Eye-Contact Guy

So, that's our campground through the water and to the right in the picture below. So close! 

The lady in the picture said that the water was almost up to their building (to the right of the stop light at the top of the hill) a few days ago. She also told us about the way around the water which was 8-9 miles extra. My knee said, "no". Before we pulled out of her lot, she came out to tell us about a "green space" called MHI--sounded like a nice place to go since we have a tent that needs some "green space" and it wasn't an extra 8-9 miles.  

A couple that we stopped to confirm our directions answered Matthew's question of "what does MHI stand for?"-Mental Health Institute. Pretty sure I didn't hide my shock very well.  It's an institution For severe sex offenders without the chance of parole. 

Meet Jeff...an IT tech at the Hy-Vee distribution center for 34 years. He was getting ready to relax and have a beer on his patio when the most unfortunate thing happened to the poor guy. He made eye contact with Matthew as we rode by on our way to MHI. Matthew also noticed "eye contact guy" had a big pickup parked in front of his house. Matthew unhooked the Burley and circled back around to find "eye contact guy" relaxing on patio. Two minutes later, Matthew and Jeff drive up with Matthew's bike in the bed of his pickup. He was so kind...really everyone we met in Cherokee was so kind and helpful. Jeff took us to Hy-Vee so I could try to find something to help my knee. While checking out a lady said that she saw us earlier in the day on HWY 3 and then later riding through Cherokee. 
Thank you, Jeff for so willingly hauling 2 strangers with bikes, panniers, and a trailer to our campsite. You may never make eye contact with another stranger on a bike again.