Touring - Maybe guardian angels do exist.

My 13 year old son and I just completed riding our bikes from Victoria BC to Tijuana, Mexico. It was a truly amazing experience. But one thing that really stands out is how many good people there are out there. We had so many strangers that went out of their way to help us.

One of our biggest concerns was getting ourselves thru the big cities. Our first was coming into San Francisco. We were really getting stressed but we stopped at a bike shop and met Terri, he was leading a couple of guys from France into the city and invited us to follow them. He led us right over the Golden Gate Bridge and then led us to the street that has all the hotels.

Then later he went and made copies of some maps that we didn't have and delivered them to our hotel. Those maps saved us so many times. (We had guide books with us but they really didn't cut it for making it thru the cities).

This exsperience was repeated again and again. We would reach a point where we just weren't sure where to go and a cyclist would show-up ready to lead us thru a difficult section. We really just started to exspect it and we started to refer to them as guardian angels. My son and I learned so much but perhaps one of the greatest lessons we learned is that we aren't in this alone.

I am happy to report that in over 1600 miles we never had a single near miss or near accident. Not crossing the Astoria Bridge, the shoulderless highway 1, not on the Ventura Freeway and riding thru LA. And in 39 days of riding we had only 1 flat tire each.

A truly amazing adventure.

Perhaps you can link your web site to make it easier for some of us to view it.

And in 39 days of riding we had only 1 flat tire each.

You did have a Guardian Angel looking out for you guys.:)

A truly amazing adventure.

Perhaps you can link your web site to make it easier for some of us to view it.

I will as soon as we get the pictures up. The website in my signature is from the ride with my older son. To view that one just cut and paste it into the address bar.

What a lovely story!

Your attraction of good samaritans may be due to a guardian angel, or maybe something more earthly....your 13 yr old son.

I believe a male tourist accompanied by either a woman or child tourist is more likely to receive offers of assistance than male tourists traveling alone or with another male. Perhaps women or children help deflect some of the suspicion normally associated when encountering strangers, especially those of us doing something considered a little out of the ordinary by the general populace. Males are probably more expected to be able to fend for themselves.

Of course, nothing in this world is absolute. There have been plenty of times I've been the recipient of good offers, helpful advice or friendly conversation while touring alone or with a male touring partner. It just seems I have to instigate more of those than do tourists traveling with women or children.

Case in point. Some years ago while riding my motorcycle I encountered two female cyclists on a week long tour. As a bicycle tourist myself, I was interested in their trip and spoke with them for a few minutes. Before I departed, one of them asked if I knew of a campground in the area. I told them I did and gave them directions to the only one in the vicinity. Then I went to the campground (a friend of mine was working there), reserved and paid for their campsite, then departed before they arrived. Would I have done that for two male cyclists? Nope.

Your attraction of good samaritans may be due to a guardian angel, or maybe something more earthly....your 13 yr old son.

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I didn't mean to imply that I believed in actual guardian angels just that these people were very helpful and acted very much as "guardian angels " to us. I did feel that there was a higher power that inspired them and us to cross paths at a particular time. My son and I never left our campsite to ride without praying first.

The thought occured to me more than once...... there are no athiest in foxholes or riding highway 1 :D

Lots of good people onthe road. One person in a pick-up stopped and told me if I could stay at their place if I went their way. I've met sooooo many generous people while hitch hiking. Two guys picked me up at night when I was freezing, went to their friends, had a shower, did laundry, drank beers and got a ride back to the highway the next morning. Once we were three guys with huge backpacks and no money. One guy turned around to pick us up and paid for a hotel room. The next day was a string of overwhelming generousness. We unlocked a plumber from the campground bathroom that was not yet open. He came back with goodies, water and firewood plus axe. I try to return the favor to others whenever I can. It's good for karma and it just feels good.