Author: gadget

Another chilly night later and i awoke in the field on the edge of Cheyenne wrapped in fog. I packed up and continued my streak of getting a cup of coffee at a Flying J, only this time i got a banana with it for breakfast. I spent the morning playing guitar outside of the Denny’s attached to the J.

Shelia rolled up at around 830. We talked about the various gypsy adventures she got herself into as she broke out her paints. She’s super into painting things, it’s cool that she had so many paints stuffed into her backpack. She told of her bear encounter, her last time at a rave, and the nice lady who gave her croc sandals while she painted her hand and face, and my hand and the Doctor.

Painting continued as we made signs that simply read “EAST” with Jo, a girl who was dressed like a trainhopper and had a rad dog. We weren’t sure how dogs worked with trainhopping but Shelia expressed a desire with becoming one herself. We also met another man who was hitchhiking around, his name started with an E but i didn’t understand his name after 2 tries and i didn’t want to ask again so he’s E.

We walked around the truck stops with no takers so we moved to the on ramp. Hours passed and no hitches came. We set out down the interstate and no hitches came. We walked out to a different exit and no hitches came. We resigned ourselves to walking down to a different interstate crossing on the other side of town, and on the way she told me about the time she got a camper and recruited a legion of gypsies to live in it with her.

We took a pit stop at a pizza place and got a pie with some money that people gave us. It had ranch sauce, bacon, green onions, tator tots, and nacho cheese drizzled on top and it was bonkers how good it was.

By the next interstate i was given about $30 in only a few minutes while i was just standing there playing the Doctor, i can only assume it was his cool new paint job that enticed them. As it was getting very dark a man pulled up and drove us one exit down the interstate to the Walmart exit.

As we were scouting our sleeping spot that night we passed by a big rv selling flags and never have i seen so many flags. She expressed an interest in burning one of the flags they had on display and i voiced my concern about that idea.

A spooky storm shadowed the horizon so we slept under a noisy bridge next to some noisy train tracks. Unfortunately it didn’t rain that night so i traded a good night’s sleep for nothing. I groggily drank a Mountain Dew Pitch Black the next morning as i waited for Shelia to wake up.

A train was parked right next to our sleeping spot that morning and i waited in vain. She disappeared and we didn’t meet up again. Hopefully she got the courage and hopped on that train, off to wander the country some more. Hours later i got a ride from a nice teacher who was chock full of education it was crazy.

Since she was a matronly figure she also made me promise to be safe on my adventures. She dropped me at the last truck stop on I-80 in Wyoming which soon i became very familiar with. I spent the afternoon in the trucker lounge charging my stuff and watching a handful of SGDQ runs while all the trucker boys watched their buff footy boys play their football. That continued until sunset and i moved to underneath the interstate for a loud night’s sleep. It wasn’t cold though so things were looking up.

The next morning i spent too much time in the truck stop eating french toast sticks and playing with my music game on my game boy. I thought about trying to hitch out but the sun was high and hot so instead i watched all of Bojack Horseman season 4 and a few of my other favorite episodes from other seasons.

E had pulled a hitch to this next truck stop too and we chatted for a bit. He’s 56, and he had a stroke 3 years back. Things went all wrong afterwards and he’s been homeless since then. He was in the process of heading down to near Oklahoma City for the winter. We talked about how awful some big cities are with homeless people on heroin and how people are very grumpy these days. He also had a doozy of a coughing fit and told me afterwards that he’s been smoking the same kind of cigarettes since he was 13. I posited that there was a correlation there and he agreed as he lit up one.

Day turned to dusk turned to night and i set up shop at the same spot that night. I woke up early the next morning and started to hitch early that morning, before the sun got too hot.

and i got one but at that point i was no longer stuck in wyoming so i need to end this post. also dang i’m no good at writing these now that i’m back in michigan on my routine i had pre-pct. i shoulda wrote all these while i was hitching but oops. this week and last week i’ve been working at biggby and playing hella video games. next post will be about finally getting to iowa and the one after that will be about video games cuz they’re a great medium and they’re still reaching their potential

gotchu bruv

such a fresh medium, interactive media, still experimenting with what it can be. saddled by the basic versus structure tied to its early years, a game of moving pictures. burdened by foolish big business, aaa gaming sure looks messy here in 2024 lol. crippled by input, controller literacy is quite the hurdle, not to mention dual stick 3d movement. look to the indie market: these computers are more common than ever these days, creativity in interactive media is all over the place, we eatin these days

but what’s that peering over the fence? virtual reality? just think of the ways it can interact, the ways it can immerse…wait can it even see us with those things on? are they any good these days? accessible to the common audience yet?

more and more creatives getting inspired by creatives, all the while the ceaseless march of technology continues. exciting days ahead so long as this leisure entertainment thing persists.

hope you’re doing ok, E

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.

spoilers: i made it to Iowa City in time for the wedding. it’s been a minute since i wrote on here because i wanted to surprise my friends by showing up for this wedding, other than the one that’s getting married i made sure to rsvp to him

That day in Portland was a busy one. My first stop was at an H&M so i could get a pair of jeans. I wasn’t about to try to hitchhike any long distance in my hiking skirt, especially off trail. My mistake was going to H&M, they didn’t have any boot cut jeans to go with my hiking boots. Unabated i still got a pair and headed to an outdoor gear store to downsize. My normal pack, the Red Menace, was an unwieldy beast chock fill of bulky gear and not optimized for hitchhiking. Also it was falling apart all over the place. I dropped most of my gear along with the pack and got a 45 liter Lendes one for way cheaper than on Osprey.

My sorry attempt at hitching out of Portland went poorly and i spent the night in a hotel instead. It was for the best because i got to shower, watch the series finale of Adventure Time and almost cry, and have a restless night sleep on a proper bed.

I woke up bright and early the next day to get the first bus from Portland to Cascade Locks after a couple other buses. One of my drivers was a nice lady who was covering the shift of a legendary Portland bus driver, she sang the praises of him to me as we were the only ones on the bus.

In Cascade Locks i sent home the Red Menace and it cost way too much money. As i walked to the edge of town to try to hitch i passed by some hikers who didn’t even give me the time of day since i was no longer in my thru hiking uniform. It was a weird feeling that i didn’t like.

At the edge of town my first hitch didn’t go well. One lady stopped for me to tell me that she couldn’t pick me up. Then a bus heading east stopped and the driver picked me up and drove me from Cascade Locks to Hood River for free which i count as a win with my first hitch.

From Hood River i took a bus to The Dalles. While i was waiting i chatted with an old lady who i initially saw as cute but she identified as being grumpy. She was concerned about my upcoming journey and made me promise not to do anything she wouldn’t approve of after offering me some of her ice cream sandwich and paying my one dollar bus fare.

The Dalles didn’t really have a good place to hitch out from, but thankfully after about half an hour of standing near a roundabout a man in a truck with no doors brought me a few miles out of town to a better place to hitch from. Unfortunately that next hitch took a few hours.

Two older guys in a pickup [a pattern will emerge] rolled up on their way to a campground on the Columbia River near Rufus. The driver had a US Navy hat on backwards and his passenger had a thick accent and multiple cans of Rolling Rock. They requested that i sing the whole time to pay for my hitch and they showed me with praise after each song. The Navy driver also expressed concern for my well being, so i told him that i promised my mama i’d be safe, and i don’t mess with her cuz she was in the Army. I think the driver’s words were “i knew something was wrong about you when i picked you up,” while his passenger laughed.

They dropped me off at the gas station in Rufus and said if i was stuck there by nighttime i was more than welcome at their campsite. After around 5 hours i was starting to despair. During that time i played a lot of guitar, listened to a few podcasts, and bought a bottle of that tropical sprite. The cashier at the gas station was wearing a D.Va hat so we talked Overwatch in the air conditioning for a bit, and about how he’s more of a Mei main but the Mei hat was always sold out. I told him in the small time i was playing i was mostly Lucio and he judged me hard.

As i was pulling up my guitar tuner on my phone a man pulled up and asked if i needed a ride. Turns out he passed by me in The Dalles and was hurrying to work so couldn’t pick me up there, but now he was on his way home and had leisure time. He gave me a meaty hitch to Hinkle.

On the way we touched on podcasts and his eyes lit up as he ran through his list of regulars. He’s more of an informative podcaster where i’m all about those comedy ones, usually improv. We swapped some of our favorites and he pointed out the sights along the way. He drove me a few miles farther up the interstate than he had to because his exit was shared with a prison which isn’t the best place to hitch out from. He dropped me at a truck stop with an A&W attached. Chili dogs were super cheap and i got two.

Right next door was a factory that he told me they made tator tots in and it smelled weird. I cowboyed across the street from there and boy was it cold. It was my first night without all my gear and i was concerned about how dang chilly i was with all my stuff on. Sleep kept a wide berth from me as i curled up for the night.

boy two days and look at how meaty this thing is holy cow. i also wasn’t as good at taking pictures during this time or the next time either oops. i’ma break it up here tho cuz this long as heckin already

nothing really that i’d like to add to this one. it was the start of my big hitchhike and a time of metamorphosis. that long long night of little sleep near the tots factory, i sure spent that night there.

The time came around for my ride up to Cascade Locks so i stood around with my backpack outside of the library. Firefly and her man, Lorax, easily identified me. They brought me to their van which is also their home. It was decked out in wood paneling on the inside with a nice bed and cozy lighting. We started on our hours long journey with me sprawled out on the floor.

We took a side stop to pick up Dreamy from farther up the trail. She’s a professional dancer and told us the tale of when she almost was one of the ballerinas for Runaway for Ye at some music awards show up until he changed his mind. She’s super cool but also many miles ahead of me so i probably won’t see her again? spoiler alert that might be the case with other people

We drove on into dusk and i spent most of the drive singing and playing the doctor, they were kind enough to not tell me to shut it. When it was time to get gas we stopped at a station that had a Taco Bell and a Cinnabon, very dangerous. I snuck a fiver into a pair of shoes in Firefly’s van because they refused to let me chip in for gas.

Nighttime closed in and we pulled into Cascade Locks close to 1030 on Friday night. People were still going hard, but most of the festivities were closed down, including the place where you pay for camping. And thus we start the series about how PCT Days is inferior to Trail Days on the AT, part1: you have to pay for camping at PCTD. On the plus side, the camping was on an island so that was cool. part2, the island was small so there wasn’t space for the people who wanted to sleep at 11 to separate from the people still putting all the drugs in their body and projecting all their voices out of their bodies. I found a cozy spot to cowboy and crashed hard.

Sleep was restless and i was awake at about 5. I was toying with the idea of staying awake, and decided against it. Just then, the sprinklers turned on and i was attacked by a deluge of cold water. In a daze i gathered my things and dragged them away, all the while taking direct attacks from these powerful water cannons. part3: why do you still have your sprinklers on when you know that real estate is at a premium on this small island.

I layed out all my drenched gear and resigned myself to the waking world earlier than i usually do on trail, because everything was cold. I opted to walk around to try to warm up and dry off. part4: Cascade Locks sux. It’s one road with 3 restaurants, one novelty 50s diner, a grocery store, and a post office. Nothing was open at 5, but thankfully one restaurant opened at 6. While i was warming up and charging my phone i caught a Snorlax which i was convinced would secure my victory against Patient Zero. It was not to be so. When we met up and got linked up to have our fated battle, the link cable didn’t work. It didn’t matter, his team was an average 15 levels below mine, it woulda been a massacre. I’m sad i couldn’t evolve my Kadabra or Graveler tho.

The rest of that day i spent with all the cool humans i never thought i’d see again so that was great. There was a free pizza party which ooh baby yes please. The day turned to night and we kept hanging out until around midnight joking and drinking. The meat of the day lies in this paragraph despite its short length. It was a great day, not perfect, nothing so absolute. So many silly jokes and conversations that are lost to time but the effects still live in hearts or some schmoozey bullshit like that

The next morning started off great, free breakfast and also morning beers because of course. Two kids wandered by and hung out with us. The older kid was a bit much but the 2 year old named Eli was working on an ascended plane of human thought and i was feeling it. While we were standing around chatting and procrastinating parting for the last time, the idea was placed for a Portland adventure. Before i knew it i was in a car with Patient Zero’s boy and Maui and Big Boy going to Portland.

We ate at food trucks and drank at two breweries. Our crew expanded to include Dr Pineapple, Hauser, Cheesesteak, City Boy, Dragon, and her two friends whose names escape me but they cool. The last four people split off from us when we went to a rose garden, burrito place, and weird ice cream shop.

The night ended at a woman’s house who Dr Pineapple had charmed at a country music festival. She offered her basement for lodging and her piano for entertaining. We stayed up until at least midnight chatting about all kinds of chungus and avoiding sleep.

At seven the next morning Easy Company picked me up and we went on an all day journey with his dad back to Elk Lake. Shoutout to Mr. Company for a fantastic Star Wars reference: he likened pooping before hiking to jettisoning trash before jumping into hyperspace.

I took a very short afternoon on trail and crashed early. Easy passed me for probably the last time, but then Monster and Cheez it showed up! And the next day Princess and Tinkles and oh jeez i don’t know the last guys name but i saw him back by Wrightwood showed up too!

Unfortunately sleep kept a tight grip on me, i spent most of the past two days in its embrace. Miles were mediocre but it felt great.

These PCTers out here need to hit up the AT. Moaning and groaning about some well maintained rocky trail, if the AT was out here we’d be rock hopping for miles. They don’t know how gravy this trail really is.

lava fields are super cool, so are these burn zones. too bad the smoke is still hanging out

I had a good curry dinner at the youth camp but left for the night, cutting myself off of breakfast. The hitch to Sisters took a while but the guy gave me all kinds of handouts and almost took me along to a rafting trip and rodeo for the weekend. Sorry dude, if i didn’t have a time limit i woulda gladly imposed on ya’lls party.

also 2000 hype

aww pct days, remembering you only reminds me of all the humans i knew that summer and little else.

i see you, tom robbins book, scattered amongst the wet goods in the grass

portland trip good very good. i missed a photo though:

we was outside of the ice cream shop making jokes. always makin jokes, good times.