I've gone from living out of a 1990 VW Vanagon to living out of a very fancy hotel with afternoon tea service and bright white robes hanging in the closet. It's a study in contrasts.
I'm back in Ashland, Oregon enjoying some lazy days while the TMF has a photography gig for a large corporate client located here. I've developed a pretty regular routine in this town. I get up in the morning and walk the TMF out to his car after a small hotel breakfast, then head out to exercise before the temps hit 100 degrees at mid-day.
Yesterday I went on the worst run of my life - following a greenbelt out of town, as the TMF suggested, I experienced one uncomfortable situation after another. I was a little nervous on the path as there were long stretches of secluded nature without another person in sight. And then, around the corner would come a sketchy looking dude. Finally, with short lived relief, I reached the end of the path. At this point it disappears under a bridge and circles around up toward the road. As I was approaching from one side of the path I could see an unkempt, homeless man heading down the path from the opposite side of the road... carrying a baseball bat. I wasn't psyched at the fact that he was walking toward me and I was walking toward him, destined to meet directly under this sketchy bridge. So I turned around, found a different route to the road and decided to head to the main street that heads back into town rather than taking the deserted path back the way I had come. I quickly learned that this very busy four lane road didn't have a sidewalk, nor much of a shoulder for the three miles back to town. Awesome.
I jogged, already tired but wanting to get this run over with as quickly as possible. I ran in the dirt on the other side of the guard rails. The best part of the trek back? Coming to an underpass (imagine something like this) where there was no way to climb over it thanks to some fencing. Therefore, I had to go through it, against traffic, where there was absolutely no shoulder. Stupid. Really really stupid. But the only other option was to head back the couple miles I had already run to return to the path occupied by a baseball bat yeilding vagabond.
Like I said... Worst. Run. Ever.
So I tried to peak through, but due to a slight curve in the road I wasn't really able to see if any cars were coming. I did my best reconnaissance and then sprinted my ass off through that thing, fortunately not scaring the shit out of any drivers headed through at the same time. I have never been so happy to see a sidewalk in my life. Needless to say, after that run yesterday, I headed out this morning on a residential street I know. No more surprises. No more sketchy paths. No more near death experiences.
The rest of the routine is usually more danger free and uneventful - shower, reading in the park, a stop at the coffee shop to sit outside in the shade for some computing (like now), lunch from the salad bar at my favorite co-op ever, second hand clothes shopping (hello $20 James Perse dress and $12 Lacoste tank) and aimless wandering in the afternoon. Lastly, dinner with the TMF to wrap up the day.
Ashland is famous for its summer Shakespeare Festival. People come from all over the country to see the productions here and I failed miserably at getting tickets last month when we were in town. But, this time around I scored with two reasonably priced tickets to Henry IV on Sunday evening in the Elizabethan Theatre. It would have been a shame not to make it to one play after multiple visits to Ashland.
Well, the Co-op is calling me. More tomorrow.