9/12/2020 48 Degrees. or 58.
By the time I had finished my morning "Clashing" (sometimes I was more chatting with the people on it than playing the game itself) and we'd had our coffee and breakfast and were ready to start packing, it was already midday. We agreed that we could use another day off the bikes, so we thought we would ask if we could stay another night. As we approached the house, we saw that Sam was outside with some people who had stopped by. They are frequently receiving visitors. Probably for their Asian pears! Our presence stopped their conversation and pretty much all eyes turned to us. Sam greeted us and asked how we'd slept, so we made some small talk about that for a moment, and without much delay this time, I asked "Would you mind if we stay another night?"
I think Sam is permanently smiling. With bright (yet brown) eyes and a smile, he said, "No, I don't mind! You can stay another night. Are you hungry?"
Adam and I look at each other. We're riding our bikes around the United States carrying anywhere from 80-90 pounds of gear/food each. We're never not hungry. "I could eat," I reply with a shrug, trying to maintain an outer cool.
"Well, Hannah and the others are in there fixing dinner. It'll be ready before long, there should be plenty." Sam went in to alert Hannah of two more eaters. We stood there awkwardly with the visitors and, to break the silence, mentioned that we're just passing through on our bikes on our way to the west coast. They didn't seem too interested. It was around this time that we met a friend of theirs who was staying with them. A 19 year old boy whose name escapes me. The previous day, Hannah had mentioned a few times (before I changed out of my stretchy pants) that a young boy would be coming over later, meaning the 19 year old. I didn't catch on at the time, but Adam later told me that he thinks that she kept mentioning it because she wanted me to cover myself up so as not to tempt him. I had already intended to cover up, which is probably why her hints went right over my head. When Sam came back out, the visitors wrapped up their business, and Adam and I headed inside to see if there was anything we could do to help. Hannah, as you can imagine, is a well oiled machine when it comes to homemaking. This woman has focus! I think by helping we might have just been in the way, so we were invited to make ourselves comfortable and just "visit awhile" while we waited for the meal to be ready. So this is when we got our first opportunity to really talk with Sam. He seemed really intrigued and was asking us all sorts of questions and was answering all sorts of questions we had about him and his life. It was a very lively visit. He's a great conversationalist: asking very pointed questions and unjudging of the responses. He seems to have passion for learning--about anything and everything. We were joined this day by the 19 year-old's sister, who was in town for the weekend. She goes to college in Ohio and also used to live with Sam & Hannah. So all 11 of us sat down to eat, 6 adults and Sam & Hannah's 5 children, naturally a prayer was said over the food before beginning to eat in which God was thanked for the traveling visitors (that's us) and asked for our safe passage on our journey. Lunch was mostly plant-based. There was a divine salad with an interesting combination that I'll never forget and still want to try. It was finely grated carrots with yellow tomatoes and finely grated hard boiled egg and maybe some spinach? I've never seen anyone grate a hard boiled egg before...like on the grater...I gotta try it again sometime! Boiled potatoes, hot corn on the cob--there was so much food, I can't even remember it all. The only meat we had was venison meatballs. There were only enough that I felt comfortable taking one--didn't want to overstep the line of politeness in portions. It was interesting, a little gamey, yet sweeter than a beef meatball. Delicious, I tell you. I noticed that whenever anyone finished an ear of corn (including the 5 year old), they took the back of the butter knife and ran it down the cob. I didn't ask why. I just followed suit (still "in Rome") and was treated to the tasty creamy bit of the cob that mostly gets thrown out at the typical American cookout. I had heard from a guest at the food pantry where we volunteered in Indianapolis that this must be done to make the best creamed corn. Still having room for more food, I reached for a second ear of corn just as dessert was being brought out. So I finished it as fast as I could--it's always awkward to be the last eater...which I usually am. I followed it up with a delicious piece of cake topped with yogurt made with milk from their cow. I remember that there were other desserts available, but I didn't want to be rude, so I decided to stick with the one dessert. I have quite a sweet tooth, and the cake and yogurt were extremely satisfying. I may or may not have also had a cookie. (I did). When lunch was finished, Hannah immediately excused herself and made herself busy with about 5 things at once including washing up dishes for 11. A song was sung, as is their ritual after dinner and supper. We were invited to sing along if we wanted, but not knowing the words, we chose to just listen. You could tell Sam and the 19 year old were really enjoying themselves belting out the lyrics. It was called, "Born to Win," and you can find the words "right on the Internet." We asked, and they usually learn a new song, sing it for awhile, then learn a new song. After breakfast, they usually read some scripture instead of singing. The children didn't seem too enthusiastic about this practice, but I really enjoyed the pep after a big meal. Susan, the other female guest, started with washing dishes. I was eager to repay them in any way for feeding me, so I offered to rinse dishes as Susan washed them. It felt sort of like they didn't actually need my help, I'm not exactly sure, but Susan was also a very efficient house keeper. They heated water on the stove, put one or two kettles-full in each of two plastic tubs in the sink...one is soapy and the other is for rinsing. I was pretty impressed at the efficiency of this method. Once dishes started to accumulate in the drying rack, Hannah would appear from the floorboards to dry them and put them away then disappear again. When lunch was all cleaned up, Susan went to take a nap (following suit of the 5 year old I suppose, who was conked, face-down, rear-up, mouth-agape on the sofa..what a way to nap!), I decided to relax with some crochet out on the deck, Hannah joined me with some sewing (applying buttons to the winter dress-shirts she'd sewn for the boys and Sam), and Adam & Sam stayed inside to converse more. This was when Hannah and I really learned a lot about each other. At least me about her and she asked me questions that I didn't feel ashamed to answer. You probably know how it is..when you're having a conversation with someone new, and you feel you must impress them and somehow prove your worth to them. So you leave out certain details or perhaps exaggerate the truth just enough so that it's believable and enhances your image. Not so in this conversation. This woman accepts people as they are, no judgements whatsoever. Of course, she strongly encourages you to pray to Jesus and look to Jesus in all things that you do, but she is very non-threatening about it. She just suggested it in a way that didn't make me feel bad for not choosing Christianity. Although, she never stopped trying. Before we left, she gave me a book about how to be a good Christian wife, a King James Bible, and several pamphlets on Christianity. I told her that I do pray, but I don't call it that. I just think, and I make concerted effort to be thankful for the good things I have and to be grateful for challenges presented before me. That second one could still use work. I'm 33 (as of this writing) and I still throw temper tantrums about things like how I'm cold or the zipper on the tent won't zip or the wind or the hills.
That afternoon, we decided to make an unloaded trip into town to try and find a spare tube and pick up some food for the coming days. Sam suggested Ace Hardware for the tube, "Really?" we asked.
He assured us that that's where he gets a tube whenever one of the kids' bikes needs one, so to Ace we went. Alas, they did not have a tube in our size. We debated for quite some time in town whether to buy groceries or treat ourselves to some Chinese food. It smelled so good emanating from the nearby restaurant, tantalizing our taste buds. We decided on the groceries. I believe one of the deciding factors was the desire to not take the chance that it would, ahem, run right through us.
It was a relief on the muscles to be biking and have the fresh air washing over us without all the weight of our gear. We arrived back at Sam and Hannah's property, and settled into our evening. Adam decided to take a shower with water that he had set out into the sun to warm up over the course of the afternoon. It was about dusk, and I was cleaning up from dinner and packing. Adam had just finished undressing when I saw Hannah and the children approaching. We had told them about the solar shower, and they wanted to come check it out. "We've got company," I say to him.
He hurriedly dressed, and we showed them some of our gear. The campstove is always a hit. After a bit of "Show & Tell," Hannah says, "Well, I should probably give the children some dinner." This has stuck with me ever since then. How much they use every last drop of daylight that they can. At least, that's the impression that I got. It's one of those memories that I come back to time and again. Like when it's getting dark out and I'm grumbling about how I'm still cleaning up from dinner or getting things tucked away for the night. Then I remind myself that there's still light enough, and that I'm using it. We slept well again that night, and I believe that night was the first night I actually got into my sleeping bag. The next morning, I told Adam in a very "this is important" tone, "Make a note. 48 Degrees is the temperature at which I need to get into the sleeping bag." Whether it was 48 or 58 degrees has been a subject of much debate since then.
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