Kert & Joy

Last Sunday Peggy and I were driving through Goreville on the way to church, and we noticed a long-distance bicycler checking her map. So with Peggy's agreement, I turned around to see if they needed help, or just to give encouragement. After a brief chat, we invited her to breakfast at Late Bloomers. She refused a couple times but finally agreed. Joy and Kert are on a coast-to-coast bicycle ride. She is a doctoral candidate in English lit. at Purdue. She is from Iowa. She is traveling with Kert, who is the strong, silent type. In fact he didn't say two words. Joy is the communicator. Kert is obviously not. He's not antisocial or angry; just private and focused on their trek. He did not even come into the restaurant with us. But he was in the line of sight outside as he dozed or meditated. He seemed to attract some attention from the elderly folks who left the restaurant. He does look impressive - not large but very strong and hard. He doesn't wear a shirt. I wouldn't either if I had his body - perfect definition and no fat! We had an excellent visit with Joy. She seems quite devoted to Kert and takes good care of him. He in turn is extremely supportive of her. They seem to have an ideal relationship, not at all romantic. I am certain they will have a pure, life-long relationship, even after one of them gets married to someone else. Joy told us she was heading to Carbondale to the bike shops - last chance for bike maintenance for a long time; and to the library for internet access. The library is in the same block as our church, so we thought we might see her again after church. We did. She was there talking with an eastbound biker. (She is westbound.) The bike shops are closed Sundays, and internet access is too expensive at the Carbondale Library for non-residents. Since Joy wanted to wait for the bike shops to open on Monday before going any further, we invited her to a big church picnic at 5:00 on Sunday. She spent the afternoon at the SIU Library to use the internet for free. We went home to mow the lawn and came back for the picnic at Evergreen Park. It was a surprise party for (Pastor's wife) Jan Crall's 50th birthday. It was a big event with tons of great pot-luck food, a special song composed by Linda Seiler and sung by 6 women in honor of Jan's life, and there were tributes and speeches... Joy and Kert were made welcome by many of the students and church members. We were trying to find someone to be hospitable to them that night. As it turned out, a couple of the students suggested that she stay at the Sunday School house of our church. We checked with Pastor Dale; he was agreeable, so they had a nice, dry, indoor place to sleep with plumbing. Peggy and I took off after the picnic and let others take care of Joy & Kert. Now we have been able to check their progress on a website. She posts her journal and digital photos on www.crazyguyonabike.com. Then enter "cirumtrektion" in the 'search' place. If you look at her segment '...to Carbondale' (June 4,) you will read about her first day in IL and see photos including me & Peggy. By the way, Kert is Joy's Trek bicycle. She gave it a name for security reasons in certain circumstances.