November 1st and 2nd, 2016: A post about people.
Written from: A Walmart parking lot, and the Xetava Café in beautiful Kayenta, Utah (Kayenta is a STUNNING small retirement community outside of St. George). Here for the scenery.
Mood: Accomplished, but a bit troubled by the persistence of this issue. Excited for Lexie to get here.
#Vanlife tidbit/what I’m currently thinking about: Help people. It doesn’t matter how, just do it. I’ve tried to help where I can while on this trip (directions, rides, giving RVs space when they couldn’t fit, guidance, etc), and I’ve also been on the receiving end of a lot of generosity. It really does come around. And you would be amazed at how much something so little might help someone. When living at home, we take so many things for granted, that you don’t realize how much they might help someone who doesn’t have them at that moment. I can’t really express how much someone offering me their damn driveway as a parking spot helps.
So I’m finally ready to get the hell out of Kanab. Great town, but my days have consisted of going to the library and McDonalds to use the Wi-Fi. Not too exciting. Nonetheless, I am pretty proud of myself for being able to swap out the power steering pump. I did get a hand from the guys at Ramsay’s, but only when I needed a tool I didn’t carry. Another confidence booster and notch off my mechanic belt. I think it’s important to not only save money by doing the labor yourself, but to get to know the ins and outs of the vehicle. It’s also a great feeling of accomplishment. I was giddy, not going to lie.
But to continue on with this issue, the steering thing is still not fixed. It drives great once moving at 5mph and over, but, parking lots and slow/off-road driving are still suffering. The pump is working fine, but the part they fixed on Friday (the steering gear box) is faulty and needs to be replaced…again.
Although I didn’t really do much in Kanab, I met some interesting people that I wanted to write about and vault them into blog-immortality. The first was a group of 18–19 year olds that took an interest in the van Friday night while hanging out in the McDonalds parking lot. After showing them around and talking about my travels, we started to talk about other stuff, mainly what they do with most of their time. I came of age in Los Angeles, and it was interesting to compare and contrast small town adolescence from what I experienced. The only things that were really to my surprise was the amount that amount of cigarette smoking and how much the shared ex-significant others. I guess it makes sense because the pool is so small.
The next person I wanted to talk about is someone who really, really helped me out and influenced my time in Kanab more than she knows. Just like Steven and Logan, she saw someone who needed some help and offered it just because she felt it was right. Her name is Karen and we met my first night I was in Kanab at the bar she worked at. I never asked for anything and she just knew exactly what a traveler was looking for. Such a cool girl — so so so thankful we met. She took me out and showed me the few things there were to do around town, and then showed me a spot to hike at the next day. You don’t realize it, but travelers are looking for social interaction a lot of the time (well, at least I was). They’re also looking for someone to show them around (as well as lend them a shower, a washing machine, and your kitchen) as seeing the area from a locals perspective is typically better than that of a tourist. But at any rate, between meeting Karen and leaving Kanab, she let me use her shower twice, wash my clothes with her washing machine, cooked for me, and let me sleep in her driveway (she offered the couch). That is incredibly generous and I’ll forever be indebted to her.
Lexie flies in tomorrow, so really looking forward to that. Can’t wait to see her and have a partner in crime. By then, I’ll have my partner in crime and my steering fixed and we’ll be off to explore the Utah national parks. God this is going to be awesome.
