Breathe in, breathe out

Mmmmm. Italy. Definately my favorite country so far. Warm weather, warm people, warm focaccia. My goodness the focaccia. Anyways, I am writing to you fine folks from the villa in Recco where I have had the good fortune to spend the last 2 days. John and I had stopped into a cafe here for a bite to eat and a beer while dodging some rainy weather Saturday. While we were munching away we got to talking to a nearby lady. Mary is part English, but has lived in the area on and off for 30 years. She asked about where we stay and we told her the sad story that we usually are confined to dodgy parks and shady wilderness. Mary had the kindness to invite us to stay with her if we would like. Although we had only gone probably 20 km from Genova, we couldnt pass the offer up (i mean, come on...how often will this happen). Hung out for the rest of the afternoon and last evening went out to check the night scene. John was tired so I struck out alone. Gangs of hooligans were hanging around various dark corners of the city, some couples tangled up along the water (knowing well they could never do this at home). I was surprised to see so many young people when a larger city like Genova is only a hop and skip away. Anyways, I had a beer in one bar which seemed an older clientele, so I wandered around the corner to another. This one was much more my scene, with more drafts to choose from and a hilarious amount of underage people up to antics. After a little liquid courage I sat down at a nearby table and let out my meek request of "parlay inglezzi". Italians seem a bit timid to try out their English at first, but before long we were "making brendezis" left and right. Had a great night at Il Fonda and came back to Mary's. Had to climb over the gate because my fog prevented me from finding the latch. Proceeded to walk into Mary's room searching for the bathroom. She screamed, I screamed, I closed the door.
We both had a good laugh about that this morning and then Mary, John and I were joined by Mary's friend Frank for some lunch. Of course lunch ended about 5 PM and was followed by a rousing jam session (check out the video). I decided to go for a dip in the sea, so John and I headed down. After about an hour the other two joined us and we all went to the next town over, Sori. We had a wonderful time at a cafe restaurant and made many more friends here in Recco and Sori.
Tomorrow we head out for the Cinque Terres and then onward to Pisa and Firenze. I am very excited, but will definately be coming back to spend some time with these folks as soon as I can. The trip has been excellent so far, with even the setbacks (aka my shoulder) turning into opportunities to make better friends. I look forward to each day of travel, rather than dreading waking up and going through the machinations of work and living in a stable place. That being said, I sure do miss having that stability sometimes. It sweetens the few moments where I get to sit on a chair in a house and listen to music or write to you folks. And man do I miss having the ability to say "im hungry. I will go to carrburritos and fix that". Now it is more like "Im hungry. Nothing I can do will end this hunger, so I will just forget it". Fix it or forget it. Hunger aside, I think the hardest part of the trip so far is not quite homesickness, but what I would like to coin the term for; " Homiesickness". This is the state of missing ones' homies. If I could bring all the people I cherish so much to Recco, I would stop riding right away. But then again, the point of the travel is to keep things changing, so I am getting pumped up for visiting Benji, finishing Italy and starting the Croatia endeavor. We are not nearly ready for it, so I will be doing some research in my free time hanging with Ben. Must sort out visas etc. Then who knows how we get from here to Asia. It is way beyond me for now, but dont despair Wilds and Bethanne...Im still coming!
I really hope that you guys are enjoying the postings, pics and videos. I hear from some of you on a semi-frequent basis, but would love to hear from more. Post some comments, drop me an email or better yet your address and Ill send a post card. I miss you all very much and want to do my best to stay in tune and in touch. Also, for anyone feeling particularly saucy, come on over and join us for some riding!
Soon I will be figuring out how to make a donations button. The funds will help me keep riding, but 25% will also go to the charity World Bicycle Relief. They strive to provide bicycles to communities worldwide which can benefit from the amazing power of that personal mobility provides. It is super cool and can actually change lives in a way that I dont think anything else can. I plan to make some business cards in Florence and use those as a way to get people to come check out the website and hopefully get some more bikes out there.
K, I think that is about enough for now. Hobohighlander overandout.