mama said there’d be days like this.
I pulled into walla walla with a sore ass and a heavy heart. I was thinking my worst fears had come true. did I have a saddle sore that was ready to break ? well it sure felt like it. I decided to take a break and get a hotel and a massage. I called Cheryl and told her that my trip might be ending early. she assured me that everything would be fine, and that I was just having a bad day and needed some rest. I was thinking doom and gloom. I kindly ask the massage therapist to take a look. there’s no way you can be embarrassed about things like this. at least not at my age. she told me it looks like the skin was ready to tear. bad news. but the good news is her next client was a nurse that worked at a nearby hospital. so I stuck around and talked to the nurse. she assured me it could be treated and I’d be on my way soon. she said I needed a special patch that they use on people for bed sores. she had some at the hospital and would drop them off in the morning at my hotel. sure enough the next morning the massage therapist showed up at the hotel with the patches. she wouldn’t take any money. I rode the next two days with the patch on my right cheek. and just like magic it healed up just fine. once again life has been taken care of and not by me. my only part was to ask for help. and then good people did the rest. it just proved to me once again that there are a lot of good people in this world, and I that good spirits will always take care of me whether I believe in them or not. things don’t always go my way, and I cannot know what the future will bring. all I can do is make the most of this day and this moment. it’s easy for me to say, but hard to put into practice. but this type of trip forces that behavior of living in the moment. could that be one of the lessons I’m learning?
sorry, I have no pictures of the ass patch event:) some of you will be grateful for that.

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I thought I’d share some of the stories of the road before they are forgotten.
I was having lunch and a small cafe in Lyle Washington. sitting next to me at the counter was a older lady enter 70’s or early 80’s. we got talking about crossing the country. she told me that when she was younger she and two girlfriends from high school rode horses from Portland Oregon to St Joseph Missouri following the Lewis and Clark trail. they started in May and ended in October she said their asses were sore too. three horses and a pack horse they were supplied food once a week and depended on total strangers for everything else. she carried a Winchester rifle just in case. even though it was over 50 years ago you could still see you the gleam in her eye when she talked about this trip. later when I was on the road alone I got thinking about this lady. maybe this journey isn’t about me.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Smartphone