Dead or Alive!!!

written on june 13th by Adelaide Marcus while on tour with Sam

Though off to a rough start on our tour, leaving 12 hours behind schedule, the purpose behind our hectic mishaps has alas become evident. Turns out, the extra time spent trying to leave Sand Diego was but a small cost to us, and a huge gain for 2 strangers that were nearly dead.

Driving through the Arizona desert on a dark highway road with sleepy eyes, I was panicked when I felt Sam pull over abruptly saying,  “I’m pretty sure I saw a man laying on the side of the road.” I was pretty sure he was just overly sleep-deprived and had watched the scary movie, “I Know What You Did Last Summer” too many times. Never the less, we began driving the car in reverse looking out the window, making sure not to run over this alleged person. Till, to my dismay, there he was. Well, there they were. Two Mexican men laid on the edge of the interstate. As we were stopped shining our car lights on these 2 motionless bodies the question was no longer concerning their existence, but rather became, “Are they Dead or Alive?”

I yelled out the window, “Estas bien?” They were obviously not fine at all and in desperate need of “comida y aqua”. Luckily my Spanish came in handy and after bringing them water and some of Sam’s hydrating adventure racing type food, the men became oriented enough to tell their story. They were lost in the middle of the desert for almost 3 days with no food, water or connection to anyone. Its no wonder they decided to crash near the highway, where they were definitely dangerously visible. They were supposed to meet up with a friend and get driven to Phoenix to work, but this “amigo” never showed.

Sam and I glanced at each other then headed back towards the car and began clearing space in the back. We were planning on going about 40mi towards Phoenix anyway. We dropped the appreciative men off in Casa Grande with $15 to get a calling card, and some color back in their skin.

Then onto the I-10 towards Tuscan, hitting the road with a new perspective.

Remembering the hassles we were dealing with earlier that day, they all seemed so small in importance, yet played a major role in our encounter with these men. Passing by any earlier and they may not have been there, any later and they could have been dead! Wow… what an adventure. The journey has already begun to reveal twist and turns and we have yet to teach out first duo workshop.