Day 8, Sunday June 8, 57 miles, DIW

Toothless drifters are people too. That’s the lesson that “Lucky” taught me, that like any other group, toothless drifters shouldn’t be stereotyped. I met Lucky when he came up to me wanting to bum a Powerbar as I sat by the edge of the road fixing my third flat of the day. Lucky had a lot to say. I suspect that he didn’t have a lot of people to listen. First, he volunteered that the term “homeless drifter” was offensive. It conjured up an image of a homicidal lunatic with fire in his eyes. Lucky preferred “dentally impaired wanderer (DIW).” He also suggested, having researched the matter in the library on the internet, that the portion of murderers in the DIW population was the same as in the general population. Lucky followed politics and was saddened that Hillary lost. He’d pinned his hopes of getting dental care on Hillary’s plan for national healthcare. Lucky thought that he might get his life back on track if domestic housing policy made some accommodations for single males. He’d vote for any Democrat who had a plan for housing and health care. George W had never made it a priority.

Lucky considers himself lucky; says he’s always been lucky. Borne breech without the aid of a doctor he was happy to be born alive. A rabid dog attacked Lucky in elementary school. Luckily, the dog was on a short lease and broke its own neck as it lunged at him. On finishing high school, Lucky got a good job at 8omatic, a local company that made eight track tapes. When 8 tracks went out of style, 8omatic converted to VHS. It was basically the same technology. Vomatic retooled, stayed open, and Lucky kept his job. Lucky lived the all American Dream; a double wide trailer, a Ford 350 with a gun rack, a dog named “Sorrow” and Sueanne, the love of his live. Sueanne worked in a regional call center. Then everything went south. VHS went obsolete, Vomatic couldn’t retool to CDs or DVDs, the technology was too different. Lucky lost his job, and with it, his health and dental benefits. Sueanne’s call center was being moved to New Delhi. Since she was a supervisor, she took the relocation offer and left. With no wife and no income, Lucky couldn’t meet the payments on the trailer, went into foreclosure, and became a homeless wanderer. That’s what I heard sitting by the side of the road changing a flat. I gave Lucky the Powerbar and bottle of Gatorade as we parted ways.

The rest of the day was not so interesting. It was an easy 57 mile ride up I-80 to Battle Mountain, NV. We’re all used to riding on I-80 now and have come to like it. The climbs were slight, the weather perfect, and we had plenty of time to hang out at the rest stops. There are still a lot of those brown mountains, many of them snow-capped.

We’re staying at another Comfort Inn. Along with Holiday Inn Express, it’s the mainstay of our travels. Both chains seem unfazed by all the bicycles moving through the hallways. I’m not sure what their regular guests think.

This is a little like summer camp for cyclists. Andy is the head counselor. He has a wonderful calm voice and contagious kind karma that is infectious for all of us. “Wasn’t that 8,000 foot climb great? Did you ever think that you could be such a strong cyclist? Wasn’t the view form the summit magnificent? Michelle is the mother figure, reminding everyone to wash their hands before eating their enroute snacks, to look through the lost and found box and reclaim our goods, telling us to sign in at least three times a day, and so on. Christine is the utility outfielder. She rides the route, helps load the vans, and mans the rest stops. Last but not least is Gerard, our bike mechanic and my roommate. You can’t appreciate how cool it is having a bike mechanic on the tour. Gerard keeps a good eye on our bikes, sometimes running up to adjust something before we even know something is wrong. Mechanics in bike shops tend to treat you like you are stupid and they are the guardians of all bicycle mysteries. Gerard is more generous and teaches us how to do the repairs ourselves (if we want). Tonight we had a dérailleur (the mechanism that changes the gears) clinic before dinner. Gerard is also a very strong rider; he was the coach on yesterday’s double pace line. Andy, Christine, Michelle or Gerard are out on their bikes with us every day. That’s very nice. Summer camp is great!

Oh yes, today marks a personal best. The longest tour I've ever ridden before was 7 days. Now it's 8! Tomorrow I break my tour distance record (580 miles).