Gyu and Uga

I wasn't at the next rest area for more than 10 minutes before I noticed a promising vulture circling where I was sitting. This time it was a middle aged woman walking her two dogs. She wasn't trying to hide the fact that she was reading my sign; it seemed she didn't know how to break the ice, so I did. After telling her good evening in Japanese, she asked me if the Fukuoka was OK. We got into the car and she put her two terriers, Gyu and Uga, in the back with my pack. She told me her dogs were surprisingly quiet for me being a stranger, so I must be I nice guy. I didn't say much at first and was shocked at how brave she was, a woman traveling alone and picking up a foreign traveler.

After the formalities, Ms. Hino broke off into quite a conversation for a one hour drive. We talked about traveling, home brewing, organic food, her daughter, and cooking. She had traveled to America many times and visited Paul Newman's house, falling in love with him and organic food. She was a chef at a restaurant in Fukuoka and had a daughter studying English in Vancouver, Canada. She was literally on the edge of her seat, excited to asking me questions and giving me advice about food in Japan. She was nice enough to offer to make me a reservation at a cheap hotel in Fukuoka and drop me off there. It was around 11 o'clock, I had been traveling fast, so I asked her told her I wanted to shoot for Hiroshima, so a rest stop with a lot of traffic would be best. We stopped at a very large rest stop with a 24 hour convenience store and a lot of long-haul trucks. After she pointed out where each truck was headed, we exchanged goodbyes. I asked her if I could have her photo just before she hopped back into her car. She shyly asked me if I would take one of the dogs instead.