Day 128, August 9, 2012

 I woke up on rocks behind the Smiths grocery store. It amazes me how comfortable I can sleep on such a rough surface. The rocks were just big enough where I can feel them digging into me. But when I fall asleep I just seem to forget about it.
       I got up and stretched a little. My knees were sore and my lower back was also sore. My knees were hurting from the way I had slept on them also. I think the hard surface really puts my hips in an awkward position an ultimately causes some pain in my knees as they are against each other (I usually sleep on my sides).
         I went over to the wall and checked to see if the kitten was around. I didn't see anything, but the bread I put out was gone. I finished packing my things and headed out.
         I had received a message from friends of the guys with the flat tire from a couple nights before. They wanted to meet me and hear more about my walk. So I met them at the McDonald's back across the parking lot.
       Their were 3 of them, one maybe around 20 and two younger. They sat with me at McDonald's and asked some questions. It's really cool to tell humbling stories to younger kids. I really like when they say I have opened their eyes and humbled them too. That is such a cool thing. I think everyone always worries about the younger generation. Like its just our nature to hope they can grow to make the world we will be old in, a good place to be. I told stories of how I have learned not to judge people, from homeless I have talked to and learned their life stories. I told stories of how I appreciate little things so much more and realize how precious small moments can be. How nice little things like being clean can feel when you don't have much time clean.
        They were really cool and thankful for talking to me. They also gave me 3 booklets of McDonald's coupons for free items. You could get hamburgers/ice cream cones/apple slices. They were good at the McDonald's until the end of Albeqeurque. Those were the restaurants participating. There were a lot of coupons and I wouldn't be able to use them all, since it was one per visit. So I was very happy I could pass them out, plus use as many as I could. We all shook hands and they left.
       Then as I sat there I realized something. A couple nights before, when I was tired and hurting and part of me didn't feel like stopping to help the guys with the flat tire, but I did anyways, had just come back to me. I now had food for the next few days, and even stuff to share. That was really cool. It's like I was tested, and now rewarded.
        I left there and went across the freeway to a Walmart. I needed a few things to help my body and some snacks. I had a $20 gift card from the guy who met me at the state line (Will). So I was gonna use that to help me out.
       I picked up some sole inserts, fish oils (for knees), another sport bandage wrap so I had two (one for each knee), and some can foods and snacks. The total was about $30 so I used some of my cash too. At this point I was down to  about $25.
        I didn't really let anyone know, but my shoes were just about wasted by now. The soles were toasted and my knees were feeling the lack of support. I didn't want to tell anyone as I had already planned to use the money I had left to buy a used pair of shoes from a thrift store in Albeqeurque when I got there. I would just swap the inserts into those when I got them also.
         I left Walmart and headed down a frontage road that was heading out of Edgewood and into a small mountain stretch between there and Albeqeurque, which was maybe 30 miles ahead.
         I walked up some hills and through winding areas. It was really pretty and the mountains right around me were a nice change of scenery to walk through.
        I stopped about 10 miles in and took a break on a small rock under a tree. I popped a can of ravioli to eat from the Walmart stop I just made. They were about luke warm, but man they were tasty. It was a lot nicer that eating crackers and cheese for lunch. Oh, I also bought a fresh loaf of bread for the peanut butter I was given. I was gonna make a sandwich for breakfast each morning.
         I walked another 5 miles or so when my knees were flaring up. I passed a church and decided to stop there. I figured I would go easy until I got the new shoes to help my knees. And also, this was a good place to sleep rather than strolling into Albeqeurque at night and winging it last minute in the dark.
       So I stopped at about 6:00pm. It was overcast so my solar panel wasn't powering my stuff. My things died and I still had hours to kill there before I would try and sleep. I pulled out my maps and were just looking at the route ahead and thinking about some stuff. After I got tired of that I pulled the bible out and read through some of that. It was a little frustrating, but certain versus did enlighten me. I feel like reading the bible is sort of like helping people when I don't feel like it. It's frustrating, but I always come out with something that can be helpful. I forget most of the frustrating things in it the next day anyway. But I can take the helpful stuff and apply it to situations I get into sometimes. I feel like it really does create a better attitude and selfless way to live. Which is ultimately rewarding.
          So after killing a couple hours the sun set. I laid there and got to sleep early. I was laying on a ramp in front of this church. It was close to the road but it was higher than the cars and made it a better spot as I was harder to see.
        I slept ok that night besides sliding down the cement ramp slowly when I would roll around. Also there were some bugs flying around landing on me here and there. There was a light right above me that attracted the bugs. And a pretty big spider in my arm woke me up at some point also. But all in all I slept ok

   
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