071404

 

Elephant Butte to Truth or Consequences, NM

Wednesday July 14, 2004

     6:10am  Tim and I woke up on the beach. This guy just pulled up in a truck and hooked Tim and I up with some cigarettes.

     6:12am  I just took a picture of the sunrise over Elephant Butte Lake.

 

                   Behind the marina and stuff.

     7:27am  I woke up this morning around five forty five. I got a picture of the sunrise when it came up. We're probably going to head off. We're walking up to one of these picnic table shelters, so I can take my army pants off and take a shot of Muscleblast.

     8:24am  We walked up to the little shelter and I took my pants off and took some Muscleblast. Oh shit, I forgot to do my Tai-Chi stretches. I have to stop and do that somewhere.

     8:38am  We're taking off walking. The lake wasn't that cool.

     8:44am  We had barely walked away from the lake at all and somebody pulled over to give us a ride. Pam is being nice enough to give us a ride back to T or C. We appreciate it, Pam.

     8:52am  What was your name again? Pam even hooked us up with five dollars for some food. We appreciate it, Pam. Thanks again for proving me right.

     9:02am  We got dropped off at the Sonic in T or C. I just took a picture of Tim with my hemp hat. I gave it to him. I hooked him up.  

     9:15am  Dolores, here at the Sonic just hooked us up with a little weed. We didn't even ask her for it. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     9:42am  With the five dollars Pam gave us, we were able to buy four burgers at Sonic. With a coupon. And, the girl working there even hooked us up with a bowl of weed. We didn't even ask her for it. She probably saw my peace tattoo. I made it a point to have my back turned to the window while I was waiting for Tim to come out of the bathroom. Oh wait, Tim just told me that he had asked her if she could trade him a bowl for something, but she just gave it to him regardless.

     10:04am  Tim and I are walking into town. I just took a picture of the water tower 

                      here in T or C.

     10:30am  Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you I went into the Riverbend Springs, the "youth hostel". I just snuck in again and used their restroom. They still have that Tramp poem on the back of the door(6-25-03-6:36am). The one that says, "I am a knight of the open road." While I was walking out of the bathroom, I found me some awesome swim trunks in their free box.

     10:39am  Andy hooked me up with a cigarette by the park. I appreciate it.

     11:40am  I am sitting here talking with Doug in the park. Doug wants to make an entry and talk about a song of his. Doug: "I almost got one of these recorders. I wound up broke and having to write this stuff down anyway. I am a performing songwriter. Mostly for free. There was a Crosby song I played for free a lot. I completed the Life of a Tree album, fourteen years of writing last year. Lost Soul and Another Short Visit got finished. I am ready to send those in to the Library of Congress for copyrights. I just need the cash required to do that. I sent two more copies of Never and one about Earth and the Heavens to the Library of Congress, but I never heard back from them. It's been eight months. T or C. I've been shipwrecked here for a year and a half. I played music in high country in Colorado and Mobile, AL to Biloxi to Houston, Beaumont, Port Arthur. I've seen some hard times these last five years. The faith and people gathering is still the strongest desire to keep going. I mean, you're kind of destitute to the point where it's almost impossible not to break a law. This last week for sure. It's been pretty intense. I went and spent five days in jail to pay for a seatbelt violation. The cops took me on a four and half hour drive to Albuquerque without a seatbelt in the paddy wagon. So, you know, I don't mean to be dwelling on the negativity, but when I sit down with a pen the words change and they show the side of life that's worth living. There's one project called Remembering. It's about ten or thirteen songs. It's about five songs away from completion. I just added a fresh song to it not too long ago. I don't know."

     12:30pm  I told these kids in the park the other day about my mission. Well, just right now this girl came up to me and told me, "My friends told me if you wanted to smoke some weed to go over there." Cool, so I went over there and hung out with the kids. They smoked me out with like two or three joints. I'm going to go get some firewood from the other side of the river. I don't know. Let's see how deep the water is. It's hot outside, so I'll be cool in the river. I'm all stoned.

                     Actually, I'm going to play Frisbee first.

     12:45pm  I had a really good Frisbee-tossing session with this one dude who had walked by earlier. He told me he would come back and he did. Now, I'm going to go ferry firewood across the river.

     1:06pm  I just had a very painful experience. Dumbass me, I thought, "Hey, I just scored these badass swim trunks at the hostel in the bathroom." I told myself, "I am going to walk across the river to the other side where there's firewood. I'm going to ferry it over. Hold it over my head and carry it over." Umm, stupid me never factored in that strong current in the river. It just swept me away! I was swimming as hard as I could. I ended up all the way at the youth hostel a couple blocks away.
                   Then I started walking over to the park where my clothes were and when my feet touched the pavement of the street I almost fell down. It was hot as hell. I couldn't take it. I was like, "Damn, I feel sorry for dogs that walk on this street." Since I walk so much, my feet are all sensitive. It would hurt to walk on the street even if it wasn't hot. I painfully crossed the street and started walking on the grass and weeds. My feet were getting poked everywhere. I was thinking, "Shit, how am I going to get back over to my clothes and shoes at the park." Just then, this red truck drives by and sees me struggling through the prickly grass. I yelled, "Hey!" and he backed up. I told him, "I just got swept away in the river. Will you give me a ride back to the park? I can't walk. It's way too hot for my feet." He gave me a ride back, whew. I forgot his name, but he knows who he is. Thanks.

     2:22pm  I found a place to do my pull-ups here in T or C. In the gazebo in the park I can jump up and grab the beams and do pull-ups. I came back from being swept away. I'm all beat. I'm out of water so Doug hooked me up with a little more water. He gave me a cigarette too. I appreciate it, brother.

     2:35pm  Tim wants me to add in the book that I swam across the river for firewood and got swept away in the current and all he had to do was walk like a block away and got all this firewood.

                   Bam, boom, busted. He got me good.

     3:39pm  Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that earlier when those kids smoked me out I was able to borrow a cellphone and finally got a hold of my mom. She's in Puerto Rico. I totally forgot she was going there.

     3:48pm  I remembered how I got hooked up with some tennis balls at the Pixie store in T or C last year(6-24-03-12:03pm). I went there again and told them, "Hi, I came in here last year and you guys hooked me up with some tennis balls for my stick. Do you still have any? If you do, will you hook it up again?" Barbara hooked me up. I appreciate it, Barbara. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

                   Badass, the same place who hooked me up with tennis balls last year hooked me up again. Cool.

                   "They're dead balls. They don't bounce," she told me.

     3:58pm  Every hooked me up with a cigarette at Bullock's. I appreciate it, brother.

     4:20pm  We just got out of the Bullock's store. Tim ran into some rude bitch cashier.

     4:42pm  We were walking by in front of Bullock's and this car comes up to the stop sign. Tim asks him, "Hey, can you hook it up with a ride?" I didn't get his name, but he knows who he is. Thanks a lot, brother.

     5:21pm  We came over to Raven's house. Raven gave me a cigarette.

     5:42pm  I'm over here at Raven's and he read us this resume he has for George W. Bush. Somebody mailed it to him. Let me transcribe it:

Resume

George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC
20520

    EDUCATION EXPERIENCE

    College, Law Enforcement:

     *I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I plead guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been "lost" and is not available.

    Military:

     *I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.

    College:

     *I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.

    Past Work Experience:

     *I ran for US Congress and lost. I began my career in the oil business in Midland, TX in 1975.

     *I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.

     *I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land-using taxpayer money.

     *With the help of my father and our friends in the oil industry(including Enron CEO, Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas.

    Accomplishments as governor of Texas:

     *I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union.

     *During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.

     *I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas Treasury to a tune of billions in borrowed money.

     *I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.

     *With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became president after losing by over 500,000 votes.

    Accomplishments as president:

     *I am the first president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.

     *I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.

     *I spent the US surplus and effectively bankrupted the US Treasury.

     *I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in US history.

     *I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.

     *I set the all-time record for the most foreclosures in a 12 month period.

     *I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the US stock market.

     *In my first year in office, over two million Americans lost their jobs.

     *I am proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest in any administration in US history. My "poorest" millionaire Condoleezza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.

     *I set the record for the most campaign fundraising trips by a US president.

     *I am the all-time US and world record holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.

     *My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in US history, Enron.

     *My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success at the US Supreme Court during my election decision.

     *I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinski affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history.

     *I presided over the biggest energy crisis in US history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed. I presided over the highest gasoline crisis in US history.

     *I changed the US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.

     *I appointed more convicted criminals to my administration than any president in US history.

     *I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest beurocracy in the history of the United States government.

     *I've broken more international treaties than any president in US history.

     *I am the first president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the Human Rights Commission.

     *I withdrew the US from the World Court of Law.

     *I refused to allow inspector's access to US "Prisoners of War," detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.

     *I am the first president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspector's(during the 2002 US election).

     *I set the record for the fewest numbers of press conferences of any president since the advent of television.

     *I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one year period. After taking off the entire month of August, I have presided over the worst security failure in US history.

     *I garnered the most sympathy for the US after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later, made the US the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.

     *I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues(15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.

     *I am the first president in US history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack in the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of US citizens, and the world community.

     *I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families - in war time.

     *In my State of the Union Address I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq, and then blamed the lies on our British friends.

     *I am the first president in history to have a majority of Europeans(71 percent) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.

     *I am supporting development of a nuclear "tactical bunker buster." A weapon of mass destruction(WMD).

     *I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama bin Laden to justice.

    RECORDS AND REFERENCES:

     All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father's library sealed and unavailable for public view.

     All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt company are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.

     All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my vice president, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.

    Please consider my experience when voting in 2004.
    Please send this to every voter you know.
 

                    Raven also handed me this cool newspaper and I have to send them my stuff. www.populist.com, editor@populist.com.

                    Based out of Austin, TX.

     6:22pm  We're still hanging out at Raven's. I just traded my walkie-talkie. That weather radio thing I got from that church in San Antonio, for a new backpack. My old one is dying.

     6:43pm  I just took a picture of the backpacks.

 

                 The first one is my blue Adidas bag, my mission bag. The second one is my old backpack. It's empty. I just transferred all my stuff out of it. The third one is my new backpack I just got. Eastsport brand. Then the one at the end is the backpack Raven just gave to Tim. It's a badass backpack. It's way too big for me. I like to travel light. Since Tim no longer needed his Eastsport backpack, I was able to get it for the walkie-talkie. It's perfect. Blue and black like all my other stuff.

     7:26pm  Raven just hooked me up with this little red travel bag. Thanks.

     8:11pm  Captain's log. Star-date 071404. I am riding in the back of Doug's Jeep Cherokee that we just got over by the river. We picked up another brother, Jeff. He's going to come eat with us at Doug's trailer on the river. Jeff was just driving around and saw us. He says he's got some reefer. Cool, cool. Oh yeah, and we left Raven's house. I found some hippies. They're all connected with the circle. I couldn't get my story out to Raven. He wouldn't listen to me. He was ignorant. He all looked at me and told me, "Your story doesn't need to be told." I feel like I keep messing up with new people. Like the other day when Tim and I were at Charles'. I got in Charles' chair and started nodding off. Charles came inside and yelled at me to get off. After that there was tension in the air all night. Oh yeah, and now with Raven, I sat down at his table and noticed a cool pendant or something. I picked it up to inspect it and he got mad. He told me, "Stop that." I put it down and he said, "It's okay, you didn't know." Even though he had forgiven me, I still couldn't help noticing some tension towards me.

                    Oh yeah, the owner of the house, this nice lady I met who left when we got there, had just run into some money and was wanting to start a hippie commune at the house. I don't know if I'll be around to tell her my story. Maybe I should stick around T or C for a while.

                    We are over here at Elephant Butte State Park.

                    I've been feeling kind of weird lately. Because all I ever do is tell my story. I'm stuck. Some people don't want to hear it, especially more than once. God-damnit, but it's just really important to me. I tell people I'm a self-programmed peace machine. I have to keep telling the same story until it happens. Nobody understands me now. When my webpage gets up, everybody will. It's just really frustrating. I want it to happen already.

     8:25pm  We just got to Doug's trailer. These are some really cool woods.

     9:15pm  I just had a great presentation with that guy Jeff. He let me finish all my stuff. At first he had told me that he had a similar plan and that he would tell me about it, but at the end of my presentation I told him, "Alright, let's hear your story." He said, "Man, you just blew me out of the water. Give me a day or something." I said, "Okay, do you want to go walk somewhere?" We had stopped for my story. He says, "Well actually, I have to go walk by myself. I gotta . . ." He couldn't finish the sentence and I told him, "Sort things through?" He said, "That's exactly it." I told him, "Well, think happy thoughts. I'm going back to camp."

                   Things happen for a reason. I am having a great time in Truth or Consequences.

                   That guy was telling me "right" on every point I made. He was all, "Right, right, right, right."

     9:48pm  I just have to pay some homage to Tim, the great chef. He cooked some badass fettuccine alfredo chicken. Aww man, it hit the spot. I had a great portion too. I'm not hungry at all.

     12:13am  I had a magical night tonight. This guy Jeff I was talking to was telling me stuff like, "Wow, I've never met anybody who thought so similar to me." He asked me, "Do you get that all the time?" I told him, "Sure do." Jeff told me that he was a prophet and that he was doing the same thing as me, just a different way. He's using a car. Jeff says he gets visions, prophecies. Oh yeah, and he's going to give me a ride to Santa Fe. I think I'm going to go to some healing thing with him. I don't know. Cool shit happens.

Next day..