The journey went from San Quintin to Guerrero Negro.
Many hours of driving.
Going south and south and south.
Punta Marquez and everything it represents feeding the urge.
Pulling towards it.
Like the bee to the flower.
The sun to the horizon.
The rain to the earth.
The temperature difference between the Pacific coastal area and the mountains is between 80 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit. (26 and 37 degrees Centigrade)
On the other side of the mountains, at the Sea of Cortez, it is even warmer.
A stop to have lunch was made in Cataviña.
Some bread with cheese.
Some juice.
And an apple.
In Cataviña is an abandoned gasoline station.
As done before, the Fuso Szulc was parked underneath the roof in the cooler shadow.
A man was laying on a bunch of tires.
He said: “Hi, how are you?”
An American.
Wearing two pants.
Having a wild beard.
Not looking very clean.
Someone obviously very much lost in life.
He had some questions concerning the Fuso Szulc.
After he got the answers he was asked what he was doing there sleeping on tires in Cataviña.
He started telling an amazing story.
Years ago he had invented the hoola hoop.
And then the wash pin.
He gave a long list of inventions he was responsible for.
And the way he was telling it made one believe to have met some rare genius that by misfortune had ended up on a pile of tires in Cataviña.
He had also been in Europe where he had met Elvis Presley.
In fact he had written several of Elvis’ songs like “Ground hog”.
Later he had met The Beatles and wrote for them “We can work it out”.
It could not be avoided to eventually come to the conclusion:
“This man is mad”.
Curious how his mind would spin him out of the current miserable situation, when asked what he was doing here, he replied he was growing pineapples and watermelons nearby Cataviña for export to the USA.
In the end, literally everything the man had told was absurd and nonsense.
But he himself was absolutely convinced it was the truth.
After his long litany of unbelievable statements a moment of peace came.
He was told this:
“My friend.
We know you are a person we can tell you.
This is Johor speaking to you.
The representative of the planet Shikasta.”
He looked up and stared in the eyes for a long time.
The composure of Johor remained calm, wise and convincing.
He had nothing more to say and seemed to fall asleep on his bunch of tires.
It was a quiet lunch.
Reading the two days old New York Times newspaper.
When the temperature is a 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Centigrade) a cool apple kept in the fridge is so delicious.
When leaving, the inventor of the hoola hoop woke up.
He said:
“Hey man, can you spare me a Peso?”
.
1 comment:
Michel I have met this same man in the same place while traveling this same road going back to the USA The Husband was refusing to stop for gas at many nice towns and Pemex's so we could "Make better time!" As to be expected, we run low on fuel when there is no fuel available until we get to this same spot where very smart Mexicans sell gas from the backs of their trucks to foolish adventurers like myself and the Husband. They charge almost the same price as the Pemex stations do so it is not too painful to purchase the gasoline and we are very grateful to find it. As we are refueling this same man approaches our vehicle and tells us the same amazing stories! He left out the space alien identity. I was facinated by him and began to video tape him as he rambled on but the Husband was anxious to go back to "Making good time on the road" so I only got a few short minutes of tape. I wanted to give him money because his stories were well told and fun to listen too but the Husband was not in favor of it so we drove on. What a small world. I hope I see him again when we return this fall. This time I will give him money before he asks and see what he says and if his stories have changed at all. Thank you for the interesting blog! Your Amiga from Boca Salado
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