111208

                                                                                                                   to Las Cruces, NM

Wednesday November 12, 2008

     6:32am  I just woke up. I got a whopping nine hours of sleep. I am all well-rested, cool. It's still a little cold, so I'll get back in my sleeping bag.

                   Toilet full of shit in bathroom.

     6:58am  I fell back asleep and I woke up again about five minutes ago. After a whole nine hours of sleep I got a little bit more. I'm out of weed but I scraped my resin bonus last night and I still have three or four hits left. I'm going to pack up pretty soon. I'll take pictures of my hangout, my spot. It was awesome. It was a little warmer inside the mobile home than it was outside.

     7:30am  I just went around to the back and I took a shit. I want to give thanks to Love for providing me with this mobile home to crash in. I got a full nine hours of sleep. Not that I am going to do any walking today. I have no food. I'm just going to stand out here with my thumb out until somebody picks me up. I am stranded right here. Hopefully somebody will because I am out of food. I am near out of water. There's still a little ice that hasn't melted in my bag. Last night I had to wait for ice to melt to wet my whistle before I slumbered. While I was walking I was only taking a few small sips on each rest.

     7:53am  I am packing up. I just realized I lost one of my sandals. That sucks.

                   Cool, I found my other sandal.

     8:08am  I came outside and I took pictures. I'm going to walk to the onramp now. It's all dead right now. No traffic anywhere. I took my last bite of taco this morning. No more food for me. Nothing at all. If only the Pecos River Crossing had been open. That's the name of the gas station.

                   I walked towards the onramp and I saw there was an eighteen wheeler pulled over on the side of the road. Obviously sleeping. I walked past him because I noticed about half a mile way in the distance there was signs saying how far stuff was. I just passed Mile Marker 328. It's at the Pecos River and Pecos County Line. I got close enough to where it was obvious it was a Fort Stockston/El Paso sign. I already know I am way far away from both, so I'm going to walk back to that truck on the onramp and wait for him to wake up and see if he can spare any water or food. That's my best bet considering my circumstances.

     8:38am  I walked back to the eighteen wheeler. He's hauling all these big metal tubes. At first I thought they were trees. He's from Oregon. It said his name on the side, hold on.

                   Daymon Caldwell. From Terrabonne, OR. Central Oregon Truck Company. KW truck. I'll take a picture.

     9:26am  This other eighteen wheeler just pulled off and I walked over to him. He had dogs and they were all barking at me when I walked up. I asked him if he knew how far the next gas station was. He said he didn't know. I told him, "I had been counting on the River Road gas station to be open and it's not. Can you spare any food or water?" He told me all he had was water in a container for his dogs, sorry. I'm going to thumb it to the I10 traffic.

     9:35am  Larry, the guy I asked for food or water earlier, when he was about to leave he called me over and gave me two Burger King burgers and a gallon of water he said he had found. I really appreciate it, Larry. You are a total lifesaver. Thanks a lot.

                   I've got a whole gallon of water, sweet.

                   And a couple burgers! I've got some walking fuel.

                   It might be waiting fuel until the guy from Oregon wakes up.

     9:55am  Yeah, I think it's going to be waiting fuel. I ate one burger. I only have one other left and I still don't know where the next gas station is at. It might be all the way in Fort Stockton.

                    I didn't tell you that the guy from Oregon finally woke up in his truck. I noticed he was taking off and I ran over to him and he rolled down the window. I told him, "I was counting on the gas station being opened. Do you have any food you can spare?" I ate both burgers because I was hungry. He shook his head and told me no. I asked him if he could give me a ride to the next gas station and he gave me that no riders bullshit. He doesn't want to get fired. You good little slave, Daymon.                  

     11:22am  I didn't tell you, I'm already getting a ride to Fort Stockton! This nice Mexican guy pulled over for me around eleven 'o clock. Todo el mundo recibe, credito, gracias. He didn't want to tell me his name, actually. He knows who he is.

                     He told me this is a volcano. I don't believe it.

     11:47am  I just got dropped off in Fort Stockton by the Mexican guy who didn't want to give me his name. He was driving a white van. Sweet, I was rescued. Thank you, Love. You answered my prayers.

                     Oh yeah, to hitchhike I hold my marijuana necklace in my hand and having it hanging down while I hold my thumb out. I only hold my thumb out for cars and trucks. The eighteen wheelers get the peace sign.

                     I have $27 right now.

     12:45am  I'm going to go hit up this Mexican Food Lunch Buffet on the other side of the street of the gas station I got dropped off at. Let's see what they tell me.

     12:47am  Oh my gosh. I got my ride West already! See, I was walking over to the buffet place. I walked by this guy gassing up his RV at the gas station across the street. I asked him, "Hey man, are you going to El Paso?" He said, "Is that West? Sure." I asked him if I could get a ride and he said sure. Sweet!

     12:55am  James is the nice brother giving me a ride in the RV. I've never gotten a ride in an RV before. Everybody gets credit. Thanks a lot.

                     James' girlfriend Jennifer is following him in a car. She's playing wingwoman because the RV breaks down a lot

     3:20pm  Jennifer, James' girlfriend is treating me to lunch at this restaurant in Van Horn.

                   Beautiful mountains while we drive.

     4:46pm  We just blew a tire.

                    It was crazy. All of a sudden we hear a big huge bang under the car. It wasn't like we ran anything over. Luckily, right after the tire blew there was a scenic outlook area we were able to pull into to assess the damage. James called and we had to wait for this grease monkey to come out, take that bad tire and go get a new one and bring it back. We all went for a small hike up the hill here and to kill time we threw rocks to see who can his the metal trashcan. Jennifer hit it three times in a row. I hit it a couple times too. So did James.

                    Grasshoppers mating.

                    Throwing the fastball style rock hits it better than the arc-toss.

                    Moon.

     7:37pm  We stopped again and James is checking out something else on his truck. This belt under the hood is whining.

     6:22pm  I am on my way to El Paso again. I'm going to go downtown and score some weed then go crash in that parking garage I know about across the street from the Greyhound station. I found it with Carol a while back. I'll look it up.

     9:04pm  Red alert! Red alert! I have lost my walking stick. That blows. I left it at that scenic outlook right outside Van Horn where we stopped. James and Jennifer had suggested we go for a hike and I said, "Sure, just let me grab my walking stick." I still don't remember where I set it down. Maybe it was when we started throwing rocks at the trash can. After the grease monkey came and we took off it just slipped my mind. Anyway, I told James and Jennifer goodbye and went across the highway here to the Petro. The lady at the truck stop we were at told me the city bus stopped here. Ugh, I feel naked
without my stick.

     9:25pm  Man, some crazy shit happened right now. We pulled into the Flying J in El Paso to check the tire pressure. James had a broken valve stem and some guy magically fixed it for him for free. Oh, and these two guys were stalking Jen. I was sad about my walking stick and I kept checking inside the RV for it, but it was gone. I cut my losses and said goodbye. The lady at the truck stop we were at told me that the city bus came to the Petro on the other side of I10. I said goodbye and walked all the way to it. I go in the gas station right before and ask the cashier where the bus stop to downtown is. She
told me it wasn't there. I asked her if she knew how far the closest one was and she told me real far. Shit, I didn't know what the hell I was going to do. I looked across the highway to see if I could spot James' RV at the truck stop. I really hoped he hadn't left yet. I kinda thought I saw his RV but it was moving. I quickened my pace back over the highway and was actually able to flag him down right before he got on the highway. He pulled over for me and I jumped in. How perfect is that? He's going to give me a ride a little bit more of the way so I'll be able to catch the bus downtown. We just saw a sign
that said we are seventeen miles away from El Paso anyway.

                   I hope that wherever I get dropped off at that it's not too late for the bus.

     9:58pm  I forgot to tell you, plans have changed. I'm not going to stop in El Paso at all. I'm going to go all the way to Las Cruces.

     10:40pm  We are in New Mexico now. The Land of Enchantment.

     11:10pm  I just got dropped off in Las Cruces at the Chevron on University Avenue. I'm at La Pasada Lane and South Valley Drive. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know where I am. I'm going to find a place to crash.

     11:52pm  I found a field closeby with a tree by some people's fence that cast a very concealing shadow. For some reason I thought it was earlier so I walked all the way back to the gas station. Maybe I could find some weed. I tried telling the ignorant lady cashier my story but she told me she wasn't interested. Nobody wants world peace! I yelled and walked out, hehe.

Next day..