Driving in the dark, kindness sucks
After the dam yesterday our day consisted of a lot of miles driving through mostly beautiful western landscapes. We didn’t pull over to grab dinner until shortly before 8PM at some cafe that was part of gas station/convenience store deal. For the second time on the trip we showed up for dinner a few minutes before the posted closing time which in this case was 8PM. Once again the staff was happy to help us.
They actually had pretty authentic Mexican food including sopapillas for desert which were simple but surprisingly good. One of the guys that worked there had his family there including his two little kids whom were cute. We didn’t expect to have such a nice interaction for dinner last night. This is a scenario that has played out repeatedly during the trip, random positive experiences.
We didn’t pull into the hotel in Albuquerque until almost 9:30 which sort of sucks. I did the nighttime driving which isn’t much fun. The room accommodations were nothing spectacular but at least we got soap, shampoo, and two washcloths, something the Stratosphere housekeeping staff was unable to provide us for some reason. We set an alarm for 6AM this morning and were back on the road by about 7.
We found a nearby Dunkin Donuts. As we got out of the car I saw a short young guy that was in bad shape, his eyes were bloodshot, he was sort of staggering, shivering, and had various stains on his shirt. I am like a magnet for these sort of people and he came my way asking me if I could help him out with some change or food. I said “You look cold bud” ” He said he was as I immediately reached into my wallet and gave him most of my small bills which was maybe 15 bucks.
The guy was very surprised at my offering and thanked me. I could hear Cindy making “what are you doing” type of noises as I handed the guy the money. She doesn’t believe in giving people like that money as she assumes the first thing the will do is go buy their next fix with it which this guy very well could have done. But maybe, just maybe, he actually used it to go grab some coffee and something to eat. Perhaps as he sat there enjoying the food that was made possible from the generosity of a stranger he thought about why he is in a situation where he has to ask others for support and maybe, there is a remote chance it is at that moment he decides to make a change. At least that is the narrative I prefer to believe.
This is the third time on the road trip I have handed out cash to strangers. Of course there was the flat tire guy at the parking garage in Vegas. I handed a big pocketful of change to a guy in the Fremont area that asked for it and now today with the Dunkin Donuts kid. Each and every time Cindy chastised me for giving money to these people and each time I didn’t really care. If being overly sympathetic in these situations is a problem in other people’s eyes it’s one that won’t keep me up at night.
We are now hurdling at 75MPH towards Dallas, home of the hated Cowboys. I have my Phillies baseball hat on backwards today, ready to take on all challengers.