Brrr!

Biritori, Hokkaido, July 14th 2007

It was rough getting out of my sleeping bag this morning. Its just as cold today. But when I finally did, it was worth it, my new motorcycle gang friends had left me a bag of pears and bananas for breakfast. I hit the road around 8:30.

The roads were more of the same overcast farms interrupted by small angular houses, polite traffic, black crows, vending machines and the odd pine tree. Mid morning I spotted a building with a small red awning, I bought a can opener (for the pears) and some pre-packaged muffins.

The storeowner was very chatty. In Japanese. She even wrote her name (I think) and the date. So I wouldn’t forget her? She happily filled my water bottles. And then kept pointing to them and asking a question. Eventually I said ok just to see what she was talking about. She trotted into the back and came out with a big bowl of ice. Ice! Its 16 degrees C, and she was offering me ice. I politely refused. Or maybe it wasn’t polite, its hard to know.

Lunch was a bowl of ramen noodles with aside of typhoon on the weather report at a truck stop with a tv. Afterwards I turned on to rt. 237 and struck gold with a souvenir craft store. I bought a sweatshirt with two cartoon foxes on it. Its an impractical vanilla color but I was too warm to care!