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Warm Showers!

  • 19 September 2016 1:45 PM
    Message # 4257977
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Posting on behalf of Leslie O.

    Some years ago our household signed up to participate in Warm Showers, an organization that offers cyclists a shower and a place to stay the night.

    Our motivation was to show the children in our household some of the adventures that are out there for the taking.  And it did just that!

    We’ve met interesting people from around the world:  

    • A newly retired couple of green architects from Montana who sent homemake biscotti as a thank you.
    • A young Swedish girl who’d spent the previous summer cycling alone in northern Alaska and the summer before that in the Alaskan Rockies. After cycling the US Pacific Coast, she was on her way to Australia, much to her parents' dismay.
    • A young American family headed to Chile with two trail-a-bikes.
    • A South Korean cyclist who fixed us a lovely traditional dinner and gave us lessons in Korean.
    • An English artist who had cycled from England through Europe, Russia, China, Indonesia and on to Australia.  He sketched members of our household just has he’d done as a thank you all along the way.
    • An American Studies undergraduate from China who had cycled most of his country, including the Himalayas, and was now exploring the Western US.  It surprised us how open and frank he felt talking about his country.  He sends a Christmas card every year.
    • A young Brazilian gal who’d worked her way up from cook to Caribbean ship captain and keeps in touch through Facebook.
    • And just last week, a couple college seniors from Seattle on their way to Occidental and Pomona, riding in jeans with their gear bungeed to their bikes.  One was Ethiopian born and raised; the other’s father was Kenyan.  They let us hear both Amharic and Swahili

    Interested? 

    Let me tell you how Warm Showers works.

    The website warmshowers.org allows you to list your location, availability and what you are able to offer a cyclist (shower, meal, bed, laundry, storage, SAG, etc.).  I’m comfortable offering a shower, a meal and laundry.  

    We have a crowded household and so can only offer floor space or camping on the front deck.  No one seems to be the least bit troubled by this. 

    In addition, both you and your potential guest can check each other out before committing.  The website has evaluations from previous guests and hosts that give you an idea what kind of people you’re signing up for (or not).  I’ve generally stopped checking the website because I found all to be interesting, engaging, courteous and really good guests.  Pretty much what you’d expect from fellow cyclists!

    So, if you’d like to know a little more about the stream of people we have pedaling down our beautiful coast, I recommend you give Warm Showers a try.

    Leslie