At Albuquerque, New Mexico

I assessed the threat as he approached us from a distance as we were loading our bikes, carrying many bags over his shoulders like a homeless person.

Debbie considered if the man was a drug addict as he whistled and sang while walking along the street.

The man wished us well, as he walked up and down the street carrying more stuff. A lady stood beside us as we chatted with him, and we learnt she was his friend. He rides bikes too and is friendly and curious about us.

The 3 men are the same person.

Later beside the I-25 Highway, I dropped my bike for the first time, and the bungee cord somehow jammed up rear brakes as I pushed the bike to a more even ground. As Debbie and I thought through our options, a Goldwing rider stopped behind us and offered a jack knife. Some 15min of prying and I freed the rear brake of the shredded bungee. A loose mirror was left to be fixed at the next gas station.

Because of the chat with the man as we rode off, and my dropping the bike by the road side later, prying the rear brakes, and fixing the loose mirror, a friend we are supposed to meet in Deming, 200 miles away pulled in and introduced himself. I could not believe the odds of that happening. We have never met him before, and he pulled up beside us on the same petrol station on the I-25 and called out to us, and we drove in convoy to his home, 200miles away. Everything seems to happen for a reason, including my Oakley shades that I realized had gone with the wind in the morning, perhaps to teach me acceptance of the impermanence of all our kit, and of accepting and living in the present moment.