Word explosion

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Attention: Before reading this post, read this post, unless you have already read it. In that case, do whatever you want.

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OK, now that you've read the other post, let me continue...

Direction for the Aimless One
I had an idea today. (Actually I had lots of ideas today.)

I would like to offer my services to people who need to transport automobiles to various parts of the United States. It could be a good way for me to make some money (which I desperately need just so I can get some of the most basic gear and clothing). Also, it could help keep this Aimless thing fresh by constantly changing the scenery. To the best of my knowledge, most of the prospective clients would be snowbirds moving to and from warm climates.

If you're thinking, "Yeah, right. No one pays people to relocate their car from one region to another," stop thinking that. I've met people who do it for a living and I've met people who have done it as a one-time thing. For example, the girl who gave me a ride from Eugene to Bend decided to stay in Oregon after driving someone else's car to the Pacific Northwest from the east coast.

Anyway, the opportunity exists, especially with the snowbirds heading back home in the coming months. It could be a really great opportunity for me. Here's why:

1. I am a very safe driver with a very good driving record;
2. My schedule is totally flexible;
3. As things stand right now, I NEVER need to be anywhere specific, so the cars' owners would usually not have to pay the costs of getting me to the pick-up point and back home from the delivery point;
4. I could offer to do it for a lot less money than the people who do it for a living, yet it would still be like hitting the jackpot for the Aimless version of me.

There are probably some other good reasons, but I'm too sleep deprived to think of them right now.

The problem is: I don't have time right now to put out the word. So I ask for your help. If anyone can put out the word for me, I'd happily pay you a percentage of what I make from jobs you get me. My immediate thought would be something in the neighborhood of 25%, but I haven't given it any real thought yet.

Basically all I'm hoping is that someone will post ads for me on specific web sites--like Craig's List, I guess--where car owners might look to find vehicle transporters. I just can't do it myself right now. I wouldn't even know where to start.

I don't really expect anything to materialize from this idea, but it would certainly be awesome if y'all could help me try.

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On the Road
My brother and his wife gave me a copy of On the Road for Christmas. I've already tried reading that book a couple times over the last fifteen years, but each time I couldn't make it past about halfway through because it just became boring. Doesn't sound right, does it: Aimless Ryan bored by On the Road? It should be one of the major inspirations for something like Aimless, right?

Well, not so. Not even a bit.

Anyway, I decided to start reading my new copy today at Dino's in Yellow Springs, and some things stood out. (Did I catch ya with the 'Yellow Springs,' Jafabrit?) These things stood out to Aimless Ryan, but never would have stood out to 1995 Ryan.

Early in the book, only a few days into the protagonist Sal's hitchhiking career, he gets a ride with a trucker. He describes the driver: "...a great big tough truckdriver with popping eyes and a hoarse raspy voice who just slammed and kicked at everything and got his rig under way and paid hardly any attention to me."

But it was what he says next that really caught my attention.

So I could rest my tired soul a little, for one of the biggest troubles hitchhiking is having to talk to innumerable people, make them feel that they didn't make a mistake picking you up, even entertain them almost, all of which is a great strain when you're going all the way and don't plan to sleep in hotels.

Immediately after reading that passage, I had a huge grin on my face. See, you just cannot possibly understand what those words really mean unless you've been there and done that. (It's like that when someone invites you into their home, too.) This does not mean either Jack Kerouac or myself has ever been the slightest bit ungrateful or unappreciative when someone offered a ride. I'm just saying hitchhiking requires an intense amount of labor; physical labor and unrelenting mental labor. You rarely get a chance to turn your brain's master knob to anything below 11.

So after several seconds of grinning big, my eyes welled up a little and I got back to the book.

Not long after his ride with the trucker, Sal got another ride.

"Where you going?"
"Denver."
"Well, I can take you a hundred miles up the line."
"Grand, grand, you saved my life."
"I used to hitchhike myself, that's why I always pick up a fellow."

Now, that is probably the one thing I hear most frequently from people who pick me up because hitchhiking changes you. It frees your mind in many ways. I haven't had an opportunity to pick anyone up yet, but it most certainly will happen.

This sentence also stuck out to me: "[He was] a traveling epic Hassel, crossing and recrossing the country every year, south in the winter and north in the summer, and only because he had no place he could stay in without getting tired of it and because there was nowhere to go but everywhere, keep rolling under the stars, generally the Western stars."

There are some other things I'd like to mention here, but I'm freakin' tired. I have to get up early, too. I hope my stuff comes tomorrow because I really want to get the hell out of here. There's nowhere to go but everywhere.

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Aimless
Aimless Video Evidence
You can contact me at 614-738-3867.