What a messed up day, Part 1

You have no idea what kind of shit I go through out here on the road sometimes. Let’s recap yesterday:

I already mentioned the citation for soliciting or whatever. That was early in the morning, and I really don’t think there will be any serious consequences when I don’t show up for court next year. The only reason the cop cited me is to keep some worthless bum out of Montclair forever. Y’see, he profiled me because I carried a large backpack, first writing a citation and asking questions later. When he figured out that I was actually a traveler, not a bum, he became a little less of a dick (but he was still a dick). After taking some time to think about signing the citation, I told him there’s no way I’ll be here in January 2009. That’s when he told me there will only be serious consequences if I show up in Montclair again.

Totally unnecessary bullshit.

Shortly after that, I took a bus to Rancho Cucamonga to put myself in position to see some football on Saturday before heading to a nearby truck stop to get a ride to Stupid Arizona.

In Rancho I ate at In-N-Out Burger. (I’ve been meaning to write a very detailed post about In-N-Out Burger for a while because In-N-Out is by far the best model of how to operate a business in this country. Maybe I’ll get to that sometime.) After eating, at about 5:30 pm, I became very tired and light-headed. It wasn’t lack of sleep or In-N-Out Burger that did this to me; I think it was a few short glimpses of direct sunlight that caused the strange feeling. So, as it was almost completely dark by this time, I began looking for a spot to set up camp for the night, or at least a place where I could lay down and rest a while.

Quickly finding an undeveloped desert area where I would not be seen at such an early hour, I began looking for a flat spot to put up my tent. As I walked around on the dirt and sand, I became more disoriented. I had tunnel vision and I felt very clumsy by now, but I knew I was close to finding a good spot. Feeling like I was in the early stages of a migraine, all I wanted to do was set up my tent and try to turn myself off.

I found a nice spot right away and began setting up. With my tent canopy unfolded on the ground, I assembled my tent poles, which only takes about 30 seconds. While putting together my poles, though, a light wind began blowing. The wind made it difficult for me to pitch the tent canopy, so I grabbed a couple stakes and stuck them through two corners of the tent and into the loose sand.

A couple minutes later, with my poles fully assembled in conjunction with the canopy and just a couple more clips to attach, a strong gust of wind came along and instantly I was running as fast as I could, chasing my tent south through the desert alongside I-15, toward a reasonably busy east-west road. As my tent blew across the road, about a quarter of a mile from my camp site, I was thankful that there was a gap in traffic, but I still didn’t know if I would ever catch up to the tent, especially because there was not a gap in traffic when I reached the road.

By the time I had crossed the road (with my head still not working properly), my tent had come to a stop, thanks to a chainlink fence. So I grabbed the tent and began carrying it back north, into the now constant wind. It was like I was flying 50 kites without a string. I worried that my tent poles would snap with the strength of the wind, and I also worried that I would lose my grip on the poles, possibly resulting in another chase.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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