sold the guy a set of down tube shifters and he said he would pay us when he returned home ($40). At that time we emailed him to remind him and he gave us the proverbial middle finger about the whole deal. We took our name off WS after that. We also let the guy who runs WS, who lives in town here, we know him, know about this, not that he could do anything about it.

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I'm sorry you had this experience. I wouldn't give a stranger anything that I expected to see back or get paid for. Actually I wouldn't give something to a friend under those circumstances--I mean I'd either give it or not, I wouldn't expect payment. But I'm sorry you gave up on WS because of this experience.

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Originally Posted by eofelis

Anyways, we also met Zach on WS. 18 years old from St Paul. He graduated HS in June and got on his bike, a very old Novara Randonee, and pedaled west to see the country. He wanted to stop a while in my area and find some outdoor work to earn money for his ride. He spent a few days with us, calling every farm and orchard around. He found a peach orchard to work in, pitching his tent among the trees. On the weekends he'd visit us and we'd go yardsaling on bikes (he's very thrifty). After a months work he continued west to California. He ended up in WA visiting relatives for a while before returning to MN by train. He still calls us every week or two to catch up on life. He makes up for all those not-so-nice people we met before him.

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That's a really nice story. I'm glad you had some positive experiences as well as the negative one. I wish I could be a WS host but it would not work for my family at all. My husband is a very private person and our home is his safe space. I'm the opposite and I would love to open our home up to people. But I respect his need for a safe space. Still I'm a little envious of WS hosts and I enjoy the stories. Even the negative ones, because I think about how I would want to handle the situation for the least harm to me and my psyche.

Well, that was fun! They were supposed to show up around 6:00 pm but didn't get here until 11:30 pm. The poor kids were cycling in the dark! They really miscalculated the time it would take to get out of Santiago (and got a little lost, I think), but they made it safely. I was still up (which is rare at that hour), so I was able to get their dinner and help them get settled. They are cycling from Santiago, Chile, to Rio de Janeiro--clear across the continent! The young woman also cycled across Canada this past summer. Very nice people, and I'm glad I was able to help them out with this small gesture.