Walking West on Highway 36, Florence, OR
Saturday July 19, 2003
7:10am I woke up around 6:30am and Carol never came back home. I'm walking West again. Man, I'm dumb. For some reason I thought she would've been home last night. That's why I thought she invited me to camp out. I just realized that she wouldn't tell me to camp out if she would've been home. Dumbass me came back thinking she would be home. I guess I shouldn't flatter myself, hehe. I thought she was really cool, but I gotta stop doing that. Falling in love with every girl I meet on this journey. I gotta go back to San Antonio and find me the right one.
7:19am Whoa, I just walked up to these llamas on the other side of this fence. They're weird animals.
7:20am Oh yeah, earlier at Carol's I was looking around for a container. I was considering taking a shit in her backyard somewhere and just throwing it out in the field. Then I remembered that yesterday as I was walking out to the Rockslides, I passed a Porto potty on the way. That's where I am right now. I'm going to take a shit. I planned it all out.
7:37am I finished taking a shit. I spent a long time in there. Hey, shit happens.
7:44am I just passed this guy walking the other way. He tells me, "Hey, that's a nice crooked one." He was talking about my stick. I told him, "Good morning, brother."
7:45am I just found six cigarettes on the ground, but they're all wet. What a waste. I could use some cigarettes. I got the Marlboro Miles off the box, though.
7:54am I walked by and there was that lady at a garage sale I saw yesterday. When I walked by she said, "Hello again." She told me, "Oh, I thought you were heading West." I told her I had walked back yesterday.
8:25am I'm leaving the Lakeview Store. I went in there and asked the guy, "Hey, I got a $1.04 in change. What's the most food I could buy for a buck? I saw these donuts for $1.20something but that turned out to be the expiration date. They were like three dollars. I said screw it and didn't eat anything. I ate my can of pears. It was good and I found me a cigarette in the ashtray. I'm going to walk to the Rockslides parking lot and get a ride.
8:32am I'm passing a sign that says, Swisshome 18 miles and Florence 40 miles. On West 36 highway.
8:35am I just passed that church. There was people outside and they told me, "Good morning and God bless." I gave them the peace sign.
8:45am I'm finally at the Rockslides parking lot. There's three cars in the parking lot, but I'm going to stand over by the sidewalk and when cars drive by I'll stick out my thumb.
8:50am Oh my god. I was twirling my stick around practicing my ninja moves. I thought, "Man, it's going to suck if I break this thing. I should stop." I just picked up my stick right now and realized I had already broken it. That sucks.
9:06am I got tired of sticking my thumb out. I'm walking and I just passed mile marker 25.
9:13am I stopped at some shoulder and I'm going to change out of my army pants.
9:48am Passing mile marker 24 at Fish Creek Rd.
10:11am Mile marker 23. I'm going to rest.
10:40am I was just sitting there resting packing up all my stuff. All of a sudden a couple cars passed by going West and I stick my thumb out. Bob slows down and pulls over and he's going to give me a ride! He's going to Deadwood. I'm not sure how far it is, but every little bit helps.
10:55am Bob dropped me off at some store in Deadwood. I'm going to bum some cigarettes and try to get a ride.
11:11am I kept walking, but now I'm going to smoke.
11:28am I'm leaving from my 4:20 break. Man, I'm feeling lazy today.
11:38am I stopped and I took off my rainbow beanie hat off and put on my Natural Balance one on. I'm going to start walking again.
11:40am Taking off.
11:49am I'm on Highway 36. I saw these cars pulled into this spot by the river. I stopped and Rebecca asked me how far I was walking from today. I told her I'd been walking like five miles and I told her about my mission. Her husband Tony and her are crawdaddying and I have just been invited to crawdad with them.
12:04am Tony has been nice enough to offer me a Gatorade and he gave me a soda so I could save the Gatorade for my walking trip. Thanks for helping me prove myself right, Tony.
Be sure to look up The Final Verdict by Josh McDowell. Tony just hooked me up with a sandwich, too. Awesome!
Tony just gave me three dollars, too. Badass!
1:39pm Whoa, Tony just came back and gave me a twenty dollar bill! Bus fare for when I get to Florence! When I told him thank you, he told me to thank God, because he was the one who told him to give it to me. Thank you, Love.
2:01am I'm leaving. Tony and Rebecca headed back to Eugene. I'm walking. I have a sandwich in my pocket. Tony gave me $23 total and I got some Gatorade. Perfection. Wow, that's what I get for walking down the road for world peace. Oh yeah, Tony told me, "I gave you $3, but God gave you $20. He told me to give you $20." I said, "Okay, thank you both."
2:06pm Passing mile marker 12.
2:19pm I stopped to rest at this shady spot.
2:40pm Mile marker 11.
2:47pm Now entering the town of Indiola.
I'm on highway 36. 41 miles East to Junction City, 25 West to Florence. It's not that far.
2:57pm I walked up to these kids at a picnic table near the river. I asked them if they minded if I sat down and smoked a cigarette. They said it was cool. What were you guys' names? Joe, Megan, Frank, Tracy and Steve.
3:02pm I excused myself while I scraped up some resin and Steve was generous enough to hook me up with a little bud. I'm going to make some more resin, hehe.
Steve hooked me up with a Camel Wide.
3:26pm I stopped at that picnic and they smoked me out and gave me a huge shot of tequila. I'm going to have a good walk to the highway. I've been told that mile markers count down how far it is to the next major highway, so I am assuming that I have only eleven miles to highway highway 126 that goes to Florence. I can do eleven miles in one day easy.
3:35pm Mile marker 10.
3:40pm Time to take a leak.
3:41pm Leaving from taking a piss. Oh yeah, before I left that girl Megan told me, "Okay, go do what I want done." I told her, "Yes ma'am."
3:55pm Passing mile marker 9. I'm stopping in the shadows in front of somebody's driveway at their house down by the river.
4:13pm Oh shit, I forgot to record what time I left the house. I've been walking for a while now.
4:15pm Passing Stagecoach road. I asked two brothers if they had a cigarette and they wouldn't give me one.
4:19pm Now entering the town of Swisshome. Hmm, let me find somewhere to sit and celebrate 4:20.
4:24pm John here at Kelly' Market in Swisshome just hooked me up with a pack of Ligget's cigarettes for a dollar! Just because the corner was a little crushed. Thanks a lot, brother.
4:25pm I'm five minutes late. I'm chilling out, relaxing in front of Kelly's Supermarket. I deserve it. Earlier one of these guys asked me, "How do you afford all your walking?" I told him, "Ahh, it pays for itself."
4:37pm Mile marker 8.
4:55pm I'm passing this really big, tall rusted out metal dome. It has a sign in front of it that says, "American Laminators Inc." It says "Co-op" on top.
4:56pm I am really close to Mile marker 7. I'm going to stop and rest in the shade.
4:59pm I'm sitting down in the shade. I put my poncho down and am sitting on it. I took my boots off and I'm airing my feet out. I'm going to eat that sandwich that Eric hooked me up with earlier. Mmm, triple decker peanut butter and jelly. Hmm, it might be apply jelly.
Okay, I only ate half of that sandwich. I'm not a glutton. I'm not going to pig out. Umm, yeah I am. I'm eating the rest of it, hehe.
5:20pm I'm taking off from my shady rest near that big dome.
5:22pm Now passing mile marker 7, see told you I was almost there.
5:29pm Stopped to tie my shoe laces. There's a big cross on a tree that says, "Melissa and Steve 11-26-98, You are missed." Damn cars.
5:43pm Mile marker 6. I'm going to stop and rest.
6:00pm I've been walking for a little bit, now.
6:13pm Mile marker 5. I'm going to stop here and bend over to rest my shoulders.
6:34pm I saw another group of people by the river. I'm going to go close to them, rest and smoke a cigarette.
Oh cool, this guy here is from San Antonio, too. He's in the military, though. As soon as I told him I was going to get marijuana legalized he walked away and didn't listen. That's cool. I found someone from San Antonio just walking down this road in Oregon. I asked them if they could give me a ride, but he told me no because of all the kids. Dude, they had a pickup truck. He probably said no because he thinks I'm a no-good reefer smoker, hehe.
7:14pm Mile marker 4.
7:15pm Groundscore! Marlboro Light 100. Awesome. Next mile marker I'll smoke.
7:21pm Now entering the town of Brickerville.
7:25pm These girls were walking down the road with a camera. I asked them, "Hey, do you want to take a picture of me in case I become famous? I'm on a pilgrimage to save the human race." They said no thank you. I told them my mission objectives and that my name was Victor and to just know who was responsible. Hehe, they think I'm crazy, just like I want them to. Like putty in my hand.
7:35pm Mile marker 3. Going to sit down and smoke that Marlboro.
Whew, there's nothing like Tai-Chi stretches.
7:46pm I saw this guy watering his plants in his front yard. His house had the garage on the bottom floor and the house on the top. It's a cool place. By habit, I flicked my cigarette on the ground when I was through with it. I thought twice about it and picked it up.
7:49pm I'm jumping on the railroad tracks. They've seemed to follow the road the whole time.
7:56pm I'm getting off the tracks. The ties are all uneven and there's all these rocks that are hell on my feet.
8:00pm Another penny.
8:08pm Mile marker 2. There's a rest stop right here so I'm going to sit down at the bench.
8:32pm Leaving from the rest area.
It's getting chilly. Grab a bowl. Mmm, chili would hit the spot right now.
8:53pm Mile marker 1.
9:03pm I'm coming up on the sign that says, "Highway 126, Veneta/Eugene junction ½ mile." I feel like I'm going around in circles, hehe.
9:05pm Entering the town of Mapleton.
9:07pm Whoa, Junction 126. That was a quick ½ mile. They lied. I can still see the other sign if I turn around.
9:12pm I can see the junction now. Guess how far away I am from Florence. Fourteen miles! I walked a shitload today. I got like a five mile jump, I think. I walked the whole thing basically.
I see a sign that says, "Porter Stage Bus Stop." Maybe I can get a bus ticket here. I got $22.
9:17pm I came to this bar here. I'll tell you what the name is after I leave it.
9:57pm I walked out to the 126/36 junction and before I knew it Nameless picked me up. I was just sitting down trying to open a can of tuna fish with my little army can opener on my keychain. I had told myself I could only eat that tuna fish if I walked to the highway, on a reward-basis. I had walked to where 126 tees at 36 and sat down. Just then, this guy(who didn't feel like telling me his name) spots me and pulls over. He's going to give me a ride to Florence.
10:25pm I'm in Florence! I'm going to go to the 7-11 and ask where the Greyhound comes. Oh yeah, in Eugene somebody told me to make sure I stay on the sidewalk in Florence, because the cops here are dickheads and will give me a ticket for walking on the street.
10:35pm The guys at the Shell told me it's on 35th street, at some cleaners or something. I'm on 10th street right now. It's going to take me a long ass time.
10:40pm I hit them up at Papa Abby's Legendary Pizza. That's the second Papa Abby's to tell me no. The one in Eugene told me no, too.
10:46pm Whoa, there's a Pizza Hut there. I'm going to go hit them up.
10:50pm Gary at the Pizza Hut in Florence is going to hook me up. Umm, remember to change Gary's name when I type it up, hehe.
11:05pm Gary hooked me up with lots of breadsticks. Awesome. They're good.
11:35pm I went outside the Pizza Hut and smoked a cigarette. Took a resin hit, too.
20th street. 15 more to go.
11:32pm 25th street.
11:39pm 30th street.
11:45pm 35th street. Let me find the cleaners where the bus comes.
11:57pm I found the Greyhound place. Everything is closed. I'm just going to sit here on the bench. The bus comes at 2am, I think. I'll talk to the driver when he comes and see if he'll let me on. I got $20. We'll see what happens.
2:29am The Greyhound came headed to San Francisco. I talked to the Greyhound driver and he let me on.
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