Originally Posted by
Stadjer
If you are focussed you probably look focussed and people don't want to get in the way of the important stuff you appearently have to do. So you've got to show you're open to other people too, through your body language and facial expression, when you walk leisurely and look around it's much more inviting to say something to you than if you're heading and looking straight for your goal. You can choose what you communicate with your body language and expression, but it's got to match your attitude to some degree. You can't be fully focussed and open to distraction at the same time.
What Stadjer says!
I seem to have missed a great conversation, but I won't let that stop me from posting....
As I reflect on the stories I tell about my tours, they are mostly involving the people I encountered. As folks seem to be saying in this thread, you meet all kinds of folks. On my coast-to-coast ride, I found an abandoned kitten on the highway. I took it to the next town and found it a home, meeting a cashier at the pharmacy (powdered goat's milk to feed him), the snooty receptionist at town hall (didn't like me dripping rainwater on the carpet), and, finally, Wanda, a cook at the Lollipop Diner, who took him in. Stayed in touch over the next year regarding "Lucky," who was alive and well...
My tours tend to be a mixture of socializing and solitude. I find the one helps me appreciate the other. Whenever I feel anxiety about meeting a new person, I try to remember that they likely feel the same way, and that a smile does 90% of the work.
Check out the book
When Strangers Meet, if you'd like some inspiration.