Helped by a burglar, the kindness of many campers, and astounded by the generosity of some New Yorkers.

Dateline Lancaster, New Hampshire: Your Intrepid Cancer Cure Rider, aided by Mission Control, managed to get one of the last rooms available within 50 miles. I was still with my escorts and friends “from up in the County” in Maine, Lenny & Rocky, and we had been trying for a couple of hours to find a place to hold up for the night. Yours Truly finally called in the pros (Mission Control) and within minutes Leanne had found us a room…..one of the last available in the area.

We rode up to the addresas and found Meredith at a campground / motel and she showed us our room. Nice and clean, and with a rollaway since it was the only room she had. Well, Yours Truly lost the coin toss and slept on the rollaway. Turns out I was so tired it didn’t matter. I slept well.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. While enjoying some adult libation on the stoop of our room it was my turn to pour. I went in, filled the glasses, and returned to my buddies. Of course, being a cop and security conscious, I pulled the door shut behind me. How was I supposed to know that it was locked and the only key was in the room? I mean really! The fact that the door had been ajar since we arrived was inconsequential, right?

After spending time trying to force the door open I went up to the office to ask for assistance (and a back-up key). Guess what? No one was there! I rambled aimlessly around the building, knocked on doors, rang doorbells, all without any response of any kind. And there was no phone number posted to call for assistance. All the while my “friends” are yucking it up at my expense. Lenny even said he was getting out his bike cover so he could use it as a tent. Funny….real funny.

Fresh out of ideas I decided to ride my ‘Wing up into an area where there appeared to be mobile homes that were permanent residences. Turns out the owner wants nothing to do with after hours and they call 911 to get the police to come and help with anything that comes up after hours, including locked out guests! Yeah, I’m sure going to call one of my brothers or sisters in blue to come and bail me out of my own stupidity all right…right. Mission Control was unable to assist as well, having called the business number for the place and received no answer.

That is when Chris came along. He was at a campfire in the RV park and overheard the goings on. He offered to try to call someone for me and did so without success. Then his buddy says “Ya know Chris, you’re pretty good with that credit card thing.” Huh? I had to wonder but kept my mouth shut. Chris says it’s worth a try and I gave him a ride down to the room. Viola! In less than 5 minutes he’s used a credit card to slip the lock and get our room open! I didn’t ask how much time he had served while learning that!! (Just kidding. Chris is a super guy and just had the touch!) We thanked him as best we could and all he could say was “no thanks needed, glad I could help”. Like I said, a nice guy.

And so yours truly slept on the rollaway and then headed on westward. My partners had to leave me and turn back towards Maine, so I found myself alone the next night at a KOA campground in Herkimer, N.Y.

Now Your Intrepid Cancer Cure Rider has experienced lots of stuff in the last two months, not all of it good behavior, particularly on the part of a few “New Yorkers”. So when I went across the street from the campground to have a little dinner, I was very pleased to encounter the lovely Jenn and Lisa, who work there. Turns out they dislike some of the “New Yorkers” as much as Yours Truly does. Seems that the abherent behavior is an East Coast phenomenon and here in upstate everyone is nice as ever. Even the toll takers.

Naturally though they wanted to know “what the heck were you thinking??!!” when they learned I was from Seattle and why I was all the way out here in upstate New York, on a motorcycle no less. They expressed amazement at cancer Ride America and the next thing I knew, Lisa was handing me a donation. She had gone round and gathered donations from Jenn, Zack (the author of my excellent meal) and herself. Everyone there has been touched by cancer, as sadly seems the case wherever I go. They wanted to helpm so they did.

While there I talked with another employee, Dave, whom I gathered was the manager. When it came time to even up, Jenn quietly tells me “it’s been taken care of. You’re doing a good thing”. And she rolls her eyes toward Dave. Now, Your Intrepid Cancer Cure Rider and Mission Control are who we are. We served the public for 35 years and in our lives have never asked for anything for ourselves except the chance to try to make life just a little better for others. Today, 2 months and over 10,000 miles into this calling, Yours Truly was abashed and somewhat embarrassed at this kindness. All I could say was “Thank You” and promise that I would carry on, on their behalf too.

And so tomorrow, for the loved ones of Jenn, Lisa, Zack, Dave, and the countless Angels riding with me, Your Intrepid Cancer Cure Rider will……

Ride On,
C.C.R.

Some afterthought pics for Y’all….trying to teach these uppstaters a little southern drawl!!

Saw this as we passed through a small town in New Hampshire. Patriotism is alive and well here….every light pole was adorned with an American flag.

Just a little “Road Shot” of the ‘Wing.