WALKING ROUTE 66

When You Have One Of Those Days

Remember: This, too, shall pass.

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…

While surprises continued to the next day, most of them were not delightful. I woke to not one, but two flats. The right rear tire that I had to keep airing throughout the day before and the smaller front tire were flat.

I proceeded to check why the new self-sealing tube was not sealing properly. It was because it had five punctures. Fortunately, when I installed the new tube, I patched the old one and saved it for an emergency. Five holes are an emergency. I went over to the nearby Walmart, even though it was out of the way. They exchanged it for a new one, but they didn’t have the right size for the smaller one.

Al’s Bicycle shop was near Route 66 on my way to Oklahoma City, my destination for the day. At first, Al told me it would be $18 for the tube and the labor, but after learning about my trip, not only did he forego the labor charges, he also changed the rear tire at no charge. So I bought an extra tube and it only cost me $13. That was a delightful surprise.

The next ten miles along the old Route 66 were a pain in the you-know-what. There was no shoulder along the road; not only that, there were no businesses where I might be able to stop and rest or get a bite to eat. The sun was hot, and it was slow going. I was barely averaging two miles per hour.

I finally got a call from my contact in OKC, who was supposed to keep my stroller while I went back to Houston and host me for the night. He was out of town and won’t back till late. Not good news, but there is an Anytime Fitness on Route 66 near downtown and the Greyhound Bus depot.

I found a man setting up a roadside fruit stand on a busy corner. I bought some fresh tomatoes from him. When I had stopped further down the road to take a break and enjoy my tomatoes, a man in a pickup handed me a gallon of fresh local milk from cows that were not fed steroids. The best milk I had drunk in a long time. Sweet as molasses.

Around 4 PM, I stopped at a Pizza Hut to rest and get something to eat. I had covered more the 10 miles and was out of the no-man zone. I saw some kids and decided to make them some balloons. That’s when I had another unpleasant surprise. I couldn’t find my balloon apron.

The last time I saw it was in the morning when I had stopped to change the innertube. I had to empty the basket under the stroller seat to get to the air pump. I was not in the best of the mood, having to deal with it first thing after waking up. I must have missed putting it back somehow. Bummer!

I finally got to Anytime Fitness and called my friend to see if he would meet me and take my stroller home with him; I could spend the night at the gym. He said he was still not back in town. Oh well! Cat and Zella had said they wouldn’t mind driving up to OKC and take the stroller back with them. I’ll call them in the morning and meet them at the bus depot. It was time to get some shut-eye. Yoga mats do make decent mattresses.

As I think back and ponder.

As I recall, it was one of the least pleasant days during my trip. The only thing that kept me going with any positivity was the fact that the next day will take to where I lived when I called OKC home in th late 70’s. Then I would be hopping the bus and head home.

We live in a world of duality, and while we control our attitudes and how we choose to react to the circumstances, there will be days that will test our resolve. Mama told me there’ll be days like these. 😉

Stay blessed and be happy, my friends.

Day 78: One Heck Of A Day (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.

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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.