Vail to Benson to Willcox, AZ
Friday November 5, 2004
4:46am I asked the cashier if it would be downright inappropriate for me to put my head on the table and fall asleep. She told me not to worry about it. They just woke me up right now and told me they were getting busy. She gave me three dollars! I didn't even ask for it. I appreciate it, Lori. Everybody gets credit, thanks.
4:59am What a great awakening. That girl Lori woke me up. She was all apologetic. She volunteered me three dollars! I got me some stuff to eat for breakfast, and then she gave me another two dollars! She told me, "You don't have to leave or anything." Perfect. Welcome to Vail.
With those five dollars Lori gave me I bought a breakfast burrito and I had enough money to buy toothpaste. I hadn't brushed my teeth with toothpaste in a week or so. I have been brushing them without toothpaste.
5:25am What's your name again? Friend gave me a cigarette in front of the Kwikmart. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit, thanks.
Amy hooked me up with a cigarette in front of the Kwikmart. I appreciate it, Amy.
7:32am They even gave me a cardboard box and a marker so I could make a sign.
7:42am I'm walking to the highway now. I'm not going to get a ride there.
7:50am I'm at I10 now. Pedestrians Prohibited, my ass. I got permission from a cop yesterday.
Takin' off walking.
A minute ago I passed mile marker 280, I think.
Oh, it was awesome at that gas station. I got hooked up with breakfast and everything. I got five dollars. I bought some toothpaste, which I needed. I had a taco. I even found me a couple hotdog wieners that were left out by somebody. Sarah said I could have them. I've got some traveling-food. For when I get hungry.
8:24am Mile marker 281.
There's a bridge coming up. I'm going to stop and rest there. A half a mile up.
8:38am I'm sitting under the State Route 83 bridge.
8:52am I'm up walking.
I didn't walk too far. I just started walking and I saw a cop drive by. I'm just going to stand here by this wall.
11:35am I just woke up. I took a nap. I just crashed out behind this cement wall. Dude, right when I woke up I remember having a dream! I never remember my dreams anymore. I dreamed about this lady named Darla who saw me sleeping behind the wall and she pulled over. She gave me a ride. It was awesome. Then I woke up. It was just a dream.
12:14pm I'm up walking again.
12:20pm Mile marker 282. I'm going to stop and rest and drink some water. I'll eat my last piece of hotdog.
12:23pm Badass, an eighteen wheeler pulled over just ahead. I'm going to go see if I can bum a ride.
12:30pm Jim, the truck driver is hooking me up with all this food. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit, thanks.
12:35pm What a blessing. I got food. I got three cigarettes. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Some eighteen wheeler tow-truck came and got them. They had broken down. At first he told me he didn't have a cigarette. Since he had to turn the refrigerator off because the truck broke down, he hooked me up with some lunchmeat. Bologna and stuff. I saw some lady, his wife it turned out to be and she had a box of cigarettes in her pocket. I told the guy, "I'm going to ask that lady if she's got a cigarette." He goes, "That's my wife." He went and got me three cigarettes from her.
It's so cool that I got that blessing.
1:05pm This white car pulled over. It really seemed like they were going to give me a ride. License plate 168-GKZ. I thought they were going to give me a ride, but they packed up their shit before I got there.
2:17pm Junction 90 South 20 miles. Benson 22 miles. El Paso 294.
I've walked about six miles today.
I killed an hour by taking a nap and waiting for people to pick me up.
2:21pm I'm going to sit down and take my pants off.
2:33pm I'm up walking. I layered down and I turned my socks inside out. Not inside out, but upside down. Where the heel of the sock is on the top of my foot so the bottom's all fresh.
I feel great. My feet are dry. Not really, but I aired my socks out. I'm walking good. Like a professional.
Oh, when that cop saw me yesterday he was all, "You do this for a living?" I told him, "That's right."
Man, if I wouldn't have stopped to take that nap earlier, the timing would have been all off and I wouldn't have ended up at the broken down eighteen wheeler where I got food. Perfect, perfect.
2:21pm Mile 284.
2:27pm Passing over Davidson Canyon. I was going to take a picture, but I changed my mind. I'm going to wait until I get over this hill.
2:37pm Right when I got to mile marker 35, I see a car pull over!
2:39pm The car that pulled over is now taking off! God-damnit. They had a little yellow ribbon on the back of the car and everything. They're taking off! I gave them the finger.
Maybe it's because they saw me pull out my camera and take a picture of the mountain, then pulled out my recorder and started talking into it. Maybe they got freaked out.
I might as well stop here and take my thermal off. It's hot.
I just turned left and took a random picture. I had already wound it and when I saw that car pull up I thought, "Well, it might go off in pocket accidentally since it's already wound. I'm getting a ride now, I'll just take a random picture." Maybe they thought I was a cop or a terrorist. Man, screw that.
They had that gay yellow ribbon like everybody else has.
2:48pm I found a quarter on the side of the road.
2:57pm Mike marker 36. There's a turnoff over here.
I'm going to stop at the turnoff about a mile away. That's a good place cars can see me as they're coming down the hill. I'll sit down and smoke a cigarette. Hopefully a car will stop.
Love, I do know you exist. I believe in you. Please grant me a ride when I get to that spot.
If not, I can just keep walking. I've got some food still. I'm going to keep going.
Now that I think of it, I shouldn't have given that car the finger. I should've given them the peace sign. I should've just forgiven them.
3:24pm I'm sitting down right here at the turnoff. Some lady just took a picture of me. I saw her pull out a camera.
3:28pm My prayers were answered. Jason pulled over. I called that.
3:42pm Jason hooked me up with like a three-quarters pack full of cigarettes. I appreciate it, brother.
His license is 3PW-Y58. This guy Jason hooked me up with a ride to Sierra Vista, like thirty miles. I'm going to try and get another ride.
Thanks for answering my prayers, Love. Remember I had said, "When I get to that turnoff, have somebody pick me up." Some one sure did.
Benson, Arizona. It's Benson.
4:20pm I'm trying to hitchhike to Lordsburg.
Please Love, mobilize me once more. I really appreciate the last time.
Some guy stopped and asked me, "Where are you going?" I told him, "New Mexico," and pointed that way. He said he was going West though. I told him my intro.
Another person offered, but she was going the other way. This cool girl. I told her my platform and everything. I had told her, "Hey, can I tell you what I'm doing?"
6:07pm I came to the Shell and asked the manager if they would run me out and she said yeah, that they would. They have some policy. Let's see if I can score at the Subway.
Forget the Subway, too crowded.
Fionn hooked me up with some food at the Subway. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit.
6:22pm Jeff Thompson, I told him my platform and what I'm going to do. He hooked me up with a twenty dollar bill. I appreciate it, brother. Bus fare.
6:25pm The good 'ol barter system at work. I went in the KFC and hit them up. The manager told me, "We usually have you do something for us." I told them, "Okay, put me to work. Give me a project." They handed me a trash bag and told me to pick up any trash and when I finished I could have a buffet. I vacuumed their parking lot. Every single cigarette butt. Any little paper. In the end the guy came up to me and said, "Hey man, I commend you. Most people come out here and get a couple things." And finally he told me, "After you finish eating get my attention at meet me at the back door." Oh cool. Meet me at the back door meetings usually involve some marijuana.
Oh yeah, that guy gave me twenty dollars that saw me in the bathroom earlier. It was because all day walking, and especially when I sat down to rest, all the cars that were passing me got the peace sign. This guy saw me in the bathroom and recognized me. He saw me outside of KFC when I was picking up trash. I told him my platform and stuff and without me even asking he volunteered twenty dollars! I got money.
7:57pm I'm in the Shell bathroom taking a shit. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about the ignorance I encountered at the KFC. Oh, I went to the back and that guy didn't smoke me out. He wanted to give me some extra chicken for the road. A lot of the kids working there were on break in the back smoking cigarettes. I hit all of them up for my story. They just loved the marijuana part. Earlier, after I finished cleaning up trash, they have a sign that says, "To get a clean plate show your receipt." I asked her for a plate and she jokingly said, "Let me see your receipt." She was hanging out in the back too. After all the other kids went back inside she was still there, so I told her, "Hey, can I tell you a really interesting story? I'm not asking for nothing. I just want you to listen. It's a free story." I told her what I was doing and all of a sudden she shut her ears off. Even though she told me that she would listen when I asked. She said, "Oh no, we need government. There would be chaos without government." I told her, "Well, it looks like it will be a surprise." She's all ignorant thinking marijuana is a drug and everything. She's crazy. I told her, "Look at the moron we have in office for a second term. You think the government works?"
Millions of brainwashed must open their eyes.
We
are
one.
Hehe, I'm going to go get a twenty-sack. This kid named Trevor is going to score me a twenty-sack. He gets off at 9:30. Ha, that's funny. The biker who had seen me earlier today gave me twenty dollars. He told me, "Don't use it on drugs." I'm going to buy some weed with it, ha. I had told him, "I don't do drugs. I smoke weed."
Ha, I'm sitting here talking to myself in the bathroom. The dude right outside probably thinks I'm crazy talking to myself taking a shit.
Oh, I got excellent publicity while I was on the highway today. Instead of sticking my thumb out, I was giving every car the peace sign. My presence is so loud that one of the bikers who had ridden down that stretch of highway and seen me earlier recognized me in the bathroom earlier. He gave me twenty dollars.
8:42pm I just had a great presentation with the lady who works at the Shell. In the end, some other manager got all weirded out because I was there talking to her and she told me I had to go.
9:04pm Another person recognized me. He said, "Hey, I saw you hiking earlier." Hell yeah. I tried telling him my stuff. I noticed that his car had all these crosses all over it. He was a bible-thumper. He wouldn't let me finish. I told him, "Ignorance is bliss."
9:15pm This guy pulled up in a van. He's got nothing to do, so he just came over here, he said. I'm going to tell him my story. I asked him, "Hey, where's the weed?" He said, "I'm in the military." Oh shit, should I be telling him my story?
11:35pm Plot thickens. I got to like 11:30 and Trevor hadn't gotten my twenty-sack. I met this guy Brett. He just came up and told me he didn't have anything to do. I told him like all my stories. He's twenty years old. I thought, "Oh man, I shouldn't be telling this guy my story. I'm going to murder the government. We can govern ourselves." Anyway, I offered to buy him some beer(with his money, he's not old enough). After I bought the beer for him I asked him if he could give me a ride as far East as he's willing to take me. He brought me to this rest area. It's a little past Benson. It's not that far. Anyway, I'll get a ride tomorrow. For sure. I'm going to find a place to crash.
Oh yeah, he gave me a lot of cigarettes too.
11:46pm Oh yeah, I'm at the Texas Canyon Rest Area.
I can't tell the time right now, but Chuck Bales is hooking me up with a ride to the truckstop in Willcox. I appreciate it, brother.
12:10am You will never believe what just happened. I got dropped off at that Texas Canyon rest-stop. I went to the bathroom to take a piss. Actually, I looked at the maps and stuff and saw where I was. Willcox is the next town. I went to take a piss and some guy was going in there in front of me. This old dude Chuck. He asked me how I was doing and I told him I was the happiest man in the world. I don't think he really listened to me. He told me, "I'm going fourteen more miles to Willcox." I told him, "Ah, I'm probably better off at this rest-stop and get a ride here." Then I remembered when I looked on the map that there was like a Willcox rest area, so I ran out there and called, "Hey!" I ran up to him and asked him, "Will you take me to the rest stop in Willcox?" He told me, "I don't think so, but I know there is a truckstop." Sure as hell, there is. I'm at the Rip Griffin's in Willcox.
Man, that was just perfect. Shit happens for a reason, you know. If I hadn't met that guy who I bought the beer for. It's so perfect.
See, when I had gotten to the rest stop I took some time putting on my layers. And then I went to the bathroom. If I had done any of that differently, the timing would have been all off. Perfect.
Things happen for a reason.
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