We woke up hungry. All our provisions from home ran out, and we didn't have too many things. We returned over the bustling highway to the truck stop. We bought just a little food and stuck our thumb.
This day, the daily challenge was YES man, we were supposed to say "Yes" to everything. We said NO to the challenge from the start.
We stopped a guy from the Netherlands that has a company in Spain. He just bought a new car in Germany and went home through France.
He indirectly offered that we may go with him to Spain. That was where we said no and forfeited the YES man challenge.
He was starting his company with solar panels. The Spanish government finally decided to deregulate them (previously by the interests of big-energy, having panels meant high fees, how dare they!). So we spent a lot of time cursing our governments, and the road was going well until the turn to Avignon.
We stopped a few cars to get to Avignon. It is a beautiful city, still protected by city walls. We decided to do the first local challenge here.
But first of all, we needed some strength. And warm food. Anywhere, that role for us was fulfilled by McDonald's. It is cheap. It has air conditioning and toilets.
Our task was to perform something on the music Sur le Pont d'Avignon. And try to get some money, at least 10 euro to fulfill this challenge.
Generally, I don't like people begging in the street. Musicians are a little better, but I would not give them too much money. Moreover, I felt I wouldn't deserve payment.
Ada did gymnastics for years. We decided that it would be some gymnastics performance. So the task would be the most on her shoulders.
We decided on general terms, but it was kind of scary to do that, so we went around Avignon. We saw the bridge where everyone dances (or danced), the papal palace and then we went to a park.
In a park, we brainstormed what can we do. We were thinking about whether I may be helpful with my rudimentary gymnastics abilities. We tried some things, but I was not too great. I'm not sure about myself, and performing anything on a marble would be dangerous. So we decided only Ada would perform. I was watching and providing (valuable) comments.
While discussing and training, we noticed someone watching us from a nearby bench. We decided to explain to the woman what we were doing, such that we were not weirdos in that particular park. We planned to be a lot weirder on the main square.
We told her that we compete in Xchallenge, and one of the challenges is to earn money on the street. She decided to give us some money. We insisted that this was a challenge and that we should earn them differently, but she insisted. We also insisted that we didn't need them. But after a while, she said she needed to go and left the money there and walked away. We lost the argument, and we had to take the money.
Too bad we didn't know why she gave us the money. I guessed that she used to do gymnastics, and she saw that Ada was good. But maybe, she saw us practicing, and she knew that we would die by hunger trying to earn money by that.
The loss of argument with the woman encouraged us to go to the main square. From the woman, we got 10 euros. The challenge required precisely that amount. We thought that maybe if we get a bit less money than 10 euros, we can say we did the challenge anyway.
With that, Ada started to exercise. She was making flips and other tricks. Some people stopped and watched and even clapped. But when they began to accumulate, Ada needed to rest, and they dissolved into the surrounding crowd.
Ada was performing for around 20 minutes. We started to hate the song Sur le pond d'Avignon, and there was no money in our jar, except the money the woman gave us. Ada was exhausted. Exercising on marble was hard.
We decided to say we did the challenge anyway. We uploaded the video and wrote a short story about it. We did the challenge: We earned 10 euros performing on the streets after all.
Later in Mcdonald's, we thought about why it didn't work. If we would talk more and perform less, the crowd would get bigger. We could also convince them to give us something by talking. It was proven more effective. Next time, we need to create a show where people know what is happening. Also, we need to emphasize that we are there for the money. And we should probably pressure them to give us some.
The last task of the day was to get out of Avignon and then find a spot to sleep. It wasn't so easy. On the road from Avignon, I found a good place to hitchhike. In the city center, hitchhiking is tricky. But the place was after a bridge that was only for cars. We had five kilometers detour in front of us. It was getting dark. We didn't know where we could sleep.
We became nervous and a bit combative. We were tired and helpless. I just stopped and watched the map. Probably for quite a long time because I hoped I would find a way to cross the river quickly and without detour. We thought about going to a hostel and sleeping there. That would be great.
I was weighing all possible dark futures, but actually, I was thinking how much would a flight Avignon-Soběšovice (my home village) cost. Ada went for a walk.
When I stopped watching the phone and being depressed, I noticed Ada nearby talking to someone. Close by was a skate and BMX park where young (gangsters) speeded their bikes.
She watched them for a bit, and then she stroked conversation with Jean-Claude. He was not the youngster there. He was a bit over forty, but he was embarrassing teenagers. He was good on his BMX.
Talking to him, we asked if, by any chance, he has a garden where we can build our tent and sleep there. He said he had to call his wife, he did, and she agreed.
We were elated. We enjoyed the ride in a van without seats. (They were gone for Jean-Claude to fit his bike.) We ducked the whole way, but we were looking forward to the tent in a safe place.
Jean-Claude ordered a pizza for us, and he let us take a shower. Then we talked about life and everything.
I was not able to talk as much as towards the end of the journey, so most of the conversation was taken care of by Ada. It got better after Jean-Claude offered us some vine.
Jean-Claude's house was cozy. He lives with his wife and son. They visited a lot of countries. His son was out of the house that day, so we got his bed.
So we slept deeply in a comfortable bed. It was a great day!