Hosting long distance cyclists at your house

This isn't a plug for a website though I 'm going to point you to one anyhow.

I wanted to tell you what a wonderful experience I have had so far hosting long-distance bicyclists through an app called Warmshowers. I won't link to it, it's very easy to find via phone or web browser. It connects cyclists with overnight hosts who are willing to let them take, obviously, a warm shower, to camp in your yard or sleep in a spare bedroom or on the couch. It saves them a lot of money that would have needlessly been spent on hotels, with very little sense of community.

So I think of Warmshowers as a little slice of portable intentional community. People traveling long distances under their own power, like on a bicycle, tend to be a lot like us here at permies. Gentle. Concerned about things that align very closely to permaculture and homesteading. So many of the people I"ve hosted have been "clean eaters" who are looking for better than organic, fresh veggies, grass fed/grass finished beef, ethically raised animals, and so on.

Last night, we hosted a couple from Ireland who are almost done circumnavigating the globe on bicycles. I won't give you their names but they played us a song on concertina and harmonica and their two part harmony. It was absolutely lovely, and I would not have had any of the dozen experiences like this I've had without hosting these cyclists.

We met once, shared a couple of meals, enjoyed live music, and they are now friends and welcome at our home any time.

They shared a beautiful rendition of Mike Hanrahan's "Beautiful Affair" during this gathering in Willow Acre's dining room. I thought the lyrics and spirit of the song fit well with our discussions of community and friendship. We recorded the song and while I'd love to share it with you, and as a content creator, I would want Mike Hanrahan to get paid because he created such a beautiful song and even when sung in an intimate setting, I think I would be exploiting the moment by blasting it out to the world.

Please look the song up and give it a listen, and you'll instantly know how heart touching the moment was for the four of us.

Jim