Have you watched the movie “Yes Man,” with Jim Carrey? You know the one where he goes to a seminar and is left saying yes to everything people ask him… Well that’s me folks. I was born with the inability to say no. And although sometimes this can be a good thing, often times, it’s not.
While eating dinner with Rodrigo’s family near Tandil, his daughter, Valentina, asked me if I wanted to go out with her and her friends for a beer.
I was tired and sore from the long days in the saddle. Dreaming of a bed to pass out hard. I still had two more long days in the saddle before I arrived in Benito Juarez where we would rest for a day. I wanted to say no, I really did. But what came out was an inevitable and excited “YES!”
So off we went to the local Tandil Sunday night scene. Which I thought was going to be a laid back bar, drinks until midnight and everything closes type of thing. Boy was I wrong.
At 3:30 am I begged Valentina if we could go home while we danced in a packed nightclub. By the time we arrived back to her house it was 4 am and at 6:15, my alarm went off to wake me up. I wanted to die.
Rodrigo drove me to his ranch where I saddled up the boys and bid farewell to my new friend. With my head low I trekked south exhausted.
By 11am I was nearly falling asleep in the saddle. My eyes getting heavier and heavier with every stride. Unable to continue, I entered a milk farm and asked if we could rest for a couple of hours. I tied the boys up to a tree and untacked them. Sitting on one of the panniers, I slowly ate a tuna sandwich I made by opening a can of tuna and slapping it on a stale slice of bread. It wasn’t anything special but it was what I had.
After lunch I laid out the saddle blankets under a tree and died. I slept hard for 2 hours. Like I’m talking about that sleep where you wake up with drool all over the side of your face and confused as to where you are. Oh yeah, it was amazing.
Feeling groggy, but better, I tacked the boys back up and continued on. In the late afternoon, with no ranches in sight, I found a river to set up camp close to. Eating a pot of warm ramen noodles, I thought about what tomorrow would bring while the boys grazed on tall green grass nearby. Accompanied by only the sound of the blowing wind, I sat in front of my tent watching the sunset in front of us.
