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062505

 

Alamogordo to Cloudcroft to Weed, NM

Saturday June 25, 2005

     5:56am I just woke up. I didn't tell you, around nine or so last night the kid who said I could crash in his backyard disappeared and I don't know where he went. I wandered off and not too far from the park, where they're building all these houses. I found a place to crash at this one house where nobody's living. I put my blankets down and crashed out. The spot was pretty concealed. I got a good eight hours of sleep, I think. I'm all rested now from yesterday's walk.

     6:01am  I got all my pack stuffed up. My stuff packed up. I'm going to walk back to the park and see if the restroom is open. Then I'm going to walk all the way to that truckstop I stopped at yesterday. That Diamond Shamrock one. They said I could bum rides yesterday. There's nothing else in this town for me.

                   The dirt road I followed to the house where I crashed was down Loma Vista Drive. I'm walking down South Canyon Road, by some cemetery. That's where I got the water from the sprinkler last night. Oh yeah, after I found a place to crash last night I thought for a minute and realized that I had gotten water from a sprinkler right in front of a cemetery. There are always signs at cemeteries that tell you not to drink the water. I haven't drank anymore of that water.

     6:32am  I just got out of the bathroom. I took a shit. I'm going to go walk to the truckstop now.

                   I am really happy about yesterday. How I just ended up at all those kids. 

                   Now I'm going to walk all the way to that Diamond Shamrock truckstop where they said I could ask for rides yesterday. I'm going to go back there and try to get to Las Cruces today.

     6:46am  I just walked in the J and J Mini Market. I'm going to go get some water.

                   Cool, I see a hot-air balloon real close by.

                   I'm going to go into Mom's Home Cooking and ask for some food.

                   I changed my mind. There was a lot of people and I'm really not that hungry. And I still have some Powerbars.

     7:07am  I stopped at the FINA on 1st Street and 70. I ate a Powerbar and smoked a snipe. I'm going to keep walking.

                   Oh yeah, I forgot I saw a quote when I sat down and ate at the FINA station. It was perfect for my mission. It said, "The truth is revealed to those who leave their minds unclouded with longing." Just don't expect anything anything and let things happen.

                   Enjoy the surprise.

     7:34am  I am about to finish walking the length of Alameda Park right now.

                   Oh yeah, the other day in Ruidoso when I told Vicky at the Greyhound station that I was going to get marijuana legalized she gave me a high-five.

                   And she told me about some place in West Virginia. She wrote me out a little map to this big Gauley Bridge.

     7:39am  I'm going to go try to score some breakfast at Maximo's.

     7:41am  Irma, at Maximo's is giving me some food. I appreciate it, Irma.

     7:50am  Antonio, en Maximo's, le pedi y me esta dando comida. Te lo agradezco, señor. Todo el mundo recibe crédito, gracias.

                   I had me a great presentation with Antonio, the manager here at Maximo's.

     8:34am  I got treated like royalty at Maximo's. The manager even sat down and listened to my entire story. He was all calling me by my first name. He even came out and gave me a couple burritos in a bag for later! He loved my stuff. He even refilled my Nalgene with lemonade. Perfect. Thank you so much, Love.

                   I'm going to walk to the truckstop and see if I can get a ride. If not, I'll just walk it. I've got fuel.

     8:56am  I walked up to the truckstop again, the Diamond Shamrock. Timeout Travel Center. I'm going to ask them which way to Weed. I forgot all about Weed, NM(6-21-03, 10:04am). Let me go see if I can find this Sean guy again.

     9:40am  I changed my mind. I'm going to walk it. I'll try and walk to Weed. It's a good twenty miles or so. I've got food, I got some burritos. I've got my signs to walk. I'm going to leave the truckstop.

     9:48am  I walked up to the 86 Junction, turning right. Sixteen miles to Cloudcroft.

     9:52am  Sign that says, "Truckers - steep grades ahead. Gain 4,315 in next 16 miles." I'll be climbing.

     10:05am  Mile marker 1.

     10:19am  I just walked to the Brewer Chevron, right before it starts getting steeper.

     10:36am  I already have my ride to Cloudcroft! From Doug, he's hooking me up with a ride. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     11:00am  Guess where I am? I'm in Cloudcroft already. Now I'm going to see how I can get to Weed.

                     I'm going to go in the Allsup's and ask permission to ask people for rides.

                     Permission granted.

     11:07am  Melinda hooked me up with two cigarettes at the Allsup's. I appreciate it, Melinda. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     11:15am  I'm at the Allsup's. I went in and asked permission then I went outside to look for a cigarette. All of a sudden I see this store that said Instant Karma. Hmm, I have to go tell the people in there my story.

     11:26am  I went in the Karma store and told my story. He didn't have time to listen, but I told him the spirits part. The important part. I'm going to walk back to the Allsup's and see if I can get a ride out to Weed.

     11:36am  I am telling this couple my story in front of the Allsup's. What was your email? lmdownum@msn.com

     11:42am  I have a magical update to make. I was at the Allsup's, I had only been there for like half an hour and Linda came up to me and I told her and her husband my story. Well, they ended up giving me a ride to Weed! I appreciate it so much, guys. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     12:20pm I am in Weed! I just got dropped off at the post office. Man, they loved my story. This old couple. The guy even gave me a five dollar bill in the end. I should try and get a camera somehow.

     12:43pm  I'm walking to the Weed Store now.

     1:04pm  I came to the Weed Store and told the pretty lady inside my story. I found out Sean's last name is Scraggs. Knowing that greatly improves my chances of finding him. It has after all been a couple years. She didn't know exactly where he lived, but that he lived in Hay Canyon. I'm getting me a ride to Hay Canyon right now.

                   It was crazy at the Weed Store. I was telling the girl about how I had met Sean in Tularosa back in 2003. She said, "Oh yeah, Sean Scraggs. He's a real stoner."

                   We just passed the big town of Sacramento. It's like five or six houses. That's all it is.

     1:22pm  We stopped at Hay Canyon Road and Agua Chiquita. I'm going to walk around and see if I can recognize his house.

     1:24pm  It was Mike, the name of the guy who gave me a ride from the Weed Store. Mike and his wife Shirley. Thank you, guys. Everybody gets credit.

     1:35pm  I sat down on the side of Hay Canyon Road and ate a taco. I ate like two thirds of a taco and smoke a cigarette I bummed off Shirley. I'm going to walk around and ask for Sean Scraggs.

     1:42pm  Passing by Pinehurst and Hay Canyon. Walking in front of the Fred Burris Fountain. I want to find somebody to talk to.

                   I walked past the fountain and up to this old dude working. I told him I was looking for Sean Scraggs and he said he thought he lived back by the fountain. To go back to the fountain and turn right. Cool, cool. I'm going to find Sean again. It's going to be awesome.

     1:49pm  Pinehurst doesn't go that far. I'm turning left on Sacramento on this dirt road that's out here.

     1:50pm  Turning right on El Capitan Lane.

                   Oh yeah! I saw a pole with resident last names on it. You know, to help the mailman. I saw Scraggs!

     2:02pm  I had heard all these voices earlier and I found out where they were coming from. These people were having a big party. I walked up to them and this old guy started descending down the walk. He didn't know who Sean Scraggs was but he told me to go back down the road a little and walk up some hill. That he knew a couple people lived there.

                   I did and I think I found Sean's house. I kind of remembered that big water tower behind it. I'm just going to sit out here and smoke until somebody comes home. I could've sworn there used to be a big trailer behind it. I'm going to sit down and smoke a cigarette. Nobody's home, though. I want to see what happens.

                   I really hope that this is his place. That'd be so awesome if I found it.

     3:49pm  I really do amaze myself. I got so many resin hits out of my pipe. I scraped it clean. I got stoned again. I am still waiting for Sean. He might not even come home. I don't even know if he is or not. That sucks.

     4:06pm  I had a very productive time cleaning my pipe out on the front porch. I got so many hits. I even have some tobacco to smoke too. I found a couple camel wide snipes in a can outside. Since my weed pipe was cleaned so good, I just put tobacco in it. I still don't know if he's coming home. I'm going to crash out on the porch if he doesn't.

                   Oh yeah, I'm reading my book. Page 179.

"The End of the Cookie-cut Company

                   Not many children growing up in a high-tech world ever come into contact with a cookie cutter. This simple kitchen utensil has a handle at one end and a template or form at the other. When pressed into rolled dough, it cuts out the shape of the cookie-to-be. Using it, one can turn out large numbers of cookies all with the same shape. For an older generation, the cookie cutter was the simple of uniformity.
                   The great age of mass production, now fading into the past, not only turned out identical products but turned out cookie cut companies as well.
                   Glance at any Table of Organization. Chances are it consists of straight lines connecting neat little boxes, each exactly like the other. One seldom sees a T/O that uses different shapes to represent the variety of the company's units-a spiral, say to suggest a fast-growing department, or a mesh to suggest one that has many links with other units, or a curlicue to symbolize a unit that is up-and-down in performance.
                   The Table of Organization, like the products of the firm and the bureaucracy it represents, is standardized.
                   Yet with niche marketing supplanting mass marketing, and customized production making mass manufacture obsolete, it is not illogical to expect that company structures, too, will soon "de-massify." Put differently, the day of the cookie-cut company is over. And so are the cookie-cut power structures that ran large corporations.
                   In The Third Wave we wrote about such innovations as flexible hours, flexible fringe benefits, and other "flex" arrangements that begin to treat workers as individuals and, at the same give the firm far greater flexibility too. Today such ideas are so commonplace that Newsweek headlines a story, "A Glimpse of the 'Flex' Future."
                   What companies have not yet grasped, however, is that flexibility must cat far deeper-right to the very structure of the organization. The rigid, uniform structure of the firm must be replaced by a diversity of organizational arrangements. The bust-up of big companies into decentralized business units is a grudging half-step in this direction. The next step for many businesses will be the creation of the fully flex term."

     4:35pm  Cool, I hear a car coming up. Hopefully it's Sean. Aww, it stopped, damnit.

     4:50pm  See, the dude who dropped me off, who gave me a ride from the Weed Store, he told me, "If you can't find his place and it starts raining real hard come by my house. I live like a mile and a half away from where I'm dropping you." Well, since I am bored and tired of waiting for Sean, I'm going to try and walk out to this guy's house and see if he'll listen to my story. Just to tell him my story. I'm leaving my backpack at Sean's. I'll tell them, "I found my friends house but he isn't there. I just walked all the way over here to tell you guys my story. Then I'm going to walk all the way back." I don't know.

                   See, when I was walking up the hill. I kind of remembered there being a big hill. I thought there might be a water tower. When I got to the top and saw the water-tower, I was all smiles. I can't believe I found his place. I hope he comes home tonight. Right now I'm going to take off walking to the guy's house who gave me a ride. I'm going to walk over there and try and tell them my story.

     5:10pm  When I was at Sean's it got a little chilly, so I put on both my thermal top and bottoms. I'm walking in the sun now and it got a little hot, so I stopped in the shade and took of my thermals.

     5:16pm  I am at Agua Chiquita and Hay Canyon. Those people told me they lived a mile and a half away from here.

                   There's that sawmill those people told me about. I'm going to look around for the truck now.

     5:25pm  Found their place.

     5:32pm  I went back to that guy's house and knocked on his door. He answered and I told him, "Hey, I found my friend's house and he wasn't there. I got tired of waiting for him and thought I'd go visit those nice people who gave me a ride and tell them my story." I told him my platform, but he refused to listen. He said he had stuff to do. I told him to do me the two favors and stuff.

                   Well, my work here is done. I'm going to walk back. Three mile roundtrip.

     5:53pm  Passing by the Fred Burris Fountain again. I'm almost back to Sean's house.

                   Hmm, I think I'll go exploring. I'm taking the right hand turn on Sacramento and turning left on San Mateo. There's some houses over here. Maybe I can talk to people. Maybe I can bum a cigarette, hehe.

     6:31pm  There was nothing that way, so I'm just going to walk back to Sean's. I'll sit on the porch and wait for him. Hopefully he's home. If not, I'll crash on his front porch or something. I hope it gets colder tonight. It's hot. Not really that hot.

     6:35pm  I'm going up the steep hill to Sean's. Please Love, let Sean be home.

     6:38pm  Whoa, Sean's truck is there! Badass!

     7:42pm  What did you just say, Sean? About the Mormons in Utah?

                    Sean: "I said that it's a wonder that the Mormons didn't eat you when you were over there."

Next day..

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