We spent a night after staying in the abandoned summer camp underneath a pavillion in a park called Silver Lake in Port Dover. That morning, we had stopped at a local convenience store and I flirted with the cashier. Riding along Lake Eerie, we were passed by many bicyclists who were doing their own road race. I felt like I was racing ahead of my friends as they trailed behind me - we couldn't seem to decide on a good pace. Once we got into Port Dover, we split the group into a scouting party and a cooking party. I cooked with Stef and made my first attempt at talking and releasing some of the tension related to our experiences riding, camping, and making decisions as a group. That night, we ate ice cream and interacted with locals at a bar.
The next morning, we awoke to the sounds of lawn mowing in the fields beside Silver Lake. Riding out of town, we were planning to take a day off at Long Point. We stopped in a very small town to pick up groceries. I got kicked out of a liquor store for using their public bathrooms and the guys shopped at a very interesting, all inclusive town grocery owned by some very nice Asians. After feeling the shame of being kicked out, I went over to pick up a map at a lighthouse/tourist information booth. A girl named Britney was there to help and I noticed a strong attraction. After returning with the map and talking with another tourist heading through town, I went back to flirt some. After talking a bit about our trip and her plans to go camping later that night, I invited her up with me to the top of the lighthouse. She declined, but was very nice about it. Talking with pretty women, even when it doesn't go anywhere, is a great way to relieve tension.
I thought maybe the guys were anxious to get to the destination, or maybe it was just me. We stopped once more for food and road all the way out to Long Point to find that it was...dead. No one. Nothing.
We continued to ride out and found an empty parking lot by an empty beach. As we parked our bikes, I could feel the tension that I had carried with me all day leave a little bit in all that open space and to the sounds of the lakes waves just over the sand dunes. We locked up bikes, so tired from our seemingly sleepless nights the last few days and hiked onto the beach. The steps were took were sacred, wrapped in silence and the sounds of waves and I could tell we were headed to a holy place.
I looked on in awe as we approached. Like walking into a dream.
Stef laid down in the sand, Lenny laid atop a picnic table, Lee strolled around the beach, and I sat staring out at the waves. I felt a lot of sadness inside, a lot of sadness I didn't know how to process at the time, except to tear up a little bit, inspired by the beauty of the waves, talking to Lenny who was sleeping next to me about the power of the symbol for our lives. The waves rising and falling.
"I feel like a wave who wants to be water," I said.
At that point, I noticed everyone was asleep on the beach except me. So I laid down.
We slept for three hours together.
We all awoke separately - Lee and Stef walked along the beach and found someone who was willing to let us sleep in their backyard. I explored the desolation and sighed, relieved with all the open space. We reconvened and began to talk about what we'd do for fun. Of course, we all had different ideas and we couldn't come to a compromise, but it was ok, we were all so at peace on that beach that we let it all roll off for that evening. So we just wandered listlessly for our last hour of daylight, staring into the setting sun.
We found where we'd be sleeping with Lee leading with sound direction. We set up our tents, shared some bug spray, and cooked rice and beans for dinner. We split our rations, engorged, and worked together on washing all the dishes by the hose. I complained a bit about the bugs, probably to the disdain of Lee who had found the nice site, and we headed in for the night.
Michael
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