Day 67, June 9, 2012

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 I woke up on day 67 behind a dollar store in Arcadia LA. When I woke up I realized I had slept on the dirt. Even though I didn't sleep great that night, it was better than normal, and I was feeling pretty decent. I sat there and put in the new sole inserts that I got at the dollar store at some point the day before. After I put those in I packed up.
       I went into the McDonald's and brushed my teeth and filled up my water jugs in the bathroom sink. I wet the towel I have also and put it over my head underneath my hat. It was around 9:30am. I set out on the road.
       I walked through the west side of town and made my way back to the 80. It was already warm. When I got onto the 80 I set a good pace and my feet felt good in my new shoes.
       I walked until about 2 when I came to the little town of Gibsland LA. It was small and all there really was there was a gas station connected to a laundromat. I went into the laundromat and there was an outlet. I plugged in and was charging up. I sat there and ate some snacks I had received from the people that visited me the day before.
       I sat there about 15 minutes when a man came in and asked if I was ok. He seemed to be the manager of the place and maybe didn't want me hanging out there. I told him yes and that I was just taking a break from the heat as I passed through. He said ok and then left. I wasn't sure if he was the manager but I had that feeling. Then about 20 minutes later he came in again and asked if I was doing laundry?  So I told him I was going to. He said ok and left again. So I grabbed some quarters and threw my sleeping bag and some stuff in the wash. They didn't need to be washed but I didn't want to get kicked out so I figured I could clean them anyways. I used some shampoo I have packed (mini bottle) in the wash and washed them.
         At around 4:30 I was ready to go and hoped the heat was cooling a bit. So I got my stuff out of the dryer and packed up to go. I headed out on the 80 towards a church I had routed about 7 miles west.
        As I reached the end of town a car pulled off. It was 3 guys around my age and they asked if I was ok? I said yes and thanks for stopping. They asked if I needed money and I told them no and that I was ok. Then they ended up handing me $17 anyways. They said they would pray for me and said good luck.
        As I left town the scenery was nice. The sun looked pretty cool behind the clouds and I took some cool pictures. Then I walked another couple hours. I got to the church along the 80 about 10 miles east of Minden LA. It was a good sized church and nothing was really around. Just bare country and forest really. It was nice.
        I got there around 6:30 and found a perfect place to sleep. It was an overhang of a shed that had a concrete pad under it. There was also an outlet there right where I made my bed. I ended up gathering some wood and making a small fire. It was getting cool and thunder came in as the clouds rolled over me. I enjoyed the fire as I watched the sunset.
      I put the fire out around 8 and I laid down. It was very peaceful as I was overlooking a green field backed by trees and then a pretty sunset. Very nice evening. The cool air felt good and the sound of thunder was awesome.
      I ended up dealing with a bunch of beetles after dark. They kept getting into my long hair and when I felt it I would grab them under my hair and have to pull them out through the wad of hair I grabbed. It was pretty nasty and they would crawl on me about every 5-10 minutes. Even though im used to bugs and it's not that bad anymore, it was very annoying.
         I fell asleep around 10:30 that night and slept pretty decent. It was a good day overall. I walked about 15 miles.






     

1 comment:

Andi said...

I don't know how you get used to bugs Nick! So far, out of everything you've experienced, I think that's the one thing that I could not handle. I would have given up the very first time I pulled a bug from my hair.

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