Day 4 – Balance

The world runs on equilibrium. Not in the sense that everything is the same all the time, but that bad follows good, good follows bad, and that the world needs both to keep in balance.

The famous pickle and mustard dog

Yesterday was rough. Many hours on the road with very few people paying me mind. Today was the balance to that. Minutes after getting on the road, two cars turned around and offered to carry me to Gold Coast. M---- not only got me to town, but has a friend in Anchorage that he suggested I drop in on. He also dropped me off at a diner and gave me enough money for a more solid breakfast than the oatmeal I’d made earlier. A few people inside stopped to chat because of my sign, one of which, D-----, paid for my meal before I could use the money I’d been given, then drove me to the edge of town. While I stood near a beautiful bridge thumbing down my next ride, a woman and her son came up and gave me a loaf of artisan-style garlic bread. They apologized for the day before, saying they’d seen me but hadn’t been able to stop. Shortly afterwards an older couple picked me up and drove me to Langlois, where I ate a hotdog that had been recommended to me by M-----. After I’d finished my meal, and they’d finished a visit to a cousin, they came back and drove me another hour or so up the road.

At my next stop, I saw a tarp blowing along the side of the road, so I grabbed it and tied it to a guardrail. A man and his son stopped, saying it was because I’d taken care of it. I gave them the tarp, and got a ride to a post office. Minutes later I was on the road with a logger, who dropped me off near his home, saying that if I was still around in about an hour, he’d be back and would take me to the next town. Even with me stopping to explore the sand dunes and eat a bunch of blackberries, I’d caught another ride before he came back. A professional caddy for a nearby resort, he had a side business traveling along the coast and even being flown across the country for his regular customers, helping them maintain the level of caddying they’d come to expect. I had no idea how much caddies did for golfers. It’s a lot more than just hauling around someone’s bag, apparently.

The manager of Rite Aid picked me up on his way home, dropping me off in Venita. I had to walk along a detour because of an accident along the freeway, but still managed to get a final ride to Eugene before the sun went down. And after a blast of 50 or so emergency CS requests, I had a host for the evening before the bus system stopped running.

Yesterday was long and hard. Today, everything worked out well. I got where I wanted to go, met a wide variety of awesome people, was well fed, and overall had a great time. It’s a lesson in balance. Some days are great, some days are poor. They will always balance each other out, but with one caveat: balance does not mean equal. The balance of the world is not 50% bad with 50% good, but is a dash of bad, a bit of meh, and a whopping serving of great.

Trip Stats:

Total Distance: 208 miles
Total Time: ~12 hours
Total Rides:8
Total Cost: $0.00