Note: I'd written this post but never published it. 4 1/2 months late is better than never, right?
Two days into my trip back east, I was passing through San Francisco on my way to Joshua Tree National Park when I received a call from a friend I had met at Aprovecho. He had heard that some friends of ours were stranded in JTNP on THEIR way back east. They had a whole separate saga of their own that led up to this point and could use any help they could get.
My original plan was to camp the night in the park, but due to some wrong turns, traffic and staying longer at a gas station to help a guy fix his truck, I didn't get to Joshua Tree until about 9:30 PM. Thankfully my friends had the foresight to book a room for the night. Even more thankfully, they had an extra bed for yours truly. By the time I got there, the campground was closed, and who knows if there would have been a spot available at that time of night anyway? All they asked in return was a ride to the airport, which by cab probably would have worked out to be the same price. It all comes out in the wash.
When I started this trip, I had some loose plans, but there were a lot of question marks. This is just another time when I just went with it and randomly, things fell into place...for all of us. Their car, though broken down, was shipped back to South Carolina that day. I picked up some of their more important articles (things you wouldn't trust in the hands a baggage handler) and carried them with me across the country, AND I ended up staying with one of them when I got to SC almost a week later. Is it karma, fate, an alignment of the universe, or something else?
Maybe it's as simple as my friend Caleb put it: "When you're a wanderer, you tend to run into the other wanderers you know, and you help each other...wander." Haha.
So basically, you're never alone. That's good to know. When I look around, I'm never surprised where I find my friends anymore. They're in all places.
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