062403

 

Rest stop to Truth or Consequences, NM

Tuesday June 24, 2003

     5:30am  I just woke up in my little hideout. Cool, I'm going to get to see the sunrise. It's going to be beautiful. Wow, this is a badass little hangout I found for myself last night. I don't think anyone has been up here before. I had to break all these branches out of the way. People couldn't have gotten up there with all those branches in the way, so maybe it was the very first time in the history of this rest stop that someone has crashed up there before. Talk about resourceful, eh? I am rather proud, hehe.

     5:54am  I am considering continuing walking the Journey of the Dead Man. Nah, I can get a ride, I'm sure. Ask and thou shall receive, hehe.

     6:09am  Here comes the sun over that mountain. It's boootiful.

     7:08am  I got my ride finally! I'm going to Hatch. Kickass. Patience is virtue.

     7:12am  We just stopped at a border patrol station and they asked me if I was a U.S. citizen, which I am. Everything is cool.

     7:42am  Ruben is the generous man who gave me a ride from the rest stop to Caballo Lake. Another state park. De ja vu. Damn, Ruben just told me it was supposed to get to 104 degrees today. There better be a river at this park. This place is like a repeat of where the last state park was at exit 19. The overpass looks identical. Hehe, there's the same sign that says "Pedestrians Prohibited".

                   Ruben hooked me up with a bottle of water, too. He said it was going to get to 104 degrees today. Now, with the addition of my backpack, my Triforce of Wealth has been converted to my Quadforce of Wealth. My water bottle, My Adidas bag, my walking stick and my backpack. As long as I have all four of these, I have everything I own/need.

     8:00am  I have my choice of state parks. I can either go to the Percher Dam State Park to my left, or the Caballo Lake State Park to the right. I'm going to go to the Caballo Lake on first. I've already seen a dam.

     8:04am  I just walked up to the sign that says, "United States Department of Interior Bureau of Reclamation - Caballo Dam. Constructed in 1936 to 1938. Length of dam 4,590 feet. Height of dam 96 feet. Capacity 344,000 acre feet. Surface Area 11,613 acres." Damn, that's a big-ass dam. It's 96 feet tall. Crazy.

                   Okay, I'm walking down this road towards the river. Found me a penny on the ground. Lucky day.

                   Okay, I went down this winding dirt trail and I ended up next to this big . . I guess it's the dam. I don't see any water anywhere though. Oh, there's the water. Forget it. I'm going to walk to the top and see what kind of view there is up there.

     8:24am  Holy shit. There's a big huge ass lake here. Oh damn.

     8:30am  I'm at the Caballo Lake State Park Riverside Recreation Area.

     9:02am  I'm am a measly 18 miles away from Truth or Consequences. I'm going to walk around this park and see if I can get a ride.

     9:14am  What were your names again? Laura and Bruce. These very generous souls are giving me a ride. Originally, I just asked for a ride to the highway so I could start walking. I thought I could do 18 miles in a couple days easy. Well, I told them of my destination and they're hooking me up with a ride all the way to TRC(short for Truth or Consequences). Thank you guys so much. I really appreciate it.

     9:35am  I am in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico! Those caring souls that gave me a ride even volunteered a $20 bill! I'm going to go buy me a pack of cigarettes and eat! Shweet! This is a badass little town. It reminds me of Northern Exposure. Dude, I got twenty dollars. There's a Radio Shack right here. I'm going to go buy me a blank microcassette.

                   I told the guys at the Radio Shack all my shit, but they wouldn't hook me up. $3 for a 60 minute tape. Fuck that.

                   I went into . . shit I can't understand the name I recorded. I think it was Sheeves Bookstore. Anyway, the dude in there got all pissed off when I told him how I was going to eliminate money. He told me I was barking up the wrong tree. I told him he could wait to hear about it when the rest of the world did and that ignorance is bliss and I walked out. Hehe.

     10:05am  I went to this restaurant and gave em my 'ol gasoline-for-the-stomach line. These people are so nice. Instead of just hooking me up she brought me a water and handed me a menu. I asked her, "Everything's cool, though?" She said, "Yeah, get whatever you want." I insisted she surprise me and she brought me this big ass breakfast. Yummy. Good things happen to me. I love this town. I told the truth and received the consequences, hehe. Oh yeah, the name of the restaurant is BBQ on Broadway Cafe.

                     Sweet. Solid food rules.

     10:22am  At long last, breakfast is served. Mmm, 2 huge pancakes and some egg and bacon. Yummy. Oh damn, this shit is so good.

     10:33am  Oh my gosh. I haven't been this full in such a long time. I'm stuffed.

                     United we stand? Divided we fall? Umm, I say we can stand divided, too. We are going to have to.

     10:40am  I just finished eating. Louis, the manager, hooked me up real good. That was a good twenty mile meal. Thanks a lot Louis.

                     Yummy, I just scored big time at the Cafe. I'm not hungry at all now.

                     Umm, I'm going to go to the Greyhound and see how much the bus is. I got seven dollars left. I'll probably have to round up like three. Then, I'll come back and spread the word some more before the bus leaves.

     11:03am  Hmm, the only bus that goes North comes at 2:40am and it goes to Albuquerque. It's like $30.

     11:54am  I walked into, What's the name of this store? Smith's Variety Store. I'm talking to Aaron and telling him my story.

                     Dude, Aaron just hooked me up with three 60-minute microcassettes. Hell yeah.

     12:03pm  I went into this other store and they had some cheap tennis balls. I grabbed them and walked up to the cashier and told her, "Hi, my name is Victor and I'm a long distance walker/journalist. I'm writing a book on generosity that the whole world is going to read. I really need a tennis ball for my walking stick, but I don't have any money." She said she couldn't hook me up, but paid for them anyway. Badass. I told her what I was going to do. She looked at me funny when I mentioned marijuana. I told her I was going to prove that it's human-nature to be generous, just like she just did. Hmm, I keep seeing a sign pointing to the library, but I can never find it.

     12:25pm  Lemme try and find this library again. I just got directions. It's on 3rd street.

                     Okay, I'm still walking towards the library. I just went up this really big hill. I'm up on 2nd and the library's on 3rd. I'm going to go check my email.

     12:34pm  Now entering the Truth or Consequences Public Library.

     1:24pm  I just checked my email and no one had mailed me. That sucks. Umm, I'm going to go to churches and see if anyone can help me with bus fare. They'll probably do it.

     1:55pm  What was your name? Jeff Ducat of Ducat71, here's my card. Jeff said they hold the world's record for the most CD's on the outside of a building. Hehe, he added that hey were the first ones to do it, so they have the world's record by default. This information comes from the Guiness Book of World Records. 8500 CD's total.

                    I had walked by Jeff's shop and went inside and told him about my book on generosity. I asked him if he had any labor I could do for bus fare. He said no, but he went to the back and got me a badass tie-dye shirt. It says Truth or Consequences - Hot Springs Capital of the World. He even signed it for me with a marker.

     2:18pm  I got the idea to go to the police station and ask them if I would get in trouble for flying a sign for bus fare in this town. The cool lady I talked to is going to see if she can get me a voucher for my bus ticket to Albuquerque! It's going to be cool. I got my ID and no warrants. Everything should go fine. The police are here to help. To protect and serve.
                   Aww, the lady has the picture of Stuart on her Windows XP desktop. That black dog titled 'Friend'. It's a spitting image of my old dog(which my ex took to Florida). If you have Windows XP, right-click on the desktop, properties and change the desktop wallpaper to Friend. Check out my dog. Man, I miss Stuart so much. I can't wait to see him again.
                   Whoa, the nice lady at the police station hooked me up with a $5 voucher for food, too. Awesome! Sweet, now I have money to buy cigarettes. I have to give this lady a hug.

     3:31pm  What was your name again? Sandra at the police station hooked me up real good. I had just come in and asked if I would get in trouble for flying a sign, so I could round up some bus fare. She asked me, "Oh, you need a bus ticket?" She gave me a bus voucher and another one for food.

                    Shweet. Badass. I just came out of the police station. I got my food voucher, I got my bus voucher and I got $15. I can go buy a pack of cigarettes and some food. Man, this town is badass. I can't wait to come back and explore it more thoroughly. I catch the Greyhound at 2:45am.

                    I walked up to this boutique. Second Hand Rose. I notice they had some peace signs out front. I have to talk to these people.

                    I talked to this beautiful girl. I don't know where she's from. Turkey I am guessing, but she is damn pretty. She's older than me and she actually listened to me. She's hot. Now that's the truth. Give me a consequence, hehe.

                   The food voucher they gave me was only valid at this gas station Bullock's. I bought a lot of shit for five dollars. I thought I would be over, for sure. I got a big bag of vanilla crème cookies. I got some snacks. I got some donuts and some chocolate milk too. I can smoke a cigarette to it after I eat. Perfect traveling food.

     3:42pm  Got my Greyhound voucher. Now I have to wait a long ass time. Hmm, maybe I should find a park to take a nap at. That'll work.

     3:44pm  James at Smith Auto hooked me up with a twenty ounce bottle of drinking water. I just went in there seeing if they had a water fountain so I could refill my bottle. That was very nice of him, no?

                   This is so rad. I've gotten everything I needed in this town. Just by walking around. Here, let me tell you all the snacks I got.

                   I got me two sets of donuts, which I already ate. Some powdered ones and some crunchy ones. I got me a 13oz of vanilla crème cookies, some Mother's Animal Cookies(which I love) and I got a Swiss cake roll, which I am going to eat now. So now I have the Mother's Cookies and the vanilla crèmes for the bus ride. The bus arrives in Albuquerque at 5:30am. So, from 2:40am to 5:30am. Like 3 hours. I'll make some friends on the bus and I'll come bearing gifts. I got some snacks. In the end I got cigarettes and $10 left. I'm going to try and get me a dimebag.

     4:25pm  I came to this little park. I put my poncho down. There's ants everywhere.

     4:35pm  I'm sitting on the sidewalk smoking a cigarette.

     4:50pm  I sat down for another cigarette. I got to thinking. The bus doesn't come until 2:40am. I'm going to try and score a sack of weed in this town. I'm going to back to that kid who hooked me up with the cassettes.

     5:10pm  I'm just roaming around this trailer park neighborhood.

     5:14pm  I ended up at a pool! I can go swimming at six! Damnit, I don't have any shorts. I guess that's what my army pants are for.

     6:04pm  I'm here at the picnic table by the pool. They told me I could go swimming, but I'm not sure I want to. I want some marijuana. Maybe I'll go back to that Ducat71 place and ask the guy if he knows where I can score. I could go swimming . . err . . I don't want to. I'm going to go look for weed.

     6:24pm  I'm just walking around this neighborhood. I'm not sure where it will end up. Whoa, they have all these hotels with mineral baths and hot springs. Someone told me that the town used to be called Hot Springs back in the day. The town was renamed after some radio show, Truth or Consequences.

     6:45pm  This police lady just pulled up and asked me, "Are you traveling by yourself?" I told her yes and she said they were looking for somebody else.

                    I made my way back to the Ducati place. He was surprised I wasn't wearing the shirt he gave me. I told him I would wear it later. I asked him if he knew where I could score some weed. He suggested I go to the hostel. That's what I'm going to do. Walk to the hostel. I got plenty of time. He also suggested I go to the biker bar. He said that even though the hostel is closer, that bar would be a sure bet. I asked him if I scored, should I stop back by and smoke him out. He said sure.

     7:30pm  I just passed this church right here. On the marquee outside it says, "BBQ chicken dinner, Saturday July 5 12-6pm, Adults $5, Children $3.50 in Parish Hall." Man, fuck that. A church charging money for food. Don't these hypocrite Christians see how they are working for Satan?

                   Damn, the biker bar is far. Like five blocks uphill. These boots are made for walking.

     7:34pm  I'm walking down Date street.

     7:40pm  I'm at Raymond's Lounge.

     7:50pm  I went inside and asked this biker. He told me, "Nah, you should go to the hostel. There's lots of kids there." I should've gone there to begin with. Well, it wasn't too big a waste. I walked a lot. I'll live a little longer now, hehe.

     8:50pm  I just walked up to the bowling alley. I got a little change. I'm going to go play some videogames.

     9:07pm  I'm playing Killer Instinct 2.

     9:26pm  I just played three games of pinball. I just realized the girl before me she had all these credits in the machine. Badass. She stopped playing and left. I assumed she was done, so I just played the credits. I thought maybe the machine was messed up and was giving me free games. She showed up waiting behind me. She should have said something, but she didn't. So I just finished the games and left. Oh well.

                   That was weird. These two gay guys in a car pulled up and started talking to me. They offered me a ride, but I was going in the opposite direction.

     9:40pm  I just asked these dudes playing basketball if they knew where I could score some weed. They told me no. I'm going to walk to this place by the river.

     9:55pm  Whoa, I just stumbled onto this place. It's like a big park. This is where all the kids are. I wondered where they were. Let's see what happens.

                   My bad. I thought it was like a regular hangout. It's like some big private picnic or campout. I'm looking for the hostel place. I'll find it.

     10:10pm  I found the hostel! I'm in front of these kids and I just pulled out my tape recorder to make an entry. Let me explain to them what I'm doing. I told them my stuff and that I would be catching the Greyhound at 2am to Albuquerque so I could go plant the seed in that town.

                     I was talking to, what was your name? Sarah and Barry.

 

Next day..