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Becca spotted this guy and his two dogs miles across the desert |
On Saturday morning there was a homeless guy with a shopping cart full of his belongings not far from the Sunset Area trailhead. JC and I said hello to him on the return leg of our hike. I was surprised to find him in the same place this morning. He greeted me by saying, "Good morning." I said, "Are you staying out here?" He said, "For a few days." When I asked if it was cold last night he said, "I was surprised by thermal breezes that kept it pretty warm." As I continued my hike with Becca I decided that I would give him some money on my return, and midway on our route I got my wallet out and extracted a $5 bill, putting it in my pocket. When we ran into JC later he told me he had already given the homeless man $5. So when we passed him again I gave him the $5 I'd taken out of my wallet, saying to him, "I hope it serves you well." He told us he was going to do his laundry later today. JC said, "Well, I hope you get a hamburger, too." The homeless man assured us he would. He was a pleasant, intelligent young man, and I found myself feeling sorry for him and wondering about his plight. He had an army jacket resting on his cart, and I wondered if he was a veteran. I'm a veteran, and I know there are a lot of veterans living on the streets. Really sad.
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Hiking the high foothills |
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Dog at work |
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Back behind the mountain |
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The rugged Organ Mountains |
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Tortugas (left) and the Organs |
3 comments:
You're a good soul, Packrat.
Aw, thanks, Scott. There are other times when an aggressive panhandler has approached me when I haven't been so kind. Those are usually the people roaming around the supermarket parking lot trying to hit everybody up.
I'm glad you were so kind to that gentleman, Packrat.
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