My First Donation--Prior to Riding!

     Due to the upcoming ENORMOUS event of riding from MD to WI, you can only expect that I've been gabbing to everyone.  Customers at the coffee shop I work at find it really interesting; a classically trained singer, riding a bicycle over 1,000 miles to give a recital... it just doesn't make sense to some of them. But, those who know me, and even many who don't, think that it's a pretty neat thing to do--let's just hope I can do it :)
     Many of the customers come into the coffee shop and ask, "Whose bike is that?!"  I nonchalantly say, "Mine.  I'm cycling to WI, so I need a good bike."  Then, the eye bulging starts.  Some think it's awesome, some (like my father) thinks it's crazy, and there is an array of reactions. 
     The other night, as I was getting close to closing up the shop, a group of guys--I'd say late 20's/early 30's, musicians [? (if they were, it was the play-in-a-bar/just breaking into semi-main stream type)]--came in and needed some caffeine.  I started chatting them up as I was making their drinks, the usual protocal.  One of them said that he thought it was awesome that I was wearing purple shorts--then he asked if I owned the place (stating that it'd be even cooler if an owner wore purple shorts).  I said that I didn't; that i was a lowly worker.  Somehow my ride to WI was brought up, and they all looked astonished.  They started saying that the would give me enough money for all of the fudge on the counter if it'd help me get to France for the singing competition this fall--but I brought it to their attention that if they took all the fudge the money they gave me would have to go in the drawer, so it'd be pretty pointless.  Being intrigued as they were, they wanted to know the amount of money it would cost to purchase all of the fudge that was out for the day; so to humor them (and myself/my accuracy of guessing), I weighed it.  It would've cost around $115-$120.  I was pretty close with my guess (around $100). 
     As I was wishing them a good night and moving the fudge back over to the counter, Mr. Purple Shorts handed me a wad of money--$110 to be exact--and said it was the first donation toward my flight money to get to France.  I was stunned.  Absolutely flabbergasted.  I just looked at him, giggled (I'm sure, as I always do), and said a feeble "Thank you."  I gave them all free coffee cards and said they had to come back to Baltimore to get another java from me, and I wrote my blog's address on Mr. Purple Short's card--I hope that they follow this and enjoyed their coffee.

Here's to you, Mr. Purple Shorts.