Day 79, June 21, 2012

  I woke up on day 79 inside the country store near mineola TX. It was the store on the blueberries farm where the owner (Jill) had really hooked me up. I didn't ask for anything but she had given me a new cart, and bunch of snacks and drinks. I had slept well in the air conditioning.
         I woke up around 7:30 and Jill said she would be there around 8 to open up the store. So I packed up so it was clean for opening time. I was just finishing packing when she came in. She brought 2 white shirts down from the house for me.
          So she asked if I needed anything else, and at that point I was so thankful for what she had done for me already. I told her she had done plenty and thanked her. She was heading out to take her daughter to a horse riding event and a guy had come to meet her there to work the store. So she said goodbye to me and gave me her number. She wanted me to find a phone and call her after I finished.
        I headed up the road around 8:15. I walked about 4 miles and into mineola. When I got there I headed to a laundromat. I wanted to wash my socks and underwear that I changed out of. I wanted to clean them before they stunk up my bag inside or got mildewed.
        After that I headed down the street to a dairy queen where I wanted to get caught up on my journals. So I ordered a chicken sandwich and plugged in there while typing my journals. After about 2 hours sitting there the manager came up and said I couldn't sit there all day. So I told her I would wrap it up soon. So I packed up and headed out not long after.
        My water jugs were low so I pulled off at a tire shop to fill them up. I used a hose on the side of the building and filled the jugs and also wet my towel for my head. After that I headed out towards Grand Saline. It was pretty warm so I was drinking water often. I walked through the hot part of the day and was sweating like crazy. It was really hot out.
        I walked all the way to Grand Saline and got there around 9:30pm. When I got to the edge of town there was a baseball game going on under the lights. So I pulled off and sat right behind the left field fence to watch it. I was the only person watching from out there in the outfield. And it was funny, the left fielder on one of the teams was walking towards me every few pitched and pulling his phone out of his back pocket to check it. He was hiding it from everyone else but I saw it. It was pretty funny but also bummed me out a little.
         I watched a few innings then headed into town to figure out where to sleep. The first church I found was pretty exposed and didn't have any good spot that was hidden to sleep. So I headed further down the road to check out another church. This one also didn't have any good spots but it was the last church before leaving the town. So I made my bed in a shadow area in the breezeway of the front door. It wasn't the best spot but it would do.
        I fell asleep around 11 there and was beat. After using my new cart though, I was happy with it. The wheels worried me a bit, but it had way more storage space and that is good so I can pack more water on the long stretches.