A Chance Encounter

Hello Everyone,

Meeting new people has been one of the goals and highlights of this trip, and today I briefly met someone who I can honestly say was unlike anyone I've ever met before.

It started in the morning as I was packing up the camper and lowering the roof. The guy who cleans the parking lot at the Walmart where I was staying at drove by, stopped and asked me about the camper. He was curious about the pop-up, so he and I started chatting about it and other things.

He was from the area, had never travelled much, but had always wanted to. He figured a pop-up truck camper was the real deal. He was also impressed when I told him where I was from. His daughter, in her teens, was also in the truck, and they were both a bit surprised when I told them I too had once worked cleaning up a Walmart parking lot back home, just after I graduated school. I gained some street cred there.

As we were chatting, another guy came up and asked for some directions. Now this is the guy that is orders of magnitude outside my normal circle of encounters. If you imagine a stocky, Latino who looks like he just got out of prison in Texas, you will get some idea of this guy. Also, every word of that description is accurate. He had many face, head and neck tattoos, his entire front teeth, the top section, were a set of gold dentures, and he spoke in a low, heavily accented voice that was a bit hard to follow.

Not knowing the area, I let the custodian take over and provide the directions. They were both locals and talked a bit about the area. Through the conversation, it comes out that the guy got out of jail on Monday after a 4 year stint for 'hustling', or drug dealing, and that the cops found a gun in his car when they pulled him over.

To my credit, I didn't run screaming when I heard these things. I played it cool and let the conversation take it's course. And lest I be too judgmental, I have to say that the guy was very polite and simply wanted to get his life back in order. He said he wanted to play it straight, go back to being a tattoo artist, and look after his kid. I wish him well.

The custodian and I chatted a bit more after that. Turns out, he was a bit scared too, but like me, handled it well. That was my adventure for the morning.

I'm currently in Austin, and I can confirm the city's reputation as being the East Van of Texas. It's got an entirely different vibe, much more liberal and artsy. It's also 25 C out, and I'm wearing shorts. While that sounds good, it presents me with new challenges, as I can't leave Arthur unattended in the truck.

My bad luck with the weather continues - it's wet here and supposed to rain later in the week. I do have a couple of options for riding, and spoke to a guy at a bike shop to get some idea of where to go, so it won't be as bad as Arkansas.

Hope you are all doing well and meeting interesting people of your own.

wes