061603

 

Midland to Odessa, TX

Monday June 16, 2003

     6:46am  I just woke up at the Salvation Army. It's already Monday the 16th, I believe. Man, The Salvation Army sucks. They have all these bullshit rules.

     7:06am  I just came down from eating breakfast. What was your name again, brother? Jim hooked me up with a cigarette. That's very generous of you, Jim. I appreciate it. It'll come back to you. I promise.

     7:47am  Cory, a bunkmate reminded me I hadn't finished my story. I told him I was going to go downstairs by the couches and for him to meet me out there later on. He eventually came outside and met me. I took a couple hits and he told me a story of his own. He told me how god had talked to him and saved him. I told him not to sell himself short. That he saved himself. I also suggested he type that story up and send it to me. I promised him it would be on my site when I get it up. I'm going to go to the library and start my day.

     7:50am  I'm walking up to the Midland County Public Library. Shit, the library opens at 9am.

     8:00am  I was considering walking to the Presbyterian church because I couldn't find the pamphlet I had with the address. I stopped right before I got to the church and looked through my bag. Tada, found the pamphlet and it has a map on it. Hopefully, it'll take me an hour to get there. It's on the other side of the railroad tracks. Well, later on.

                   Big Spring to Golf Course, turn right until I get to the mission.

     8:11am  I walked over the bridge, past the railroad tracks and cool, Tim's awake. He's going to let me have a cigarette. Thanks a lot, Tim.

     8:40am  Okay, I fucked up. I went the wrong direction. I should be on the other side of downtown. I was walking down Big Spring the wrong way. This sucks. Now I'm doubling back. I got to Collins road and Big Spring. Now I'm walking back.

     8:48am  I'm walking down Marienfeld. I'm almost downtown. I'm at the railroad tracks.

     8:49am  I might as well stop at the library and check my email. Since I'm right here.

     9:05am  I'm at the library. I have to wait until 9:30am for the Internet to turn on. The librarian gave me some bullshit excuse about how they do a daily virus scan until 9:30am. She's full of shit.

     9:11am  I'm reading this backpacker magazine. It has a section titled, "Top 5 Books to Read out in the Wilderness." Coming to the Country by John Mcfee, A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, Desert Solitaire by Edwin Abbey, The Odyssey by Homer and Touching the Void by Joe Simpson.

     9:37am  I had absolutely no new email.

     9:56am  I'm on the corner of Cutberth and Big Spring. Nobody has a cigarette. I walked to the El Burrito restaurant. Let's see if I can score some food. Cool, this nice lady just stopped and let me cross. Her light was green. Oh yeah, the lady at El Burrito told me no, because the manager wasn't there. Oh yeah, right behind the building there's that same mural I saw last time I was in Midland. It reads, "Change the world, one kid at a time." On the other side it says, "Heal the world." Cool.

     10:06am  I walked into the Church's Chicken and hit this black dude James up for some gasoline for my stomach. He told me he didn't have anything made, since it was early. Then he reached onto the counter and handed me a Honeybun. That's very generous of you, James. Thank you.

     10:15am  I'm walking down Big Spring coming up on Golf Course.

     10:20am  I'm here at the St. Andrews Presbyterian Mission. I'm going to dig through my bag to find my old pocket calendar. I have that lady's name in there somewhere.

                     Cool, her name is Sylvia and I didn't have to look through my bag. I realized I had logged everything last month on my current pocket calendar. I had written it all down since I didn't have my tape recorder last time.

                     Whoa, totally not what I expected. I walked in and saw Sylvia. I asked her if she remembered me and she got mad and said, "Yes, and you're supposed to be in California!" I tried explaining to her how the voucher she gave me last time wouldn't work. She told me it had worked just fine for everyone else they had helped out with bus fare. She totally didn't believe me and thought I was lying.

     7:32am  Okay, time for Plan B. I'm going to walk to the Presbyterian church and talk to Pastor Steve eventually.

     11:19am  I walked by St. Mark's United Methodist church and saw that the door was open. Cool, let me go see if I can talk to somebody. Sure enough, I am now talking to Reverend Matthews. I told him my story and he seems to be practicing what he preaches(unlike all the other church folk I've talked to). Without me even asking, he gave me seven dollars, which I will put to good use. Thanks, brother.

                     Badass, the dude at St. Mark's gave me $7! He prayed for me, too. He asked God to send people my way and help me.

     11:36am  I got a cigarette from the Midland Wastewater guy in front of Church's.

     11:51am  I had remembered that they guy at Church's that hooked me up with the honeybun before, told me to stop by again later when they had food made. So, here I am. I walked inside and it was super crowded, it's almost lunch hour. I stood there for about ten minutes seeing if the crowd would thin out. It never did so I said screw it and went outside to smoke a cigarette. Well, I was just sitting there smoking and Raymond, an employee at Church's, walks out and asks me if I want something to eat. I tell him how I'm traveling and I could always eat. He pulls out his wallet and hands me a $5 bill. Dude, without me asking. Badass, brother.

                     Cool, I have twelve dollars in my wallet now. That gives me an idea. If the Presbyterian church doesn't hook me up with a bus ticket, I'm just going to go around asking all the churches. They're a dime-a-dozen here. I'll have bus fare in no time.

     12:13pm  I'm at the First Presbyterian church now. I'm going to see if I can use the restroom first, then I'll talk to Pastor Steve.

                     Damn, Pastor Steve is out to lunch. I'm going to go buy a pack of cigarettes, hehe.

                     I went down two blocks from H street and Wall. I'm going to EZ Mart to buy some cigarettes.

                     I'm telling the girl here at EZ Mart what I'm doing. At first she said, "I was afraid to ask." So now I'm going to tell her my stories. Badass. Her name is Corinne.

     1:00pm  It's time I head back to the church to talk to Pastor Steve. I didn't have time to tell Corinne my whole California story because she had to go back to work. So, I got her email address. Hehe, I'm going to fuck the system good.

     1:09pm  I'm at the church waiting for Pastor Steve. I'm sitting down on the bench.

                   Pastor Steve finally came out and I threw some scripts at him. In the end, he probably thought I was crazy, because he didn't hook me up with a bus ticket, even though had already agreed last time. Oh well, Plan C. I'm real close to the Warfield Truck Terminal.

     2:43pm  I walked over to the Greyhound. See, Ruben lives in Odessa. I was pretty sure Warfield Truck Stop was on its way to Odessa. Ruben agreed to give me a ride to the truckstop after 8pm tonight. I'm going to go to the library and email my friend Dalia(that I met last time I came through Midland). I just wrote her an email describing all that had happened so far. I told her it'd be really cool if I could say hi before I left. I told her to stop by the truckstop if possible.

     3:06pm  I'm at the library now.

     4:15pm  I typed up a big, long letter to Dalia. I gave her my status and asked her to meet me at the truckstop.

     4:26pm  I just talked to Mike Filibur, some priest downtown. He went in some tall building, so now I'm scared he's going to come assassinate me, hehe. Just joking.

     4:34pm  I was walking downtown and noticed a barber shop. I walked inside and asked the barber, "How much would you charge me for a #1 buzz?" He told me eight bucks, so I threw him my ol' I'm-writing-a-book-on-generosity-that-the-whole-world-is-going-to-read line. He said, "Okay, I'll pay for it. Sit down." Sweet!! I got me a free haircut in Midland, TX!! Haha, if George Bush Jr. only knew, hehe.

     4:54pm  I stopped at the coffee shop. I'm going to go outside and smoke a cigarette then I'll go inside and tell them my ideas. Cool, by the coffee shop there are all these wood cutouts shaped like zoo animals. It says, "Please don't feed the animals." Hardee har har, hehe.

     5:00pm  I walked into the coffee shop and I'm talking with Becka. I'm getting her email address.

     5:32pm  I was walking around downtown and I saw Baird street(which is the street the Salvation Army is on). Oh shit, they feed dinner at 5pm. I'm late. I'm going to follow Baird and see if I hit it. Maybe I won't be too late.

                   I'm on North Baird and I think it's on East Baird. It's all the same shit, right?

     5:51pm  It turns out I was on the wrong side of town. I should be closer to the Greyhound station now.

     6:33pm  I came to the Greyhound and am talking to Ruben. I'm going to Odessa. Let's see what happens over there.

     7:00pm  I just threw a quick shave at the Greyhound station with liquid soap.

     8:35pm  Guess what. I'm in Odessa. Ruben gave me a ride. I asked him if he knew of any place where I could score a nickel sack of weed. He took me to the Greyhound station in Odessa, where his friend Eric works, then took off to find my ganja.

                   Ruben took a long ass time. I got all paranoid because I had left my walking stick and Adidas bag in his car. He finally came back and it turned out he couldn't score. He gave me my five dollars back, of course. While Ruben was gone, Eric and I got into some really deep conversation. He, like everyone else, would like there to be peace in this world, but he is very doubtful and too dedicated to his independence to put others before him, or so I thought. I asked Eric if he could give me a ride to the truckstop and he agreed. Thanks Eric. I appreciate it, brother.

     11:35pm  Eric just dropped me off at Warfield Truck Terminal, once again. Damn, the dude who hooked me up with a chili dog last time isn't working. I asked the girl working how much chili dogs were and she shrugged it off and said, "Don't worry about it." Whoa, free chili dogs to travelers must be a custom at this truck stop. Cool. Her name is Jody and she hooked me up just like the guy did a month ago.

     12:30am  I started telling Jody my California story and this black dude overheard. I told Jody to give me a minute while I go smoke a cigarette. Well, the black dude(his name is Trey) asked me if I wanted to smoke a blunt! Fuck yeah! So, we came to his truck and we're going to smoke!! I let Trey in on my plan.

 

Next day..