062404

 

Walking to rest area to Socorro, NM

Thursday June 24, 2004

     5:30am  I woke up under some bridge. I slept great. I'm going to start walking again. I have two apples for breakfast. And some vitamins.

     6:08am  I put my new ball on my stick and I'm up walking.

     6:26am  Passing Mile Marker 95.

     6:43am  Passing Mile Marker 96. I might stop and rest. I don't know. I'll walk to the next one.

     6:46am  I'm going to stop and take my layers off. The sun came up.

     6:53am  I am up walking.

     7:14am  Mile Marker 97. I'm going to take a leak. And a resin hit.

     7:18am  Leaving. Man, I am still amazed at how cool yesterday was. I wouldn't have had anything to eat this morning if I hadn't walked up to that truck. He gave me those two apples for breakfast this morning.

     7:37am  Passing Mile Marker 98.

     7:55am  Passing Mile Marker 99.

     8:02am  Passing sign that says, "Red Rock 1 mile. Exit 100."

     8:12am  Passing Mile Marker 100. There's a bridge here. Exit 100 is the Red Rock exit. I don't know what Red Rock is.

     8:22am  I came under the bridge. I'm going to sit down and rest. I am really hungry. I'm just going to sit here until I get a ride.

     9:12am  Oh cool, this car just pulled over. I am underneath this bridge, just sitting down. I saw a car pull over with its flashers on.

                   Thought I might walk over to it and ask for some help. They ended up just letting their dog out to pee and got back in their car. I didn't bother walking over there.

                   Then I saw an eighteen wheeler on the other side of the highway on the access road. The guy was outside checking things on his truck. I yelled, "Do you have any food?" The guy ignored me and got in his truck.

                   But wait, there's another eighteen wheeler pulled over! Maybe third time is the charm. Maybe this guy will give me some food.

     9:15am  Frank, the guy in that eighteen wheeler I saw hooked me up with some vegetables!

     9:17am  I am going to have me a little lunch here. Frank gave me some veggies. Like six carrot sticks, an avocado, some crackers and a green pepper. I'm going to eat.

     9:47am  Passing Mile Marker 101.

     9:48am  San Antonio 39, Socorro 49, Albuquerque 123.

                   I see a truck pulled over about half a mile down the road. I wonder if it will still be there when I get to it. I think they got a flat tire. I don't know.

                   Hmm, that truck was empty. Nobody is in it. It had Chihuahua tags, from Mexico. I was hoping there'd be somebody in there. They would give me a ride. You know Hispanic people. They know the rules.

     10:19am  Walking across the Socorro County line. Leaving Sierra County.

     10:24am  Mile Marker 103. Going to stop and rest.

     10:32am  Leaving Marker 103.

     10:49am  Mile Marker 104. I'm going to stop and take a leak.

     10:51am  Leaving 104.

     11:09am  Mile Marker 105.

     11:34am  I am walking. I took a big long-ass break.

     11:52am  Mile Marker 106.

     12:09am  Walking over Nogal Canyon.

     12:12am  Mile Marker 107.

     12:15am  I am starting a long, hard climb up the hill.

     12:35am  Mile Marker 108.

     12:39am  Passing a sign of a four leaf clover that says, "Socorro County Welcomes You." It's been there for a long time.

     12:53am  Mile Marker 109. I'm going to stop and rest. I see a building a couple miles away. I hope I can get some water there. I'm going to drink all my water.

     1:05am  Leaving 109. My tennis ball wore all the way through, so I had super glue a chunk of ball that I had in my pocket.

     1:25am  Mile Marker 110. Mowing Next Two Miles.

     1:29am  Right after I passed the mile marker the thing came off my stick. I had to stop and put some more crazy glue on it.

                   Oh yeah, my thing came off again I had to re-glue it.

     1:51am  Mile Marker 111.

     2:03am  I saw these guys who work for the highway driving in the median. I walked up to one of their trucks and asked for some water. Jason is hooking me up with some water. Thanks a lot, brother. I was going to die. Drive carefully.

                   That was perfect. Thank you, Love. Man, I was hoping I could walk all the way to that building in the distance to get water, but the universe provided with Jason. He only gave me like eight ounces, though. Enough to get to the building. Umm, I'm going to eat my last stick of carrot.

                   There's a sign that says Rest Area 2 Miles. Badass! I'm going to walk there and get a ride.

     2:11am  I am getting up from this bridge where I rested.

                   The guy who hooked me up with water. he had only giving me like eight ounces. He came back and pulled over on the other side of the highway. He brought me back a whole gallon of water! Badass. He filled up my Nalgene to the top!

                   I asked him, "Hey, can you give me a ride to Socorro? He said he couldn't. That the company wouldn't allow it.

     2:48pm  Up and at 'em.

     2:57pm  Mile Marker 113. Rest stop coming up. Hallelujah.

                    I'm at the rest stop now. There's a sign here that says, "Remaining in this area or facility for more than 24 hours is a violation of the law. Subject to a fine of not more than $100."

     3:15pm  I walked up to David at the rest stop. I told him, "Man, I just walked all the way from Truth or Consequences. Don't suppose you could spare any food?" He gave me a Jack in the Box Sourdough Jack! I appreciate it, brother.

     3:20pm  Jay is hooking me up with three cigarettes at the rest stop!

     3:30pm  I already got my ride to San Antonio! Right after I finished my cigarette, the first guy I asked, Richard is hooking me up with a ride. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit.

     4:03pm  I am in Socorro! I said screw San Antonio, just like I did last year(6-25-03, 10:14am). There was barely anything there as we drove by it. I got a ride all the way to Socorro. These people were going all the way to Albuquerque. This guy was hauling a big travel trailer and a big boat with his truck. They work for Intel in Albuquerque. Hehe, if they only knew my story. They had the radio on, so I didn't elaborate. Good thing, probably. I am going to put them out of business, teehee.

     4:12pm  I'm walking down California Avenue. Hmm, if Gretchen 

still works at the New Mexico Tech library she gets off at five.

     4:36pm  Walking up to the Joseph R. Skeen Library. Man, I hope she still works here.

     12:20am  The coolest thing happened! Gretchen wasn't working there. They told me she had the week off. I got the idea to look through a phonebook to find her number, but then they told me she was out of town. I checked my email and wrote back Jordan a long email of what had happened so far. When I walked out of the library I saw this guy sitting down on the bench playing a guitar. I had said hi to him when I walked in earlier. I asked Steve if I could tell him my story and he said sure. He listened attentively and seemed impressed. Eventually this old guy showed up and stole the stage from me. He wouldn't shut up. I tried getting my story in but he was as ignorant as his whole generation. It was getting late, so I interrupted, "Steve, you wouldn't happen to have a garage or a backyard I could sleep in?" He told me sure. Afterwards he brought me over to the house where he lived. 433 School of Mines Road, to be exact. The house here is awesome. All these kids live here and they have all this food thanks to food stamps. They have jobs, but there are people who live here who don't. There's a guy who even sleeps on the roof. Umm, I thought I was going to hit the Rainbow Gathering in Humboldt, but that's a tad less important now. Look what I found in Socorro.

Next day..