WOW!

I just heard the news about Del's spot erupting in flames over the weekend. I hope Del didn't spontaneously combust!

I also read in the paper that a city worker went missing Friday in Yokuts, nearby Del's spot.

Coincidence?

More later on my "big van adventure!"

See you in a few days

I'm driving my cool borrowed van to the mountains. Be back on Wednesday!

Some people!

There I was wallowing in my bad rental carma
and I got an email from Kim. She's not using her van, in fact, it needs to be moved for some construction work and she's out of town. Would I like to use it for my trip to the mountains?

WOULD I??? I love that VW EuroVan! It's the coolest! Soooooo.....
I hastily made arrangments to take the "pregnant marshmellow" back to the Enterprise people, called the construction guy at Kim's house and got the van.
All in one fell swoop, I was no longer having to pay for a car I didn't reserve, didn't want and was going to be difficult to use and suddenly I was in a vehicle I love and can use for everything I need.
AND I'm no longer PAYING the Enterprise people for annoying me! (I even got them to drop the $150 deposit they were going to charge. Now they're just charging my insurance $67, which I plan to protest as well!)

Anyway, so much thanks to Kim and her husband, David. This is so amazingly nice of them and I really really appreciate it. THANK YOU!!!

Seinfeld was right!

I had to get a rental car since mine is at the truck doctor for the next couple weeks.
All car rental companies are pretty lame, but my experience with ENTERPRISE was the lamest.
I called to "reserve" a car and gave them a time and date when I would pick it up. On the phone they told me I could have a Jeep Liberty, which I looked up on line and said it looked like it would be OK cause I could probably haul some stuff (my dogs and other junk) up to the mountains. Fine. Swell. I arranged to pick it up at noon Tuesday (yesterday).

I get dropped off there and they had NO CARS. NO CARS!!!! Not only that, but they did not have and did not EXPECT to have a Jeep Liberty and said they don't guarantee the make/model or even time/day for any car. Yes, they did, with me on the phone the day before!

It was like the classic Seinfeld episode where he asks, "So you make the reservation, you just don't DO the reservation?"

I was fuming. So the dopey counter chick offers to call the Ming Avenue (I was at the downtown branch) store to see if they have a Jeep. They did, but it was a much larger car and I didn't want to pay the gas AND I would have had to wait for some flunky to drive me over there.

Just then a Nissan Moreno (ugly car) came in and they gave me that. I called again today and said this just wasn't going to work. The Moreno, while considered a bigger class SUV, doesn't have any actual ROOM in the back to haul stuff. It's all carpeted and junk. Like a Cadillac but smooshed up into the shape of an SUV.

You have to lay all the back seats down to even get a bike in there. LAME!

The Enterprise manager was like, well, sorry. I said, well, sorry, guess I'll have to switch companies. Oh, and inform my insurance company, the other insurance company and pretty much everyone on the planet that your business practices SUCK! Ok, she said, go ahead. Guess they have plenty of business.

Anyway, I'm now waiting for Hertz to call back. I'll probably end up driving this pregnant marshmellow on wheels all week. Jeeze!

A brief interlude

I forgot I had these pics.






Here's Mr. "Goodcarma." (I bet he makes up those goodcarma stories!) That's the lawyer husband behind him with the stogie.


And here's Chrissy Lu, on her bad motorscooter and ready to ride, if only she could open the garage door!

Del basics

I stopped and said hello Tuesday morning.
This time he asked ME some questions. How far do I ride from my house? (10 miles) Do I have a family? (A husband, no kids, four dogs. He was impressed with the dogs) What does my husband do for a living? (Lawyer, Del made a face at that) Do I ride in every day? (You'd think he'd notice since I stop and bug him every time I ride by, but no, only 3 days a week).

A couple weeks ago I was quizzing him and he said he thought I was a federal agent. No, I said, and gave him my business card. I don't think he knows what an editor does. So I told him I'm just nosey.

Anyway, on Tuesday, I didn't ask about his freeway obsession since it seemed to upset him when I asked before. I asked instead what he was having for lunch that day - bread. Just bread? Yeah, sure, sure, he said.
Ok dude.

I got to work and though I swore I wouldn't do this, I looked him up on a few data bases.

Here's what I learned:
He's a registered voter (I'll let you guess his party affiliation)
He's never been convicted of a crime in Kern County that I could find.
He got divorced in 2003 (wife got the house)
It said there was still a pending custody case open in 2003. But I didn't get to the courthouse to read the file...the online stuff can be incomplete, so I'm not sure what happened there.

Other than that, Del doesn't have much of a paper trail.

I won't see him again until next Wednesday, going out of town.

Thin lady gone

In answer to a comment from Jeannette, yeah, when I first saw that very very thin lady shuffling along the bike path, I figured it was cancer.

But over the years she kept on shufflin' and never gained an ounce, or so it seemed.

She wasn't very approachable. But now I wished I'd made more of an effort than just a smile when we passed. Hope she's still shufflin' along somewhere with her oversized headphones and her thousand-yard stare.

Maybe she moved to the coast?

Pedal power

I've been riding my bike to work at least 3 days a week for the last six weeks.
Got my Chevron bill the other day (it's normally about $100 a month, more with the increase in gas prices.)

It was $10. Seriously. TEN BUCKS!

I just started getting that bill via e-mail so I was leery and paid more. But I haven't had to fill up the truck for a while, especially since it got smooshed.

Hopefully, that was the REAL bill.

Course, when I go to the mountains later this week, I will totally blow all my gas savings. But seeing a $10 bill from Chevron was SO worth it!

A question

Has anyone seen the tall EXTEMELY thin older lady who used to run along the bike path every day? She had large headphones and shuffled along and never said hello but she was there every day.

Has anyone seen her or know anything about her?

A little more about Del

Saw Del on my way in this morning (Monday, 6/19/06). And I saw some cyclist friends who asked about Del. Seems he has a following among a lot of us who wonder what his story is. Even my boss, who rides occasionally said he and a fellow cyclist had talked about Del and his odd vigil.

Some have asked if I thought Del was "all there." No, I don't. I think he's a nice, harmless guy with a possibly tragic story who has no bad intentions. But all there, nah not really.

I saw him again this evening on my way home. We got to talking and he laughed again at my lame attempts to find out what's behind his freeway obsession. I told him he was starting to get a following, lots of people pass by and wonder what he's staring at and why.

He got kind of quiet and serious and looked away. He said it wasn't a "mistake" or anything "bad" why he was there. Then he said it was hard to talk about. He looked like he might tear up. Then he said he couldn't talk with me about that anymore, that it was "not good" for him to talk about it.

I felt bad. What if he'd been in a wreck on the freeway and lost his wife, or a child? And here I was, seemingly mocking his pain, picking at the scab. Who cares what the reason is for his obsession? He's not hurting anyone.

I apologized for prying and said I hadn't meant to make him upset or offend him in any way. I was just curious, I said, it's not every day you see someone so dedicated to something so out of the ordinary. He smiled and said, again, that I would know someday what this was all about.

I think next time I see him I'll just ask him what he's having for lunch and not bother him about his secret.

The best thing about my truck

I've wanted a 4wd Toyota pickup since I was about 19 years old. I finally got it in 2000 (at 36). It was brand new and exactly what I wanted - extended cab w/a split rear window, dark green (Imperial Jade according to the dealership), beige cloth interior, five speed and shift on the fly 4wd. I added a camper specifically so my dogs could ride in comfort.

Everyone's been saying since my wreck that the insurance company should total my truck and I should get something new. The only "new" thing I would want is the exact same vehicle!

Here's the coolest part about my truck:

This was taken in about Sept. 2001. On the left is Goldie, then Patch and Decker on the right. In front of Decker is little Jo when she was a baby. This is the only baby pic we have of her. Look at those ears!!!

And here's Jo all grown up w/Patch, who she still annoys to no end. Goldie goes on walks still but can't jump in the truck andDecker has arthritis and mostly likes to lay around the yard barking at birds and growling at Jo.

Is this our badcarma, or theirs?

My pal Sandi shared a tale of badcarma that reminded me of something similar happening to me years ago.

She was walking in to a grocery store when some jokers in a heap of a car pulled up alongside her and leered at her then hollered that she was pretty good looking, for an older woman. OLDER WOMAN???! First, Sandi is gorgeous and second, she doesn't look, dress or act like an older woman at all! The losers had parked so she had to walk around them and they'd yelled loud enough for others to turn and stare. JEEZE!

Sandi, being a lady, ignored them and walked into the store. I probably would have gotten down on their level and given them a two-word response, each word containing a single syllable.

That reminded me of a time in college. Some girlfriends and I went to the liquor store (looking for highlighters or rulers or notepaper, I'm sure) and when we came out some losers in a junker were parked behind my friend so she couldn't pull out. They were jeering and hollering at my friend who was too scared to say anything back. So I walked over to the driver's side door and told them to move it or I was calling the cops. They were stunned and annoyed. As they pulled away, they yelled at me, "You're the ugliest f---ing girl in the world!" Over and over and over, as they drove away in the parking lot, as they got on the street, on into the night. My girlfriends from college still call me that when we get together.

Eh, those guys (the ones who jeered at me and Sandi) obviously have no sex lives. We should pity them. Their excessive badcarma obviously spills over from time to time. Poor, pathetic losers...

Sloganistas

The anti slogan artists demonstrated oustide the courthouse Thursday night. They (like me) were scoffing at the irony of Bakersfield's slogan "Bakersfield: Life as it Should be."
One of the organizers noted our crime, poverty, worst air in the nation status and that we're a dumping ground for SoCal's sludge as just a few indications that this is not how life "should be" in any community.

But the artists (also promoting productions at the Empty Space theater) didn't want to be boorish and so dressed in costumes and pushed brooms and vaccuums around to bring home their point.

Good for them! Oh, and here's the paper's picture (doesn't show the vaccuums)

Del's daze

Saw Del this morning about 7:30 a.m. He apologized for not recognizing me on Thursday morning. Anyway, Friday morning, he was chipper again. I was late for work and he asked if I worked on Sundays.
No, I said, it's Friday.
"Friday!" he said. "It's Friday?! Really?"
"Yeah," I said. "All day."
"I thought it was Sunday!"
"Well, see ya," I said. I left him shaking his head. Guess the free way doesn't really change from day to day.

I rode by in the evening and Del was still there, sound sleep on his cardboard, his bike a little too far away, I thought. Anyone could have stolen it.

Here he is. I didn't stop and bother him today. I didn't want to wake him.

A couple miles down the bike path, an unmarked police car was barrelling down the path, heading east. No insignia on the doors and when they passed me, I couldn't make out the insignia on their uniforms either. I don't know why, but my first thought was, "Uh oh! They're after Del!"

I forgot to add this on Margaret Madamba

Here are some photos the paper took at the time of the wreck in 1994.
The one of the truck is absolutely frightening. Look at the damage it did, can you imagine the impact? I think about it all the time when I'm in traffic. I thought about it yesterday after my wreck. I'd be dead if I'd been on my bike. Guess the good carma is I was in my truck.


And here's Shaun Eugene Bates, the wacko who drove into Margaret. He was 22 in this photo. He'd be 34 now. Two years older than Margaret was when he hit her. I should check w/CDC and see when he's getting out, if he's not out already.

And here's the photo the paper took of Margaret a few months after the wreck. Like I said, I hope she's happy, doing well.

Badcarma gone good

Got a call today from the claims adjuster and he said the woman who ran the red light, Joan, fessed up and accepted all responsibility! So no fights, no problems. Her insurance is going to pay 100 percent, including my deductible!

Wow! Just when you think there aren't any honest people anymore!

Think I'll send Joan a card!

Two reasons I should have seen it coming...

First indication that my luck was running out:
This morning driving to work on Rosedale Highway a guy in a beat up mini truck nearly rear ended me. He stopped in the nick of time and I thought, "Thank god, cause that dude does NOT look insured!"

(First thing Joan the red light runner said to me after the crash was, "Don't worry I'm fully insured!")

Second, and most important, indication that disaster was nigh:
Before I set off for errands, I went to get a Diet Pepsi. I put my dollar in but the machine was sold out (sacrilege in my world!) I pushed the button to get my money back, which almost never happens. And sure enough! My quarters started popping out. I scooped them up and saw that I had one extra quarter. SCORE!
I thought, "I wonder if this is the best luck I'll have all day."

Yeah, that pretty much used up ALL the luck I was gonna have today!

What a day!

The ultimate badcarma!

I did errands at lunch and went to Snider's bicycle shop to see if they had any good saddle bags because mine are either too small or too big (the big one broke my tail light off the other day). They had some good bags, but $50 each so I wanted to wait to see if Larry would use my old stuff before plunking down $100 bucks.

So, I left and pulled onto Niles Street to cross Union Ave., get onto 178 and come back to work. I was watching an incredibly fat woman in pajama pants, a sport bra and fluffy slippers cross in front of me, thinking, now that's Bakersfield when I looked up and saw that the light had turned green. I put the "monster" truck in gear and pulled forward. Suddenly, I heard brakes screeching very nearby. I slammed on my brakes just as a woman pulled in front of me.

WHAM! I smacked into the right front side of her car.

We pulled to the side of the road. My front end was crunched and steam was coming out of the radiator. Some monster truck. Her little Nissan had some fender damage and the tire was kind of kattywhampus, but otherwise not that much damage. My big aggressive 4wd, meanwhile looked like a beer can after Bubba smooshed it on his forehead.


The other woman, Joan, was pretty cool saying she ran the red and all (which she did). But we'll see what happens when the insurance companies start duking it out. No one was injured and we could both pull off the road, so we didn't call the cops. Other people have since said that was a mistake. Probably was on my part. We'll see.

Anyway, so I guess I should have bought the saddle bags I liked because, hell, I'm pretty much on the "monster" bike for at least the next month! Here's a pic of the sad truck outside the shop.

Oh, one cool thing, the owner of the shop gave me a ride back to work in his semi-restored vintage Corvair...I'll try and get a pic of it tomorrow when I go back to look for my card key since it and everything else in my purse flew out all over the floorboards on impact!.

Del stuff

Ok, quickly, here's the Del update:
Saw him at 5:50 a.m. today, 6/15/06. I was out running with the girls and saw him pushing his bike to his spot. I ran up to him and said hello. Mind you, he's only ever seen me in a bike helmet and sunglasses, so I looked a lot different. He was still very sleepy and obviously confused. I had to say my name several times and I'm not sure he understood who I was.

Anyway, the day before, Wednesday, 6/14/06, I chatted with him on my way home from work and he was upbeat, watching the freeway. He said he'd be there probably a month more. But he claims there's no secret mission that I'll "know about when it happens." Now he is sticking to his, "it's for relaxing," story.

And he admitted he sleeps in the parks sometimes. I asked how his family feels about that. "Fine, fine," he said.

Bakersfield slogan...

One more thing, real quick.

The slogan I photographed plastered on the beat up van (it's NOT LatinaLoisLane's cousin's van, by the way, despite what she says!) is going to be in the news.

Apparently a group of disgruntled (or just unemployed?) artists are getting together tonight 5:30 p.m., 6/15/06, and demonstrating at the courthouse downtown against the "Bakersfield: Live as it Should Be" slogan. One of their rallying points is that we have the worst air in the nation and that's not really how life should be. They will be satirizing the slogan.

They also said they'll be in costume in keeping with the satirical nature of the rally, whatever that means. I can't be there, but hopefully someone will get photos I can use.

Rotten internet!

It's been down at my house for the last 3 days. I have lots to add, some more about Margaret Madamba and, of course, an update on Del.
But I have to wait for the technology fairy to bring back my home internet connex!
Meanwhile, leave me some comments on what else you'd like to see here!

"Shocking" Del news

Ok, he didn't jump into the middle of traffic on the freeway he's been so diligently watching for the last couple weeks. I just found out what he used to do in the Phillipines. He was an electrician. He said he isn't doing that now because he "doesn't have time" to get certified here. Dude's been here 8 years, that must be one hell of a certification program.

He said he's not really on a mission (cause you know, I keep asking). He said he's just relaxing. He likes "watching around" and hanging out there. His family brings him food. He had a pot of rice on his cardboard today.

I'll keep bugging him....one day I'll get his real story...

Madamba

The photo you found COULD be her. That looks like Bakersfield, over on California Avenue somewhere. Was there any cutline info?

It's hard to tell if it's her w/the sunglasses on. We had an old photo of her from 1994, but it's hardcopy, I'd have to dig around, find it and then get it scanned in. And she's kind of looking away from the camera anyway so it's a hard comparison. I'll add that later.

I hope she's not bitter. I hope she's doing really well after what she went through. Maybe it was just the time I talked to her, or perhaps I bring the bitter out in people!

Yeah, I'd love to track all the players down from that accident and see how they all ended up.

No Del today...

Del was not at his usual spot this morning, Monday, 6/12/06. And I didn't see him at Beach Park. Could his vigil be over?

Update on my somewhat faulty memory

The crash I described below where a woman I rode with in training for the American LUNG (not cancer) Association was deliberately hit by a motorist happened April 24, 1994.

Her name was Margaret Madamba, then 32, and she was injured as I described and had to undergo multiple surgeries. The guy who hit her was Shawn Eugene Bates, then 22. He was part of some Oildale auto theft ring. In fact the black Toyota Land Cruiser he was driving that day was stolen.

He tried to hit several other cyclists who jumped out of the way before he got Margaret. Witnesses said he was laughing as he tried to hit people.

He pleaded no contest to attempted murder and hit and run and was sentenced to 25 years with the proviso that he serve no fewer than 20 years, rather than half time or time off for good behavior.

I wonder where Margaret is now? I wonder where Bates is? And when he's getting out.

Dumbest slogan award

I was at a stoplight and saw this van. It's pretty beat up and billowing black smoke when he takes off. Clearly not a jet setter, this fellow. But he's got hometown pride! The slogan on the bumper sticker, in case you can't read it is, "Bakersfield, Life as it Should be"
That slogan, our official city or chamber of commerce slogan, is just so wrong on so many levels, I can't even begin!

More Del sightings...no mysteries solved however

Latest Del info:
These first pics are of Del on Wednesday, 6/7/06. He's working on a cardboard box, probably making a new seat.

You can see the freeway (his mission) in the background, and the tree he favors. He also has several bags of groceries there on the ground with him. It was mayo and other condiments.
He didn't have anything new to add on this day when I stopped to chat. Just that he can't tell me what he's doing there and that I would know in a few months.

I still haven't worked up to asking if I can take a photo of his face. Not sure how to approach that conversation since his English is somewhat limited. I'm not sure how to explain "blog" to him when he has to stop and think what I'm saying when I say "yesterday."
Here's another of him from last Wednesday, still workin' on the box. See all the groceries? He had bread and milk. Under the tree just to the left of him is an ice chest. Hope he isn't letting his milk products get too warm!

When I rode in Friday morning (6/9/06), he wasn't at his usual spot. So I kept going on to Beach park and he was there sitting in the shade. He seemed kind of down, tired. Had his mayo with him, though.

I went to work on Saturday (6/10/06) and he wasn't there when I rode in. But I saw him when I rode home about 6 p.m. Here he is at his vigil. That's his bike in the foreground.

I stopped and talked to him for a minute. Again, he seemed tired. He also seemed confused on the timeline he gave me earlier about revealing his "mission" in two months. He said it could take years but that HE would be here at his post for two more months.
A couple of guys rode by (no helmets!) and waved to him. I asked if he knew them, he said, sure, they ride by at the same time everyday and sometimes they talk to him. I asked if other people were like me curious about what he was doing. He said "Sure, sure," but I don't know if he understood my question.

He had another bag of groceries. More mayo. He seems to prefer Best Foods.

Speaking of Norm Hoffman...

I think of this all the time when I'm on the road with lots of cars.

When I first started biking years ago, 1993, I joined the American Cancer Society's charity ride that covered 150 miles over 3 days on the coast. The "Lung Ride" it was called. (There were two older guys, cranky, funny, great cyclists who went every year and drank beer for breakfast and SMOKED the whole time. No one cared cause they raised lots of money to keep other people from smoking...)

Anyway, they had training rides for us newbies. I always ended up riding with this other lady, a mom and teacher trying to get back into shape. We were about the same speed and we had good conversations. (I'll look up the old story and get her name)

I had to skip one training ride on Highway 155, otherwise I would have been right with her.

Some crazed punk, hungover and half whacked on meth as it turned out, came barrelling up on the group in his van or pick up and thought it would be funny to get close to the riders. He got close all right. He smacked right into her...ON PURPOSE. Then he took off.

The caught him and he was prosecuted. Great, whatever.

The lady had some head injuries and more broken bones than you could count, including her pelvis and both legs in several places. Almost a year later, I went to her house, doing a follow up story. She was still a mess. Worse...she was really angry, bitter. And she wasn't like that before. It was really devastating for her and her family.

And I would have been right there with her. It could have been me.

Refreshing jerk

I was riding home the other night and it must have still been in the 90s. I was on a super busy road and was on the wrong side, technically, headed toward traffic, rather than with it. I did it because I had to turn left pretty soon and figured it would be easier riding that way.

The road, three lanes in each direction, was clear. An old style El Camino appeared and was headed toward me. He was on the inside lane initially but quickly pulled to the outside lane, the one closest to me. I could see the guy, a teen or early 20s. As he got closer he pulled even closer to me, getting a tire into the bike lane even. I tried to edge over away from him and as he passed me, I felt a spray of cold water. I looked back and he was pumping his fist out of his open window.

What the...? Then I figured it out, he sprayed me with his windshield washer spray! What a jerk! He came within less than a FOOT of me so he could pull his little funny! I couldn't believe it!

Then again...it was hot that day...

SEE!?

I wasn't lying about Del. He's there, ALL THE TIME!!!

Wait, did you really see him or are you just yankin' my chain?

Interesting Del info

I was heading home last night, about 7 p.m. and coming up on Yokuts Park. Del wasn't at his regular spot. I figured he'd gone home. A little ways further, I spotted him on the bike path with a large group, mostly Filipinos. A woman was standing next to him and talking closely, whispering it looked like, into his ear. I was worried about running over the kids so I slowed down, he saw me and smiled, I waved and kept going.

There was some big party at Yokuts yesterday, bounce houses and booths and such. I wondered if Del's family came down to enjoy the part and see how his "important mission" was going.

Del is quite a curious character to me!

More on Del

Last night, June, 2, Friday, I rode home and took this picture of Del's bike, because I didn't see him anywhere around. I thought maybe he'd gone to the bathroom.

A few seconds later he came up out of the tree you see to the left, it's growing up out of a steep embankment so I think he hangs out there during the heat of the day.

I said hello, reminded him of my name and that I'd talked to him this morning and asked him again, so what's the secret? What are you doing here staring at the freeway. He said again that he couldn't tell me.

BUT he said it was a "very important matter" and that I would know all about it in the next two months. I asked if it was going to be a bad thing and he said "no." Somehow I believe that.

Anyway, I was really grilling him about whether he lived there in that tree and if he was at that spot every day, weekends and holidays too. He said he's there every day, all day long, weekends and holidays too. But that he doesn't live there. To prove it, he showed me his driver's license (which made me feel a little bad.) I said, "Hey I'm not a cop or anything. I'm just nosey!" But he shoved the license at me so, you know, I checked it out. I won't give his full name here, but Del is short for his given first name and he's 43 years old and lives at a downtown address. His hair was much shorter in the photo, but it was him. Looked like a real license to me, but you know, I'm no bouncer or anything.

I told him I'd be by the next day and ask him again what his "mission" was.

I came by today Saturday, 6/3, on my way to work and he wasn't at his usual spot. I walked over and looked more closely at the tree I'd seen him come out of and it looked like there was an ice chest and some other stuff down there. Maybe he does live there.

I started to ride off and saw him up ahead of me on his shiny bike with his pack. Of course, I flagged him down and asked him again, "what's up with staring at the freeway?"

He said, again, that I would know in a couple of months and that it was very important and that he was working for "the people."

Hmmmmmmm.....

I told him he was killing me with all this mystery and that I'd come by again and keep asking.

He smiled and said OK.

I really want to get a picture of him to post, but I don't want to freak him out.

First contact!

For the past couple of weeks, I've been riding my bike to work and take the bike path along the Kern River.

Every day, both morning and evening, I've seen this guy standing or sitting in the same spot near Yokuts park staring out at Highway 99.

He has a bike, nice new looking bike, a backpack (just a nice pack, not like the dirty, overstuffed bag of a homeless man) and several bottles of water.

He sits on a cardboard pad and stares at the freeway. Or sometimes he stands and stares INTENTLY at the passing cars. One day, just the cardboard, water and backpack were there. The photo above shows his spot and his pack.

I'm dying of curiosity about the "Freeway Dude" as I've taken to calling him in my own mind.

Is Freeway Dude waiting for someone? Does Freeway Dude think he'll see a familiar car whizzing by and be able to chase it down? Is Freeway Dude, in fact, homeless? Does Freeway Dude stay there ALL DAY in that same spot? What about weekends? Holidays? If he stays there all day, is it considered camping? If so, is that legal?

He's not technically in the city park, nor even on the bike path. His spot is on the berm of the path but further east. Is that considered freeway right of way? Is he a trespasser?

Many questions.

This morning, 7 a.m., there he was. I stopped and said good morning. He didn't hear me initially because of the freeway traffic that he was, again, intently staring at. So I shouted, "Hello!"

He turned around and very pleasantly came over and smiled and said hello.

I didn't have anything else for conversation so I just plunged right in.

"I ride by here and have seen you in this spot for several days."
He smiled.
"Um...what are you doing here?"
Blank stare.
"Why are you here?"
"Here?"
"Yeah, why are you here every day?"
"Oh, well..." he smiled again, very pleasant. "That's my secret."
"Your secret?"
"Yes."
"Ok, well, why do you stare at the freeway?"
"That's part of my secret."
"Okaaaaaaay....." I'd hoped for a tale of tragedy of a long lost family, or adherence to some weird religious tradition.
"So where are you from?" (I figured I'd get the "secret" BS again.)
"The Phillippines," he answered right up.
"How long have you been here, the United States."
"Eight years."
"My name's Lois," I said. He smiled and started to walk away. "What's your name?"
"Del."
"Del?"
"Yes, Del, as in D-E-L."
"Ok, Del, nice to meet you," I said wheeling around. "I'll ride by and ask you again sometime why you stare at the freeway, maybe you'll tell me someday."

He smiled and waved.

I can't wait to see if he's there tonight.