It was another cool day that morning on my walk to California. It was about six miles before I past the sign to the little town. Laden with palm trees and big LA billboard style letters the sign read Welcome to California, Big Enough to Serve You, Small Enough to Know You. I sort of just liked the idea that I was in California.
Anyway, enough about my shenanigans, the library was easily found by the town square so I hung out there for a bit updating posts and email. After, I’d seen signs for a place called Burgher Haus, which intrigued my German blood and belly, so I stopped in for an all you can eat buffet. I left a full and content man.
Down the road I took a rest and called mother, which I hadn’t done in quite a while. We talked for about half an hour or so, then when I got up to go a car pulled up to talk. I talked with him briefly then got about twenty more feet before another car pulled up. This one gave me a Yoo Hoo since he’d gotten a two for one deal and figured I could use it. About two or three hundred yards past finishing my Yoo Hoo another truck pulled up. After offering me a ride she then offered me some ice cold water at her place down the road and I was instructed to keep an eye out for a little red school house.
It turned out to be a bit further than I thought, but I did eventually come across it to find nobody home. She had told me there was a pump there from the well where I could get water, but I still wasn’t completely convinced I was in the right place since I was certain she’d be there for some reason. I ended up leaving so as not to be found drawing water from the wrong person’s well and having to explain the whole thing. I hadn’t gone far down the road, though, when she past me in the same truck heading back to that house. I waited to see if she pulled in where I’d thought she would then headed back.
I knocked on the door to her house just to let her know I’d doubled back. She seemed surprised to see me, but let me right in and offered me a sandwich. I went to the bathroom as she made the lunch then when I got back she began pulling everything out of her pantry putting it in a little plastic bag offering each thing to me as she went. I didn’t quite know what to do, so I just agreed and put more mayonnaise on my sandwich. The bag filled quickly, but as I took my first bite of the sandwich she told me she was terribly sorry, but she had to run and that I could eat it outside if I liked and out we went.
She left in a hurry, and I was still a little confused as to what all had happened and what she’d given me in such a rush. I sat out on her patio set up and ate my sandwich examining everything when I found two new friends. One was orange and white, the other was grey and white, and they were both no more than a month or two old. I played with the two kittens for a long time and took some pictures of them for my Aunt Hea.
I shuffled along after being there about twenty minutes. The rest of the road was not so eventful. The road rolled just slightly and there weren’t really too many trees so most of the day I just wandered along thinking of things as I went. By the end of the day I came across Tipton.
Tipton would have been my next library stop but I was getting tired of stopping in towns daily for internet, so I hit it that day knowing they’d be closed then so I’d be forced not to go. Sometimes I have to regulate myself. Instead I stopped in at a gas station and sat for some coffee a while. An old man was there and did not relent on the questions and comments about my travels and his past adventures. I listened to him for a bit then headed off.
Getting outside of town it was about 7pm. In the town there were trees everywhere by little suburban houses and even a country club. Outside the town were flat fields as far as the eye could see. I began to get concerned about where I’d be staying that night. With the sun so low, and having gone 19 miles already, I really didn’t want to just keep walking. On the other hand, there was absolutely no place to hide away and bed down. I walked about another mile or so just surveying the land, looking at any possibilities. I even considered climbing a tree with a thick head of leaves on it and suspending myself with my trusty hammock I have yet to use. Eventually I found a building that blocked me out of sight so I could dart across a field and hop on to the other side of the nearby train tracks. I ended up nestled fifteen feet or so from the tracks in a gully hidden amongst tall grass and weeds. I was actually very happy with the spot.
That night I talked to my sister and made some other calls home. When the sun fell, not long after I’d settled, I felt so comfortable with my hiding spot that I didn’t bother hiding my light, as I usually do, and read for a long while before bed.