WALKING ROUTE 66
When You Try to Complicate Things
And the Universe says, let me make it simple.
The saga continues…
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)
I don’t know what it was, but I didn’t sleep well. I even tried getting some rest after the morning meditation and prayers, even though I had to change the inner tube. I finally got out of bed at 7:30. My host came out when I was packing up my stroller. He made me some coffee, and we chatted a little bit. It was 9 AM before I headed out without changing the inner tube.
El Reno is about 15 miles from Yukon. I had walked 15 miles the day before, so I figured I could do it again. Taking two weeks off and not walking as much every day was showing its effect. Also, it was a hot day, even though it was October. I stopped and rested every hour or so. Maybe I should have fixed the tire before leaving; it might have made pushing the stroller a bit easier and less tiring.
I had set the GPS on my phone for El Reno Fire Department. I’ve had a good experience with fire departments letting me crash in their back yard. When I got to where the Fire Department was supposed to be, it wasn’t there. As a matter of fact, there was nothing there. I was on the periphery of the town with a few old buildings behind me.
I saw some people sitting out on the porch in one of the houses as I backtracked to the main road. They told me the FD was downtown, and I had come past downtown. So I headed back.
As I neared the railroad bridge that I had photographed earlier, I saw a man working on his car in his driveway. We exchanged pleasantries as I passed him. I went a few steps, and something told me to go back and talk to him. I explained my dilemma to him and asked if he knew anyone who had a backyard where I may be able to unfurl my sleeping bag for the night. He said he didn’t have a backyard, but I was welcome to use his little front yard. Surprised and Delighted.
I set up my bed for the night, thanked the man for his generosity, and as I laid down to sleep, I said a little prayer of thanks. The same voice that had prompted me to talk to the man told me that I would have a place to spend the night for the rest of the trip and not worry about it.
How does it get any better than this?
As I think back and ponder.
Sometimes, we complicate things unnecessarily. We get locked into certain solutions and ignore other possibilities. Before I turned into town searching for the FD, I had stopped at a c-store/Subway shop to get a bite to eat. Had I taken time to look around while I was eating my sandwich sitting outside the store, I would have noticed that there was an Anytime Fitness in the shopping center behind the c-store.
If you’ve been following my journey, you know that I have a membership with the Gym, and I have used their facilities to spend the night and freshen up in the past. I could have saved myself a couple of hours of running around and used that time to fix my tire before calling it a day.
But God works in a mysterious way. Maybe I needed to go through the running around to learn to listen to my intuition when it talks to me and then receive the assurance that I will have a place to rest every night. Keep that in mind the next time you feel overwhelmed with everything going around you, and remember that you’re always taken care of.
Stay blessed and be happy, my friends.
Day 97: Trusting God (Original blog post).
Just for fun.
Gratitude and Oklahoma combined. I saw John Denver in concert in 1978 when I lived in OKC.
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:
