Wonderful People

Name	WP Date	Body
Dave Manuel and Shelagh Fritz	25 September 2006	Dave and Shelagh met us out on the coast north of San Francisco and were so bold as to invite us to crash on their living room floor. We did for a couple of days and it was fantastic getting to know them. And we feel like we learned a LOT. Thanks, Dave and Shelagh!
Luis Kong	25 September 2006	Dr Kong is a dentist - We were looking everywhere for a dentist to fix Randy's crown which had fallen off. Dr. Kong agreed to see Randy (the SAME DAY) and we rode to his office and he graciously and generously did all that needed to happen. Thanks, Dr Kong!
Matt and Ryan at BikeWorks in Half Moon Bay	3 October 2006	Matt and Ryan of Bikeworks in Half Moon Bay helped us out with a whole series of mechanical problems, putting off the things that they had to get done so they could get us on the road. If you're ever going through Half Moon Bay, stop at the bike shop and patronise them. They're wonderful people.
Larry Sharpe	5 October 2006	Larry was out for a ride near Monterey and just brought us home (4 of us!) and put us up for the evening. He rode across the country in 1976 and has been paying back people's generosity ever since. What a great guy!
Ildi and Paul	8 October 2006	Ildi and Paul hosted us in South Pasadena. It was amazing to see Paul's "magic garden" hidden behind a gate on a hill in the middle of the city. And what a wonderful thing for Nancy to get to visit her old school buddy, Ildi.
Pat and Cat Patterson	16 October 2006	Pat and Cat are the famous adventurers who just got back from riding their bikes around the world. See worldriders2.com for the whole story. They adopted us and took us in and we had a wonderful time and a beautiful beginning of a great friendship.
Mark Lewis and Tony Ramirez	20 October 2006	Mark is Nancy's brother - they hosted us for a delightful 2 nights and it was so good to see them after riding all those miles down from Inuvik!
Marty Jones	22 October 2006	Marty is another kind WarmShowers member who put us up and guided us around the great city of San Diego. He helped us a thousand ways and made San Diego a sane place for us. Thanks, Marty!
Amy Farrell	24 October 2006	Amy saw us poring over maps at the Burger King in Yuma, Arizona, and stopped to chat. We asked where a campground might be, and she just invited us to sleep in her backyard instead! And then she fed us a delightful breakfast in the morning, and made our stay in Yuma so memorable. If all the world were so open and generous, what would it be like? Thanks, Amy.
Caroline and Mary	1 February 2007	Caroline and Mary invited us to their home in Tucson and made us feel so wonderfully comfortable after the fairly difficult ride to Tucson. We stayed and worked and socialized and barely got going again. THANKS!
Jack Lentz	1 February 2007	Jack picked us up at the airport and helped a thousand other ways as we began our trip in Phoenix/Mesa. Thanks!
John and Peggy	1 February 2007	John and Peggy Woerner (Nancy's Mother-in-law) took us in on our arrival and helped us out wonderfully getting ready to leave. What a treat to see them and to start the trip with them. Thanks!
Ajo Bikes	6 February 2007	We had quite an enormous wheel failure, but the folks at Ajo Bikes in Tucson made us all well again, even though it messed up their entire day. They were courteous and helpful all day, even though we were a thorn in their side. THANKS!
Casey - our desert angel	7 February 2007	We didn't know how few services there really were on the way from Tucson to Patagonia.. And we didn't take enough water. Thanks, Casey, for helping us out with those wonderful bottles on the side of the road. We would never made it to the top, not to mention to Sonoita!
Sally Greenleaf	7 February 2007	Sally is Randy's mother's cousin, and was kind enough to invite us to her delightful home and share her life with us for a couple of days (and some fine, fine cooking too). Thanks for sharing with us, Sally.
Bill Durden	9 February 2007	Bill stopped on the highway south in Sonora and yelled over that he wanted to have us stay at his place in Imuris. Later he followed us slowly, with his lights flashing to protect us from traffic, all the way to Imuris (which was a hair longer than the 10 miles he said!) We had a wonderful evening with him.
Martin the Schoolteacher	19 February 2007	Martin is the school master in the tiny town of Guasima south of Guaymas. We needed a place to sleep and he let us sleep in a classroom in the school, where all the kids were fascinated with us. And they invited us to dinner (marvellous). We learned lots.
Martin	22 February 2007	We were late finding a place to stay, and didn't find one in the village of Pueblo Yaqui, so went out of town a little ways. We stopped and asked Martin, and he kindly set us up with a place for our tent. And he gave us a nice breakfast cooked on his outdoor fire in the morning.
Leba Shaw and Roger Lewis	4 March 2007	Leba is a gringa living near Alamos, and an extremely experienced bike tourist. Nancy broke her kickstand just as we were arriving at her place, and Leba offered to take us back into town, where we cannibalized the kickstand off of one of their bikes... It's still working a few days later at least. THANKS Leba and Roger!
Maria Ramona Aragon Barrerra	4 March 2007	We stoppped late in the day just to et a refresco, but were asking about where to spend the night. Maria said "anybody will let you stay at their place". But she fixed us up some food too, and we dawdled, and we asked to stay there. They took marvelous care of us in the tiny dusty village of El Carrizal.
Efrén Perez and family	9 March 2007	Efrén and family turned out to be some of the most impressive people we've met on the trip. Humirá is right before the really big climb out of the second canyon out of Creel, and we got there about 4:30, knowing we had about 25K and more than 2000 feet of climbing ahead of us. We stopped to chat with a farmer out working with his whole family on clearing trimmed wood from their apple orchard. When we decided to bail for the night we rode back and asked them if we could stay at their place. That's how we met Efrén. We helped with the wood-hauling until dusk, and then set up the tent. They fed us beautiful blue corn tortillas in the evening (we got to see the whole process). Anyway, you might want to meet Efrén and his wife Lola some time. They live in a tiny two room house with no electricity or running water, but struck us as some of the most integral people we've ever met. It was amazing to see the girls studying by the little car-battery-driven light (on Friday night) and talking with Efrén about what their life is like and such. Although they're what we would consider quite poor in resources, they are community leaders - the day we left they had organized a community-wide highway trash pickup. And Lola is a community health worker. Efrén would someday like to organize a foundation that could somehow channel help to the people who have even less than he does, especially Tarahumara but also the very poor mestizos. He invited us to come back after our trip and help set it up.
Candelario Viniegra	10 March 2007	I met Candelario on my 2003 trip to Copper Canyon. He was then teaching in a tiny school in a remote village (not reachable by car) and we chatted and hiked a bit in the afternoon. We've kept in touch, and visited and stayed with them where he teaches now, in Samachique. He took us out to see his favorite caves and treated us to a wonderful evening of delightful hospitality. Thanks, Candelario!
Josefina Tarin, Dionisio Villalobos and family	17 March 2007	Josefina and Dionisio took us into their home off the streets of Balleza after dark with no reason at all except their exceptional kindness. Then they made us stay for Sunday rest day. They fed us and housed us and taught us how to make tamales. Some of our favorite people of all time. Thanks!
Jean-Guy Fournier and the crew	19 March 2007	Jean-Guy and Lucille and Claude and Madeleine took us down to Batopilas in their truck. They didn't have much spare room, but they gave us the best seats in the truck for the incredible descent from Samachique to Batopilas. It was a delightful way to see the countryside and so much nicer than the bus - we were able to stop many times for pictures, and we have new friends. Thanks!
Luis Fernando Cardenas Landeros of the Ferretera del Centro, Durango, Mexico	29 March 2007	We walked into this hardware store, and Luis helped us with gluing a GPS case back together. He just did the job, no questions. Helped as well as he could. Was friendly and helpful. And then he wouldn't even let us pay anything for it. THANKS, Luis.
Andrei Montero and Dulce Montiel	22 April 2007	Andrei and Dulce (the Cyclonauts, or ciclonautas) did our trip from Queretaro to Tierra del Fuego starting in 1998, with hardly any resources. We were inspired by their trip and spent a delightful day seeing Queretaro and going to the hot springs with them. We'll try to post their story on the site... You can read their entire story here
Javier Fuentes and Gema Lugo	24 April 2007	Javier stopped us on the road to ask about the trip and then invited us home! We spent a delightful evening with them chatting about everything there is to chat about. They took us out to an ancient aqueduct and we walked on it and speculated about its past. And they arranged a dental appointment for Nancy! People like this continue to be the most important part of our trip.
Analilia Quintanar Romero	25 April 2007	Analilia is a dentist, and cleaned Nancy's teeth. Not only did she fit Nancy in (with no notice) on her day off, but then she wouldn't even accept payment. Thanks Analilia!
Elders in La Reforma	30 May 2007	We got to the top of the last hill before the coast at dusk, just barely made it. The folks in the village were all ready for us and set us up with a wonderful situation in their meeting room, and one of the kids even took us to his grandmother's house so we could take a shower (splashing wellwater on ourselves). There was no running water in this village, and their wells barely could support the village, at this late time leading into the rainy season.
Santiago at Rizo de Oro	5 June 2007	We arrived at the top of the mountains at the village of Rizo de Oro near the end of the day. We asked if there was some place we could stay, and Santiago arranged for us to stay in the Alcoholics Anonymous rooms. He opened the bathrooms for us. It was really a treat. Very kind village.