Two years ago on our trek we were hosted by Susan and John Egbers in St. Cloud, MN. Typical of our warm showers hosts they were generous, open and helpful. Below I have excerpted our blog entry from that stay:
“John and Susan were our warm showers hosts and they welcomed us in. After showers and re cycling we had a great dinner of “American Bento Box.” Susan helps a friend whose restaurant is selling her version of the bento box with rice, quinoa, chicken, red meat, veggies, freshly chopped ginger all topped with various sauces. Our meal was essentially leftovers from the weekly market the night before so it may have been the best and most nutritious free meal we’ve had.
After a great dinner and night’s sleep we got away early. John was kind enough to hop on his bike and guide us out of town and on our way. Several days ago we met a cyclist from Minnesota who advised us that the official American Cycling maps take a big semi circle around Minneapolis and bring you in from the east and he suggested staying on the rail to trails into St. Cloud and into Minneapolis from the west. This change saved at least a day on our trek if not two and many miles.
So, thanks to John we got on our route quickly and enjoyed a full day of tail winds. His directions were turn perfect and Susan’s cookies kept us energized til we reached our rendezvous point where our friend Steve from Paradise Valley (he and Craig also have a fantastic house in the Golden Valley part of Minneapolis) met us.”
John was competing in the Trans America Bike Race this year on the route (albeit West to East) we had planned to ride across the country. Last week John was struck by a vehicle in Kansas and is facing a grueling recovery and possible paralysis. Susan has set up a GoFundMe site to help with what will be staggering expenses and we have donated. If you can help them in any way your generosity will be deeply appreciated. Here is the web address for John’s site:
bikewright 2.0 