At some point during the night it finally cooled off to where it was comfortable enough to sleep. For awhile before falling asleep I had my camper door open to allow a little more breeze to flow thru. I laid there in my bed, with my head practically out the camper door, watching the moon shine its brilliant light over the desert. I would have been content to fall asleep in that position; however, I just don't feel secure enough unless my camper door is locked and my gun is by my side. When I awoke the following morning and opened my door it was still somewhat "cool" out but I could already hear people down at the shooting range.
I was planning on meeting a friend of mine later in the evening and since I have not showered or shaved in quite some time I decided I would attempt to make myself look somewhat presentable and not like a wild animal that just emerged from the woods. After I brushed my teeth, I took my wash basin and placed it on the ground near the fence. I then tied my solar shower around the fence pole and hung up my towel next to that. From there I sat down in my chair and placed one foot at a time in the basin and shaved my legs, with my new razor mind you, as the sun was still creeping up in the sky. I kind of felt like those people one sees in the old westerns washing themselves outside their settlement or wagon and I have to admit I actually enjoyed it! Oddly, doing this simple task while out in the quiet of the desert (except for the random gunfire off in the distance) with the sun just coming up was quite relaxing and I felt so peaceful. Once my legs were all nice and smooth and ready to be seen in public with I packed up my backpack for a day spent at Starbucks.
With everything packed up and ready to go I hopped into my vehicle and was about to start driving into town when I realized that it was only an hour or so away and not even 08:00 yet. Since I was still exhausted from the lack of sleep and it was still somewhat cool out I decided to climb back into my camper to try and acquire another hour or so of sleep. I was in luck and was able to clonk out for an hour upon which I finally left where I had camped and headed in the direction of Phoenix.
Walking into Starbucks, I was craving the iced coconut-milk caramel macchiato that I had gotten the last time I was in Starbucks; however, the lady somehow misheard me and I ended up with a iced cinnamon americano macchiato. They were quite slammed at the register and I was in no mood to be confrontational (which when am I really ever in that mood?) so I decided it tasted well enough and went and set up my workstation at a high top in the back. It was there that I spent the next several hours updating my blog, adding pictures to my Instagram/Facebook accounts and updating my financial excel sheets. I did all of this while messaging a couple of my friends.
At some point, to pass the time I called up my mother and we jumped from one topic to another and like always it brightened up my day. I know without a doubt that if I didn't have my mom in my life I would be completely lost. She knows me better than anyone and I have never had a conversation with her where I wished it would end or one in which I was bored or irritated. Unfortunately, she had to get going and could not sit around all day talking to me like I wish she could. :) So back to my computer I went to try and create a semblance of a plan on tackling the huge state of California.
By 16:00, I had caught up with everything and was at this point starving! Earlier I had a spinach wrap with feta cheese and egg whites for brunch but now I was ravenous once more. I hadn't had Subway in quite some time and though I hated the idea of spending money on food and in my opinion would rather starve then let money go to waste like that I figured that no matter what I do need to eat at some point. So I walked down to Subway and ordered a Chicken and Bacon Ranch sandwich with two cookies and... I devoured the entire thing! We can safely say that afterwards I was the type of full where one feels like they can barely move and quickly regrets eating as much as they did. I more of rolled then walked to my vehicle and sat in there contemplating life for a few minutes.
Driving away from the parking area I was in I went and found some fuel for I was practically empty. After filling up, I had to use the restroom so I drove to the most ghetto Walmart I have ever been too to use the restroom. First, when I pulled into the parking area there was a man in a small car backing up ever so slowly that I thought I was watching paint dry. To make matters even worse, for some unknown reason he didn't back up like a normal person would to then drive off, he instead continued to back up into a parking space behind him; however, there was a low hanging tree and he ran right into it and dented the roof of his car. Once that whole situation was over and I had parked my camper I left it, hesitantly, praying that when I came back it would be where I had left it. I felt as though how a mother might feel leaving her child behind for I speed walked into the store, constantly looking backwards, and used the restroom as fast as I could to get back out to it.
Once my friend, Sal, had landed and was back at his place I headed on over there from the Walmart parking lot I was sitting at. As he let me in we hugged and then we proceeded to talk about his trip and what I had been up to since last we met. OH!! He also completely made my week for when I had arrived he presented me with a small box of chocolates from Paris that were absolutely divine! I had to use a lot of self control to not devour them all in one sitting for they melted in ones mouth like heaven. Anyways here I go going off topic once more. Ha. After the wine and chocolate, we spent the next couple hours catching up whilst drinking gin and tonics and though I remember everything we spoke about and could easily fill up a few pages with that I do not believe it should repeated for you fellow readings. Instead it will be kept eternally in my mind and in my hand written journal upon which this blog is based off of. After some time, we decided to call it a night and once again I cant express how great it feels to be in such a huge and comfortable bed and most importantly to be in air conditioning! I used to take so many of life's little luxuries for granted but I can say without a doubt that being on this journey makes me cherish them so much more.
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