Day 23

Day 23 started off as a bummer. I woke up in the woods off the highway in my tent. I could feel right away that my feet were worse and in pain. I sat up in my tent and put my feet down. It was painful and I knew I needed to rest them. I laid back down and fell back asleep. It was around 8:30.
        When I woke again it was around 11. I didn't really know what the right thing to do was? My feet needed rest for sure. But my iPod was dead and I had no way to contact anyone to let them know where I was and that I would rest. I didn't give a heads up either that I might be offline as I didn't plan on stopping short of the church the night before. I stopped suddenly since my feet were wrecked.
        So after I sat there a while I decided to just tough it out and walk the 8 miles to the church, and hope that maybe I would find one earlier along the way. Not probable but I hoped anyway.
      I packed up and got ready. I started to walk and it was instantly hurting. I looked like a 90 year old man and was trying to walk gingerly. But it was painful anyways. I walked very slow and just hoped to see somewhere I could stop for a day...
      About 2 hours went by and I was still trekking. Pain was getting worse even after I took a bunch of Advil. I could barely convince myself to keep going... But I did. I could feel each step in my foot and any slight bump or slope in the surface was painful. I pushed and pushed and finally got to the church.
       It wasn't a well hidden spot and there were houses all around it. It was old and dirty around the outside with tons of ant burrows. I knew either way, that's where I was staying as I could hardly stay on my feet any longer.
       I plugged my things in and sat down. It felt so good to be off my feet. I still wasn't sure where I would sleep to be out of sight. But I needed to sit there a while to relax. After about 15 minutes I walked around the church and found one corner out of sight of the houses. It was literally the only spot to stay unnoticed. I went and grab my cart and rolled it there. It was very dirty and sandy with bugs all over, but it would have to do.
       I made my bed and sat down again. My feet hurt so bad that the bugs crawling on me didn't bother me. I had ants, spiders, and a few other types of bugs constantly on my skin.
       A bit later I decided to go back to the front and grab my electronics. When I got up I almost fell back down. It was a mission just to walk to the front and grab my iPod. I probably looked wasted drunk which wasn't good. I grabbed my stuff and figured that was the last time I would leave from my spot to stay out of sight as the people in the homes would likely be home from work or whatever soon. I hoped I already hadn't been seen but it didn't look like anyone was home, so I figured I might be ok.
         I laid down and took a nap. I woke up maybe an hour later and the bugs were getting heavier and mesquitos were beginning to bite me. It honestly made me feel a little crazy to wake up with bugs all over me and not even flinch. I just laid there feeling them on my skin and knew I could swipe and slap them all night but they would still come back. And if I wanted sleep I was just gonna have to deal with it. Really sucked and was maybe the most uncomfortable and irritated I've ever been.
      Before I went to sleep I loaded up on repellant hoping to keep some of the bugs off me. And then I laid down and covered myself pretty good in my sleeping bag to limit my exposure. I wish the spot was big enough for my tent. But it was only able to barely fit me and my cart hidden.
      I slept on and off all night. I had ants and spiders constantly crawling on me. I even woke up when a centipede was crawling on my sleeping bag and I thought it was a little snake. At one point something was crawling by my ear and was loud, so I sat up and it was a huge spider! It was about the size of a Pringle chip!! I grabbed my shoe and smashed it! It was a pretty miserable night to be homeless and immobile.