Nomad Life - Day 96

It's a new work week!  Hoping to stay on East Coast time (especially with a trip to DC coming up next week), I woke up (with alarm) at 0430 and started teleworking.  I ate breakfast in my room at the Motel 6 in Old Sacramento and had a series of meetings until just after 0900.  After that, I took a walk nearby (0915).  It was overcast and a bit cooler than I expected (50s).  By heading north, I was able to get inside Discovery Park.  It costs money to enter with a car but is free for pedestrians.  After crossing a bridge over the American River, I found myself in the heart of the park on the north side of Sacramento.  There were lots of signs about the history of the area and I encountered some good descriptions of the engineering that was required to move the American River away from the downtown area (in the Nineteenth Century).  Basically, I realized I was was on reclaimed land.  Using the Merlin App, I was able to ID 28 species of birds!  I also saw some deer - they seemed fearless.  During my travels, I ended up walking one mile of the Jedidiah Smith Memorial Trail (paved bike path).  Along the way, I encountered an archery field and lots of picnic facilities.  When I tried to locate the Nisipowinan Village California Historical Landmark No. 900, though, I was unsuccessful.  It occurred to me that there were lots of places in Discovery Park where camping might be comfortable.  There were many signs that discouraged this, though - I did notice people with large bags walking nearby.  Felling comfortable that I'd fully scoped out the western end of the park, I walked back towards the Sacramento River's edge.  In that area, I located another bike trail (closer to my motel) called the Sacramento (or American ?) River Bike Trail - it allows people in Discovery Park to access Old Sacramento.  I think I'll try to walk that tomorrow!  As I was finishing my 10K steps (roughly four miles), I noticed some tall statues of Jedidiah Smith and other historical figures from the area.  These were located in front of a Mexican Restaurant across the street from the Motel 6.  When I saw that Nena's Mexican Cuisine was open (1045), I sat down inside and ordered lunch: delicious salsa, chips, Enchilada combo (cheese, chicken, beef), rice, beans, warm (freshly made) tortilla (with butter).  All of the food was excellent!  I was about to pay when I realized I hadn't brought my credit card - fortunately, I had my Apple Pay and everything worked just fine.  Returning to my motel (1130), I noticed a lot of homeless people sleeping on the streets nearby.  This explained the iron gate, which my room key allowed me to access...  In my room again, I spent several more hours working on my computer.  I finally knocked off at 1700) - beyond that, I took a 60 minute nap.  Starting at 1800, I worked on finances and blog entries (still catching up from my Southeast Asia Trip).  I had a few more interactions with Mollie (2026 Thanksgiving planning), listened to music and then watched movies on YouTube until bed time (2230).  Not too shabby of a day in Old Sacremento!