They wouldn’t let me bring my bag in their gun restaurant
On day 97 of crossing America barefoot I travelled from Bonifay FL to Westville FL...
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I woke up on a piece of grass across from the grocery store.
One piece of grass tried to body shame me by saying I weighed a lot more than most of the individual pieces of grass in the world.
As I was searching for an outlet to charge my phone while I waited for the grocery store to open I found a laundromat.
I had not removed my clothes since the last time everyone got drunk and made life promises they couldn’t keep.
I took off all my clothes and covered myself with a poncho then put all my clothes and some quarters in machine.
There should be a movie about a person doing laundry after the world ends and they’re the only person who survived.
After an hour some people carried some baskets into the laundromat and looked at me but didn’t say anything. I was still only wearing the poncho.
Imagine being the type of person who went to laundromats just to look at people but not say anything.
Eventually the machines were done with my clothes so I put them back on and walked to the grocery store.
Wearing clean clothes felt like someone had managed to scrap out all the peanut butter from my armpits if I had somehow fallen armpit first into a peanut butter cave.
This was the first time I had washed my clothes in a machine so far on this trip. I had washed them in a sink or bathtub a few times but never in a machine.
Whenever I get worried about how I smell I just remind myself that I’m a telephone pole.
The grocery store had dates so I bought five packages and went outside to sit on a bench and eat some of the other foods I bought while a man nearby smoked a cigarette and complained that his cellphone wouldn’t send text messages.
I often look at different people and think, “If you give me your body I could save you,” without realizing I still have things to work on with my own body.
When I began walking I listened to an audiobook on how to remove clutter in one’s life and I thought of all the things I could get rid of when I returned home.
The best way to remove all the objects from your life is to pretend you died but instead of dying hide at your local library for four to six years.
Three dogs ran into the middle of the road and barked at my bare feet.
Some day I would like to become one of those dogs who digs a hole in the ground and pretends to be an ant.
A woman stopped and held out a pair of sneakers then a few minutes later a man stopped, held out a bucket of soup, and said, “This is my dinner but you can have it.” I didn’t take either but thanked both for their kindness.
Walk up to a stranger and say, “i love you,” over and over until one of you begins to cry.
It began to rain slightly so I sat down on some chairs I found on someone’s porch.
My legs were so tired my brain didn’t really care if it had any thoughts left.
When I began walking again a cop told me I couldn’t be in the road and had to walk in the grass.
I nodded at the person telling me how to live my life and when he was gone I continued living my life.
A pastor stopped and said, “I’m a pastor.”
A breadcrumb dying on the side of the road said, “My only goal in life was too dunk a basketball from half court during the nba finals.”
After it got dark I tried to stop at a gas station to get a snack but the owner said I had to leave my bag outside in the parking lot so I continued on and thought, “I hope you enjoy your life of fear and greed.” I understand sometimes store owners don’t like you wearing a bag in the store but usually they have you leave it behind the counter not out in the street. Also this gas station sold gins and ammo as if filling the world with gasoline death wasn’t enough.
The next time someone says, “No bags allowed in the store I’m going to take off my bag and every piece of clothing I own then I’m going to run through the store yelling, “Do you trust me now?”
I was walking over a large river but it was too dark to tell whether the river was filled with water or something else like the byproducts of consumer death.
I heard a tiny voice yell, “Sadly one day the rivers will outnumber all the humans alive on earth.”
I found a piece of wood to lay down in next to the road. It was partially covered. A few seconds after I laid down I removed all my thoughts from my head.
What I ate on day 97: Bananas, black beans, grapes, mangos, dates, mushrooms, salsa, beets, cantaloupe, broccoli, and kumquats.
A poem
Put / a chair / in the middle / of / the road / fill a bowl / with / soup / and / leave / the bowl / on the chair / the moon / should be available / do not let / money / concern you / if you are hungry / eat a potato / if not / bury it / and / hide partially / in the woods / with / the rest / of / your body / sit / motionless / on / a piece / of / linoleum / the chair / is / probably / not / in the road / anymore / it’s okay / to cry
If you're interested in my previous journey across America check out the book: I am a road.
