It has been brought to my attention by several people recently that I've been lagging on keeping this blog updated, so here I go. This post likely won't be in as much detail as some of the others...more of a "headline version" post, I think.
Okay, I think the last post had me wet, and the one before that (not in order) was about getting the new bike. So I'll tell you about the Universe wanting to feed me and what led up to being at the restaurant that night, then I'll skip forward a bit.
After getting up soaking wet from the dew in Santa Barbara, I put up the tent slightly moist because i just wanted to get on the road. I rode East a bit and found a place to hang out awhile and warm up. I spent most of the daylight hours trying to find a place to sleep via couchsurfing or a cheap tent space, all in vain. So, toward evening I decided to take a more aggressive approach and took off on the bike stopping at this exit or that and looking for a campsite. I found a lot of them, but none in my price range. Finally, after exploring one exit, I decided that I would just leave the LA basin and get to the desert. Figured I could find a place out there and it would likely be dry.
As I was headed back toward the highway, I noticed a park that had an open and lighted restroom. This is unusual as I've noticed that most cities close and lock the public park restrooms after dark. I stopped to change into my deep cold weather riding gear and charge my cell phone as I was going to need the GPS to find my way to the desert. Shortly before midnight, a beautiful though somewhat intoxicated young woman came walking purposefully across the parking lot while calling out, "Hey! I've been looking for you!" I have to admit that for a moment, I thought I was going to get "lucky." Yes, I still have some of THOSE kinds of thoughts.
Anyhow, she told me that it was her birthday and that she had decided to give away 3 Denny's Sunrise breakfasts before the end of her birthday to someone on the street. I was the third. She handed me a bag with the still-warm breakfast in it. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I had just eaten and that I don't eat meat. I figured the Universe wanted to show me that, although I was having trouble finding a place to sleep, It was still looking out for me.After taking our picture, she called her dad and said goodbye. I watched her stride toward what I can only assume was home. I wished her well and placed the food on the sink and got on the bike and rode on.
About 3 in the morning, I came out of the pass and found myself in the beginnings of the desert. I got off at the first exit and found a spot where I could ride the bike behind some desert bushes and camped, using my bivy-sac for the first time. It was cold and cramped, but I got sleep.
The next morning, I wandered around a little, waiting for the air to warm up. Then I rode down to the local IHOP and made a little money twisting while I ate. they occasionally had a twister in so they knew the drill of tipping for balloons. I liked the area so decided to hang out for a bit as I had more than a week to go before needing to be in Lake Havasu City. Besides, I knew that I was going to have a place to sleep that night...the same place I had already slept. I spent the day meeting people and doing what I could to help them experience more happiness via giving away balloons and/or counseling.
That evening around dinnertime, I found myself not very hungry. I've noticed that my body doesn't process food really fast so I was still working off of breakfast. This is where "Pay It forward" begins, more or less. I'll post another entry to cover the goings on after arriving in Lake Havasu City.
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