After a terrific trio of nights hosted by Andrew and his house of six twentysomethings, it was time to amble on to Beaumont.
Today’s walk pulled me past the outer reaches of the greater L.A. metropolitan area. Having now reached expansive orange groves, sheep-covered hillsides, and the smell of fresh horse manure for the first time in weeks, the big city now feels far behind. I’m still not quite into the open desert yet, and don’t predict I will be till this coming weekend, when I walk into the vast, open, dry, unpopulated stretches east of Indio.
Moving from the dense, concrete urban beach-patio jungle of Los Angeles to the endlessly boring sight of strip mall after strip mall after strip mall (see– even to read it three times gets boring!), the open expanses of hills and fields felt refreshing, as did the air, even if a whiff or two of manure was apparent from time to time. I guess I’m ready for dung over diesel, days before dust dominates both…
About a half dozen different people stopped to chat amidst today’s 20k. Among them, a fascinating motorcyclist from Goa, who road his motorcycle through thousands of miles in southern India. “God is watching you,” he told me, with the look in his eyes of a wise math teacher who patiently knows the answer to the problem you’ve been spending so much time and effort stressing over. ”You’ll be hearing from me.” I imagine I will be…
Enthusiastic to pick me up shortly after dark, Shane & Mary, tonight’s hosts, met me at the bottom of the mile-long, uphill ascent to their home. This ended up working out quite well for me, as not only is a large hill at the end of the day a least favorite feature of any given day’s walk, but the hill itself is actually off the route. Off-the-route rides are generally welcome…
Shane & Mary are originally from the Pacific NW. So despite the fact that I don’t drink any of the stuff, they don’t look at me funny if I say pop. We also say the word “bag” the same way. Shay laughs at my pronunciation of the a in bag, but I get to feel at home with my pronunciation in this house!
Of course, now that I’m headed east, I’m wondering when hearing “you guys” will begin transitioning into hearing “y’all.” I’m also wondering just how fast this will happen– is there a specific split somewhere..? Probably not. I imagine that just as I see newspaper delivery boxes slowly change from one city to the next, I will hear a first localized “y’all” at some point, and then slowly begin hearing more of them, as “you guys” dies a painful Texan death. We’ll see!
I noticed some Adventist literature around the house here, and especially since I just walked through the Seventh-Day Adventist stronghold of Loma Linda, I had to ask them if they were Adventists. They confirmed this, and a newborn, hour-long conversation regarding faith captured our combined attention. I’m much more careful and cautious when entering into such discussions nowadays, not nearly so enthusiastic to do so as when I was in my twenties, but given the fact that it blossomed rather well, this conversation felt quite fulfilling. I truly look forward to spending another night here with Shane & Mary.
Shay plans to catch up tomorrow as well, after a weekend trip to San Francisco. (Unlike me, she’s obviously not devoted to having to take all the steps across.)