Dear All, Linda dropped me off this morning on Quail Trail near the Saguaro One RV Park. When I saw it on Google maps I thought perhaps I can stay here for two days as I make my way to the I-8 and I-10 interchange but when I arrived here at the end of the day yesterday I understood that was not going to happen. It is an exit with a hotel that is closed, a gas station that is closed and an old RV Park that is essentially closed. There were a few RV’S and trailers parked around. So with a flexible attitude I decided I would walk approximately 11 miles to the Stanfield exit and try to get a ride to the Arizona City exit.
I was having a pleasant walk even with the weight of the heavier backpack. Now you all must know that I need to pee way out here in the middle of the desert. I generally do not mention it out of my sense of proper decorum, but in this case it pertains to the story of how I got a ride. Have I piqued your interest?
So, I am walking along and nature calls. So I begin scanning the desert for a depression or gully I might be able to hide myself in or a grouping of bushes or the occasional tree. Ah, I was lucky up ahead there was a nice grouping of bushes and small trees perfect for my purpose. Now, when you walk out into the desert to pee you do not want to take off your backpack and lay it down just anywhere. In your haste you might lay it on a cactus, even a small cactus can leave thorns in your pack that will poke you later when you’ve put the pack back on. You also have to be careful of insects that may hitch a ride on your pack and appear out of the blue gnawing on you. So I have taken to finding a clear spot near the shoulder of the road, leaving my pack, hiding myself in the bushes and coming back to retrieve my pack. All seemed to go according to plan but as I swung the pack up over my shoulder out of the corner of my eye I spied a shiny white pickup truck.
A nice young man looked across the front seat at me, a bit incredulous. I found out later he is an explosives expert. He offered me a ride and I accepted immediately even though I had only walked 7.8 of my 11 miles. I can make those miles up in the next couple of days but I had no surity for a ride later.
As we drove the 30 or so miles he explained that his job requires lots of walking in the wilderness because he looks for unexploded bombs and other explosive devices on lands that have been used by the military as training grounds for soldiers. We talked alot about good hiking boots and the differences between his boots and mine. I was also able to share with him how important it is to join the registry and how easy it is to join by texting LIFE to 61474. It turns out that his friend has a brother who was someone’s perfect match. The friend’s brother went to Texas to make his stem cell donation. The young man said he hadn’t joined back then but perhaps this was a message that it was time to join.
As he was dropping me off I told him to be safe in his job. He proudly held up 10 wiggling fingers and with a big smile wished me safe travels.
There is another very long story to tell about not being able to find a safe place to put my tent for the night but the short story is that I ended up paying for a room at the Motel 6. They did give me a discount. I was so happy to have my first shower (I did have sponge baths in-between) in a week and a bed to sleep in!
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