WALKING ROUTE 66

How To Use Butterfly Effect For A Better World

Make the first move with a small step…

Four years ago, I walked Route 66 — from Chicago to Santa Monica and blogged about it daily. Now, I am reflecting on the lessons learned along the way.

(Read from the start) The saga continues…

Are you familiar with Mike Dooley and his Notes from the Universe?

My Note from the Universe said:

Rasheed, you take care of the inches, I’ll take care of the miles.

You just have to go first.

Tallyho, The Universe

My destination for the day was Stroud, Oklahoma — 17 miles away. I couldn’t get a lead on their fire dept, so I wasn’t sure about where I would stay. I wondered how I could take care of the inches.

I posted on Facebook to see if anybody knew somebody in Stroud who could help me with a place to stay for the night. I also had a message from Tom Hanke, whom I had met a couple of days earlier, to look out for a group of 15 cyclists heading my way.

It was 9:30, by the time I started walking. A lone biker passed me around 10, and I thought I must have missed the group of 15 because I got on the road so late. Such is life. It was a warm and sunny day, and I’d see a bicycle rider now and then.

I stopped to get some rest around 11 AM. A couple of guys in a pickup truck stopped to hand me some bottled water. Then I saw three guys my age come riding on their bicycles. They stopped, and we chatted a little. It turned out that they were the last of the fifteen because they had stopped to eat.

About noon, I came across a c-store in a little town called Depew. I went to see if they had a deli or a restaurant; They did. I bought some chicken and fish and shared my fliers. As I was eating my lunch outside, Dale and his brother Wayne came by. Wayne was planning on riding his horse from Stroud to the Lousiana coast. He was interested in knowing where I stopped for the night and how I found places to stay.

It just so happened that Dale had a ranch a few miles outside Stroud, and if I didn’t find a place to stay, I could call him, and he’d come to get me. He suggested a place called Rock Cafe for dinner, and if need be, I can call him about 6 PM, and we would take it from there.

I had seven more miles to go. As I walked, I saw some dead Monarch Butterflies on the side of the road. I had first seen them when I crossed into Oklahoma from Kansas. I wondered what was up with that, and if there was a deeper meaning to their presence today. Ever since Melany’s evaluation of my speech, I had been keenly aware of looking for more meaning in obvious things.

It’s the Butterfly Effect!

I had heard about the concept about 20 years earlier when I was attending a Network Marketing Event. They said we are all connected, and the flapping of a butterfly’s wings in China can ripple into a massive and strong storm on the west coast of the USA.

“You take care of the inches, I’ll take care of the miles.”

I asked the waitress at Rock Cafe if she knew of a place where I can camp for the night. She didn’t. I asked if she knew if there was a fire station in town, and she told me it was a few blocks away. I asked if I could leave the stroller there while I go investigate. I hadn’t even left the parking lot when another waitress came chasing after me. The restaurant owns a property in the back that people use to camp all the time.

I went back in and worked on my blog post for the day before, and let Dale know that I had a place to stay. I made balloons for the waitresses, and the next thing I knew, everybody in the restaurant wanted one. It was a profitable night. A couple didn’t have cash, so they wanted to buy my dinner, but someone had already paid for it. So they prepaid for my breakfast the next day.

They also told me that the outside restroom is always open, and I was welcome to use it.

As I think back and ponder.

Some people call it serendipity; others call it a coincidence. It all boils down to the same thing — we are all connected. If you are a writer, and if you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times when someone leaves a comment saying, this is exactly what I needed to read today.

“If you take care of the inches, I’ll take care of the miles. You go first.”

And if you ever doubt whether or not your writing has any meaning or purpose, remember the Butterfly Effect, and know that as long as you go first and take one step, the Universe will take care of all the details down the road for miles and miles.

All I did was write a post on FB. There were three possible solutions waiting for me when I got there.

Stay blessed and be happy, my friends.

Day 73: Butterfly Effect (Original blog post).

Just for fun.

I invite you to tag along if you’re up to it. I am mentioning a few friends who may be interested in it. If you are tagged but don’t want to read my stories daily, let me know in the comments, and I will remove your name moving forward. If you are reading this and aren’t included in the list below, but you’d like to come along, let me know so that I can add you.

Michele Amy Trista Henery Timothy Tim P.G. Sherry Saloni Indra B. A. Linda Sharon Tree Linda Britni Desiree Elisabeth Simona Kristin Helen Julia Chris Rosennab Tom Truenorth Agnes Aurora LauraRaduenz Catherine Joe Stuart Gurpreet BFoundAPen Margie Bob NaNa’sworld Wolfie Rebecca Susannah Paul

As always, thank you for reading and responding.

Here are some of my other stories:

Rasheed Hooda is a published author who has contributed to many of Medium’s top Publications; The Startup, The Ascent, P.S. I Love You, Rogues’ Gallery, and ILLUMINATION, to name a few. He is also a Top Writer for several topics. If you like his work, buy him a cup of coffee, he drinks a lot of it.