10/29/2014
A friendly gesture can change a person’s entire day. As the season changes and the temperature drops, it would make sense to increase the daily mileage. Perhaps this will happen sometime soon but it might not happen at all if we continue encountering such festive people as Tshar. He was a lively dark skinned Indian fellow born in Uganda. It is his Ramada we have had the privileged to experience. The room was spacious, the water was plenty hot, and the pillows were soft but it was the personality of the person in charge that made this place so fun.
We woke up to good music and a freshly cooked breakfast that tickled the palette. There were some requisite breakfast foods on the plate but what Tshar cooked up was a special creation. The foundation of the dish was hash browned potatoes. It was topped with mushrooms, onions, spinach, tomatoes, and pineapple slow cooked butter. As we waited for the meal, the delicious scent had my stomach rumbling. When the dish came out, two fried eggs sat on top of the veggies and three asparagus spears completed the dish. A dash of homemade Indian salsa on the side added additional flavor. Some tang, some spice, and some fresh ingredients, voila! A flavorful energy packed meal.
At the end of breakfast, we spent several hours shooting the breeze with our new friend. He had many stories of his own fascinating journeys. He insisted that we stay in Alpine longer and broaden our experience. He made a convincing argument by saying, “You won’t get another chance like this to recharge completely”. Not wanting to do too much rearranging, we decided to run out of town a little ways and get driven back to our lodging.
At the beginning of my afternoon trot, I found a black and gold female wallet on the side of the road. It had I.D., lots of credit cards, and some cash. It was someone’s entire life. I tossed it into my hydration pack and continued running. I didn’t think much about the item as I ran. The open range put me in somewhat of a trance. In the fields, the blades of grass swayed and created a rippling wave across the land. Tiny ants marched along side me on the road. They created their own interstate system which stretched for miles. They moved in a purposeful and orderly manner. Finally the deer broke my stride. I just wanted to watch the fawn for a moment before it took off. While I watched the thing behind a tree a full grown deer bounded across the dirt path. I was able to get a picture of her tail end as she moved much faster than I could pull out my camera. The day struggled to stick around refusing to surrender to the night. A light reddish orange glow grew dim as the day retreated. It was around the time that Crystal came to get me. I too would retire with the sun.
When we returned to the Ramada, Crystal began utilizing her investigative skills to locate the owner of the wallet. After reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Adventures of Sherlock Holms”, I think she got intrigued by the idea of being a detective. It took her less than half an hour to get the wallet back to it’s owner. It was a good day for everyone.
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