Garden State

So, I spent a couple of days in Baltimore and enjoyed my time with my buddy Sean. I'll be seeing him again in a few weeks at camp, 'cause he will be teaching Spanish with me there. This is a photo from Fells Point in Baltimore:



It looks like I left the heat in Maryland, but what I thought was going to be a comfortable easy ride to West Milford, New Jersey became quite difficult due to 25-35 mile an hour winds. My little Ninja 250 is fairly light, so the wind can move her around fairly easily. After going through Philly and Trenton, holding tightly to the handlebars and gritting my teeth, I pulled over to look into some techniques for riding in the wind. For me "relax" was the best advice I found. If you just let the wind move you a bit and loosen your grip, you can flow through it a little better.

In any case, when I started riding through Princeton, and then more rural New Jersey I realized that the picture I had in my head of this state was not at all accurate. As Bill, one of my hosts told me later, "Most people seem to think of gangsters or that new show Jersey Shores when they think of New Jersey." I had more of an urban type gangster image of the state in my mind. But no, New Jersey is beautiful. And in West Milford, you would never guess that you were just an hour away from Manhattan.

I pulled up to the mountain house, just as Bill was getting home from work. I brought my stuff in and he suggested we get right to repairing my bike. See, I had done a "repair" of my left turning signal, but was unable to do it 100% correctly because I didn't have a soldering iron. And, with all the shaking on the road trip, my wiring came undone, of course. But on Bill's CouchSurfing profile he said, "I like books on how things work, and how to repair them when they don't." So I thought maybe he would be able to help me. I wrote him and he said he'd be glad to. And I have a left turn signal again!

I then helped Bill work on a patio he's adding to a rental property across the street before going in for a delicious dinner that Edna had prepared (fried chicken, asparagus, rice, applesauce). We ate in their sun room/dining area where I was able to look out at the lake and the mountains.

We talked late into the night about life, work, and family. Bill is basically in charge of all kinds of maintenance for their township. In his spare time he likes to learn about weird and random topics and enjoys building and repairing things. Edna is a preschool teacher and has been for almost thirty years. They have two daughters who are grown. They told me about some of their travels in their camper, and about their experiences with CouchSurfing. They've hosted lots of people and even families.

Bill had to go in early in the morning, so I saw him last on Wednesday night. In the morning when I got up, Edna made me coffee and french toast, and packed me a lunch for the road. We chatted for a couple of hours and then I headed out on my way to Rhode Island.

Below you can see a view from my room and a picture of Edna. (It didn't occur to me to take a photo until the morning after Bill had left but you can see his CS profile here: http://www.couchsurfing.org/profile.html?id=AY9XLC0 )