April 21, 2014

I hope you all had fun yesterday, celebrating whatever holiday you observed.
For me, yesterday was a huge point in my walk, due to my exit of California, and entrance into Arizona. I had taken a couple days off in Blythe to relax and refocus for the next route i would be taking. My parents and my sister drove out to see me before i crossed the "border". We ate lunch, talked, and looked over the new information cards that had just came in the mail. When it was all said in done, they put me in a Motel 6 for the evening. First time I've slept on a bed in 3 weeks. It felt fantastic. Greatly appreciated.
I ventured out later for some food, and happened to run into a man pushing a shopping cart full of cans, wearing an old style army boonie cover. We spoke for a couple minutes, and I found out he was indeed homeless, and had served 8 years in the Army.
Things just haven't worked out for me, he said.
I told him about my walk and the reasoning behind it. He looked down at my feet noticing i was wearing sandals.
I hope you have a better pair of shoes, cause those aren't gonna get you out of Blythe.
I assured him my shoes were at the room, and I was just giving my feet a break.
After a couple more minutes of back and forth, I started to feel a bit uneasy. I don't attribute this to his head shaking idea of what needed to be done once i got to D.C. It was the fact that everything that seemed beneficial to this man in terms of help or care, was extremely shortsighted. I don't mean that as an attack at all. While he had requests for change, they were quick solutions that don't necessarily help fix anything. By that point we both seemed kind of done with the exchange, and said best of luck to each other.
I ended the night pretty early after some taco bell, and woke up Sunday ready to start walking. It took a while to get back into the groove of things (Since I had 3 days off), but once I found it, I was flying.
Today I come to you from Quartzsite. The morning was awesome, primarily because i stumbled up Dome Rock, just as Vampire Weekend mentioned it on a song of theirs. I figure ill keep walking a bit tonight, and pick back up tomorrow morning. Gotta check what town ill hit next. Talk again soon.