Day 23

Day 23 (PT 8): 24 miles

Honestly my brain has been pretty messed up on the time the past few days. I think I’m in the central time zone now, but I’ve kept my watch on eastern time for some reason. I thought part of the trail went back into eastern time for some reason but now I don’t think that’s the case. So I’ve been living in a time zone limbo until I finally switched my watch over today to central time.

The morning went by fast. It was still hot, but thankfully there was a breeze today. It was so relieving to have a little reprieve from the stagnant wet heat. Not to be mistake, it was still hot and I was still sweating like a wet hog, but it was a little better. I made it into Heflin early in the afternoon to avoid some of the heat of the day.

Hitchhiking has just not been my thing lately. Last year it seemed to be relatively easy for the most part, even on the CDT. But so far I have had tough hitches every time on this trip. Today it took about an hour before I got a ride into Heflin. Finally, a truck stopped with some real country boys in it and offered to give me a ride into town. This is a good reminder to not judge a book by its cover. These guys looked pretty rough, were missing a few teeth, and just weren’t necessarily the “clean upstanding citizen” looking type. But still, after an hour of cars passing nonstop on a busy road, they were the ones with enough kindness in their hearts to stop and give me a ride into town. And for anyone that’s gonna say something lame like “be careful or be smart.” I’ve got a pretty good sense of people, and they just looked a little rougher. They looked like people I’ve seen and partied with at Rob Zombie, Korn, and Marilyn Manson concerts. I just think too many people judge others too quickly. Oh shit. Is that a judgment in itself? Did I just go meta?

Quick throwback for the boys to the time I locked my keys in my car at a Rob Zombie concert with the tickets inside and had to go over to a biker gang and ask them to help me break into my car.

On a different note, there are few things more freeing than riding in the bed of a pickup truck.

After I got back on trail, I was really missing the climate controlled environment I had for a few hours in McDonald’s. I quickly became a sweaty grease ball again. Also it’s about 50 miles to the next town, I didn’t feel like stopping at a grocery store so I’ve got 10 McDoubles to make it those 50 miles. At a rate of 5 miles per McDouble, I think that’s more than enough.

Song of the day: Last resort-papa roach