Friday, June 29, 2007

Another good day

Right now I'm riding with a trucker, heading to Joplin, Missouri. His name is George. We're in Indianapolis (8:39 PM). I'm actually using his laptop to write this. He just told me he has a masters' degree in Psychology.

(This post will probably be very schizophrenic because I'm typing and talking at the same time. Also I'm not writing for a long time in between sentences because we're talking so much.)

I got a ride from Huber Heights to the Ohio/Indiana state line at about 6:30 from a South African gentleman in an Audi. His name is Sean Minnie. He was very cool. I may have more to say about him later.

Terre Haute at 8:43 CDT. Hey, this is the first time I've been out of the Eastern time zone since beginning Aimless.

After Sean dropped me off near the Petro station, it took me almost no time to get a ride with George, which means I'm having a string of good days. (Wow, all the shit I've been through, and I consider the last two days good?!?) Actually I've had at least three flippin' incredible days in a row. Everything is good.

You know what that means, right? It means I have some nasty shit coming my way. It has to mean that. (We're in Illinois now.)

Luke, I will answer your question soon. I don't think I know the answer yet. I haven't had a chance to think about it how it was.

--
Aimless
The Quasi-Aimless Trailer
If you'd like to contact me, call me at 614-738-3867.

The junk man

Ahh, my old familiar friend, the on-ramp (I-70 & Old Troy Pike). It feels different this time. Maybe it's because it's kinda new again, or maybe it's because I just had the biggest two days of Aimless up to this point... At about 4:35 PM I began making a new kind of difference. As I stood beside a broken beer bottle, I thought, "Gee, that kind of reminds me of the semi-circular scar on my right wrist, from when I fell on a broken beer bottle at age 10, completely severing five tendons. I wouldn't want that to happen to anyone else. So I think I'm going to pick up as much trash as I can, then put it all in a nice neat pile where someone else can come and easily get rid of it all." Then I started doing it. I'm proud of myself for doing this and I'm going to make it a habit whenever I find myself standing alone beside an on-ramp. I have picked up enough to fill a trash bag. It's little
things like this that change the world. (It'll surely make cop encounters a little more pleasant, too!)

My first solo kick-down

I got a knock on the door this morning from the Riverside Police. They were very cool; they didn't even tell me to pack it up. I would have been gone already if it hadn't been raining. Once I left, I kept an eye out for the guys, but I didn't see them anywhere. I started walking a different direction than the three of us had been going, so I know I won't see them again... Up the road a few miles toward Huber Heights, I spotted a Donatos. What do you think I did? Yup, I walked in and asked the manager David if they had anything they were going to have to toss. He then produced a large thin pepperoni pizza (my favorite) and allowed me to take whatever I wanted. I should have taken a little more than I took. He also gave me a cup for a drink. Yesterday before we went into the other Donatos, John said every Donatos he'd ever asked for food gave him something. This is the first time I've
asked anyone to give me food or anything else. I'll probably do it more frequently now.

A new direction

It rained heavily 3 times yesterday. We got stuck in 2 of the downpours, so me and my stuff got pretty well drenched. My backpack has almost no water resistance, so that's not what I needed... The guys spend most of their time "spange-ing" for beer money, so I've spent a lot of time sitting around doing nothing as well as spending more money than usual because it has kept me away from my usual revenue & nourishment sources. I've bought them some stuff, too, so I'm getting kind of low on cash. I'm glad I did it, though... Last evening they got a quick $5 from a couple cars, so they went straight to the carryout to blow it all on beer. They said they were going to the woods to drink it, but I stayed where I was. A few hours later I went looking for them, but I couldn't find them, so I put up my tent and went to sleep. Haven't seen them since. They may have ditched me but I doubt it. I was
about ready to split from them anyway... It rained all night and my stuff got even more drenched.