I woke up, in a tent, on the side of a mountain, in California, next to a great friend, on a beautiful sunny day. #WINNING
I was eager to pack up and head out, partially because I was anxious that we’d run out of gas trying to find a gas station, and partly because I had a long day of driving ahead, but that didn’t stop me from taking in the gorgeous ocean views as we headed back up north to Santa Cruz.
We caught some rays on Manresa beach, froze our asses off in the ocean - finally getting the chance to wash off the oils from the poison oak. Which must have worked because we definitely would have come in contact with poison oak at some point on our hike, and I didn’t feel itchy at all! #SUCCESS
Ryan and I said our goodbyes in Santa Cruz and I prepared for the long journey back to L.A. As I pulled onto the on ramp, there was a young guy with a sign that said “South”. As I drove by him, I thought, I should have picked him up. I passed about two or three exits before I simply couldn’t ignore my gut any longer. I got off at the next exit and went back for him. As I was pulling up, he was just putting on his backback, ready to give up. I rolled down the window, “still heading south?”
Him and his dog piled in and we were off!
Some may call me crazy for picking up a hitch hiker, but you know what, I followed my instinct, and I’m still in one piece. You can’t live life expecting everyone to do you wrong. I mean, there’s something to be said for being overly naive as well but my gut has rarely steered me wrong.
As it turns out, he had been standing there for three hours! Ryan said he never waited more than an hour. Anyway, we got to chatting and it seems that he’s done quite a bit of hitch hiking, and he’s interviewed many of the men that’ve picked him up about their views on masculinity.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m obsessed with Movember and men’s health and masculinity and gender and femininity and feminism and all of that fun stuff, so it goes without saying that we had a great 6 hour drive filled with excellent conversation, comfortable silences, and plenty of laughter. I ended up offering to drive him right to his destination. It was only a few miles past where I was headed so it worked out quite well. I also wouldn’t have felt very good about leaving him on the side of the highway at 11pm to hitch, especially when it was only a few miles out of the way. So we hugged it out and exchanged contact info so we could keep in touch :) Then it was back to Peter’s for some serious couch Z’s.