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 Jack's friend Fernando in Mexico now has the only Friday on the 'barrio'. Submitted March 2007 for the Cycle Oregon/Homecoming Story Contest. HERE have been many exciting places I have taken my Bike Friday, including Prince Edward Island and Kauai, but the most astonishing place was the World Heritage Monarch Butterfly Refuge north and west of Moralia, Mexico. Fernando, owner of Factor Bike tours and our guide for the ten days we spent in Mexico, is an enthusiastic, knowledgeable and creative leader. We visited many small towns and cathedrals on our way up the mountain to over 10,000' where we parked the bikes and walked another 1,000' through meadows and forest, noticing more and more Monarch Butterflies during the ascent. Butterflies were everywhere, clustered on the edges of the small streams coming from the forest, clustered in even greater numbers on the branches of the trees, but what brought tears to our eyes were the literally tens of thousands of butterflies flying against the bright blue Mexican sky. There were eight of us sitting in the forest, silent, watching and listening to the gentle sounds made by their wings - like thousands of angels fluttering about. Second only to that experience in making my heart light was another circumstance on the trip. Fernando was unmistakably taken with my Bike Friday. We had stopped in a small village, Fernando and his partner were standing alone on a wooden sidewalk talking and I had an impulse to take action on a thought that had occurred to me some days before. So, I walked over to them and made the following proposition. Fernando, I said, here's a deal. I will leave my Bike Friday with you as a trade for another bike tour with Factor Bike sometime in the future. No, he said as his immediate response, but after I suggested that the costs were quite similar and talking it over with his partner they accepted my offer with expressions of their faces that I will forever remember along with the butterflies against the radiant blue sky. So, I brought home an empty suitcase and have yet to accept his part of the bargain although I get notices of his trips frequently though our e-mail contact. When I made the bargain whether or not I made my trip to Mexico was not of any real consequence; what was important was the joy I felt in making the trade and the enthusiastic responses. Awhile ago I received this note from Fernando whose bike shop is in Mexico City: I think of you quite often since I've learned to enjoy our Bike Friday, it´s been some months since I use it as my only transport in the neighborhood, and the surroundings for about 10 or 15 miles; it´s really enjoyable, it moves like a quick mouse between the cars and traffic of the city, its also commonly a matter to be pointed out by friends or known ... what an incredible bike, they say, would you sell it, and I'll go NO WAY JOSE!!! I'd rather sell my road bike first which is been released to third place (after my MTB and our BFRIDAY). As the matter of fact its the only one from this brand I've seen around here, there are some foldable Trek's or Brompton's, but not this one! Jack Lyford Enthusiastic owner of two NWT jacklyford@earthlink.net |