Bicycle Trip People
On my recent bicycle journey from Kansas to Annapolis, I met quite a few really interesting folks. I’m doing a series of posts on these wonderful and interesting people, and this is an installment in that series. While there are others I met along the way as well, these are the ones who I was able to spend enough time with to get a feel for their story.
Let The Music Play
The September sunrise over Rhineland is stunning, and the breakfast Amanda lays out in front of us at The Doll House B&B is outstanding. We’re only riding about 25 or 30 miles today, so we’re in no hurry to start.
The Katy Trail – Rhineland to Marthasville spends a good bit of time right along the river, crossing lots of bridges, winding under bluffs much of the time. Then, for the last few miles before reaching Marthasville, it pulls back away from the river a bit, running along at the edge of the forest, where the hills come down to kiss the farmland of the floodplain.
We’re staying at the Concord House B&B, on the western edge of Marthasville. Maggie and George run a really neat B&B, with some fun twists that we don’t figure out until we’ve hung out for a while. There’s a nice hot tub out on their back porch, which everyone enjoys a bit of. I’ve never been able to take too much of a hot tub – I think they just heat me up too much. But I enjoy a few minutes of it before getting out, drying off, and enjoying a beautiful evening on a great back porch that wraps around the house like only southern architecture knows how to do well.
As the sun goes down, I discover a very cool little wine cellar hidden away below the house. Nobody mentions it or talks about it – it seems to be something left for you to discover if you want to. We play cards for a while, until George shows up with some friends in tow. They’ve been doing a little partying, and are continuing the party here at home.
Up in the living room, I’d noticed a bunch of musical instruments laying around, and wondered who played. Turns out George and his friends play, and they’re just now reaching the perfect place in the evening where it’s time to start making some music. I comment about a really nice Martin I’d seen up in the living room, and the owner of that particular instrument invites me up to enjoy a little playing on it before the real musicians pick things up and start to play.
It’s an unexpected and delightful addition to this trip – this focus on music I’m seeing along the trail. First was the discussion with Doug from the Rendleman who always seemed to have a little music as part of his evenings, now this delightful get-together with folks here at the Concord Hill. The music that folks play runs all over the board, from 70’s folk stuff to more rock-and-rolly stuff to some true bluegrass. I’m thinking that a person could do a little research, and create an end-to-end Katy trip that would last a week and feature music every single night!
As I listen to the music continue deep into the night, I think about the little wine cellar. It was such a delightful little discovery, the highlight of the evening for me. Warm and cozy, with good beer and wine, hidden out of site, cards with good friends…
Seems like some of the greatest things in life are like that. We’re stumbling along through life, sometimes with a good idea about where we think we are and where we’re going. Then, completely unexpectedly, we’re looking around for one thing, or just nosing around with no particular purpose in mind, and we stumble into something that lights up our day or our life in ways we had no way to anticipate.
A new path, a new route, a new room, a new way of seeing something, a new way to experience life…
Of course, it can happen the other way too. My friend Eric Benjamin wrote a post recently about running into the unexpected and difficult in life. Those hidden and unexpected rooms we stumble into that are dark change our lives as much as the ones we stumble into that are light. I suppose it’s about what we need at the time. I imagine that our “place in life†has a lot to do with the places the Universe puts in front of us, hoping we’ll stumble over them. What we’re ready for in life, what we need in life, what lessons we need to learn from life or what life or someone else needs from us…
The key, I suppose, is keeping a curious mind, an open heart, and a willing soul. Keeping our eyes tuned for those small passageways that might lead us to a place we need to go, keeping our ears open for some music off in the distance we might need to hear.
Most of all, keeping ourselves open and ready to play a beautiful old Martin when we cross paths with one. It doesn’t happen that often, and some folks never get the chance. When the Universe drops something like that in front of us, we need to play!
Let the music play!
