I woke up hearing someone walking on the rocks. I looked out from under my tarp and saw two feet stop about 5 feet from me. A guy bent down and asked if I stayed dry last night. I was so discombobulated and sleepy still that when I said yes it barely came out with sound. Then he laughed a little. He said he used cardboard to stay dry. It was weird because he didn't look homeless. Then he said he slept behind the dollar tree down the road. He said sorry to bother me and he was just checking what was under the tarp. He left.I laid there a while before getting up. Finally I got up around 9 and was ready to get all my things prepared to hit the road.
I packed all my stuff, brushed my teeth, took my supplements, and filled my water jugs there behind the auto zone. There was actually a water spicket right next to where I slept. When I was all packed up I made a peanut butter and banana chip sandwich and stretched while I ate it.
I left there and hit a gas station on the corner. I went in and bought a gallon jug of water to replace the one I gave away. I still couldn't believe I found the $20. So much so that the thought of it being counterfeit actually crossed my mind. But it was real.
I left there and hit the 66 west. After the gas station there was literally nothing but open road. The first mile was a steep hill I climbed. It wore me out a bit. When I got to the top, looking back at Albeqeurque was cool and I could see it all. I continued up to where the 66 went back into the 40. It was another half mile or so.
I jumped on the 40 and was off. I walked about 7 miles of flat when suddenly it was a big drop down a hill. I stopped for a break right before the drop since I found the only spot of shade I had seen in miles. After a quick 15 minutes I continued.
My GPS didn't show much ahead of me for the next 140 miles or so. Just a couple gas stations. But as I was dropping the downhill part I saw something busy far ahead. It was a ways off and I couldn't tell what it was so I just kept walking.
I walked another 7 miles or so when I got close to the exit. Then I could see it was a casino! A large exit with a bunch of stuff. It was called the Oasis casino. So I came up and had a nice place to stop. I stopped at the Dairy Queen right off the exit.
I ordered a drink and hungout there. Someone on my Facebook asked where I was and said they were on their way. That was a surprise. When they got there it was a couple from Albeqeurque. They were following my story and wanted to come help out. They brought me a bag of snacks, some drinks, and $20! That was a nice and unexpected surprise. They hungout and talked a while. Very nice people!
I stayed there until 7. When I left it was really windy! Like so windy I couldn't walk at times and my stuff was close to blowing away. I fought that and sprinkling here and there. It just quickly rolled in and there were dark clouds above.
I walked until dark and for about 30 minutes past dark. It was a lot of uphill and tough walking in the wind. I got about 19 miles for the day when I stopped at a dirt road that went right off the 40. It was all that was around so I had to settle. I made my bed right under a gate and next to a cattle guard. It wasn't the most comfortable spot away from wild life. But I had to take any rest I could get.
I made my bed in the dirt and rocks there. It said it may rain through the night so my tarp was ready. I didn't fall asleep until about 2am! I couldn't sleep and didn't like that the wind blocked me being able to hear what was around. Plus the interstate was loud being about 30 feet away.
It started raining at about 2:30am. It was coming down pretty hard and I had got my tarp over me and my stuff right on time! I put the tarp over the gate to stay up. Due to the wind I had to lay in part of the tarp too. I had to be really snugged up to my cart and could only be in the fetal position to stay dry. It rained most of the night from there. I got maybe 2-3 hours of very sketchy rest that night.
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