The next day i “awoke” before dawn after a rough night of freezing my tookus off. As my dad has said my entire life, “travel light, freeze at night.” This prophecy came to pass as my minimal gear led to chilly nights. Also this marked the first time that i layed down to rest near a place called Mosquito Creek. That prophecy also came to pass and i found many tiny mosquito bites on my exposed hands.
I ducked into the nearby truck stop to warm my bones and get a cup of joe. They also sold gigantic donuts for two bucks so of course that happened. After the warm sun rose entirely i set out to try to hitch. Not many cars came by, but i was unabated with my attempts.
As noon hit i was still standing there. That’s when i realized i spent the past five months walking, so why wasn’t i doing that now? I set out onto the interstate with my thumb out trying to fish for some nice humans. It was silly of me to start so late, i was cooking in the hot deserty sun of north Oregon. Two miles later or so a car pulled over. When i walked up they rolled the window down, asked if i had a license, and asked if i wanted to drive. I didn’t tell them that it had been five months since i drove last and hopped into the driver’s seat.
We drove to an Indian Casino about 20 miles up the interstate. I forget their names, but they were a grandfather and grandson from some Native American tribe in Oregon. They were the last two people who could speak their native language. At the casino they were off to have a meeting with some elders from a different tribe to make plans to create some kind of class so they wouldn’t be the only two people who spoke their language.
We stopped at a truck stop because of course we did, and they bought me some Mcdonald’s. The walls were adorned with old Native American woven baskets and the grandpa picked out features of their weaving that told him when they were made. He also talked about football. Both of these subjects i couldn’t contribute much to but i liked the way he spoke so it was all good.
It was late afternoon so i was on the fence about heading out again. After drinking my body weight in pop and buying a cheap fleece blanket i decided to continue trying to hitch. Two miles later on the interstate again a pickup truck with a cute dog in the back pulled over. The driver was an older guy, who was currently making a living picking and selling mushrooms. The sustenance kind, not the psychedelic kind. He came in clutch as the interstate was starting to climb up and over a pass.
He shuttled me to a cozy rest stop. After he left i saw two girls doing a small cookout on the back of their van with a dog. They offered me some beans and rice and let me pet their dog, but the van was packed very full and i couldn’t ride with them. The sun was low and i set up shop there and watched a couple episodes of Bojack Horseman to get hyped for season 5.
I lingered at the rest stop for way too long the next morning, set out on the interstate close to noon. A couple few miles later i took shelter under a bridge to cool off. As i was brushing my hair a semi honked and pulled off to the side of the road eventually. I got my workout as i jogged up to it and got inside.
The driver was a super rad dude. His name is Dallas, he was in the army, he was a chef, and he was heading to his hometown in Casper Wyoming to meet his new niece. He offered to take me the whole way there and i couldn’t say no to that meaty of a hitch. He told me of all the cool things in Wyoming and bought me multiple meals. We stopped for the night in Idaho near the border with Wyoming and i slept in the back of his semi. The next morning i woke up before him and played some guitar outside of the truck stop as the sun rose. A few people gave me some money even though i didn’t have a hat down or anything so that felt great.
His semi was outfitted with all kinds of beeping devices. One would beep two different ways whenever it felt like he was too far out of his lane, one would beep whenever it saw the speed limit change, and there was another that beeped very loudly but i don’t remember what set that one off.
Many many miles later we neared Casper. We stopped at Independence Rock, a cool old rock that people have been carving their names into since the pioneer days. Not long after that we got into Casper and he picked out all the things that have changed in the past four or five years as we rolled into the Flying J at the edge of town. His mom came by and picked him up and i sat outside with my stuff and my guitar when Shelia walked up.
She’s been hitching around the west side of America for quite a while, she was nebulous about how many years it had been. We were sitting outside when i saw Dallas come by on a motorcycle, but he didn’t see me there. I walked over to his semi after i finished the song i was playing and still didn’t see him. I took the assumption that he thought i ghosted on him and felt terrible. I left him a note telling him that beefCerealMayo would find me on the internet and got into a pickup with Shelia down to Cheyenne.
That hitch was a friendly guy with a Guy Fawkes mask on his dash and a Guy Fawkes mask sticker on his windshield. He chain smoked cigarettes the whole way down as we played an eclectic mix of music on the speaker he had in the backseat because his truck’s speakers were busted. He dropped us at a Flying J where we got some food and Shelia and i found a cozy field to sleep in.
whew okay got three days on this one. not many pictures sorry, i didn’t take my phone out of my pocket much during that meaty hitch with dallas. for real though i feel like garbage leaving dallas without saying goodbye if you’re reading this dallas you’re super rad and i still have to go back to cheyenne to get that burger and also try out a taco john’s. also thank you so much for the meaty hitch it came in clutch and was essential for me getting to that wedding
it’s not always kosher to stroll on these interstates, but how else can i show these people that i am no common vagrant without direction? i have drive to accomplish, see me walking? they’re poor for walking tho, loud loud loud.
still feel bad about how we parted, dallas. a true homie like you deserved better, i’m sorry friend.
man i dunno 