The trip was becoming a tour of public libraries instead of breweries, but I didn't mind. Libraries facilitate solitude and let you use internet and power without expecting you to buy anything. The Birchard library was particularly neat, as it was built on the site of an old fort and had a cannon out front, as if to blast knowledge into passersby. Perhaps it was meant to intimidate people into using their inside voices, I don't know. In any case, I really enjoy buildings that have been repurposed from a mission that I dislike -- in this case, war and colonization -- to serve a cause that I like. Usually that means that they become libraries, makerspaces, art venues, or if it's in Oregon, a McMenamin's pub.
In front of Birchard, I spoke with a woman who was herself considering riding across the country. As I always do, I encouraged her to go for it. I believe that the desire to do it is pretty much the only qualification necessary, assuming a very basic level of ability and enough time and money to achieve their desired pace and level of comfort. People walk the whole route occasionally, so really, it's cheating to be on a bike at all.
Inside the Birchard library, it occurred to me that I could go north of Lake Eerie through Canada to get to my next major waypoint, Niagara Falls. I didn't have the Northern Tier maps anyway, and not only would this take me through the exotic land of Canada, perhaps I could even talk to a doctor about my knees without risking my entire savings account! Ultimately, I decided against it for two reasons. One, there were more Warm Showers hosts on this side of the lake, and I would be depending on them a little more since it would be getting more urban shortly. Two, I didn't want to be committing minor crimes in another country while sleeping in "unapproved" areas.
A nice rail-trail took me most of the way to Norwalk, and a short hop to another rail trail brought me into Oberlin where I had contacted a Warm Showers host. The town of Oberlin had a very unexpected artsy, bohemian vibe to it, which was a major surprise in the middle of a conservative area. Turns out that everyone but me knows that Oberlin is home to a prestigious liberal arts college. My hosts Mike and Mari were both curators at an art museum on campus and decorated their home in an appropriately artistic Japanese style. They fed me and gave me a key, suggesting that I check out The Feve, a popular local bar. I did, as I still had some energy and thought it might be good to force myself to socialize.
I didn't socialize. I ordered the strongest, darkest beer I could find and hid in a corner telling myself I would work on my blog until someone looked approachable. Everyone there was tragically hip, though, and every introduction I could think of sounded pathetic and uninteresting. I consider myself an extroverted and energetic guy by nature, but that's how depression works. I didn't even work on my blog, I just kind of stared at people and hoped I wasn't creeping anyone out. I did manage to write the next episode of my short story, though, turning the character from before into a kind of hero, which was a nice distraction.
I returned to to Mike and Mari's right as Mari was returning from a Taiko drumming class (so cool!). I was just far enough behind that I couldn't catch up and say hi before she got to the door, but close enough that I thought it would look weird if I showed up immediately without having said something, like I was following her. I spent a few minutes trying to entice a nearby cat before working up the courage to enter their house again and go to sleep.
Images from today: a random creek, some rail-trail, an advertisement for the Super Gun Raffle, and an abandoned gas station.
No comments:
Post a Comment