The Ramblings of a Rambler.: Sedona

I woke up last night with the feeling of soft rain on my face. I think my first thoughts were “Oh, Shit!” I hitch hiked from Gallup NM to Sedona AZ in about 5 hours. I have 2 bags, one for my sleeping bag, clothing, toiletries, computer, and sleeping pad. The other is for food and miscellaneous essentials. I didn't bring a tent. When the sun was falling I saw clouds in the sky and asked Rob “You sure it's not going to snow tonight.” “Yeah, I don't think so”. As I lay awake in my sleeping bag I thought about being present and “using all experience as fuel for practice”. Seconds later I was in my mind, hiding from the intense wind and rain. It wasn't to cold, or rainy for that matter. It was the wind. The wind that was whipping my sleeping bag into a frenzy and sucking the heat from my soggy down and blowing cold air into my breathing hole at what seemed like hurricane speeds.

My first ride was from an ex military Navajo man. He was born and raised in Gallup and worked on Apache helicopters all over the world. He was only driving a few miles and he dropped me off at an Indian tourist trap at the base of some beautiful red rocks. I waited for my next ride for over an hour. After finally deciding that I could walk to Phoenix faster then hitching and threw on my packs and took off. Within 5 minutes I was picked up by a young man running from his probation in CO headed towards San Fran to live out of his car and party. After cautioning him to the consequences we celebrated his new freedom. I have his phone number and I think I will call him in a year or so to see where he is. He was also ex-military. He dropped me off on the road to Sedona and within minutes a car stopped. Rob had lived in St. Pete FL for years and knew a hand full of my friends including Gene Cooke and Miguel who are good friends of mine. He brought me to the house of Hunter and Ayshea. I spent hours talking with Hunter as Ayshea gave Rob a massage.