Antioch to Courtland and walking, CA
Saturday April 18, 2009
6:00am I just woke up. I got 7.12 hours of sleep.
Sunrise behind pier
6:48am I am up and at 'em. I'm going to go wash my hands, at least. I crashed underneath the bridge. Last night before I went to bed I took a piss around the corner. I noticed some dark object at my feet, I thought it was a big bag or something, I bent down to touch it and realized it was a dead cat! Fuck, I need to wash my hands, at least. I went to the bathrooms they have here but all the toilets were overflowed and I couldn't get in.
Park
6:52am I walked over to the bridge. I walked the off-ramp and I'm on the highway right on the other side of the toll booth. There's a pedestrians prohibited sign. I'm going to thumb it.
6:56am It seems like a guy from the tollbooth is walking over to talk to me.
He told me I couldn't stand there, that it was state property and that I had to stand on the other side of the booth.
7:13am I am giving up on thumbing it. I'm going to walk back to the gas station I was at last night. I'll ask people if they're going over the bridge.
7:45am Scott, him and his friends saw my shirt at the ARCO/AM/PM and he's hooking me up with a nugget. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit. Thanks a lot.
8:03am Hell yeah, I am so happy. I walked back to the gas station I was at last night and these golf player guys saw my shirt. One said, "Yeah, we didn't think you were homeless." I told him I was working undercover and they laughed. I asked them, "Hey, are you guys going over the bridge?" They said yes and I got my ride! Thank you, LOVE. Thank you. Praise the universe and how it provides. And I got some weed! But, there's always a catch. I lost my blue tarp that cute Molly had fastened with a cute rhino ribbon. I left it in their truck. Oh yeah, I got to tell all these rich golfer guys my story. They dropped me off a lot closer to Sacramento, so I'm on my way. I am having fun. What a beautiful ride.
8:08am Hmm, all these factors are lining up. I've got food, I've got weed and I am only forty one miles away from Sacramento. I'm going to take a picture of the sign.
Piss bottle on side of road
I should make an update by now. They dropped me off on Highway 160 and Hwy 12, 41 miles away from Sacramento. The road right here is practically shoulder-less. There's no room to walk barely at all. The cars are pretty spread out on this road so I was hopping back and forth across the highway to avoid cars. I came to this little park. Cliffhouse, I'll take pictures. I noticed they had a picnic bench so I've just been chilling here smoking weed. I manifested some tobacco out of the trashcan. This one old lady stopped here for something and I gave her my website. Luckily, I found two pouches of tobacco in the trash cans. I thought they would be empty but they both had a little tiny bit left in them. I was bummed because I didn't have any rolling papers. I was wondering how I was going to smoke it. I remembered I had that glass one hitter that had the broken tip to it. I've since bought a new one and never use it, so I thought it just to use it for tobacco. It worked like a charm and smoking this way I'll be able to take cigarette drags at every smoke break. I am ready to walk.
People fishing
9:10am I am leaving from my break. I wonder how I'm going to walk this highway. There's no room for anybody to pull over for me, so I have to walk it. Tricky road. Not pedestrian friendly one bit.
At the park I got a good breakfast stop and ate a Subway sandwich. It's awesome, I had two of them. That was awesome how quickly I got out of San Jose. How I scored that courtesy ride then got hooked up with train fare and then walked out the emergency gate again, ha. I gave the lady the peace sign as I walked out.
Walking River Road
9:24am Angelo is being nice enough to give me a cigarette. Where am I?
9:42am I stopped for another smokebreak. I bummed a cigarette off of Angelo, this cool black guy who was fishing near the road.
There's a little shoulder right now, so I'm glad. Angelo told me there was a gas station over by the palm trees in the distance. I took a picture.
Walked to the palms
9:58am I am stopping in front of 15561, by mile marker 2.50. Some farm. I took a picture. Maybe I'll try and thumb it from here. I don't know. I got where the palm trees were and there's no gas station here. I was lied to.
10:07am I think I ended up walking the wrong way, because I'm all stoned. I don't know. I might have walked the correct way. I'm going to go back to the palm trees. Hmm, what side has the water been on the whole time?
10:44am I just walked into the town of Isleton. Still following the water. Welcome.
Master Baiter
10:55am I'm coming up on Main Street. Point of Historical Interest. 1874
11:09am Sharon is being nice enough to give me a cigarette in Isleton. I appreciate it, Sharon. Everybody gets credit.
11:35am I should make some updates. That lady I gave my website to at first, she gave me a cigarette. Then I sat down on some bench and talked to this kid. I walked to 160, mile marker 5.00. I'm going to thumb it for a little bit. Ah, I might walk it. It's ten miles to the next gas station, the kid told me. The road here is shoulder-less and I had to trample through grass. If it's like this for all ten miles it's going to be a bitch.
11:53am Coming up on a drawbridge. I hope I'll be able to walk over it. Cumberland Draw bridge. 39 miles to Sacramento. What? I've only walked a measly two miles? This is taking forever. From all the resting and smoking, hehe.
I forgot to tell you when I crossed the drawbridge, but I did. I'm walking now.
12:08pm I took an impromptu meal break. I'm going to eat the last of my food even though I still have eight miles to go to the gas station. I don't care. I have multivitamins. I'll make it. I'm running low on water too.
12:25pm Leaving from my break. I'm all stoned. I'm full too. I ate some of this pudding cake I got hooked up with at the First Christian Church in San Jose. It's not that good taste-wise, but it fills up my belly and I've got lots of it.
12:35pm Coming up on Poverty Road.
River Road
12:57pm Mile marker 8.00
1:04pm I'm going to take a smokebreak. I walked to the end of that sight-distance I took a picture of. I'm going to take a break. I was looking for some shade and behind this cement thing by the river I found a palm tree. I can sit on my pack here in the shade. I had to climb down a little trail to get to it. Perfect. I'm going to take a smokebreak and eat a little too.
1:24pm I'm done with my break. It sucked, there were these little spiders everywhere. I hope none of them got on me and is burrowing around under my clothes now. I'm going to climb back up the trail and keep walking the highway.
1:47pm Mile marker 9.50
1:50pm About to cross Walker Landing Road. I'll take a picture.
River Road
1:59pm Mile marker 10.00
2:00pm Passing 14400 whatever street this is. Souza's
2:07pm Coming up on this mobile home community. Tunnel. I'm going to stop and ask someone if they can spare any water.
Nobody would come out of the trailer. They were scared of me. I got some more water out of a hose.
2:44pm Mile marker 11
2:49pm I just walked into the tiny town of Ryde. I took a picture. Population 60, Elevation 1. I hope this is where the gas station is at. It feels like I've walked ten miles already.
2:57pm I've walked 7 miles from Isleton. Walnut Grove is 3 miles. That will be ten, where the gas station is. There was nothing in Ryde. I've got three more miles left, which will take me another hour or so.
Distances
3:07pm Taking a break a little bit after the sign. I am taking my time today.
3:22pm Leaving from my break. I took it early.
Stupid-me, I should've been wearing my clown wig during this walk. Maybe I'll just wear it for the last three miles.
3:30pm Jim Shanks Ranch. I took a picture.
4:03pm I thought I was going to pass the city limits at 4:20 like I did when I walked to Morro Bay not that long ago[2-4-09:4:19pm], but I'm already in Walnut Grove. Sweet.
Bridge
4:10pm I came to the Central Market here thinking it might get busy, but it's really dead. I thought I was going to rest here, but there's a gas station in this town supposedly so I'm going to keep walking.
4:12pm Imelda en Tacos Primos en Walnut Grove me esta dando comida. Te lo agradesco, Imelda. Todo el mundo recibe credito, gracias por ayurdarme.
4:23pm Drew hooked me up with a cigarette in Walnut Grove. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit.
Welcome to Walnut Grove.
4:34pm Hell yeah, I got hooked up with two tacos at the taco van. The gas station is on the other side of the drawbridge right here. I saw that taco van and thought, "Hell yeah! I'm going to eat!" Called that shit. Imelda was real nice. Then just then these two white dudes pull up and I hit them up for a cigarette. They saw my shirt and he handed me a cigarette telling me, "Just because what your shirt says is true." He hooked me up and then his friend hooked me up with another one too. I'm going to walk over the drawbridge now.
4:53pm I am having a really big dilemma. I feel bad that I'm not logging enough, like I'm not working as hard as I should be. Then on the other hand I need to stay free to do this mission and be happy doing it and go the simplest way. I feel like anybody can be doing what I'm doing. That's why it's free. I mean, I should even describe what I'm wearing every day. I'm wearing my black WPMTJ shirt. Every morning I should tell you what I'm wearing. I'm wearing my cargo camo shorts for this walk, the ones I put a small patch in the crotch of. I sewed a button on it too. I'm thumbing it right now. Man, somebody give me a ride, please.
5:10pm Kristin is giving me a ride out of Walnut Grove. Not very far though. I told her that every little bit helped. Everybody gets credit. Thanks a lot.
5:19pm Sweet, I just got a little tiny ride. I'm just going to stand here and thumb it. I might walk. I have a little food. It'll probably get dark pretty soon, so I'll have my eyes peeled for a good campsite. It's twenty miles to Clarksburg, I think she said. I should've probably just stayed at the drawbridge. She gave me a ride to Leary Road.
6:04pm Walking into the town of Courtland.
6:09pm Mile marker 22. Hmm, I saw a sign for a library.
6:12pm I am 4 miles from Hood, 12 miles from Freeport and a mere 21 miles away from Sacramento. I came to the Courtland Market here. I'm going to thumb it.
Courtland Docks
6:27pm Nice Katie just volunteered me some money so I can get me some food. Everybody gets credit. Thanks a lot.
Distances
7:12pm I am taking my time in front of the market. The market is closed already. I'll take a picture of the market here. They had a 36 cents/gallon water thing outside. I poured out the water I got from the hose earlier and refilled it with fresh water. My bag only holds three liters so I wasted some water, sorry. I got hooked up with seven bucks by that nice lady Katie. I bought some snacks. I'm going to go find a campspot because it's starting to get dark. I am a measly 21 miles away from Sacramento. I'm hoping there will be a city bus pretty soon that will take me into town. I'm going to keep walking now. I'm all hydrated. I drank a lot of water.
7:17pm I've been walking River Road for a while now. Just crossing Randall Island Road.
I'm really loving these new shoes I got at Prado[3-30-09:10:35am]. The ShoeGoo treatment on my boots was done yesterday. I could've put my camo boots back on, but these new ones I got are more comfortable to walk in. These shoes are tough. They say Trek Expedition on them. Timberland brand. They're thirteen's, but they're hiking shoes.
7:32pm I was walking by Aria's birthday party. The party saw me walking by and Steve Craner ran up to me and asked me if I needed any water. I told him thanks anyway, I had just gotten my bag refilled. He went inside and came back out with some fruit for me. I really appreciate it, Steve. Everybody gets credit.
Another roadkill memorial
7:54pm Passing mile marker 24.
8:30pm I should make an update by now. I already found my campsite in this random orchard. If someone were to kneel down and look this way they could see me. The people who live on this farm are popping off fireworks, so they're paying attention to that. It's almost dark now. It's about dark. I'm pretty sure this is a safe spot.
There's a sprinkler head nearby and I only noticed until I had already made my bed. Damn, it might go off in the morning and get my soaked. I put a Ziploc bag over it.
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