Soul Rebel 365

I left LA on December 16, 2009.  I sold almost all my personal belongings, except clothes and a few travel bags but the rest of it is all gone.  I left LA with a heavy heart, knowing I had left behind some great friends,  family  and a career that I have been passionate about for a long time. My journey for Soul Rebel has begun, making my way east. I decided I was going to head to Canada first before driving down to Nashville.  The plan was to spend a few days in Windsor, ON, visiting Jordan Fuller, who is quickly proving to become my Alberto Granado for this Soul Rebel journey. I still have a long way to go to raise money but I believe I can get there.  If you haven’t already donated please do so and spread the word.  I need your help to see this journey through.

I loaded up a 2001 Chevy Cavalier, it was my 3rd car in two weeks and at the end of the day I just wanted something simple that would make the trip and I would sell in a few months. I bought the car the day prior to heading out on my trip.

I embarked on my trip cross country in the Cavalier.  I stopped in Winslow, Arizona to buy gas at a Lucky J and picked up a hitchhiker.  Her name was Melissa, she was heading to Albuquerque, NM to meet her boyfriend who was a fire fighter.  She had her dog with her too but I can’t recall it’s name at this point, all I remember was it was quiet and very well behaved.

I loaded up her hiking backpack in my car and we headed out.  She was cool, she gave me pointers on my trip, she had done something similar but only for a month.  I dropped her off at a gas station in Albuquerque and continued on, hoping to get to Amarillo, TX where I would spend the night.

Around 2:00am about 30 miles outside Albuquerque in between two small towns Edgewood and Moriarty a Mule Deed appeared out of the dark about 3 feet in front of me.  It has huge with 6 point horns and just stared at me.  I slammed on my breaks, just hoping that miraculously I would miss the deer but no such luck, I smashed into the deer and my airbags deployed on impact.  I was fully expecting to the crushed but didn’t feeling anything yet except the car spinning around.  I came to full stop in the middle of the freeway.  Gas from the airbags filled the car choking me and I would see two large semis in the rear view mirror honking at me to get out of the way. I grabbed the gear trying to pull it to drive so I would get out of the way before I was rolled over.  I tried to shift into drive but the gear was stuck.  I tried again and started shifting with force, mumbling a prayer because I didn’t want to die in the middle of nowhere where my family wouldn’t find me.  The honking of the semis got more desperate, I knew they couldn’t stop, there wasn’t enough space for them to break without hitting me.  Just in the nick of time the gear shifted and I moved off to the side off the freeway just as the semis sped past.

I opened the door and got out of the car, choking and coughing.  I couldn’t believe what was happening and I hoped it was all the dream.  I didn’t see the Mule Deer in the pitch blackness.  I looked at the car and the front windshield shattered but didn’t cave it, the hood was scrunched up and the radiator was broken, I could tell because there was liquid all over the road. I finally gathered my thoughts and went back into the car to get my cell phone and I dialed 911.

New Mexico at night is freezing cold and the cold started getting to me.  Coming from Los Angeles, I don’t even own a heavy coat.  I was also going into shock from the crash and with the combination of the cold and the shock I started shivering.  Paramedics and a horde of police car came to the scene.  They put me in the ambulance and started conducting all kinds of test to make sure I was OK.  I had burns on my hand and face from the airbags but nothing major.  A police officer told me with the size of the deer and the way it hit the glass I would have been dead. I am amazed and humbled at God’s protection.  The paramedics wanted to take me to the hospital but I vehemently refused, I just wanted to get on with my journey. They took me to the Mule Deer which was dead on the side of the freeway.  It was huge and was the size of a horse.

My car was towed to a yard and I was taken by an officer to a hotel.  It was the first time I was excited to get into a squad car.  I got to a Comfort Inn that was right off the historic Route 66 and the attendant felt so bad for me that he gave me a 60% discount on the room.  The next morning Jordan and her mom put me in touch with a woman who lived in Albuquerque. Her name is Betsy Cherry and she was my angel for the next few days. Betsy picked me up and we went to the tow yard to get my car.  The man at the yard was eager to declare the car totaled and at the point I was just thinking about how to get out of there.  It meant I would have to get a rental and then figure out what to do with the Chevy.

Moriarty is a tiny little town that has two BBQ restaurants, McDonalds, a truck strop  a bunch of trailers and was very drab and had a feel of those abandoned little towns that you often see in Slasher Flicks.  It is a miserable town and I am pretty sure I would go crazy if I stayed there more than a few days. Betsy found a mechanic in Moriarty, a native American, Nelvin and his son, Niko, they were Dine which is a smaller tribe under Navajo.  They were very nice and said they could patch up the car for 700 dollars instead of charging me at least 2000 to get the car fully put together.  I left the car there and Betsy bought me lunch and a hotel room. I was supposed to get the car in the morning the next day but didn’t.  I ended up spending the whole day at the shop before I finally got it back at 6:30pm.  I had a beat up car that I would use to get me to my next destination.

This trip allowed me to meet people that were selfless who made sacrifices to help me.  This entire Soul Rebel Journey is about the goodness of people and I was able to witness that first hand where I least expected it, in Moriarty, NM.  This is the silver lining in our world, regardless of all the hardship we may me going through or all the evil in the world, there are people that are still motivated by love, by the goodness that God has imparted in us. I am forever grateful to the people in Moriarty that helped me in a dark hour and to my family and friends that prayed for my safety and success.  This journey is just beginning and there is more love and selflessness left to be discovered.

Peace and Love.