062703

 

Socorro, NM

Friday June 27, 2003

     1:02pm  Let's see, I woke up at noon at Gretchen's. We are going to go to Shannon's to eat lunch. First, we are going to the grocery store, Smith's. Gretchen just recommended that when I get to Albuquerque go to Central Avenue. That that's where all the hippies are. Cool, they have a college there, too. I can go use the computer.

     1:32pm  We came over to Shannon's. Shannon has a badass trailer. It's like hers. She's 24. She's got two big dogs and her own trailer. There's this badass sun painting on the wall, it's huge. There's a couple mountain bikes laying around. It's a really cool place. I really dig it. I gotta admire her independence.

     1:44pm  I'm looking at these awesome pictures that Shannon's friend took. He's a photographer. They're these badass pictures of lightning. He just sits outside and waits for right when the lightning flashes and snaps the shutter.

                   I just learned what a goathead is. It's a little thorn or sticker that pops bike tires. Everybody hates them out here. I was all, "What the hell is a goathead?" Shannon just explained it to me.

     2:41pm  It's drizzling outside. Gretchen stopped at this bush and asked me if this plant grew where I came from. It didn't look familiar, so I told her no. She asked me, "You know the smell of the rain in the desert? It smells just like it." She handed me a piece of the plant and sure enough, it did. Crazy.

     2:47pm  What a cool experience I am having right now. I'm walking out in the desert. Like they show on TV. We're not walking anywhere in particular. Just anywhere.

     2:55pm  We are still out here. Shannon's dog took off and she's calling for it. I don't see it anywhere. There's been this slight little drizzle for about an hour now. It's really comfortable, actually. I don't even need to put on my raincoat. I'm having so much fun. I'm the happiest man in the world. This is awesome. I'm in the desert just walking around, pushing myself forward with my walking stick. Man, I feel like going and packing up some food and the rest of my stuff and just taking off in the desert and getting lost. I got some extra water bottles in my bag too. I just want to take off and see where I end up. I want to climb up one of these mountains one day while I'm traveling. I'm just going to stop and climb up one just to see if I can.

     3:00pm  Shannon's dog wasn't coming, so I just took off with my stick. I eventually found him and was able to coerce him to follow me. Victor to the rescue, hehe.

     4:00pm  We stopped at the post office here in Socorro. See, before I had left San Antonio I had gone to Flipside Records on the South Side and made friends with the girl who worked there. I had lost my one-hitter pipe the day before and I went there to see if I they would hook me up with one. I had never been there before. I told her girl, Lorraine, my California story. As soon as I started my story she said, "Oh, if you think you're getting anything free here you can forget it." I told her, "No, no, no I want everyone to hear my stuff."
                   I talked to her some more and found out she liked NOFX, like I do. Now, I had made two sets of NOFX CD's and I had them in my bag with me. Since I didn't pay for them and could just make some more copies, I offered them to Lorraine. I let her listen to this badass Weezer CD that I had too, that you can only download off the web for free. I told her I only had one copy of that one, but that I could go home, burn her a copy and bring it back. Hehe, she reached behind the counter and pulled out a green one-hitter pipe for me. Gawrsh. Thanks Lorraine.
                   Anyway, I just took off on the 14th and hadn't given Lorraine her copy. I had burned it, though. So, when Gretchen and I passed the post office I remembered my promise to Lorraine. I didn't have a CD case so I wondered how I was going to send it. I went inside the post office and told the clerk I wanted to mail a CD, but I didn't have a case for it. They had a little box for $2 that I could put the CD in. Perfection. Now, I had the address to Flipside Records on a matchbook I had gotten there, but it didn't have the zip code on it. Shit. Luckily, at the post office they had this big zip code directory and after thumbing through it, located the right zip code. 78221. On the box I wrote, "From Victor, I am a man of my word. Sorry it's late. I'm in New Mexico. I'm going to have a badass story when I get back to SA." I even put a little smiley face on it. Hehe, I hope she likes it. Oh yeah, Lorraine is hot.

     4:40pm  At the gas station I was buying a pack of cigarettes and I noticed the guy in front of me getting some Zigzag rolling papers. I thought, "Damn, I should tell this guy my ideas." After I got my cigarettes I stepped outside and the guy was still there. I told him all my stuff and lo and behold, I found me a ride to Albuquerque! They're driving a big hippie van. It'll be cool. They told me they were going to Albuquerque and I immediately asked, "Can I go?" The guy told me he had to take care of some business, but to meet us back at the gas station in half an hour. So, I started walking back to Gretchen's and those dudes in the van pulled up and told me that they were going to take care of that business some other time and that they were leaving for Albuquerque right then. I thought about it for a minute and told them, "You know what, I have a Greyhound bus ticket anyway and it leaves at 4am. I want to spend some time with this girl who has been very nice to me, before I leave. Thanks anyway and drive carefully."

     6:08pm  Gretchen had told me that she wasn't going to let me go before she had made me a pouch with some good luck charms. She just gave me the little pouch. She also gave me this awesome necklace. It's called a Rune. The Rune of Travel and the Journey of the Soul. It's of Norse origin. Cool, cool, cool. I'm all prepared now. Thank you so much, Gretchen.

                   Gretchen gave me some herbs. Okay, The rosemary is for what? The rosemary is for travel. The lavender is for protection. The mint is for clarity. The sage is for protection, too. I've never been more prepared. Thank you, Gretchen.

 

Next day..