Saturday Oct. 3: Rocky Ford
So here I sit alone in my tent again. Seems like forever since I've done that. Adrian drove me to Rocky Ford this evening (actually two miles past it.) We stopped at a trail head that looked as if it would lead to my home tonight. He walked with me awhile until I found a place that seemed right. We set up my tent and said goodbye. The more time you spend with someone, the harder it is to say goodbye. It's true, but I know I will see him again. I have another family in Canon City, CO. My mom suggested that I praise God for all the wonderful people that I have met on this trip, instead of dwelling on the negative experience of being robbed. She's right. Time to move on now.
Sunday Oct. 4: Arkansas River east of Rocky Ford
I walked about seven miles today, and found out how really out of shape I have become. The new pack carries well, but my body still hurts from moving it seven miles east. The folks haven't been real friendly out here. I've stopped at two farm houses to ask for water. Both times the people said, "The hose is over there" without any inquiry as to why I might be out in the middle of nowhere, walking down a gravel road with a huge back pack, asking them for water. What manner of men live here in south eastern Colorado? I waved to about ten cars that drove by before giving up because no one would wave back. What kind of a place is this? Everyone waves on gravel roads. Hunting season is on, and sometimes I feel like I am walking in a war zone. No lie, no exaggeration---I heard a machine gun today.
Monday Oct. 5
Things are looking up. I got my first wave today. It was from a guy driving a tractor, and it was a real good wave, too. I walked the remaining five miles into La Junta and saw a teenage boy (Ian) and his grandfather stacking wood. I asked him for water, and he said, "Sure, come on inside." Things are really looking up now! Invited inside! His grandmother made me two egg sandwiches with coffee and gave me snacks for later. I helped Ian stack the rest of the wood, and we sat down and talked. Ahhhhh. That's walking across America. Meeting kind folks is where the enjoyment of it lies for me.
I went to the La Junta library, where I met Debbie, the director of library services. The internet moves really slowly in the afternoon here in La Junta, and I was unable to get into my yahoo account. So now here I sit in Debbie's office using her email account. Ahhhhhhhhh. My faith in humanity is being restored, and I actually feel like doing a little jig and dancing around her office. Happier letters are sure to follow.
It gets better. I am half way through sending out emails to people when Debbie comes into her office and tells me she is going home, has a spare bedroom that I can stay tonight, and internet access to finish my letters. People never cease to amaze me. Here I am, some guy who is fairly smelly and looking pretty grungy (I'm in the process of growing a beard to keep my face warm this winter.) She invites me into her home and then leaves for a budget meeting after telling me to help myself to anything in the fridge. What a day. The trip continues.
Monday October 12: Lamar
Well, I finally made it to Lamar on Sunday. It was a longer walk than I thought it would be. I had met two guys on the way out of La Junta who were riding the rails. They walked up to tell me that a train was leaving for San Antonio, TX, in about an hour if I was interested in joining them on their journey to warmer weather. I'm not talking about Amtrak, I mean the free, riding in a box car variety. I told them thanks, but that I was walking east.
On my trip I've met several guys who travel on the trains. I always talk with them for a while. They get to see the country without the billboards. That sounds appealing. You risk being beaten and robbed by other tramps, and the guys who work in the railroad yards are known to rough a guy up now and then. That doesn't sound appealing.
Anyway, this guy (Ray) told me that I should go to the homeless center when I get to Lamar. He said, "I been trampin' for thirteen years" and the homeless center in Lamar was one of the best. You just have to go to the sheriff's office and let them run your ID. If there are no warrants, you can stay at the center.
Ray was right. They feed you and let you wash your clothes; there's even cable TV with movie channels. Tramp heaven. There is actually a pool in the back yard, but since it's October it hasn't been cleaned for a while. There are only three of us staying there.
Willard, the guy who runs the center, gave me employment dismantling his deck so he can move it to his new house. I will probably stay here a few days. It's a really big deck, and I need the extra cash. Speaking of work, I need to get back there. So I will have to write more later.
I now have a sixth grade class in Canon City plotting my progress on a map and e-mailing me questions. It has been fun to be in contact with them. Today, Megan and Jessica wanted to know if I carried a weapon, if I'd ever walked to Texas, and how the weather was. Pepper spray, nope, very cold at night but perfect walking weather in the day.
Wed October 14: Lamar
I finished taking apart Willard's deck yesterday, and I am leaving Lamar today (east on hwy 196). I would like to cut straight south, but there is just not enough towns that way. If I follow the Arkansas River, I also follow the old Santa Fe Trail. It was a pre-railroad era wagon trail from St. Louis, MO to Santa Fe NM, and I am on it right now. Because of the trail, there is a town about every ten to fifteen miles (a day's journey). I ran in to the same phenomena last year when I was on the Oregon Trail for a while. It makes it so much easier when you only have to carry food for one day, and you meet such interesting people in those small towns. I met a woman at the information center in Lamar, and she told me about some old cemeteries (from people not making it all the way to Santa Fe) that "I had to see." They are near Holly and the Colorado border.
Yep, only thirty-three miles of Colorado left, then Kansas. Unfortunately, it's a long way to the next library with internet access, so don't worry if you dont hear from me for a couple of weeks. The next town of considerable size that I will pass through is Garden City, KS (104 miles from Lamar, longer on the back roads I'll be taking). Maybe I will meet someone along the way with a computer. It has happened before.
Thurs. Oct. 16: Granada
I walked into Granada today. It was a very uneventful walk--just twelve miles of me, dirt roads (one mile of railroad tracks), 88 degree heat in October with no shade whatsoever, and many fields of alfalfa and corn. I thanked God that there were irrigation ditches of clean water to cool off in. No one was home at any of the houses I stopped at for water, so I filled my water bottles from their hose and left quickly. I always have this vision of someone coming out of the house with a shotgun when I do that. No one ever has, but maybe someday.
I stopped at Tiny's Grocery in Granada (pronounced Gra-nay-da) and asked the woman working there (Tiny) if there was a park in town that I could spend the night. She said, "Yes, there is a park, but I don't know if you can stay there. Let me call the cop." It looks as if I'm in a one cop town. Officer Ken Mooney came, and I told him what I was doing. He took my I.D. next door to run the usual check on it, came back, said "You're good to go," and left. The people in town have told me that they don't usually let people camp in the park. It seems that Ken made an exception for me.
Tiny's husband (Lawrence) came out from the back of the store. He used to work for the railroad between La Junta and Dodge City, KS, so I got out the maps, and we talked about back roads I could walk along the way. Then he said, "What kind of pop do you drink?" I said, "diet pepsi," and he walked to the cooler to get me one. He asked me, "Have you eaten?" I replied, "Not since this morning," and he went to a different cooler, grabbed a roast beef and cheddar sandwich and handed it to me. Then Tiny said, "You'd probably be more comfortable in the employee lounge where you can sit in an E-Z chair and watch TV."
Wow. There are just so many kind people in this country it is unbelievable. It's too bad that you never turn on the news to see, "Couple who owns small grocery in Granada feed a complete stranger and give him a place to relax after he carried a 45 lb. pack twelve miles." You probably never will, but I feel fortunate to be able to tell you that stuff like that happens all the time. So, I sat in the E-Z chair, sandwich in hand, watching the weather channel to see about this big storm everyone's been talking about. It looks like snow along Colorado's front range tomorrow--cold rain here.
And now, I'm sitting in the Granada park. The sun went down about an hour ago, but I haven't set up my tent. I just have a strange feeling about staying here. Do you remember that scene in "Easy Rider" when they are all sleeping around the camp fire, and the locals come and beat them with baseball bats? I have one of those feelings tonight. I hate it when that happens.
Later, Officer Ken Mooney drove by the park to see how I was doing. Although he had never seen Easy Rider, I told him I had one of those feelings. He said, "Well, you can camp in my yard tonight if you'd feel safer. That way you can take a shower in the morning, and we can fix ya something for breakfast before you leave." Of course I said, "Great," grabbed my pack, got in the police car, and we drove to Ken's house. There, his wife made me dinner, and Ken and I stayed up talking and playing a dice game called "greed" until late.
Fri Oct. 16: Holly, CO
I woke up this morning, packed my things, and had some coffee. Ken made us some eggs and toast while wearing a bullet-proof vest. I asked him why he wore one. He said that because Hwy 50 runs through Granada, you never know who you might pull over. Ken said that he really enjoyed being a police officer in Granada. He liked the fact that he could be a part of the community, doing security for high school football games and such, instead of playing what he called "the numbers game," which refers to the attitude that police officers take in bigger towns. Cops playing the numbers game are mostly concerned with the amount of tickets they can write and how much revenue can be collected in any given month.
I met a cop whose primary goal is to protect and serve his community, unlike the millions of guys who drive around with "to protect and serve" written on their cars, playing the numbers game with no intent on protecting or serving anybody--just handing out tickets. It was refreshing to say the least.
After breakfast, Ken was called out to catch some dogs running loose at the school, and I went to Tiny's Grocery to say goodbye to Tiny and Lawrence. They were concerned about the storm coming, and asked me to call them when I reached Holly. If a big storm did break while I was out there, Larwence would come get me, let me stay with them, and drive me back to where I left off tomorrow. Officer Ken Mooney had told me the same thing earlier. I walked eleven miles to Holly, looking over my shoulder for a storm that never came.
Here is a little bit of Granada trivia for you. Camp Amache was located here. Camp Amache was a detention center during World War II. Between 1942 and 1945, it housed 7,500 Japanese Americans who had been evacuated from the west coast during those years of anti-Japanese hysteria.
I called Tiny from a gas station in Holly. Tonight, I will be staying with their friend Charles who lives here in Holly. She told me to call the cop (JoAnn), and that she would take me to Charles' house. Sounds good. I am riding this high because people have been so kind to me the past few days, and I'm expecting some sort of big welcome, right? Pow! Slapped in the face by JoAnn, the coldest police woman you could ever meet. "How do you know Charles? Got some I.D.?" and the famous, "You don't have any weapons on you, do you?" She had to frisk me before letting me ride in her car. I felt like I was being arrested in front of the gas station in Holly--and so did everyone else in town. I was beginning to wish I hadn't stopped in Holly, and definitely wished I hadn't called JoAnn.
She drove me to Charles' house, and with a brisk "You expecting a visitor?" to Charles, she left. Thank God she left. Cops like that make me nervous, because they are definitely not happy, not even close to friendly, and they carry guns.
Charles is a sheriff, and unfortunately, I never really had a chance to talk to him. He left for work (at the county jail in Lamar) right when I got there. His hours this month are 6pm to 6am so I guess I never will get a chance to talk to him.
Sat. Oct. 17: State line
It feels like autumn today--like Saturday afternoon, cold breeze blowing, and going to a college football game weather. I am about to be walking into Kansas. I stopped at this rest area on the border to cook a steak that I bought in Holly this morning. Kansas celebration time.
I cooked half the steak, ate it, and walked around a bit before cooking round two. There was a stray dog running around the rest area, and he enjoyed round two for me, raw. I am full, and he looked hungry, so I just laughed and watched him try to swallow about a pound of raw steak as fast as possible. I actually would have cooked it for him, if he would have asked.
