1 Tag in einer gesetzlosen Hippie-Stadt | Weltreise USA [#38]

1 Tag in einer gesetzlosen Hippie-Stadt | Weltreise USA [#38]

Traveling around the world on a wooden bicevle – without ever taking a plane. We’re Hans and Franzy, and we’ve cycled for 18 months from Germany to Japan and are now reaching America. Where we ended up in this video is beyond our imagination. Boy, what is this? How we ended up in a lawless hippie city where the residents sleep in old caravans and school buses, and why we had to leave everything behind and seek safety in the middle of the night —wow, I’m really scared right now. We really have to stop! Should we call 911? I don’t know—you can see it in this video. We’re going to ride across Los Angeles first. We want to see what the mood is like here, because we arrived right on election day, and Donald Trump was just elected president, and I think California was against it, didn’t vote for Trump. I don’t know, so far everything’s been pretty quiet, actually. We’re also seeing a lot of homeless people here. We knew this about LA, but it’s still crazy to see. We’re not filming it, of course. I think it’s pretty disrespectful to point the camera at it. There are supposed to be 75,000 homeless people here in the second largest city in the USA. Normally, as a tourist, you don’t come into contact with them, but we sleep outside too, and that’s why it’s a big issue for us. Compared to Japan, the USA is a different ball game when it comes to safety. In the last video, we were sleeping next to a park bench in Tokyo. Everyone here advises us against that. It’s just too dangerous. It’s really intense, isn’t it? So many drug addicts, they have an expression on their faces like—I don’t know—as if they’ve given up their brains, like some kind of bot, like some kind of computer bot. Really horrible for this people. It smells of marijuana on every corner here, but I think what they’re taking is something completely different, something much harder. It’s time to say goodbye to our host family, who welcomed us so warmly for a few days and to whom we were even able to send our bikes from Tokyo. Where to, left? Bye. Here we go. We’re leaving the famous Route 66 today. We want to continue avoiding touristy places in order to get the most honest view of a country possible. Taking a detour, we head towards Mexico. A decision that will make our start in America unbelievable, almost unreal. The sun is setting, and we have to find somewhere to sleep. We’re not in Japan anymore. It’s just too hot for me to pitch a tent here. I don’t want to offend anyone, but I don’t feel safe here. So, that’s why we’ll probably have to ask someone, someone with land, if we can sleep in their yard. We’ve never done that before I have no idea, but I see it as the only option right now. This isn’t meant as a criticism, but it’s simply a fact that anyone here could have a gun. We always have this thought in the back of our minds and are more cautious than usual. Everyone has told us not to ride in the dark, but today we didn’t manage to get out of the city in time. Wow, hey, there were so many homeless people under the bridge. Those are usually our spots, right? It was two stories full, everything full. The next bridge was full again. It’s just crazy. Everything was full. That’s not a good feeling. Excuse me, can I ask you something? Sure! We’re looking for a place to sleep tonight. We’re traveling around the world by bike. It’s our first day in the USA… And we see a lot of homeless people here. We don’t feel entirely safe. We usually sleep in tents. Do you think there’s a place for us in Loma Linda? We’ve heard it’s pretty safe here…? So for a tent? Yes, exactly – for a tent. We ask around for an hour and luckily eventually meet these two doctors who recommend an empty lot right next to their house. We finally have something. It’s getting really dark already. But we didn’t ask directly, “Can we sleep in the garden?” That would have been a bit awkward. We were just really happy to be here. to go to sleep, but there are thorns poking through here, all these prickly things beneath us. I don’t know what it is. I think we need to move, it’s too prickly. I don’t feel like sacrificing our sleeping mats. Here it comes out. So, we were just about to put up the tent somewhere else, but it’s poking everywhere. So we’re leaving the sleeping mats packed away. It’s just too risky for us. It’s already a shame that we’re about to ruin the underside of the tent. But there’s no other way. We have to sleep here tonight. As expected, a great night. We slept here in the pile of clothes. Dude, just look at this! The thorns in this shoe! Wow, we didn’t see this when we were looking out there. Dude, there are a lot of thorns in this shoe! I don’t even want to know how many thorns are in the tent now. I don’t know. Turbulent first night in the tent. At least that’s what we thought, because compared to what’s going to happen tonight, this is absolute child’s play. I’m shaking so hard. We have to find shelter ourselves now. I’m really scared! But more on that in a moment. The further inland we go, the more the landscape transforms into a desert. Except that between the yellow mountains there are these villas with lush green lawns. Look at how the landscape is already changing. I thought the desert area would come much later. It reminds us so much of Iran, the climate, the mountains. [Laughter] Watch out, watch out! Franzy just had a fit of laughter about this solar panel here. We’ve got a new one. We just spent 15 minutes fiddling around with the thing, and I just noticed that it’s on the wrong side. There’s the sun, and that’s where it’s pointing at, and I drive past and just say, quite dryly, “Well, at least it’s on the wrong side,” and she freaks out. Whenever we have to laugh about such nonsense, we’re either overtired or have gotten too much sun. Our sense of humor is as dry as the landscape here, through which extremely long trains pass. I happened to be flying a drone at this moment, and it’s only from the air that you realize the sheer size of these giants. These freight trains are between 3 and 6 km long. I think this is the longest train I’ve ever seen It’s been going on forever, and they’ve added locomotives every now and then because the one at the front can’t pull it all. Dude, what a shitty road this is, man! We’ve already tried three other routes. We were always waved back. You either get on the highway next to us or onto a private road. Now we have to drive alongside the train… yep! That’s better. We must have a 40 km/h tailwind right now. Really crazy! And now we’re going from 800 meters above sea level to -60. I think this is the first time on the whole trip that we’ve been below sea level. There’s a salt lake somewhere tomorrow. But at that point, we had no idea that this tailwind would feel life-threatening today. Can you hear the sound of the wind? I don’t think so. We’re doing 45-50 km/h and it’s completely calm. It’s crazy. The wind is so disruptive! How are we supposed to find somewhere to camp tonight in this wind? We have to find a place to camp here. Yeah, I have no idea where. I have no idea what to do now. There’s a bridge. We can really check it out. Yeah. Dude, I can hardly walk here! Wow, what’s going on? There are bridges here. Let’s see if they’re any good as a windbreak. I think they’re going in the wrong direction. It’s blowing through here once. Damn! The good thing is that there are no homeless people here because it’s too far from the nearest town. No, it’s really ultra windy here. Shit… What do we do now? Hans is looking over there to see if there’s a camping spot, and I’m waiting here, and it’s really hard for me to stay still. I have to brake, otherwise the bike will pull me forward. I can’t hold it on my own. Crazy! there are only such thin pillars. It’s whistling through them. Then we’ll keep going. We’d be a bit sheltered from the wind here, but I have no idea if anyone lives here or anything. I can imagine if someone comes here, they’ll think we’re some thieves or something. I have no idea. I don’t feel like walking into anyone’s property right now. Things can change quickly in the US. Here, in any case, there are all the quads, or what’s left of them. I don’t know, maybe it’s just so much prejudice, but I know anyone could have a gun, so I really don’t want to provoke anything. But everyone’s super nice. They’re extremely nice. So far, we have nothing to complain about. I have no idea. This would be the first time it’s been safe from the wind. We just asked at the gas station here, and he said we should just drive a bit down the road and maybe we ‘ll find something there. Okay, there was a homeless person. I’m not entirely comfortable with him. We’re moving on. We can’t stay here. He asked me if I was homeless, and he said I looked way too fresh, like I’d been homeless for a day. I knew my gut feeling wasn’t wrong; if I just looked at this corner, then I wanted to leave. The chance is maybe 1 in 100 that he’ll steal from me or do something with a knife, but even if it were 1 in 1000, I wouldn’t take such risks. Okay, I think I don’t have too bad a choice here. It’s not that windy here either. I have no idea how you can still have the motivation to cook. I don’t know anymore either. Are you still so attached to Asia that you even eat tortellini with chopsticks? We only have one spoon. And we were just too lazy to look for the fork. Yeah, with this wind, it’s really tough to cook here. Wow. Ah! Hey, again! No, now I’ve got it too! What was funny at the moment gets completely out of hand. We later learn that this place is called Windy Point and is known for, firstly, the wind changing direction at night and, secondly, for it being extremely strong. The wind, it never stops. It’s so strong it almost knocks over the tent we’re lying in. The tent is going crazy. Holy crap. I really have to use my arm to hold it in place. It’s really not funny anymore. It’s a storm out there, you can’t imagine. I never thought we’d have to be afraid of the tent collapsing. Wow, shit. What do we do? Wow. I have no idea. I have to take the tent down, maybe, I don’t know. Take it down? I don’t know. It’s about to collapse. It’s just ripped out the peg. I have to secure it outside somehow. It’s impossible now. We have to to do something. We really have to something! I’m really close to calling the emergency services, but we have to fold up the tent now. Shit. What do we do now? Yes, pack everything up, quickly! Franzy is taking down the tent on the outside. We want to put the bikes on top of the taken down tent so that at least the tent doesn’t fly away. I don’t know. Wow, I’m really scared right now. I’m really scared. I don’t know what’s going to happen next. Whether we should call 911, I don’t know. We have to find shelter ourselves now, at the gas station or somewhere else. There’s no other way. Bike first to the right side, where I’m not. Ah, okay. So I can still get out of here. Yes, yes. But if I leave here, the tent will fly away. I’m shaking so hard, I’m really scared. And now leaving all this stuff behind, will we find everything again and can we get to safety somewhere? Somewhere back there in the direction of the gas station. Being outside the tent felt better at first, but not knowing what was to come or whether this was just the beginning was bothering us. Okay, let’s go, shall we? In any case, full speed already bent the tent pole. There’s the gas station, about a kilometer away. Now we have to think clearly. I have no idea what’s going to happen now. The place is closed. I was really hoping we could pop in for a minute. Dude, I’m trying to flag down cars, but they don’t stop anymore. I’ve tried five times, but it’s 1:30, what do you expect? Get any information, Because we were thinking, we can’t pack everything together, it’s impossible, it’s just too windy. We don’t know how we’re going to get everything into the bags. Even the sleeping bags aren’t rolled up. Okay, we just asked someone, well, someone stopped for us. They think the wind will stay like this. It’s called Windy Point, the place that always gets really bad storms here, because in Palm Springs, where we want to go tomorrow, it’s not windy at all according to Google weather, and now I think we have to pack up the tent. We have to try and get it together somehow so we can still cycle into town. So, sleep is secondary right now. First and foremost, it’s about safety. Mhm. securing our stuff, our valuables. But whether we can collect our stuff from there will take an hour, if all goes well, and if nothing flies away… If it flies away, it’s gone. Yes. Wow, we really have to think carefully about how we approach this. The gusts are probably at or above 100 km/h. That’s what he meant, but we had wind from the other side the whole time and were just hoping it would stay that way. The next thing is, there are black bears and coyotes and other animals here too and they’re hungry, and there are tortellini in the tent. That means if we’re away from the tent all night, they might tear our tent to pieces. Whenever there’s a break between the gusts, we try to stuff everything into the bags as quickly as possible. But during the gusts, the storm whips the sandbags around. Ah, there’s another peg here. How are we supposed to ride our bikes? I have no idea. The gusts are really disruptive. Wow. We have to empty it somehow. Yes. Yes. Ah, the tent’s here, man. A 60 kg bike is blown backward in the sand. How was the tent supposed to survive? That’s not possible. Right, let’s see where we end up today. We really don’t need to pedal! We’re going so fast in this wind. I’m not doing anything. Nothing at all. Just for your information, I’m not pedaling. And it’s uphill. You can’t even imagine it! A 60 kg bike is being pushed up. I can finally overtake Hans. Yes. We’re in a visitor center here now. Yes. Well, I don’t know how justified my fear was in the tent before, but it just felt extremely threatening to me. Totally. Me too, I was really scared. I was scared too. I didn’t know what was going on. Look what’s going on here. Well, the wind is whistling through here – but it’s okay here. So, decision? We’ll sleep here on the floor. Okay. 2:10 a.m. Good night. Dawn is breaking. A bright red sunrise in Palm Springs, the city we reached yesterday. And we’re wondering what actually happened yesterday? Well, the wind is still really strong. The flags and palm trees are waving like crazy. We’re only just realizing now that there’s a crack in the display on the GoPro. There’s a crack and there’s a crack in the lens too, just from the rocks that blew towards us yesterday with the wind, right? That’s really wild. Luckily, we have protective glass all over it. So the protective glass cracked. After we straightened all three tent poles, cleaned the sand off our things, and repaired the cameras, we were able to move on. And to our personal highlight of this video: Aldi. It’s the most beautifully situated Aldi I’ve ever seen. I have to capture that. Aldi. Oh yes. Shopping in expensive countries is really no fun. But Aldi is half the price of other stores in the US, and it’s mid-November; they just happen to have Stollen here. Stollen, gingerbread, and speculatius don’t make my life any easier… Ah, Knappers. Oh my God! With enough provisions, we embark on one of the most extraordinary days of our entire world trip. Where we’ll end up today is truly unique. But more on that in a moment. We leave Palm Springs, a city known as a popular retreat for many Hollywood stars. Like a green oasis in the middle of this barren Desert landscape. We were told that we’ll pass a hippie village on our way today But are they hippies or what? I have no idea if they’re real hippies or just a few crazy people. It would be really cool to sleep there, but I don’t know if it’s too dangerous or too… We don’t know what’s in store for us. We’ll go and take a look. We’ve really ended up in the desert now. There isn’t much left to see. We only occasionally come across a village, like this one. It’s called Bombay Beach. Let’s take a look Is there a swing set built onto the school bus? That’s a swing set on top of the school bus. It looks so weird, that thing. Is that an airplane that’s been converted into a fish? What kind of place is this? Really, what have we gotten ourselves into? But everything’s fallen apart, right? Most of the houses are empty. Some old campers or something. Listening to our gut feeling has helped us several times on this trip. It’s like a sixth sense, with which you intuitively sense whether a place feels safe or not. To be honest, a place like this is difficult to assess, partly because we know almost nothing about it. I’m wavering somewhere between “let’s just keep going” and “interesting, I want to see more.” Hans is completely overwhelmed by this abstract art. It’s not art, it’s just creepy. I’m always like, “What were they thinking?” And Hans is like, “What’s this all about?” I think to myself, “What drugs are they taking?” There’s even a confessional here. Do you have something to confess? I’ll start. I confess that I sometimes don’t get off my bike to pee. Personally, I don’t mind, but Franzy always freaks out. But we also have to explain that he does stop. Okay. Yes, so not while riding. I was hoping there’d be something to eat here. Whatever, it’s bread and mustard, like always. The USA is too expensive. Let’s drive right on. Off to the hippie town. We were told yesterday that it’s supposed to be around here, but we have no idea what this place might look like. All we know is that it’s called Slab City and that it’s in the middle of the Colorado Desert. There were no signs indicating that we had to turn off to get to Slab City. We would have driven right past it if someone hadn’t told us about it. Who would drive on this road voluntarily? Oh wow, someone actually lives there. Holy cow, it’s a garbage dump. I can’t even imagine it. I just saw someone in there. Boy, what is this thing? Look at it! What is it? Hi. Wow, it’s amazing. Wow, cool. It’s simply a huge work of art. It took the artist 27 years to create this A huge, walk-in artwork made of clay, straw, car parts, and lots of paint. 15 m high and 90 m wide. It depicts several Bible verses with the central message: God is love. The painted mountain is called Salvation Mountain and is now a protected and recognized cultural heritage site. The artist Leonard Knight lived right next to his artwork in this truck for almost three decades. Crazy! It’s just crazy. What is this? Wow. Pretty crazy. Someone wanted to show us a picture of it. I immediately said, “No, no, I don’t want to see anything yet. I don’t want to see anything. I want to soak it all in when we get here.” But this town is even further up, right? Yeah, exactly. Another 2 km or so. We just asked a guy if we could stay there for the night, like sleep up there, if it was safe. Then he said, probably not, he wouldn’t do it, but he’s organizing something for us today. Yes, he said he’d see if we could sleep somewhere in his camp or something. Let’s see. An incredible place right outside the gates of Slab City. You can see a few trailers parked in the background, and that’s exactly where we’re headed. We want to learn more about this special place. Now, let’s see. Let’s go over what the city has to offer. So, if I understood correctly, Slab City is simply a place where lots of homeless people come together and have created a little place for themselves. The property is even enclosed with a chain-link fence or car tires, right? We’ve only been there for two minutes and we’re already being invited to stay the night. So really, really nice. Probably nothing will happen, but we’re just not going to risk it. We’re staying with this one guy who invited us at the beginning. He looks really trustworthy. Yeah, but it’s interesting here. It’s intense. Everything’s full of trailers. Slab City is basically made up of old trailers and school buses. There are hardly any proper buildings. During World War II, this place was a training ground for the US military used to train artillery and anti-aircraft units. When the war ended, this base was no longer needed and was torn down. All that remained were the concrete slabs, the so-called slabs. Hence the name Slab City. I think there are two types of people who live here. Some, those who feel this lifestyle this slow life, this decelerated life, and who just want peace and quiet, and others are probably genuinely homeless, who simply have a community here, who have other people they can live with. As always, these are our personal assessments and information we’ve gathered through conversations with various local people, but not proven facts. In winter, about 4,000 people are said to live here, while in summer there are only 150. Hot temperatures of over 45°C make life in the desert difficult. Hi, I’ve traveled by bike too! Yes, from San Diego to Michigan and then to Mexico. Stop for a minute—do you know the Slab City Bike Shop? It’s just around the corner. Is there a bike shop here? This is Bo. Something of a legend in Slab City. We later learned that, among other things, he’s known for riding around naked on his motorcycle. So, we’re going to follow this guy to the bike shop. And why is he on Wikipedia? He somehow said we can find him on Wikipedia. Really cool, thanks! Let me introduce you. Always lock your bikes! Yes, let’s do that. This is Charlie’s motorcycle. The fence is made of bicycle frames! Bo seems like a crazy adventurer to us, but trustworthy. It’s precisely these kinds of encounters that make us travel. I mean, look where we ended up again. Charlie, this is Bo. Where are we? This is his shop here. Wait here, I’ll check on him. If he’s not here right now, come to this fence and call out: Charlie, Charlie! Okay, so where are we now? He’s apparently not here right now. You see, he has a nice shop, and you can come back and visit him. Why are you on Wikipedia? Just for some of the things I’ve done. I’ve hopped on freight trains and shown people how to do it. And I’ve written a few books about traveling. And that’s still modest. What this guy has experienced in one lifetime is truly absurd. He was a professional athlete, naturalist, veterinarian, founder and businessman, world traveler with captivity and kidnappings all over the world, survival expert, expedition leader, nomad, successful author of 24 books with many crazy stories. You can find the link to his Wikipedia page in the video description. We rode this bike from Germany to Japan. From Germany to Japan? How much do your bikes weigh with luggage? This one weighs 60 kg… so very heavy… We have a lot of gear, but it’s a bamboo bike. It has a bamboo frame. Oh! Charlie would love this, he’s a bike mechanic. Can I lift it? Of course, but it’s very heavy… I’ve been to over 100 countries, not on a bike… Not the hard way like you did… but with a backpack. But congratulations, that’s a crazy tour! Look at this bike repair shop here. Where did we end up? Unfortunately, no one is here right now, but it looks really cool here. Charlie, Charlie! Hello, Charlie! Okay, no one is here. But there’s a cool bike repair shop here. Holy cow. What a cool guy. He’s been all over the world and now lives here, right? Yes, it seems so. And he said: don’t take drugs. Yes, and look after your bikes. Yes, there are two things, two rules here. Thank you. Thank you. Shall we take a look? Unfortunately, he’s not here right now. We’d like to show off our bamboo bikes. I think he’d be interested. But I don’t want to intrude too much on his privacy here. We’re going to a coffee shop now, where Bo just told us that it’s probably legendary in Slab City and that we should definitely check it out. Is it closed? Oh, look, there’s a door here. Someone is there. Hello. Are you open? No, not until the weekend… But can I offer you ice cream? Come in… I’ve got seating over there. You’d better bring your bikes in while you’re here… Yes, we’re always a little worried about our bikes. You can just put them up against the fence. I’m closing up here; I don’t want anyone else coming in. It’s not really clean because I don’t open until tomorrow evening. No problem at all, it’s perfect. So, what shall we have? Well, wait a minute. So, I got it right. Yes, you mix ice with a soft drink here, like Coke and ice cream. Yes. Yes, why not? What do you say? Vanilla ice cream and a root beer. So, why do you mix ice with… soda, what is soda, Hans? Is it really just… look, because it’s something. It says beer on it, but it’s not beer? No, it’s not water. It’s not water. Oh, it’s brown. It’s brown. We’re so stupid, we don’t even know what soda is. Yes. It tastes good, though. Don’t you think? Root beer. I like it. You can do it, but you don’t have to. The owner of the café tells us that we absolutely have to visit a special place before the sun goes down. Apparently there are a few bands that perform here every Saturday and it’s always really crowded. Man, it’s so beautiful! How cool does it look again? What, someone performs here every Saturday? Yes, holy moly, I would have loved to see that. Today is Thursday, right? Yes. Oh, no, we’re not staying here two nights When the sun sets in Slab City on Saturday night, this stage looks like this. [Music] It’s just awesome! This is a real original here! What they’ve put together here. So, here we are again. Because here is the guy who invited us to sleep next to him tonight. To be honest, we were a little worried that we’d lack adventures in America, that it might be boring. But what kind of start on a new continent is this? Calm down, calm down. Ah, for the first time in a long time, an area with stray dogs. They’re a bit too used to people. . You go first. Okay. I’ll stay here. I’ll handle it. I’d say I’m good at stray dog psychology. Hey! It’s getting dark, and time for an evening we’ll never forget. We’re staying with Chuck and his adopted family tonight. He’s more mobile than I thought. Yeah, what a big rocket. He loves your bags. There are many small communities like this in Slab City, like a kind of family with its own rules and its own history. Hi, nice to meet you! Hey, how are you? Everything’s good! Where are you from? Germany and Italy. Germany?! Wow! Feel free to look around, you can leave your bikes wherever you want. What a beautiful place! This is “home.” A home and a family, those are the most important things to be happy, right? I think people who look down on these people here haven’t quite figured out life itself yet A life like that probably wouldn’t be for us either. But that’s up to each individual. What kind of chicken is that? Look at that fluffy hair. I’ve never seen it before. Oi! What was that? What have we gotten ourselves into? I love it How cool is this? I’m going crazy with these chickens. I’m going crazy! Look at their heads! I find it so fascinating, here, there, so many of them. I look the same in the morning . I never show it to anyone, but that’s exactly what I look like in the morning. Well, he just said that almost only men sleep here. I think there’s only one woman or something, and a few children here, and yes, they come here together when they don’t know where else to go. And he says it’s a beautiful family here. He doesn’t have to be here, but he wants to. And somehow it’s really, really cozy. Another such valuable experience for us, to understand once again what home and family mean. A family doesn’t have to be related by blood, and a home doesn’t have to have brick walls. We Germans like to judge, to compare everything with our standards, including ourselves. But life can be so beautiful when you try to spend time with nice and interesting people without judgment. Wow. I use solar energy. Three big batteries, right? Yep. Three. And I just bought the freezer today! Great! I’m so happy about it! Instead of buying ice every day… . And this is your bedroom, right? Yes. Home is where the heart is. That big rocket is Mushy, by the way. This dog, for some reason, has his own TikTok account. Look at him coming again. Coming from behind again… Mushy, get off that man! Mush, you’re in trouble! What the hell, Mushy? He’s excited! [Laughter] I honestly feel like I’m in the movies again. It happens to me all the time in the US, but this place tops it all. It’s incredible. [Music] Hi. Nice to meet you! I’m Hans. My name is Waterboy, nice to meet you. 12,000 miles on a bike! Oh my goodness! They have been in Iraq too! I mean… that’s wild! Little by little the remaining members arrive, including the head of the family, but out of respect we spend the evening with them without a camera. We’re cooking our last Korean spaghetti now. And he just told me: this guy has been here for 17 years and that’s why we’re safe here, because he’s one of the bosses, so to speak, and nobody dares go near him. That’s good to know. I love a few of their quirks. One of them laughs like a horn, a car horn. When he walks past the ducks he always goes “nag, nag” and little things like that, which are just really cool. They’ve just gone to bed. We’re putting up our tent right away. They’re just like people who have left their old lives behind. And the guy who invited us is super, super nice. Mhm. And he’s just had his feet firmly on the ground his whole life. And he made a conscious decision to do this here. He didn’t have to. He worked for the company for 27 years, where he earned enough money. Exactly. He wanted it that way. At some point he got burnout, right? Yes. Yes. But they didn’t help him, and then he said, okay, he has to pack up his things, he has to go somewhere else, and he decided to come here and he’s happy here. Yes, he found a new family, and the evening was wonderful here. Totally. The people are so incredibly nice. Mhm. We really feel at home here, don’t we? Right. Yes, it’s really intense. They’re running around here with shotguns. We hear coyotes howling, and just a moment later we can hear 80s or 90s rock music in the distance. At times on the trip, it all seems like a dream. In moments like these, I’m so grateful to have been able to experience all of this and to meet so many different people and different perspectives, or to have been invited here, around the campfire, and everyone has some kind of story that brought them here. And I feel really comfortable here, and I really wouldn’t have thought that from what I’ve heard. A new day is dawning. Chuck said we can stay as long as we want, but today we’re continuing on through the desert. This has been our life for the past 19 months. Getting to know each other and saying goodbye every day. Good morning. The night was really great. If you wanted to go to the bathroom, This guy freaked out because he thought we were burglars, but then we got along again. The fire is already lit. We feel really safe here. Despite everything we hear and see and so on, it’s just great. Say a really good morning. And the way the caravans and buses are parked in a circle here. It’s like it was done specially for a Hollywood movie. And us with our tent right in the middle of a circle of school buses and caravans. Nobody would believe us if we didn’t have it on video. I’m going to take you to the bathroom now. You walk maybe 150 meters or so, along the fence, and there’s a kind of outhouse. The leader of the circle, I’d say, has some businesses and that’s how they make money, mostly. And they support each other like this And this is the bathroom. I don’t want to put my fingers in there. Yes, so it goes down deep, and after you’ve done it, you take the can and put a bit of sand on it to make it smell less bad. That’s what it looks like. And even the police leave the people here alone. They don’t want to be in this zone at all, they told us. Even if there’s a dead person, like someone with six bullets in their chest and who was obviously killed for something, they just say, “Yeah, another suicide.” So, they just write them off and don’t want to bother the people here. It’s pretty hard to hear. We leave this place, which will always have a place in our hearts, and say goodbye to Chuck and his chickens. They’re just too cool not to show them again. Wow, what a crazy experience! What we also just discovered, which we didn’t know, is that homeless people here can apparently request $290 to buy food. I’m not entirely sure how it works. As I understand it, not everyone can do it. It also depends a bit on your background, and then everyone supports each other and that’s how they get by. If you want to be part of the family, like the family we were just in, the community, so to speak, then you get… you can go and talk to them a bit, and they immediately notice, okay, it’s okay, you fit in, and so on. There are certain rules, for example, no harming animals, no harming children or women, really, really rough rules, and everyone makes that for themselves. Yes, the people were really correct in a weird way, but the person who invited us was a really great person, really great. Yes, I also asked Chuck again if he wanted to be called a hippie, because people here, a few people, do it. He said it was okay, because the 70s were the hippies here, they lived here too, and he ‘s just a 2020 hippie. And I believe him 100%, I completely believe him when he says he’s happy here. And he’s simply found a peaceful place here with his animals, where his soul may also find what it needs. It’s not everyone’s life, and not everyone can live like this and shouldn’t. But if it’s okay for him, I think it’s completely understandable and fine. We continue towards the mountains. This view is deceptive, like a mirage, because the end of this road is nowhere in sight. A perfect black line amidst sand and cacti. That ‘s how I imagine Mexico to be, steppe-like and desert-like. I don’t know if it’s true, but it has that Wild West feeling. We only have three or four days left until we reach Mexico. It’s really not far to the border, and we’ll stay there for a really long time until we leave for Texas again at some point. That’s the plan then all the way to the east coast, to Florida, and then home to Europe. Yes. Once around the world, eh, that’s so crazy. I’m just so hungry. But we don’t have much water with us because we were supposed to cook lunch today, and we don’t want to waste our drinking water. I hope we can find some water somewhere, because it’s really just desert here right now. We won’t die of thirst here because there are cars, but we have no idea when the next village will be. I can’t see anything on the map for the next 130 km. And now there’s a mountain right after this long, endless road. It goes uphill for 50 km. Holy moly. Right after we took video, someone gave us water. One problem less. But what are we going to do with these guys? These days it’s not just some thorny bushes, it’s a 50:50 mix of cacti. I have no idea where we’re going to sleep tonight because the mattress is ruined in no time. The tent too. I mean, just look at this, man. Everything’s full of thorns and such giant trees. Just look at how big these cacti are. dude, we’re not going even a meter in there to camp today. Just look at this. What? Dude, they’re not going out. Try this. Dude, they’ve got barbs. Yeah, they’re not coming out. Oh my God. Oh shit. We’re sleeping on the street tonight. Yeah, I think so too. We’ll find the next traffic island or a roundabout and then goodnight. Little spoiler for the two ignorant cyclists here. Have fun in Mexico! Anyway, the landscape is going to change more drastically over the next 24 hours than we’ve ever seen before. [Music] Yeah, we found a parking space! Ouch! I think we’ll actually hear coyotes from here tonight. Maybe. Wow, this is so cool. I kept thinking, what are we going to do with this stupid tent? Nasty thorns, go away! I think he’s slowly going crazy. I don’t know, if there are thorns, maybe you can trample them flat or something. Right? What? Yeah, just keep going. Good morning. It’s always really, really cold in the morning. It’s 6:30. We still have 23 km to go up the mountain and then we’re just rolling down to San Diego. We even have our own little house there We met someone back in Nepal, at Everest Base Camp, who has a little house there, and she’s not here right now. That’s obviously a premium for us. Our own little house. And now look at what it looks like here. Really red mountains. Wow. And I actually think that was the last time we really needed our jackets in Nepal. The climate is finally more pleasant again after months of torture in wet, hot East Asia. It’s so fascinating. Yesterday it was desert, then the cacti came, and now it’s so green here. How quickly that went—it was only a few kilometers. Yes, it’s intense. To suddenly see the green mountains really blows me away. And how green everything is, how the mountain road winds up the slope next to the colorful trees. Definitely more pleasant to drive than to spend two hours on an endless straight stretch of road looking forward to the next bend There are these yellow acorn trees everywhere, these yellow trees everywhere. Some have acorns like the ones we have at home, and some—just look at that! Hold it up to the sky, because then you can see it so clearly. Holy cow. Look at that thing’s cap, the comparison! Apple orchards. I feel at home. Just landed in South Tyrol and here again. It’s not possible, but we’re at the top. Yes. Yes. We’re now blazing down the slope almost to the sea in San Diego. But we’ll see each other again in Mexico. Until then, ciao ciao.

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