073104

 

Eagle Nest to Raton, NM to Aurora(suburb of Denver), CO

Saturday July 31, 2004

     7:45am  I woke up around 7:30. I thought Colin would be in a hurry, but he told me I could take a shower if I wanted. Going to score me a shower!

     8:56am  I had a good morning at Colin's. I woke up and he gave me a hit of weed. He even let me take a shower and gave me some traveling snacks for the road. We are on our way to Raton.

                   65 miles to Raton.

     10:09am  We are only three miles away from Raton. We're already on Highway 25.

     10:25am  We got lost in Raton. We came to some gas station to ask directions.

     10:32am  We just arrived at the Denny's. I remember this place good. Colin is being nice enough to buy me breakfast. Oh yeah, I didn't recognize the lady if she still worked there. I wish I could remember her name.

     11:18am  I had a good farewell with Colin and his friend. I'm going to walk nearby to the McDonald's where the Greyhound stops. I'll see how much it costs to get out of here. I have thirty dollars. There's always Hooter Brown's truckstop too.

     11:25am  I've decided I am going to walk into Downtown Raton. I'll see if I can find me a library and look up some stuff on my disk. I want to read last years Raton experience so I can get the lady's name from Denny's. I think Randi from Arcata once told me about a place in Colorado I should visit(10-3-03, 9:40am). Like her mom lived there and stuff. She had emailed it, so I'll look for that too.

     11:42am  I'm walking down 2nd Street. I took a picture of a dead horny toad on the sidewalk. It got squashed. You can see its guts hanging out.

                     Found me a dime at Cimarron Avenue.

     11:46am  I stopped at the Chevron and did my stretches and Tai Chi. I had a really good presentation at the Chevy Trucks United place. Three kids listened to me.

     12:00pm  I am walking into the Arthur Johnson Memorial Library.

     1:00pm  I came to the park. Spring Park. It's not hopping or anything. There's not too many people here. I took a picture of the mountain that says Raton on top. It probably lights up at night. I'm going to go to the truckstop and skip town already.

     1:07pm  I walked down 2nd to CoOkay, turned left on Cook and now I'm on 1st. There's a Amtrak train station here. I wonder how much a bus ticket to Colorado Springs is.

     1:10pm  This place is dead. No front desk or anything. I'm leaving for the truck stop. I'm walking south on 1st. Oh yeah, the girl's name at the Denny's was Lisa.

     1:18pm  I went into the House of Hair. I went inside and told the lady, "Hi, my name is Victor. I'm from San Antonio, TX. I'm writing a book on generosity that the whole world is going to read. I don't suppose I could get a free haircut? Just a #1 buzz?" She said she was sorry.

                   Oh well, worth a shot.

     1:32pm  Tina here at Pizza Hut is hooking me up with a salad. I appreciate it, Tina. Everybody gets credit.

     1:55pm  She even hooked me up with a root beer. I smoked a cigarette outside. I'm going to walk to the truckstop now.

     2:06pm  I had gone to the library earlier and read my loggings from last year. The lady's name was Lisa, who hooked me up at Denny's last year. I walked by the Denny's and went inside to ask if Lisa still worked there. Somebody told me that there was no Lisa working there. Oh well, to the truckstop now.

     2:17pm  I came to Hooter Brown's Truck Stop. I took a picture of it. I asked the girl inside if they would run me out for asking for rides. She said no. I'll be here until I get my ride. It's all dead. There are no trucks outside.

     3:11pm  I had a great presentation at the truckstop. With the girl working there, Dawn. She sat down and listened to my whole story. When I asked her to do me the two favors she said, "Sorry, I can't do what you want me to. I believe anything is possible. I am pretty sure you're going to accomplish what you want to."

                   I asked Dawn if I would have better luck at the truckstop across the street. She suggested I go to McDonald's. That's where I am walking to now. I can always go back to the truckstop.

     3:23pm  I came in the McDonald's only to ask for a courtesy-cone. You know, a free ice cream. They hooked me up with a big bag of food!

     3:24pm  Anne Marie is the manager who hooked me up with all this food. All I asked for was a courtesy-cone. I appreciate it.

                   That was the very first time I ever scored at a McDonald's. That place was packed with people too.

                    I just opened up the bag and I have like four burgers! Could this be a sign for me to start walking? Hmm.

     4:10pm  I walked to the Greyhound station and they close at one. So, I guess I'm going back to the truckstop.

                   Yeah, everyone at McDonald's is a family with kids. They're not going to give me a ride.

                   Oh yeah, behind the McDonald's I saw some guy smoking a cigarette. See, Manuel had hooked me up with five packs of American Spirit filterless. I asked the guy smoking, "I don't suppose you would trade me one of your filtered cigarettes for this almost full pack of American Spirit?" He hooked me up with a whole pack of Camel Turkish Golds. Sweet, I just wanted one.

                   I walked down to the highway going North. I walked down so I could give the thumb to the people on the highway and the people coming down the on-ramp too. I'm flying my sign. On my way to save the world.

     5:27pm  I changed my mind and walked back to the truckstop. I had set down my McDonald's bag on the ground and all these ants got in it. I'm just shaking them off here at the truckstop. Oh yeah, Dawn came over and gave me a Tropicana drink. I appreciate it, Dawn.

                   She all told me, "Yeah, I'll just write it off, like you said."

     6:15pm  I was on the corner flying my sign trying to get a ride and Chris pulled over. When I got in his car he told me, "That's a hell of a sign." He's going to give me a ride all the way to Denver!

     6:28pm  Now entering Colorado. Welcome to Colorful Colorado.

     8:55pm  I don't know what time it is. There's a lightning storm.

     10:27pm  Chris just dropped me off in Denver!

     10:40pm  I came into this Fast Stop gas station. I went into the bathroom and changed into my army pants. I left and then realized I had to refill my water. I go back inside and the cocksucker cashier tells me, "Oh, you ought to be about done here." I told him I just needed some water. He said, "You can get some from the bathroom." He had this big attitude. Dumbass.

                     Fuck Denver, so far.

     10:56pm  I came over to the donut shop place next door. I bought me an apple fritter. When I go pay for it the cashier, Noel informs me she put two apple fritters in the bag! And, I didn't have enough change for the milk and she told me not to worry about it.

                     The name of the Donut Shop is Winchell's.

     11:20pm  I am crashing out in the bushes behind the Fast Stop. I hope I don't get caught.

Next day..