Munford, TN

I just got a ride from Covington to Munford with a young couple and a baby. While telling them about my plans to swing through New Orleans, particularly to witness the state of the Ninth Ward and the injustices that go unrecognized in these here good ol' United States of America, they told me a story about some military people they know (or know of). They said when the military guys were flying a routine helicopter mission, coincidentally over New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, they stopped to save a black kid who was drowning. Well, the military didn't appreciate their failure to follow orders, so they were demoted from officers to privates and are now "doing time" in Alaska (which is apparently an undesirable place to be stationed). I don't know how true the story is, but if it is entirely true, I hope the privates still feel they did the right thing, regardless of the consequences.
I always thought the military's purpose was to protect the American people.

Flashbacks

I was wrong when I said I-40 Exit 108 is the first place I've hitchhiked (or tried) more than once. Last year I hitchhiked twice from the Roebuck, SC exit on I-26 (Exit 28?); once going south and once going north a month later. --> Not long before reaching Nashville's suburbs, my train went through a tunnel at least a mile long. It was total darkness; pretty cool. Also, something I didn't notice the first time I hopped a train, probably because I was in a boxcar: The dinging noises at RR crossings have a cool, distorted tremolo-like effect when you fly by them at 50+ MPH (something you never experience in a car because your car is always stopped at RR crossings). It's like how emergency vehicles' sirens sound different after they've passed you, except much quicker and much cooler. (What do they call that?) --> If I ever want to catch a northbound or southbound train out of Nashville, I
know exactly where to go. I won't reveal it here, though, because it may piss off hardcore hobos.