A Real Hugger

You can’t put a price on a hug.

In his book about biking across America with his brother, Stan Purdum remembers being in Oregon early in the journey and discovering that, even though it was summertime, they should have packed some cold-weather clothing. After camping for the night in Prairie City, they set out heading east. The days so far had been quite hot, though chilly in the mornings. Here’s how Purdum described what happened next:

“Although we were soon wet with sweat under our tights and jackets as we ascended the first of the three mountains, the rapid glide down the mountain proved so chilling that we had to stop and pile on additional clothing. The wind striking my chest proved so cold that I removed the map from the handlebar bag and slid it up under my jacket for additional insulation. Our frigid hands made us wish that we had brought full gloves in addition to the fingerless riding gloves we wore in summer.

“Eventually we came to a café and store. Thoroughly chilled, we...