Mojave Desert in California
I'm at Four Corners. CA. where U.S. 395 and CA. 58 intersect. Well, let me tell you, coming down out of the San Bernardino Mountains was an experience! The wind, hail, and snow hitting my sign made walking a bit difficult. The snow plow trucks added a bit of excitement as well. Add the narrow road and the sheer drop offs to all that and you have an adventure!
Met Steve and Amanda who invited me into their home in Lacerne Valley where I met their three beautiful and precious babies! A little girl two and a half and boy and girl twins one and a half. They are exactly one year apart. Amanda made me two humongous cheese burgers! They envited me to spend the night on their couch but I declined and stayed in their open garage instead. I wanted to look at the stars. I left early the next morning while the sweet family was still sleeping. About three hours later Steve and Amanda pulled up with the three car seats filled with precious cargo that took up all the back seat. They wanted to have their pictures taken with me.
Near Apple Valley, Greg stopped and said he wanted to buy me something to eat. I told him I had money for food and he told me to save my money. He also invited me to spend the night at his house. I'm still not sure why I didn't take him up on it. He lived back in Lucerne Valley but he said he would even drive me back to where I stopped. I don't know, I just got this thing about never going backwards. Greg was one of the most interesting people I ever met! He was an amateur astronomer and he had been all over the world. He knew the state of California extremely well and drew me a map of interesting spots along my route plus a couple shortcuts. Before we left the restaurant he even tried to buy me some sandwiches for the road... I declined.
Yesterday, Sunday, April 12, I stopped and filled up all my water bottles (HEAVY!) from a nice gentleman, Ed Bailey who lived just out of Adelanta on U.S. 395 and out in the desert all by himself. He said he loved people but he wasn't all that crazy over the B.S. they were capable of generating. As example, he told me there were four past mayors of his community presently serving prison sentences... goodness. I was doing well on my water and then I happened to turn around and there was a guy walking behind me very fast with a large dog on a leash. I seldom see others walking in the desert... most are much smarter than I. Anyway, he asks if I could spare any water. Well, I really couldn't, but how do you say no tho that request... huh? He had an old butter tub for the dog and you should have seen that poor animal! She was trying to lick it out of the bottle before it even got to her bowl! I don't know that I've ever seen a poor animal any more thirsty than that! The guy told me he had walked for 20 miles after a fight with his bleep-bleep girlfriend and that he had been trying to hitch a ride and had been holding his empty water bottle up in the air designating he needed water and no one would stop! I thought "Uh-oh!" cause that's exactly what I had been planning to do to obtain water. After I gave them all the water I dared give up, man and dog were no more than 200 yd. ahead of me and a truck stopped and picked them up! Good, but now I'm low on water! Before it got dark I started holding up my empty water bottle and pointing to it. One lady and her ten-year-old daughter stopped and gave me a small amount of water and about a pint of Gatorade. I kept water fishing and three really nice young people stopped and gave me a very cold and large bottle of water! One of the young ladies emailed me today to say she appreciated my story and what I was doing.
It was pretty hot today and I wasn't making the kind of time I needed to in order to get close to a fresh water source before dark, so... I started begging for water again. Mary Ann and Larry from Murreta, CA. turned their Honda Goldwing around to bring me a pint of water. Nearly as soon as they pulled away, a young man Dwayne, stopped and said he didn't have any water but he would drive me the few miles to Four Corners so I could be near water before dark. He also said he wanted to buy me something to eat simply because he enjoyed my sign. He said he was going to school at Big Bear and was on his way back when he saw me and then turned around! I tried to talk him out of spending money on me but he wouldn't hear of it! He insisted he could afford it because he had free rent! I told him, "So do I!" We laughed and he paid for my dinner. In the restaurant, I ended up at a table next to Larry and Mary Ann. They were astonished and said, "How in the world did you get here so fast!" I simply told them, " Oh... I ran." We chatted for a long time... more great people!
I've got 23 miles of no water land tomorrow. The problem is, I am carrying more weight than I ever have and I'm having a hard time adjusting to it. I am just not able to do my normal 15 to 20 mile days anymore. I still have nearly 200 miles of the Mojave and other desert lands, but, the little towns are more numerous after one more 24 miler. I DO NOT like deserts. I saw a real estate sign advertising 80 acres at the bargain price of $12,000 an acre! In the middle of the desert?? They're nuts!
A story I forgot to relate due to getting lost in the desert on my first day out of Yuma:
Early in the morning, my first day of walking, just a few miles into California, an old beat up pickup truck pulled up beside me. The driver was maybe forty, skinny, and the face under the dust filled cowboy hat was like leather and well worn... like the hat. He was staring at me hard and demanded, "Now you tell me what the hell there is about life to love?!" I said, "Breathing!" And he answered with, "hell, it seems the more I breath, the more miserable life gets!" So I said, "Maybe you need a respirator?" He chuckled with me. I continued, "Loving life is just something we as individuals determine to do... we simply make our mind up to love life and use the energy we've spent blaming it and put it toward loving it. Life is never our enemy, our attitude toward life is our enemy... or our friend." He said a couple more negative things, life sucks, etc. I cut him off and told him why I carry the sign. He said, "Damn man! Damn!... a feller shouldn't oughta have to bury his children... damn!" He never offered any more complaints... we just stayed silent for a moment and then he spoke again, "Damn... I'm really sorry you lost your kids man.... you take it easy and be careful out there buddy." I said thank you sir and he drove off, still shaking his head at what he had just heard. Amazing what perspective can do... it's a tool that works well for me... I wish to God I didn't have it... but I do. It's a two part deal for me, my heart aches every time I relate the loss of my babies, and is then relieved by the hope that possibly another broken heart is mended before it stops beating. Let's ALL concentrate on loving life.... it is contagious!!!
Met Steve and Amanda who invited me into their home in Lacerne Valley where I met their three beautiful and precious babies! A little girl two and a half and boy and girl twins one and a half. They are exactly one year apart. Amanda made me two humongous cheese burgers! They envited me to spend the night on their couch but I declined and stayed in their open garage instead. I wanted to look at the stars. I left early the next morning while the sweet family was still sleeping. About three hours later Steve and Amanda pulled up with the three car seats filled with precious cargo that took up all the back seat. They wanted to have their pictures taken with me.
Near Apple Valley, Greg stopped and said he wanted to buy me something to eat. I told him I had money for food and he told me to save my money. He also invited me to spend the night at his house. I'm still not sure why I didn't take him up on it. He lived back in Lucerne Valley but he said he would even drive me back to where I stopped. I don't know, I just got this thing about never going backwards. Greg was one of the most interesting people I ever met! He was an amateur astronomer and he had been all over the world. He knew the state of California extremely well and drew me a map of interesting spots along my route plus a couple shortcuts. Before we left the restaurant he even tried to buy me some sandwiches for the road... I declined.
Yesterday, Sunday, April 12, I stopped and filled up all my water bottles (HEAVY!) from a nice gentleman, Ed Bailey who lived just out of Adelanta on U.S. 395 and out in the desert all by himself. He said he loved people but he wasn't all that crazy over the B.S. they were capable of generating. As example, he told me there were four past mayors of his community presently serving prison sentences... goodness. I was doing well on my water and then I happened to turn around and there was a guy walking behind me very fast with a large dog on a leash. I seldom see others walking in the desert... most are much smarter than I. Anyway, he asks if I could spare any water. Well, I really couldn't, but how do you say no tho that request... huh? He had an old butter tub for the dog and you should have seen that poor animal! She was trying to lick it out of the bottle before it even got to her bowl! I don't know that I've ever seen a poor animal any more thirsty than that! The guy told me he had walked for 20 miles after a fight with his bleep-bleep girlfriend and that he had been trying to hitch a ride and had been holding his empty water bottle up in the air designating he needed water and no one would stop! I thought "Uh-oh!" cause that's exactly what I had been planning to do to obtain water. After I gave them all the water I dared give up, man and dog were no more than 200 yd. ahead of me and a truck stopped and picked them up! Good, but now I'm low on water! Before it got dark I started holding up my empty water bottle and pointing to it. One lady and her ten-year-old daughter stopped and gave me a small amount of water and about a pint of Gatorade. I kept water fishing and three really nice young people stopped and gave me a very cold and large bottle of water! One of the young ladies emailed me today to say she appreciated my story and what I was doing.
It was pretty hot today and I wasn't making the kind of time I needed to in order to get close to a fresh water source before dark, so... I started begging for water again. Mary Ann and Larry from Murreta, CA. turned their Honda Goldwing around to bring me a pint of water. Nearly as soon as they pulled away, a young man Dwayne, stopped and said he didn't have any water but he would drive me the few miles to Four Corners so I could be near water before dark. He also said he wanted to buy me something to eat simply because he enjoyed my sign. He said he was going to school at Big Bear and was on his way back when he saw me and then turned around! I tried to talk him out of spending money on me but he wouldn't hear of it! He insisted he could afford it because he had free rent! I told him, "So do I!" We laughed and he paid for my dinner. In the restaurant, I ended up at a table next to Larry and Mary Ann. They were astonished and said, "How in the world did you get here so fast!" I simply told them, " Oh... I ran." We chatted for a long time... more great people!
I've got 23 miles of no water land tomorrow. The problem is, I am carrying more weight than I ever have and I'm having a hard time adjusting to it. I am just not able to do my normal 15 to 20 mile days anymore. I still have nearly 200 miles of the Mojave and other desert lands, but, the little towns are more numerous after one more 24 miler. I DO NOT like deserts. I saw a real estate sign advertising 80 acres at the bargain price of $12,000 an acre! In the middle of the desert?? They're nuts!
A story I forgot to relate due to getting lost in the desert on my first day out of Yuma:
Early in the morning, my first day of walking, just a few miles into California, an old beat up pickup truck pulled up beside me. The driver was maybe forty, skinny, and the face under the dust filled cowboy hat was like leather and well worn... like the hat. He was staring at me hard and demanded, "Now you tell me what the hell there is about life to love?!" I said, "Breathing!" And he answered with, "hell, it seems the more I breath, the more miserable life gets!" So I said, "Maybe you need a respirator?" He chuckled with me. I continued, "Loving life is just something we as individuals determine to do... we simply make our mind up to love life and use the energy we've spent blaming it and put it toward loving it. Life is never our enemy, our attitude toward life is our enemy... or our friend." He said a couple more negative things, life sucks, etc. I cut him off and told him why I carry the sign. He said, "Damn man! Damn!... a feller shouldn't oughta have to bury his children... damn!" He never offered any more complaints... we just stayed silent for a moment and then he spoke again, "Damn... I'm really sorry you lost your kids man.... you take it easy and be careful out there buddy." I said thank you sir and he drove off, still shaking his head at what he had just heard. Amazing what perspective can do... it's a tool that works well for me... I wish to God I didn't have it... but I do. It's a two part deal for me, my heart aches every time I relate the loss of my babies, and is then relieved by the hope that possibly another broken heart is mended before it stops beating. Let's ALL concentrate on loving life.... it is contagious!!!
Wow, I hope you are not walking this entire time? I thing that sign would start to feel really heavy after a while. I think it's cool what your doing, not enough people learn to love life.
Reply to this