I get up this morning and eagerly look outside. It’s a glorious day! The air is crisp, the sun is shining, and the sky is littered with puff gray clouds; always my favourite grouping.

However, the temp is on the cool side this morning, hovering around 2C (35F). The Weather Channel forecast is for things to warm up considerably to 12C (53F) by midday and so I wait a little for things to warm up a smidgen. As I only have a seven-hour ride home, there is no reason to rush and I can enjoy being in Sudbury before pushing on.

I stop by the nearby Tim Horton’s to pick up a coffee and a bagel and meet two older riders in the parking lot. They are on their way out and we stop to chat. Both are well into their sixties and retired. One is on a GoldWing and the other on a Yamaha Venture (the original mid-eighties model that looked like the Gold Wing, not the more current Venture).

After a bit of banter, these two friendly types admit as to how they're old and crotchety, and that no one can put up with them except for each other. So they ride together! Turns out they’ve toured quite a bit across Canada and parts of the US. This morning, they’ve just ridden for an hour to come for coffee. By the time they’ll have detoured home, it will have been a three-hour ride.

We talk a little. They share some experiences they’ve had when touring the Utah/Colorado area and, more recently, the Blue Ridge Parkway. They still have that unrelenting eagerness to explore. This goes on for a few minutes and then we say our good-byes. Standing in this crisp, cool air, I ponder for a bit.

I finally end up leaving Sudbury at 11:30am. The ride this morning is uneventful; just some nice, crisp, fall riding. It has not yet warmed up as much as forecast and, by the time I reach North Bay an hour later, I’m ready to stop for a bowl of hot soup. Yes, this is the same Tim Horton’s where I had come across the Charles Manson-type character at the beginning of this trip.

The attendant taking my order is probably in her late thirties, early forties. While she is not exceptionally good-looking, she has bright, sparkly eyes and a cheerful attitude and smile, and this makes her noticeably attractive. We exchange a smile and a few pleasantries and then I move down the line to get my soup.

In contrast, the young girl serving my soup is probably in her early twenties. While she is more objectively good-looking, she has vacant eyes, no smile to speak of, and a very blasé attitude. This makes her quite unattractive.

I think that she may be having a bad day, but it’s the blasé, uncaring way in which she does things that most impacts what she projects. I’ve always felt that no matter what you do you should do it with a certain passion, otherwise you would be better off doing something else.

Looking at the two attendants I’ve just come across, it’s obvious which one feels better about her life right now. It reminds me of the two lumberjack types that I had met at the laundromat at the beginning of this trip; of how their cheerful outlook had impacted me. Once again I’m reminded: attitude is so much.

I make a point of stopping by the counter and thanking the cashier for everything. She beams back a "you’re welcome" with the same sparkly eyes and smile. She’s added a little ray of sunshine to my day, I certainly hope that I’ve done the same for her.

Bruno
Montreal, Canada