A sure-fire attention-getter: go out to a remote country road, lay your fully loaded touring bike down in a ditch, and crouch by the side of the road to photograph a red salamander. Three people pulled over to ask if I was okay, thus confirming my theory that the world is full of good people who will look out for me even (or especially) as I'm being a bit eccentric.

Barry and Judy Buyea, my hosts for the evening, were no exception to the rule. A few weeks ago when I was planning my initial route for this trip, I decided that DeRuyter, NY would make a great stopping-off point on my way to Ithaca. The problem was that, according to the 2000 census, the population of DeRuyter was just over 500—so it seemed that the chances of meeting someone to stay with would be slim. But I lucked out when my brother put me in touch with his friend's co-worker who lives right on DeRuyter Lake. Knowing I had somewhere to stay for the night kept me feeling reasonably cheerful despite the cloudy skies, the light rain, and a 3 mile detour when I missed a turn along the way.

And Barry and Judy could not have been sweeter or more hospitable. They welcomed me into their beautiful home with amazing views of the lake, set me up with hot shower, and (once the Mets clinched their victory) cooked me a delicious meal of barbecued chicken, corn on the cob, and an experimental scalloped sweet potato dish that Judy had whipped up, and I thought came out quite well.

They had all kind all kinds of stories about life on the lake. Barry's grandparents had owned the house so he'd spent many childhood summers here, and now Barry and Judy live here year-round. It sounds like a wonderful community, where everyone goes way back and nobody locks the doors. My favorite story was about how a friend of their son's came to visit and ended up loving it so much that she just stuck around. After several days, they got a frantic call from the girl's mother—she'd been gone so long that they filed a missing person report! Even after staying here for less than 24 hours, I can fully understand how that might happen.

I am excited to be on the road again after a the first week of the journey (which I consider a warm-up) and a 5-day hiatus with family and friends from home. It's going to get more difficult: from here I head into truly uncharted territory, have fewer places lined up to stay, don't exactly know my route, and plan to step up my pace to 40-50 miles a day. But I have already found I LOVE the adventure, freedom, and simplicity of life on the road, and I'm looking forward to the next leg.